Integrating Ethics Into The Freshman Year Engineering Experience

Various attempts are described in an effort to integrate ethics into the freshman year engineering classes. The attempts include formal lectures on moral reasoning theories, ethics focused videos/DVDs, environmentally focused design projects, design projects that force students to consider societal and global issues. A somewhat different type of design project, Compassion Practicum, is also described. The Compassion Practicum requires students to use an engineering design methodology to identify, design a solution an implement that solution with the charge to the student stated as “do something compassionate for some being other than you.” Introduction The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET), the organization which sets forth specific guidelines for attaining engineering program accreditation has written that “Engineering programs must demonstrate that their graduates have...an understanding of professional and ethical responsibility.” 1 The actual means for accomplishing these tasks are left to the individual programs, as are the working definitions of phrases such as “professional and ethical responsibility.” In response to the ABET position, according to Shirley 2 , the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) in a policy statement proposes that, “New engineering graduates need substantial training in recognizing and solving ethical problems.” Furthermore, ASEE has recently established an Engineering Ethics Committee and formed a new group focusing upon ethics in the Educational Research and Methods Division. Shirley 2 also challenged all of us in engineering to “avoid engineering hubris” and asked, ”How can we embed ethics in the curriculum in a way that gives students tools that they can really use after graduation? And how do we measure the effectiveness of this training?” The increased focus upon professional ethics by both ABET and ASEE has resulted in a similar increased emphasis on this topic in engineering programs throughout the nation. Discussion of engineering ethics cases occurs at all levels throughout the curriculum though mainly within the context of freshman introduction to engineering Page 960.1 Proceedings of the 2004 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition Copyright ©2004, American Society for Engineering Education courses. With the increasing number of teaching resources available, many engineering courses appear use a case study approach, either of an existing historical event or a fictitious scenario, often with the requirement that students examine their proposed approaches to the described ethical dilemmas in light of existing codes of ethical and professional conduct set forth by the professional engineering societies. While I agree that the use of case studies and the engineering codes is a valuable teaching technique and necessary if programs are to reflect the required emphasis placed on ethical training by both ABET and ASEE, I believe that it is not sufficient. Simply teaching to the case studies and using existing codes of conduct, in my view, promulgates a very narrow understanding of ethics and its importance in the engineering profession. Consider a somewhat similar situation. Suppose students were to have one and only one exposure to physics. Would it be “necessary and sufficient” to introduce students solely to Newtonian mechanics without reference to the important developments in the last two centuries? Perhaps some might argue that in selected engineering disciplines an introduction to Newtonian mechanics would be all that is required. I would contend that the practice of engineering is rapidly changing and that the classical foundation for engineering in the 19 th and 20 th century is no longer adequate for the 21 st century. Physics has moved far beyond the Newtonian paradigm. Integrating or embedding ethics into the engineering curriculum can be interpreted at many different levels of meaning. Using the schema proposed by Dante Alighieri in his study of Exodus, there are at a minimum four distinct levels of meaning: (a) literal, (b) analogical, (c) moral, and (d) anagogical. 3-4 At the first or literal level, integrating ethics may involve using case studies and referencing codes from various professional societies. The questions posed to students might include: “Are you aware of the various codes?” and “Do such codes help in constructing answers to ethical dilemmas?” At the second or analogical level, integrating ethics may include challenges of students to identify the analogy between proposed ethical dilemmas in an engineering context and a personal case in their own life. At the third or moral level, integrating ethics may involve a careful consideration of moral reasoning theories. For example, students may be asked to propose a solution to an ethical dilemma using an Utilitarian 5 or a traditional rights-based approach 6 common to many Western societies. Lastly, at the highest or anagogical level, integration of ethics may involve a reflection upon the modern age of technology and a consideration of entirely different views towards technology. For example, making use of the work of Barbour 7 , students may be challenged to reconcile their views on technology and its uses with the following models: (a) technology as liberator, (b) technology as a threat, and (c) technology as instrument of power. The approach taken in the present work seeks to integrate ethics into the freshman year experience at different levels of meaning and to assess its effectiveness. So far, efforts have been made at the literal, analogical and moral levels. One of the innovative features of undergraduate engineering education at the Watson School of Engineering is the common core instruction of all students in the freshmen year. The Division of Engineering Discovery and Design coordinates the core courses, providing the opportunity for students to develop the necessary skills to be P ge 960.2 Proceedings of the 2004 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition Copyright ©2004, American Society for Engineering Education successful in their subsequent years regardless of the discipline of engineering. In addition, the core instruction parallels the learning experiences of students in conventional engineering programs at other institutions including the engineering science programs at New York State community colleges in order to insure that students from all such programs can transfer seamlessly into the Watson School programs as upper classmen. The focus of the freshmen year program is centered on the courses entitled Discovering Engineering I and II, a two semester sequence that integrates instruction in engineering graphics and design, computer applications and tools, oral and written communication skills. Considerable attention is also given to the development of problem solving skills (including both critical and creative thinking skill development), and academic survival skills (i.e. time management, test taking and test preparation). Additionally, students confront the value-laden nature of the engineering profession through a careful consideration of moral reasoning theories, professional and engineering ethics, and an examination of the impact of technology in societal and global contexts. Efforts at Integration In Watson 111, consideration of ethics begins with an introduction to the existence of engineering codes set forth by the various professional engineering societies corresponding to engineering majors available at Binghamton. This is immediately followed by readings, lectures and in-class discussions of formal moral reasoning theories including Utilitarianism, Kantianism, rights and virtue based theories. Two different video/DVD presentations have been used to lay the foundations for ethics case studies, Gilbane Gold 8 and Incident at Morales. 9 The companion study guides for the videos have proven to be an invaluable resource. Students are then asked to prepare a formal written response to one of the ethical dilemmas prepared in each of the videos. As the students are freshman, it is necessary to reinforce an important restriction on their responses— personal opinions are neither sought nor acceptable but rather reasoned responses based on one of the included moral theories are required. In Watson 112, problem-solving techniques are placed in the context of the impact of engineering and technology upon the environment. For example, students are exposed to conservation laws and asked to apply them to problems associated with automobile emissions and efficiency and battery recycling and disposal. References are then made when appropriate to the moral reasoning theories discussed in the fall. Perhaps the element in the class that helps students best understand the importance of ethics in the engineering profession and the provided the unifying element has been the term design project with both a final presentation and a final report required. Projects are screened to insure that the many disparate components of the class, including working in a design team, graphical representation (freehand or computer-aided) of the design, a formal engineering design report including an ethical analysis, are all included. Over the course of the past three years, several different design projects have been assigned. Students have designed a host of different devices including a bicycle-parking P ge 960.3 Proceedings of the 2004 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition Copyright ©2004, American Society for Engineering Education Efforts at Integrating Ethics Introduction to Codes of Ethics of Professional Engineering Societies