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Full-Text Articles in Engineering
A Critical Realist Investigation Into The Development Of Engineering Ethics Education, Diana Adela Martin, Eddie Conlon, Brian Bowe
A Critical Realist Investigation Into The Development Of Engineering Ethics Education, Diana Adela Martin, Eddie Conlon, Brian Bowe
Research Papers
The paper reflects on the use of critical realism as a theoretical lens for examining the provision of ethics in engineering programmes and putting forward recommendations for the development of engineering ethics education. It is based on a large scale 4-year mixed methods study in which 23 engineering programmes from 6 higher education institutions in Ireland participated. The methods used include documentary analysis of programme documents, course syllabus and accreditation reports, interviews with instructors and members of accreditation panels, participant observation at accreditation events and a descriptive statistical analysis of the numerical grade used by engineering programmes to self-assess their …
Effect Of Engineering Education On Students’ Ethical Attitudes, Ulla-Talvikki Anniina Virta, Hannu-Matti Järvinen
Effect Of Engineering Education On Students’ Ethical Attitudes, Ulla-Talvikki Anniina Virta, Hannu-Matti Järvinen
Research Papers
Integrating teaching about ethics in engineering degree has challenges: Teachers focused on the degree core topics may lack the expertise to handle the ethics, and teachers with an ethics background may struggle to connect the ethics teaching to the field-specific issues. In addition, a portion of the students themselves may consider the non-core topic to be unnecessary or demotivating, which poses further challenges for the teaching. In the paper, we explore the ethical attitudes of students based on a survey conducted on information technology, electrical engineering and computer sciences students at our university.
The survey received 224 responses. We compare …
Civil And Architectural Engineering Students’ Conceptualization Of Good Engineering And Its Implications For Ethics Education, Madeline Polmear
Civil And Architectural Engineering Students’ Conceptualization Of Good Engineering And Its Implications For Ethics Education, Madeline Polmear
Research Papers
The ways in which students conceptualise what it means to do good engineering illuminates their values and priorities and shapes their understanding of ethics in engineering. The present study is part of a larger project that is exploring civil and architectural engineering students’ understanding of ethical and societal responsibility and its development via formal and informal learning. Data collection and analysis are ongoing in the larger project, and the present study focuses on eight semi-structured interviews with civil and architectural engineering students at one university in Belgium. The analysis was designed to address how civil and architectural students conceptualise good …
A Multimodal Measurement Of The Impact Of Deepfakes On The Ethical Reasoning And Affective Reactions Of Students, Vivek Ramachandran, Cécile Hardebolle, Nihat Kotluk, Touradj Ebrahimi, Reinhard Riedl, Patrick Jermann, Roland Tormey
A Multimodal Measurement Of The Impact Of Deepfakes On The Ethical Reasoning And Affective Reactions Of Students, Vivek Ramachandran, Cécile Hardebolle, Nihat Kotluk, Touradj Ebrahimi, Reinhard Riedl, Patrick Jermann, Roland Tormey
Research Papers
Deepfakes - synthetic videos generated by machine learning models - are becoming increasingly sophisticated. While they have several positive use cases, their potential for harm is also high. Deepfake production involves input from multiple engineers, making it challenging to assign individual responsibility for their creation. The separation between engineers and consumers may also contribute to a lack of empathy on the part of the former towards the latter. At present, engineering ethics education appears inadequate to address these issues. Indeed, the ethics of artificial intelligence is often taught as a stand-alone course or a separate module at the end of …
Practical Toolkit For Embedding Ethics In The Engineering Curriculum, Sarah Jayne Hitt, Stella Fowler, Sarah Junaid, Johnny Rich
Practical Toolkit For Embedding Ethics In The Engineering Curriculum, Sarah Jayne Hitt, Stella Fowler, Sarah Junaid, Johnny Rich
Workshops
The need to embed ethics into the engineering curriculum is a collective imperative if we are to successfully navigate complexity, uncertainty and challenging ethical issues to build a sustainable society that works for everyone. To maximise positive impact, behaviours such as inclusivity and sustainability must become instinctive – golden threads running through everything that engineers think and do. Proactively, bringing engineering ethics to the fore in engineering programmes is one way UK higher education equips future engineers with the skills and mindset they need to succeed.
This workshop brings together best practice from expert practitioners across the UK, introducing a …
Instructors' Expectations And Objectives For Integrating Sustainable Development And Ethical Issues Into The Curriculum, Tauno Aki Tepsa, Juhani Angelva, Maisa Tuulikki Mielikäinen
Instructors' Expectations And Objectives For Integrating Sustainable Development And Ethical Issues Into The Curriculum, Tauno Aki Tepsa, Juhani Angelva, Maisa Tuulikki Mielikäinen
Practice Papers
The integration of sustainable development and ethical issues into the curriculum is increasingly important in higher education. The study surveyed 17 instructors in ICT engineering education at Lapland University of Applied Sciences who were involved in curriculum development to explore their expectations and objectives in integrating sustainable development and ethical issues into their courses. Although most instructors had a good understanding of sustainable development and ethical issues, not all saw them as relevant to their courses. Those who did incorporate these themes focused on topics such as energy conservation, social sustainability, and sustainability and ethics in solutions. However, almost half …
A Way To Get Students Consider Ethics And Sustainability In Iot Projects, Jean-Luc Sarrade, Isabelle Lermigeaux-Sarrade
A Way To Get Students Consider Ethics And Sustainability In Iot Projects, Jean-Luc Sarrade, Isabelle Lermigeaux-Sarrade
Practice Papers
Sustainability and ethical topics can be embedded and assessed in existing technical courses within an engineering curriculum. This article describes how we integrated a reflection on the importance of ethical and environmental aspects of connected objects through team-based project learning with computer science students in the second semester of their Bachelor degree. Small groups of three were given different projects, in which they had to implement the technical concepts learned in class using both virtual and physical components. The projects followed realistic scenarios chosen at random, each of them using a specific set of sensors and built to question either …
Drawing From Sefi Ethics Knowledge To Support Eco-Ethics Education Within The European University Of Technology, Jye Benjamin O'Sullivan, Shannon Chance
Drawing From Sefi Ethics Knowledge To Support Eco-Ethics Education Within The European University Of Technology, Jye Benjamin O'Sullivan, Shannon Chance
Practice Papers
We are leading a project called Ethico within the European University of Technology (EUt). Ethico aims to design and promote the uptake of innovative, ecological ethics for technological education.
This practice paper briefly summarizes the aims and structure of the Ethico project, and then focuses on the work completed as part of the teacher training module developed in Cluj, 7-9th March, 2023. This workshop drew its conceptual framework from the short abstracts currently available for the Engineering Ethics Education Handbook. The structure developed was then implemented in a student facing workshop in Troyes between the 10-14th July 2023. The handbook …
Opportunities And Barriers Faced By Early-Career Civil Engineers Enacting Global Responsibility, Shannon Chance, Inês Direito, John Mitchell
Opportunities And Barriers Faced By Early-Career Civil Engineers Enacting Global Responsibility, Shannon Chance, Inês Direito, John Mitchell
Articles
The term ‘global responsibility’ projects a holistic sense of ethics, sustainability, and obligation. To achieve the long-term viability of human life on Earth, civil engineering must be conducted in increasingly responsible ways, and civil engineers must value and enact global responsibility in their work. Interviews conducted with nine civil engineers in London provide insight regarding engineers’ familiarity with the term, how they learned about it, what opportunities and barriers they face, and what might be done by professional and educational institutions to help them practice more responsibly. Results indicate: the term itself is novel but underlying concepts are not; continuing …
Momentum Towards Incorporating Global Responsibility In Engineering Education And Accreditation In The Uk, Jonathan Truslove, Emma Crichton, Shannon Chance, Katie Cresswell-Maynard
Momentum Towards Incorporating Global Responsibility In Engineering Education And Accreditation In The Uk, Jonathan Truslove, Emma Crichton, Shannon Chance, Katie Cresswell-Maynard
Conference papers
CONTEXT Engineering is uniquely placed to help address global challenges such as those surrounding the climate crisis, and the sustainable use and management of resources. However, studies have found UK engineering companies that have adopted sustainability strategies do not have enough staff with the skills to achieve them. There is an urgent need to upskill the current workforce and prepare future generations to operate in a responsible and ethical manner in tackling today's challenges. Recent updates to the standard of engineering accreditation in the UK provide notable opportunities to transform university curricula to create globally responsible engineers.
PURPOSE This preliminary …
Hypothetical Cases In Engineering Ethics, Steve Eugene Watkins
Hypothetical Cases In Engineering Ethics, Steve Eugene Watkins
Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works
An important educational subject for engineering students is engineering ethics. Common instructional objectives are to develop knowledge of ethical principles, e.g. professional codes, and to apply these principles to specific situations. Case studies are useful instructional examples and exercises and cases are central to student ethics competitions. Historical case studies emphasize the relevance of ethics in engineering work. Hypothetical case studies can address specific ethical principles and provide great design flexibility. This paper discusses hypothetical cases in engineering ethics in the context of instructional exercises or student competitions. Recommendations are given for the development of versatile cases and for approaching …
Teaching Engineering Ethics, Steve Eugene Watkins
Teaching Engineering Ethics, Steve Eugene Watkins
Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works
Instruction in engineering ethics is an important aspect of professional development. For universities, it is an element of program assessment and is considered for accreditation. For engineering students, it addresses relationships in professional life and is a topic for professional licensure. A common instructional objective is for students to have an ability to continue developing their ethical knowledge and judgment. Topical content typically includes an introduction to principles of applied ethics with supporting examples of related engineering situations. This paper discusses the organization of the ethics component in a senior seminar course. Key topics are ethics principles in the context …
Ethical Reasoning Development In Project-Based Learning, Elizabeth Pluskwik, Puteri S. Megat Hamari
Ethical Reasoning Development In Project-Based Learning, Elizabeth Pluskwik, Puteri S. Megat Hamari
Integrated Engineering Department Publications
This paper will describe the method of ethics instruction in a specific project-based learning program with the aim to improve the current level of moral reasoning skills in the engineering students enrolled in the program. The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) and the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) have endorsed efforts to improve the teaching of ethics in the engineering curriculum. Criterion 3-f of the ABET outcomes,specifically calls for student attainment of an understanding of ethical and professional responsibility. In response, engineering educators seek to develop curriculum to improve moral reasoning skills, which should lead to increased …
What Are The Characteristics Of A Scholar?, Andreas Tolk
What Are The Characteristics Of A Scholar?, Andreas Tolk
Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
Project-Based Freshmen Engineering Courses In Civil Engineering Technology, Vernon W. Lewis Jr., Carol L. Considine
Project-Based Freshmen Engineering Courses In Civil Engineering Technology, Vernon W. Lewis Jr., Carol L. Considine
Engineering Technology Faculty Publications
Old Dominion University (ODU) has developed two fundamental courses for freshmen engineering students. The first course introduces the fundamentals of the practice of engineering including innovation, creativity, design and manufacturing, commercialization, teaming skills, environmental impact, and ethics. The second course is an exploration of engineering and engineering technology disciplines with an emphasis on projects. The purpose of these courses is to engage the students in the application of engineering early in their course of study with the hope that their interest will be reinforced and the likelihood of their being retained as students will increase. The courses are divided into …
Failure Case Studies And Ethics In Engineering Mechanics Courses, Norbert J. Delatte
Failure Case Studies And Ethics In Engineering Mechanics Courses, Norbert J. Delatte
Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications
Often, engineering students do not study engineering failures or discuss ethics until they take upper division undergraduate courses or graduate level courses. One drawback to this approach is that problems analyzed in introductory courses are often contrived, uninteresting, and bear little relation to the problems encountered in engineering practice. At the point when educators need to grab the student's interest in engineering most, they should show the excitement and relevance of the profession. Another is that the students encounter the issues of ethics, responsibility, and accountability that are often highlighted by a failure, late in their engineering education. As a …