WGU D842: Technology and Ethics: A Look at Emerging Trends and Society

What D842 Is Really About

WGU D842, Technology and Ethics: A Look at Emerging Trends and Society, asks you to do something more thoughtful than memorize facts. You learn a handful of ethical frameworks and then use them to reason through the messy, real dilemmas that new technology creates, from artificial intelligence and data privacy to academic integrity and the ways screens shape our attention. It shows up across several WGU programs — including technology and teaching-focused degrees — where people who build or teach with technology need to think clearly about its effects on people.

Direct answer: D842 is not a proctored multiple-choice exam. You pass by completing a performance assessment made up of three written tasks in which you analyze a technology-related ethical scenario using named frameworks like utilitarianism, deontology, and virtue ethics. Read each task rubric line by line, match every required element with a clearly labeled section in your paper, cite your sources, and submit your own original analysis.

If you have ever been uneasy about writing assignments, take a breath. This course rewards structure and honesty over eloquence. You are not being asked to have a brilliant new philosophy; you are being asked to apply established ethical reasoning carefully and back it up. Once you see how the pieces fit together, most students find D842 to be one of the more manageable courses in their term.

What the Performance Assessment Covers

The assessment centers on applying ethical reasoning to emerging technology. Across the tasks you can expect to work with the following ideas and topic areas:

• Ethical decision-making frameworks — most commonly utilitarianism (weighing outcomes and the greater good), deontology (duties, rules, and rights regardless of outcome), and virtue ethics (what a person of good character would do).
• Applying frameworks to a technology scenario — identifying the dilemma, the stakeholders, and the competing values at play.
• Data privacy and responsible data use — who owns information, consent, and the risks of collection and surveillance.
• Artificial intelligence and smart tools — the ethics of AI assistants, automated decisions, and how tools like chatbots and voice assistants are used at home, at work, or in the classroom.
• Academic integrity and honesty — cheating, plagiarism, and the pressures technology adds to fair assessment.
• Electronic communication and digital etiquette — appropriate, respectful conduct online.
• Access to technology and equity — who benefits and who is left behind.
• Effects of technology on memory, attention, and well-being.

Each task typically presents a scenario, asks you to analyze it through one or more frameworks, and then asks you to recommend a defensible course of action. The frameworks are the backbone of every task, so learning them well pays off three times over.

How Hard Is It and How Long Will It Take

Many students report that D842 is on the lighter end of the workload spectrum, especially compared with heavier technical or math courses. It is a writing course with no memorization-heavy exam, so the difficulty comes from following the rubric precisely rather than from the subject matter being hard to grasp.

Realistically, plan for roughly one to two focused weeks if you can write steadily, and longer if writing is not something you enjoy or if you are balancing a full schedule. A sensible rhythm is a few evenings to learn the frameworks, then one focused block per task. Do not treat "short" as "skippable," though. The most common reason for a returned submission is not difficulty; it is a missed rubric point or a citation problem, and those add days when you least expect it.

A Study Plan That Fits This Course

Because D842 is applied rather than recall-based, your study habits should look a little different from a course with an objective test.

1. Learn the frameworks with active recall. After reading about utilitarianism, deontology, and virtue ethics, close the book and write one plain-English sentence for each, plus one example. If you cannot explain a framework to a friend without notes, you are not ready to apply it in a task.
2. Practice testing with mini-scenarios. Take a news story about AI, privacy, or online cheating and run it through all three frameworks in a short paragraph each. Doing this two or three times builds the exact muscle the tasks require.
3. Reverse-engineer the rubric. Before you write a single sentence of a task, copy each rubric requirement into a document as a heading. Your paper is finished when every heading has a complete, on-point answer beneath it. This single habit prevents most revisions.
4. Use spaced repetition on the framework names. Revisit the definitions over a few days rather than cramming them once, so the terminology feels natural when you write.
5. Cite as you go. Keep a running list of sources and in-text citations while drafting, not at the end. Evaluators expect proper attribution, and adding it afterward is where honest students accidentally slip.
6. Read your course announcements and use the evaluator feedback. If a task comes back, the feedback tells you exactly which aspect to fix. Treat it as a map, not a verdict.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Naming a framework but never truly applying it. Saying "from a utilitarian view this is bad" is not analysis. Show the reasoning: whose well-being, what outcomes, what trade-off.
• Answering the topic instead of the prompt. A strong essay about AI that ignores a required rubric element still gets returned. Match the rubric, not just the theme.
• Weak or missing citations. Ethical claims and factual claims both need support. Unattributed material is the fastest route to a rejected submission.
• Being vague about the recommendation. Tasks usually want a clear, defensible course of action, not an "it depends" that never lands.
• Reusing someone else's task. Submitted work is checked for originality. This site sells honest preparation only. Write your own analysis; it is genuinely easier than trying to disguise borrowed text, and it is the only thing that passes.
• Skipping the intro and conclusion structure. Clear sections that mirror the rubric make an evaluator's job easy, and easy-to-grade papers move quickly.

Exam Readiness Checklist

Before you submit each task, run through these self-checks:

• Can you define utilitarianism, deontology, and virtue ethics in one clear sentence each, from memory?
• Can you take a technology scenario and identify the dilemma, the stakeholders, and the competing values?
• Can you apply at least one framework to a scenario and reach a specific, defensible recommendation?
• Have you mapped every rubric requirement to a labeled section in your paper?
• Are all facts and borrowed ideas supported with proper in-text citations and a reference list?
• Is the writing entirely your own original work?
• Have you addressed privacy, integrity, or access issues where the task calls for them, rather than glossing over them?
• Have you proofread for clarity so an evaluator can find each required element quickly?

FAQ

Is D842 an objective exam or a performance assessment?

It is a performance assessment. You complete written tasks that analyze technology-related ethical dilemmas, rather than sitting a proctored multiple-choice test. That means your grade comes from following the task rubrics closely and submitting original, well-cited work.

What ethical frameworks do I need to know?

The workhorses are utilitarianism, deontology, and virtue ethics. Learn to define each plainly and, more importantly, to apply it to a specific scenario and reach a clear recommendation. If you can run one technology dilemma through all three, you are in good shape.

How long does D842 usually take?

Many students report it moves faster than a typical technical course because there is no heavy exam to memorize for. A focused one to two weeks is a reasonable target for steady writers, though your pace depends on how comfortable you are with writing and how carefully you match the rubric the first time.

Why do so many example tasks use classroom scenarios?

D842 appears in several WGU programs, including teaching-focused ones, so many publicly shared examples are set in education. The underlying skill is the same regardless of context: identify the ethical issue, apply frameworks, and recommend a defensible action. Focus on your own task prompt rather than on the setting others happened to use.

What is the most common reason a task gets returned?

A missed rubric element or a citation problem, far more often than a flawed argument. Build your paper directly from the rubric headings and cite as you draft, and you remove the two biggest causes of revision.

Can I use AI tools to write my tasks?

No. Submitted work is checked for originality, and the course itself is partly about the ethics of technology use, so leaning on a chatbot to write your analysis is exactly the kind of integrity issue the course examines. Use your own reasoning; it is the only approach that earns a pass.

Where to Go Next

If ethics and technology interest you, a natural companion is D333 Ethics in Technology, which covers overlapping ground from a slightly different angle. Students building broader technical foundations often pair this course with D430 Fundamentals of Information Security or D684 Introduction to Computer Science. You can browse everything for your program on the School of Technology hub or the full guide index. For the official course description, check wgu.edu.