  The advent of Large Language Models (LLMs) started a serious discussion among
educators on how LLMs would affect, e.g., curricula, assessments, and students'
competencies. Generative AI and LLMs also raised ethical questions and concerns
for computing educators and professionals. This experience report presents an
assignment within a course on professional competencies, including some related
to ethics, that computing master's students need in their careers. For the
assignment, student groups discussed the ethical process by Lennerfors et al.
by analyzing a case: a fictional researcher considers whether to attend the
real CHI 2024 conference in Hawaii. The tasks were (1) to participate in
in-class discussions on the case, (2) to use an LLM of their choice as a
discussion partner for said case, and (3) to document both discussions,
reflecting on their use of the LLM. Students reported positive experiences with
the LLM as a way to increase their knowledge and understanding, although some
identified limitations. The LLM provided a wider set of options for action in
the studied case, including unfeasible ones. The LLM would not select a course
of action, so students had to choose themselves, which they saw as coherent.
From the educators' perspective, there is a need for more instruction for
students using LLMs: some students did not perceive the tools as such but
rather as an authoritative knowledge base. Therefore, this work has
implications for educators considering the use of LLMs as discussion partners
or tools to practice critical thinking, especially in computing ethics
education.
