Paper ID #12583Humanizing Signals and Systems: A Reflective AccountProf. James L. Huff, Harding University James Huff is an assistant professor of engineering at Harding University, where he primarily teaches multidisciplinary engineering design and electrical engineering. His research interests are aligned with how engineering students develop in their career identity while also developing as whole persons. James received his Ph.D. in engineering education and his his M.S. in electrical and computer engineering, both from Purdue University. He received his bachelor’s in computer engineering at Harding University
Implementation in GEE Collaboration with underserved community Regular Skype calls with Community partners Understanding the complexity of the Readings from multiple fields includingproblem space gender studies, philosophy, economics, sociology Equality of engagement by students and Articulation of what I care about andfield partners employing a discourse on care Active reflection Journaling and reflection papers on class readings Table 1: Summary of the
considerations in our core courses. I reflect on lessons learned from twoassignments in two different core courses, each implemented in the larger context of engineeringat a liberal arts college. Here introducing a social justice dimension of sustainability was a smallpart of a larger effort to integrate liberal education into core courses.One module introduced students in a first year Mass and Energy Balances course to the tool ofLife Cycle Assessment (LCA) for developing and analyzing green products and processes, whilesimultaneously offering a critique of green consumerism which was incorporated into studentLCA projects. A key learning outcome was that students understood not only the promises of thetool but also its limitations and when it is and is
applied, transformative, purposive knowledge and growth.51, 52Because professionalization is also an important goal in engineering education, our listculminates with several goals that build from affective, ethical, and cognitive foundations to themore specific abilities we expect of graduating engineering students. Each student and program instructor will be able to 1. recognize in context, discuss, and demonstrate attitudes, behaviors and personal reflection about their rights and responsibilities to themselves, others, society, and the natural world 2. recognize in context, discuss, and demonstrate attitudes, behaviors and personal reflection about their habits and growth, as well as others’, and the implications of
to teach,especially in ways that capture students’ interest and attention. A variety of approaches areimplemented including dedicated courses inside and outside of engineering, as well as weavingethical case studies throughout the curriculum 3-5. Creative approaches to teaching engineeringethics including argumentation, eye-witness role playing, videos, engineering ethics lunches, andeven an engineering ethics board game have previously been presented 6-10. The objective of thisassignment was to combine the common practice of integrating an ethics unit into a first yearIntroduction to Engineering course with the innovation of a creative fiction assignment requiringthe students to generate and reflect upon an ethical dilemma of personal
, emotional, and self-reflective livesof engineers themselves that fail to “fit into” prevailing professional paradigms of thought andpractice.Cannons refers then not only to military annihilation but also to the systematic drowning out ofvoices/perspectives that diverge from, challenge, or oppose the engineering status quo. Wepropose that these voices and perspectives are essential for the development of technically andmorally robust engineering research and practice. In fact, they are the very thing that wouldenable engineering to truly hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public, andrealize philosopher Charles Harris’ proposed ideal of bettering “the material basis of humanwell-being or quality of life.”3This paper engages in a
implement the SSDS and illustrate the findings when usingthis survey pre- and post- course with students who participated in WPSI across threeuniversities during the Fall of 2014. Results from these components are triangulated withstudents’ end-of-semester written reflections and participating instructors’ course experiences.This qualitative component allowed us to consider how WPSI might be improved in future Page 26.508.3iterations, as well as broader implications of the SSDS and WPSI for engineering educationcourses and curriculum.For anonymity, throughout this paper we will refer to course offerings as Course 1, 2, and 3. Thisframing puts the
they implemented the new instructionalplans in the semester following the workshop. Three major themes emerged from inductiveanalysis of interview transcripts. First, all participants reported that the workshop helped thembecome more aware of the importance of incorporating academic integrity into their teaching andwere more reflective on how to effectively discuss this critical issue with their students. Second,after the workshop, participants made several changes in their courses and applied a variety ofstrategies to incorporate academic integrity into four aspects of their teaching: course syllabus,classroom discussion, assignments, and exams. Last, participants discussed several challengeswhen incorporating academic integrity into their
employment of another engineer, nor does he indiscriminately criticize another engineer’s work. 13. The Engineer endeavors to extend public knowledge, and to promote understanding of the contributions and achievements of engineering and the alternatives offered by modern technology. 14. The Engineer gives credit for work to those to whom credit is due, and recognizes the proprietary interests of others. 15. The Engineer advertises his work or merit in a dignified manner, and avoids conduct or practice likely to discredit or unfavorably reflect upon the dignity or honor of the profession. 16. The Engineer is guided in all his professional relations by the highest standards of integrity, and acts in professional matters for each
.)On the other hand, there was an increase on the post-assessment in several responses, mostnotably for the following coding categories: needed for future career (to obtain, do well in) (pre- Page 26.1542.10assessment: 13%, n = 7; post-assessment: 29%, n = 16) and needed for safety, legitimacy, beingqualified in engineering (pre-assessment: 7%, n = 4; post-assessment: 18%, n = 10). To a lesserextent, coding categories accurately reflect what you know, academic record (pre-assessment:13%, n = 7; post-assessment: 20%, n = 11) and to recognize those who deserve credit (pre-assessment: 7%, n = 4; post-assessment: 13%, n = 7) were also more often
Engineering CourseAbstractAt Michigan Technological University, a phenomenological approach has been used to teachengineering ethics in a one-credit semester long course taken primarily by 3rd and 4th yearstudents for the past three years. In this course students examine what it is to be an ethicalengineer through a series of readings about ethical engineers, personal interviews with engineers,and their personal reflection about their own character and values. From these experiences,students begin to encounter the “essence” of an ethical engineer. They were asked to experience,as much as possible in a classroom setting, the phenomenon of being an ethical engineer. Pre-and post-test results of the Defining Issues Test-2 (DIT-2, a validated and
, become inherently about social justice.Interestingly, this separation of institutional locations where engineering science and research areallowed to live (and not to live) is reflected in NSF’s Research Experiences for Undergraduates(REU) program. Of the 640 REU sites currently listed, only 4 include community colleges(nsf.gov).The processes and people involved in this definition also influenced what went in theengineering curriculum and what stayed out. For example, Rolston and Cox argue that by takingthe “mind out of the shop” and into the university, engineering educators throughout the 20thcentury recreated a class division with significant social justice dimensions: “The shift in focus of engineering training from the job
reinforced a meritocracy ideology within the profession. Cech argues that, inorder to accommodate social justice education, that a “cultural space” must be created withinengineering by addressing depoliticization and meritocracy.In a discussion on diversity in engineering, Riley notes that engineering’s lack of significantdiversity may be reflective of fundamental issues within the profession rather than theavailability and use of effective recruitment and retention tools; Lucena [8] has raised this issueas well. Concerns about diversity may at first appear to be political rather than technical innature. Downey et al. [9] has argued that in a global world, engineers need to be able to workwell with people who think differently, and diversity within
ofthe course, gender, and the instructor’s personal encouragement of the students to engage insocial activism. Philosophy and religion courses were the most commonly cited types of HSScourses mentioned by students, with religion courses being almost entirely from students at thefive religiously affiliated schools.Other course types that were seen in student responses included senior design (10% of seniors)and first-year introductory and engineering projects courses (10% of total, 22% of first-years).Very few students referenced math or natural science courses as having been influential to theirviews of social responsibility (2%). A small percentage of students also responded that all oftheir courses had been influential (2%).Reflecting on the
traffic crash reconstructions wherestudents used concepts from engineering dynamics to determine specific answers to how theevent occurred. This project was part of the lab component of a junior level Machine Dynamicscourse. The student completed the analyses and consolidated their findings in a report followingUS Code 26 (Rule 26 report). A Rule 26 report should disclose the data and other informationconsidered by an expert including exhibits and charts. The report should reflect the testimony tobe given by the expert and must be signed by that expert. We have used versions where thestudents either worked alone or in teams. The student was then then “hired” by a law studentwho was role-playing an attorney and deposed to render their opinion on
. Page 26.684.3The Axial Age and Greek Culture Students are often surprised to find that a relatively common set of spiritual beliefs emerged inwidely separated cultures during what Karl Jaspers2 labelled the “Axial Age” (800-200 “Beforethe Common Era” or B.C.E.), a development of pivotal importance to human thought. Centers ofcivilization in Asia and the northeastern Mediterranean produced Zoroaster, The Buddha,Confucius, Jeremiah, and Socrates (among other sages) who reflected on the fundamentalquestions of morality, death, and the afterlife. Out of these reflections the world’s great religionswere born, simultaneously and independently. In the pre-Axial Age humans had collaboratedwith divine powers through ritual and sacrifice to keep the
with ambiguity andconflicting viewpoints.Ladenson recommends that instructors guide the discussion without dominating it, arguing, orlecturing. He also warns that the discussion may not cover every aspect of the case thoroughlyand, if so, one should “just accept” that outcome. It is helpful if the instructor responds to studentcomments,28 although Valenchik recommends that instructors should not give in to the“professorial urge to respond to every student statement.”32 Asking questions will help keep thediscussion on track, clarify any confusing statements, and emphasize especially cogentcomments.28 After the discussion, the instructor can summarize the major outcomes of thediscussion, reflect on relevant comments, and ask for student feedback
the soon-to-be-graduates may have to do with the supplementalactivities and challenges incorporated into it.II – Revision of the Senior Professional Seminar at TCNJThe average class sizes at the School of Engineering at TCNJ are about 24 students - with arange of 18 to 30. The senior seminars however, are exceptions to this range. They do have thelargest enrollments ranging from 30 to 42 students. But this is by design as discussed here.Five years ago, we decided to re-evaluate and revise our senior seminar course. In this process,we designed and added a few more exciting challenges. These challenges, exposures, andadditional activities have provided the participants with the opportunity to: a) reflect upon andshow-case their future goals, b
historical actors clearly understood theirefforts along these lines, we want to suggest that from another perspective the division betweendescriptive and prescriptive efforts may be somewhat blurrier. Responsible dam engineerswould no doubt heed the ethical mandate for public safety, health and welfare, which mandatepresupposes the possible co-existence of dam and safe public. Any dam is projected as comingabout either through safe or unsafe engineering practices, and in a non-trivial sense this isprecisely how dams come to be. Yet, consider that both the safe and the unsafe dam exclude thefreely flowing river from reasonable existence. That engineering codes of ethics have never, toour knowledge, included instructions to “reflect on who benefits
students was rated very low in the area of “Impact of Solutions,which possibly indicates an area for further emphasis in course coverage. Faculty Evaluation of the EPSA ImplementationAfter reflecting upon the Fall 2013 EPSA sessions, the instructor expressed several concernsabout the implementation. Recommendations to address each concern were proposed: Concern #1: Do we need two practice sessions or is that overkill?Recommendation: Do only one practice session and two record sections. Allocate some general class time after the session to exchange general feedback on the process, the outcomes, and the lessons learned.Action: This was incorporated into the 2014
, through case-study analysis, we present potentialpathways towards including affect and identity in how we model engineering students’ moraland ethical reasoning about socio-scientific issues.Specifically, we present two case-study accounts of how future engineers think about anengineer’s responsibility towards the social and global impact of their work. The case studiesdraw from video-taped semi-structured interviews of two undergraduate students whom we'll callTom and Matt. In the interviews, Tom and Matt reflected on the use and impact of weaponizeddrones in the US war in Afghanistan. Through investigating how they think about the socialimpact of drone warfare and how they think about the responsibility of engineers involved in thedesign of
toward opposition to fracking and the 4th-year students were equally split in support of andopposition to fracking. The reason for this difference is unclear, but perhaps reflects differencesin cohort predispositions. The 4th-year students may exercise more critical thinking, or may havepre-professional experiences to draw from. The 1st-year students are predominately non-STEMmajors, and perhaps more influenced by the abundance and accessibility of opposition literature. Page 26.725.5Regardless, the activity appears to be effective in facilitating students’ opinion formation, whilethey gain factual knowledge. The third
will try to help as well as I will manage without affecting my work. Advertisement. Iwill make the program to reach people aware of necessity water by arranging flash mob, videos,and interesting advertisement. I will give it to company and it should be useful everyone.” When comparing the language use between the two above statements, it is clear that thefirst response reflects greater ethical awareness than the second one. This indicates that textanalysis technique may be useful in detecting ethical awareness. Table 3 Correlation Between Ethical Awareness Scores and LIWC Categories r score p-value SELF-REFERENCE -0.21 0.11
dishonesty. Sociological Inquiry, 69, 91-105. 3. Eckel, E.J. (2010). A reflection on plagiarism, patchwriting, and the engineering master’s thesis. [Viewpoints]. Issues in Science & Technology Librarianship, 62. doi:10.5062/F4NC5Z42 4. Elander, J., Pittam, G., Lusher, J., Fox, P., & Payne, N. (2010). Evaluation of an intervention to help students avoid unintentional plagiarism by improving their authorial identity. Assessment & Evalution in Higher Education, 35, 157-171. doi: 10.1080/02602930802687745 5. Henslee, A.M., Goldsmith, J., Stone, N., & Kreuger, M. (in press for 2015). An online tutorial vs. pre-recorded lecture for reducing incidents of plagiarism. American Journal of Engineering
framework nor any otherframework for care ethics has yet been used as a lens to explore empirical data collected to betterunderstand how care might be reflected in what engineers do and the ways they might think(especially in situations that one might reasonably expect caring qualities to be important, suchas in problems of a humanitarian or social justice nature).Tronto begins by framing care ethics as a practice and notes that there are essentially four phasesof any care process as commonly understood: “caring about (noticing the need to care in the firstplace), taking care of (assuming responsibility for care), care-giving (the actual work of care thatneeds to be done), and care-receiving (the response of that which is cared for to the care)” [2
of technology, safety, distributive justice, and practical efforts to improve lifefor all.In his book The Living Planet, David Attenborough10 shares an environmental philosophy thatpoints out critical issues that can be helpful to students. In his "World Conservation Strategy,"he states three imperatives: 1. We shouldn't so exploit natural resources that we destroy them. 2. We shouldn't interfere with the basic processes of the earth upon which all life depends, in the sky, on the green surfaces of the earth, and in the sea. 3. We should preserve the diversity of life.The rights and duties we have mentioned above were reflected to some extent in the 111distinguishable topics garnered in the study of class opinions
makers, constraints andcontext, and implementation of the system. This simplified framework is employed to allowstudents to more easily explore complex catastrophes from multiple points of view and drawparallels with current technological issues, with these skills significantly improving over thecourse of the semester.Introduction One of the biggest hurdles in infusing courses with ethics and professional issues asrequired by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) is when to begin.Often single courses can be introduced into the curriculum, but a sustained effort in ethicalinstruction, infusing several courses, offers students more chances to consider the material, moreopportunity for growth and reflection, and
Ohio State University and Herkert. Kelly Laas manages the EthicsEducation Library at Illinois Institute of Technology. Simil Raghavan is the NAE associateprogram officer who manages the OEC and is staff liaison to the Engineering Editorial Board.Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this article are thoseof the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.References1. Harris, C. E., Davis, M., Pritchard, M. S., & Rabins, M. J. (1996). Engineering ethics: what? why? how? andwhen? Journal of Engineering Education, 85(2), 93-96.2. Resnik, D.B. (1998). The Ethics of Science: An Introduction (Philosophical Issues in Science), London:Routledge.3. Riley, D. (2008
Methodology This study was designed as a first phase to study the effectiveness of teaching engineeringethics at the University. Later areas of study will build on this study and may include alongitudinal study and expansion to other institutions.Design This study was a non-experimental between-subjects non-equivalent groups design. Thisstudy was designed to compare the moral judgment of engineering students who are justbeginning their studies at the University with those who are completing their studies. The studydesign was approved by the University’s Ethics in Research Committee (EIRC).Hypothesis The University’s teaching of engineering ethics increases students’ engineering moraljudgment as reflected in scores on the Engineering
substantially increased the level of coverage ofthe material when compared to the prior approach. Student success in the course coupled withrecent assessment results suggest that student learning and comprehension of the topics has beenenhanced.Our university recently met the federal criteria to be designated an Hispanic-serving Institutionand is also ranked among the most diverse universities in the United States in terms of race,ethnicity, gender and cultural background. The Professional Practices course reflects thisdiversity in race, ethnicity and culture. In some ways, this complicates the teaching of the Page 26.87.12course, but mostly, it