Conference Session

Beyond Individual Ethics: Engineering in Context

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Byron Newberry, Baylor University; William Lawson, Texas Tech University; Kathy Austin, Texas Tech University; Greta Gorsuch, Texas Tech University; Thomas Darwin, University of Texas at Austin

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

have encountered some form of professional ethics instruction at the undergraduate levelbecause of current ABET requirements. But for graduate students coming from undergraduateinstitutions in other countries, we can neither be sure that they have received any professionalethics instruction at the undergraduate level, nor that they are familiar with the particularconceptions of the engineering profession and of professional ethics in this country.This is not of great concern for those graduate students who return to their countries of origin topursue their careers. But 45% of the approximately 140,000 engineering graduate students in theU.S. are international students, and up to two thirds of those have plans to stay in the UnitedStates to

Conference Session

Learning to Communicate with Engineers and Non-Engineers

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Judith Norback, Georgia Institute of Technology; Nicoleta Serban, Georgia Institute of Technology; Nagi Gebraeel, Georgia Institute of Technology; Garlie Forehand, Georgia Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

Basic Statistical Methods course as a pilotproject in 2006[25] and then during the Fall of 2007. This paper focuses on the results from 2007. Page 13.304.2To the best of our knowledge, the approach is unique in the following ways: 1 1) The instruction is based on workforce input. Engineers, managers, and senior executives have been interviewed to see what communication skills new engineers need to be job competitive and to quickly ascend the career ladder. 2) The instruction involves repeated practice of oral

Conference Session

Blurring the Boundary between Content Knowledge and Professional Knowledge

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Verna Fitzsimmons, Kent State University - Kent; Stephane Booth, Kent State University - Kent

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

implementing and sustaining a lean effort.Students enrolled in this course were either seniors or graduate students and all had someindustrial experience through coop, internships or regular employment. On the first dayof class, the reflective journal assignment was briefly explained; a handout on reflectivejournal entries was distributed, as was a rubric for its evaluation. Given the level of thestudents enrolled in this course, it was assumed that they had been asked sometimeduring their earlier liberal education academic careers to write in a reflective manner.However, it became apparent to the instructors by the second week of class that areflective journal and its purpose was an entirely foreign concept to the students. Thiswas not as shocking of

Conference Session

Thinking around the Bachelor of Arts in Engineering

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Sharon Jones, Lafayette College

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

University’s IDEAS B.S. program that integrates the arts, engineering, and sciences into one non-ABET accredited degree [Students have the option to structure their curriculum so they can also get a traditional B.S. degree.] o Provides a technical liberal arts preparation for non-engineering design careers. These programs retain students who become disillusioned with design in engineering departments and engineering colleges.• Engineering courses for non engineers included in the general education requirements o E.g. Princeton University’s Center for Innovation in Engineering Education with multiple courses, Harvard University’s freshman course(s) titled Introduction to the World of

Conference Session

Philosophy of Engineering Education: Epistemology and Ethics

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Gayle Ermer, Calvin College

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

release, and the Three Mile Islandnuclear reactor near melt-down.Causes related to personal ethics include the immoral actions of people that contribute tocatastrophic failures. This type of cause is usually opposed in the engineering curriculumthrough the study of engineering codes of ethics and case studies to help students clarifythe moral responsibilities inherent in their chosen career and to apply them faithfully.Causes related to societal evil include the political and economic contexts in whichmodern technology operates that contribute to engineering disasters. While some of theseissues are dealt with in the context of engineering ethics, often they are better dealt within liberal arts courses which intentionally raise the consciousness

Conference Session

Beyond Individual Ethics: Engineering in Context

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kristyn Masters, University of Wisconsin - Madison; Sarah Pfatteicher, University of Wisconsin - Madison

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

goal of our study, it is important to note that this module is not intendedto compete with or take the place of a thorough education in engineering ethics and ethicalproblem-solving. Instead, we are presenting this method as a means to achieve ethics across theengineering curriculum, particularly in our research-based institutional context. Integratingethics discussions throughout the engineering curriculum reinforces to students that ethics andengineering are closely intertwined, and helps to prepare them for the decisions they will make intheir future careers. The success of the DISORDER module encourages us to continue offeringit in our own courses, and the feedback from faculty suggests that expanded use throughout theengineering curricula

Conference Session

A Century of Development, Promotion, and Reform: ASEE and Engineering Education

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Carol Johnson, New Jersey Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

government, both federal and state, firmly into thesupport of higher education. In the land-grant institutions the American people achieved popularhigher education for the first time.”10 Knowledge had begun to be available on a wider scale. Public colleges became established by the end of the 19th century. The ongoing debateabout who should have the right to award degrees – the professional associations or the college –continued until 1905 when educators acquired a voice in the councils of the ASME,compromises were made and the market for engineering, in general, was expanding.6 Aneducational system had been built that was strong enough to give graduates a basic educationfrom which they could further their careers; the acquisition of

Conference Session

Beyond Individual Ethics: Engineering in Context

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Donna Riley, Smith College

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

Conference Session

Philosophy of Engineering Education: Epistemology and Ethics

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Mark Valenzuela, University of Evansville; James Allen, University of Evansville; Brian Swenty, University of Evansville

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

Knowledge for the 21st Century,2nd edition, Draft 8 (herein referred to as BOK2)1.The LEAP Report challenges schools, colleges, and universities to fulfill the promise of a liberaleducation in a “new century marked by increasing global complexity, interconnectedness and Page 13.853.5rapid change.” In rethinking general education, the report addresses long-held assumptionsabout liberal education, namely: • That liberal education is not about careers or practical economic benefit. • That liberal education is only the province of certain departments in the arts and sciences and through narrow categories. • That liberal education is

Conference Session

Learning to Communicate with Engineers and Non-Engineers

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Laura Wilson, University of CIncinnati; Teresa Cook, University of Cincinnati; Jo Ann Thompson, University of Cincinnati; James Everly, University of Cincinnati

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

careers, this late emphasis on writing competency was lessbeneficial to the college: the lessons learned were not likely to trickle down to lower-levelcourses. In order for writing instruction to be truly beneficial, a better approach is needed: onethat stresses and prioritizes the role of writing throughout a student’s education and across alldisciplinary boundaries.More notably, research suggests that, commonly in the field of engineering, students were notmaking the connections among their writing and engineering courses, and thus did not regardwriting in their engineering courses as “important.”4 In order to underscore these connectionsfor the students, a junior-level capstone course was introduced in the Electrical and ComputerEngineering

Conference Session

Learning to Communicate with Engineers and Non-Engineers

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Leslie Potter, Iowa State University; John Jackman, Iowa State University; K. Jo Min, Iowa State University; Matthew Search, Iowa State University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

;flowTypeNo=13&pageSeq=2 &reqNo=51358&art_servlet_language=en&csNo=10020, (accessed 10 January 2008).6. 3M, http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/Careers/Home/WorkingAt3M/CareerAreas/EngineeringQua lity/, (accessed 10 January 2008).7. Pai, D., and Filatovs, J., 2006, “Synthesis of Teaching and Evaluation Activities for Development of Professional Skills in a Capstone Design Course,” Proceedings of the 2006 ASEE National Conference.8. Gunn, C., 2006, “Integrating Communication Skills into a Mechanical Engineering Department,” Proceedings of the 2006 ASEE National Conference.9. Tranquillo, J., and Cavanaugh, D., 2007, “Building Engineering Communication Skills Through

Conference Session

Venturing Out: Service Learning, Study Abroad, and Criterion H

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Duffy, University of Massachusetts Lowell; Carol Barry, University Massachusetts Lowell; Linda Barrington, University of Massachusetts-Lowell; David Kazmer, University of Massachusetts-Lowell; William Moeller, University of Massachusetts Lowell; Cheryl West, University of Massachusetts Lowell

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

participation had significant positiveeffects on 11 outcome measures: academic performance (GPA, writing skills, critical thinkingskills), values (commitment to activism and to promoting racial understanding), self-efficacy,leadership (leadership activities, self-rated leadership ability, interpersonal skills), choice of aservice career, and plans to participate in service after college. “These findings directly replicatea number of recent studies using different samples and methodologies.”(p.ii) 5 They found thatS-L to be significantly better in 8 out of 11 measures than just service without the courseintegration and discovered “strong support for the notion that service learning should be includedin the student’s major field.”(p.iii)6.Eyler and