{"id":103160,"date":"2026-09-11T14:50:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T12:50:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/?p=103160"},"modified":"2026-09-11T15:50:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T13:50:16","slug":"spu-joins-global-mozilla-challenge-to-build-ethics-into-how-students-write-code","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/index.php\/spu-joins-global-mozilla-challenge-to-build-ethics-into-how-students-write-code\/","title":{"rendered":"SPU joins global Mozilla challenge to build ethics into how students write code"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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A Mozilla-funded project in the Department of Computer Science and Information Technology is teaching first-year ICT students to weigh the social consequences of the technology they build, starting in their first year rather than their last.<\/strong><\/p>

Forty-four first-year ICT students gathered at Sol Plaatje University on Saturday, 5 September 2026, for the first student engagement of a project asking a question the computing industry is still learning to answer: not only whether something can be built, but whether it should be.<\/p>

The project, titled Ethics-Driven Programming: Cultivating Responsible Technologists through Socially Contextualized Education, is SPU’s contribution to the Mozilla Foundation’s Responsible Computing Challenge. The Challenge supports universities to develop curricula that help students think critically about the social, ethical and political contexts of computing. It began in the United States in 2018 and has since extended to Kenya, India and South Africa, where SPU forms part of the national cohort. The SPU project was approved in 2025 and is being implemented in 2026 with funding administered through the National Research Foundation.<\/p>

What distinguishes the approach is where the ethics sits. Rather than a single lecture or a final-year module, the project introduces ethical reasoning at the point where students are first learning to program, so that the social consequences of a design decision are considered alongside the code itself.<\/p>

The work runs across three areas. Responsible Computing is led by Mr Lucky Makhoere, Lecturer in the Department of Computer Science and Information Technology; Ethical Use of Artificial Intelligence by Mr Mnoneleli Nogwina, Lecturer in the Department of Computer Science and Information Technology; and Ethical Programming by Mrs Nthabiseng Modiba, Lecturer in the Department of Computer Science and Information Technology. As the project develops, these will widen to include Digital Ubuntu, cyber safety, privacy and digital citizenship.<\/p>

At Saturday’s session, students were introduced to the Challenge and the SPU project before working in teams on each of the three areas. They have been organised into three teams that will meet with project personnel every second week to develop practical responses to responsible-computing problems. That work will culminate in a showcase in the first week of the 2027 academic year, where teams will present their projects and the strongest project will be recognised.<\/p>

The project is also building something intended to outlast the grant. An SPU Responsible Computing Society is being established as a student-led platform for awareness and engagement around responsible technology use. Its members will take that work off campus, running outreach with high-school learners across the Northern Cape.<\/p>

Ideas surfacing through the engagements will not stop at first-year level either. Promising responsible-computing problems will be developed into third-year ICT projects and Honours research topics, allowing themes that begin as awareness to progress into technical development and research.<\/p>

“Our intention is not simply to teach students about ethics in one workshop,” said project lead Mr Phumezo Ntlatywa, a lecturer in the Department of Computer Science and Information Technology in the Faculty of Natural and Applied Sciences. “We want responsible computing to become part of the culture of how our students think about, use and develop technology. The Responsible Computing Society will give students ownership of that message, while the progression into third-year projects and Honours research will allow ideas that begin in these engagements to develop into practical solutions and research. Ultimately, we want to produce technologists who are not only technically capable, but who can be trusted with the responsibility that comes with creating technology.”<\/p>

The project speaks directly to two of the University’s stated priorities: the ethical integration of artificial intelligence, and the application of emerging technologies to real development challenges. It also carries a Northern Cape footprint, taking questions of digital ethics from a university lecture room into schools in the province.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Mozilla-funded project in the Department of Computer Science and Information Technology is teaching first-year ICT students to weigh the social consequences of the technology they build, starting in their first year rather than their last. Forty-four first-year ICT students Read More …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":103172,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_theme","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[53,4,57],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"coauthors":[286],"class_list":["post-103160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nas-news","category-news","category-spu-student-news"],"yoast_head":"\nSPU joins global Mozilla challenge to build ethics into how students write code - Sol Plaatje University<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A Mozilla-funded project in the Department of Computer Science and Information Technology is teaching first-year ICT students to weigh the...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SPU joins global Mozilla challenge to build ethics into how students write code - 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