THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING

EC2000 and the Engineering Ethics Dilemma

Author(s): Sarah K.A. Pfatteicher

The Dilemma - How to provide meaningful ethics instruction to all engineering students

without overburdening faculty,

without increasing graduation requirements, and

without removing essential technical material from the curriculum

The Pieces of the Puzzle

What does ABET want?

Where can we fit ethics into the curriculum?

What exactly should we teach?

A Careful Reading of EC2000 - From Criterion 3:

"Engineering programs must demonstrate that their graduates have . . . an understanding of professional and ethical responsibility."

Note that ABET wants us to guarantee our students understand ethics, not guarantee that our students are ethical.

Preaching vs. Professing

A pastor preaches religion, but a professor teaches religion.

We may have occasion to preach ethics (as ethics board members and as mentors).

But in the classroom, engineering ethics instructors should focus on teaching ethics.

Engineering Ethics Objectives

The "nature" of engineering ethics - What does the term mean? To whom? Under what circumstances? How has it evolved?

The "value" of engineering ethics - Why do engineers (individually and as a profession) find ethics worthwhile? What are the consequences of ethical and unethical behavior?

The "resolution" of engineering ethics questions - What are some of the resources and reasoning methods that can be used to resolve ethical problems?

Codes and Cases - Valuable and popular because:

widely available

pre-packaged

easily inserted into courses

engaging for students and faculty

But codes also:

evolve

conflict

guide, but don't answer ethical dilemmas

And cases can be:

hard to generalize

unusual rather than typical

deceptively well-defined

Other Options - Two Exercises from the UW

A Do-It-Yourself Lesson in History

Help students understand the evolution of ethics and codes by studying codes historically.

Reading for In-Class Discussion - ASCE Code of Ethics, 1914 and 1994; Francis Griggs, Jr., "To Be or Not to Be — Ethical That Is!" in Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education & Practice, 123 (April '97): 82-89.

Assignment - Have students compare the content, language, and style of two codes and explore the reasons for the differences and similarities.

Bringing Ethics Home

Help link students' professional and personal lives by comparing student ethics with professional ethics.

Reading for In-Class Discussion - UW-Madison Dean of Students Office, "Academic Misconduct Rules and Procedures: Guide for Students;" Richard Baker, Jr., "The Ethics of Student-Faculty Friendships," in Ethical Dimensions of College & Univ. Teaching, Linc. Fisch, ed., New Directions for Teaching & Learning, 66 (Summer 1996): 25-32.

Assignment - Ask students whether they would turn in a fellow student for cheating and whether they would turn in a colleague in the future for cheating. Is one situation more unethical or dangerous than the other?

A Few Notes on Grading

It's not about how ethical students are. Can students:

• offer and defend a definition of "engineering ethics"
• list and explain multiple reasons for being ethical?
• identify and critically analyze common ethical dilemmas, including possible responses, and consequences?

Integration at the UW

• Linking ethics with an existing, required class on basic communication for freshman:
• 2-credit class becoming a 3-credit class in fall of 1999.
• Ethics provides interesting material for students to use in communication class.
• Communication skills improve students' ability to discuss ethics scenarios.
• Foundation Coalition

More Integration at the UW:

• One goal = integrated first-year courses.
• UW linking Freshman Engineering, Math, Chemistry, Communication, and Ethics.
• Encourages linkage of skills and techniques as well as content.
• All these subjects involve problem-solving, ambiguity, critical thinking, arguments, evidence, etc.

Necessary Characteristics of Engineering Ethics Instruction

• Must be provided to all students
• Must allow sufficient time for reflection
• Must be integrated with technical courses
• Must appear more than once in curriculum

Reasonable Guarantees

• Diplomas guarantee students are prepared to practice engineering.
• Can hope but not promise they will.
• Diplomas should also guarantee students are prepared to practice engineering ethically
• Can hope but not promise they will.

Sarah K.A. Pfatteicher, Ph.D.

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Presented at the OEC International Conference on Ethics in Engineering and Computer Science, March 1999

National Academy of Engineering

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