Conference Session

Engineering Ethics III

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jason Borenstein, Georgia Tech; Matthew Drake, Duquesne University; Robert Kirkman, Georgia Institute of Technology; Julie Swann, Georgia Tech

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

. However, assessing theeffectiveness of ethics education programs generally, not just in science and engineering, hasproven to be a rather daunting task. Many of the attempts at assessment have made use of the Defining Issues Test (DIT), aninstrument that measures moral reasoning based on Kohlberg’s theory of moral development.[1]Briefly put, the DIT elicits subjects’ responses to moral dilemmas and sorts those responsesaccording to three types of moral reasoning: preconventional, conventional, andpostconventional. A subject’s responses are scored on the simple prevalence of postconventionalreasoning, which involves reflecting on universal principles that apply to all of humanity, andalso the prevalence of postconventional reasoning

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics II

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Richard Theis, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Prescott; patricia watkins, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Library; Mary Angela Beck, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

wecontinually improve our engineering curriculum.After reviewing the ABET standards, we determined that as a future-oriented university valuingthe worth of sustainability education, we must evaluate engineering courses to see howsustainability might be most effectively or most creatively introduced into the currentengineering curriculum, i.e., what the most effective pathways of learning might be. However,engaging in such a project requires a rigorous self-reflection process by all the stakeholders—faculty, staff, students, administrators—to successfully implement such curricular changes.Assessment of stakeholder attitudes is therefore critical to a study such as this.This paper will report on a research project that will: 1) extend the idea of

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics II

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Christopher Papadopoulos; Andrew Hable, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

(e.g., the purchase of paint)defense-related goods and services. However, these estimates do not include defense-related purchases by agencies other that DOD, such as DOE or NASA; whether or not thedata reflects effort related to defense sales to foreign governments is unclear. Furthermuddying the data is the fact that some of the engineering effort reflected in the DODdata is provided by engineers in foreign countries under contract with US companies.With these caveats in mind, our complied data indicates that about 8.8% of professionalengineering effort is devoted to defense-related activities – about 3 times higher than forthe overall workforce defense effort (2.8%). Some specializations, such as aerospaceengineering and electrical

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics II

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Rose Marra, University of Missouri; Demei Shen, University of Missouri; David Jonassen, University of Missouri; Jenny Lo, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; Vinod Lohani, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

natural product of the learning process, and one of themost commonly used cognitive strategies to promote students’ thinking21, 22. A question reflectsthe level of thought entailed to answer it and therefore they can be ranked23. Questioning iseffective in facilitating thinking21. Various studies showed that questions were effective foreliciting metacognition in terms of planning and reflection in web-based learningenvironments24, and that questions were effective in fostering ill-structured problem solving Page 13.622.4processes20, 25. Additionally, problem solving is influenced by various factors including cognitive andmetacognitive

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics II

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Travis Rieder, University of South Carolina

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

uncontroversial, andthere is no unanimously-held view concerning the proper role of intuition in ethics. Page 13.569.3However, the position I will advocate takes its lineage from a strongly compelling thesisof John Rawls’,6 which although not unanimously-held, is well-respected.The position I am referring to is called ‘reflective equilibrium’ and was coined by Rawls,but has been employed by many theorists since. The basic idea is this: ethics consists in adynamic process of intuition informing theory, which then can serve to correct or makeconsistent intuition. The process is continuous and loops back upon itself – one canalways legitimately ask whether a

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics IV

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Robert Niewoehner, U.S. Naval Academy

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

on the subject of engineering ethics: “Even though religious people should honor the rule that they cannot offer their special revelations as the public evidence for their views, they can still reflect on the implications of such revelation within the bounds of the mainstream academy by talking about them conditionally. That is, it is perfectly legitimate to ask an academic question in the form of ‘if this religious teaching were true, how would Page 13.917.5 it change the way we look at the subject at hand?’”11While Marsden and I are both Christian, and candidly seek to encourage a Christian voicein scholarship

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics III

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

William Birmingham, Grove City College

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

believe they were interacting with another machine.2 That is, Turingdesired machines that could think and act similar to a human being, i.e., artificial, non-organic,non-evolved human-like machines. Thus, the idea that a machine could have the distinctlyhuman abilities of thinking and self-reflection entered the scientific and engineering realms.In some way, the AI enterprise can be considered a response to Turing's challenge, whereengineers are developing ever more powerful thinking machines, eventually leading to machinesthat some might believe are indistinguishable from humans. The creation of more complexartificial agents inevitably leads to a question of what constitutes humanness, which in many AIcircles is, by and large, rooted in a view

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics I

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Pradeep Bhattacharya, Southern University & A&M College

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

saving grace in ourtechnologically advanced country is that the press in this country is still free to reportresearchers who do such researches. 3. Philosophical affiliationWe have to make dramatic changes to stay on the cutting edge of technologies andmarkets that are of crucial importance to our core audience, students, researchers,engineers, engineering managers and program managers who serve bio-medical,electronics and electro-optics industries. The popularity of ethics is partly due to its longhistory and thus it is a well developed method of philosophical reflection of itspractitioners from a country to country perspective. However, since global relations aredeveloping faster than imagined, to sharing of

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics III

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jason Durfee, Eastern Washington University; William Loendorf, Eastern Washington University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

is passed out in the senior capstone class the students are told to dotheir best, but they know that the exam isn’t part of their grade. This opens the possibility thatstudents may not take as much care in completing the exam as they otherwise might and perhapsthe exam scores reflect this.Finally, the use of this exam has proven to be a great addition to our academic program inprofessional ethics. It has also been a great opportunity to re-address the importance ofprofessional societies and the benefits that they can offer.Conclusions, Recommendations and the FutureStudents in the various Engineering Technology programs are now better prepared to handle theethical challenges that will be presented to them during their engineering career