Building a Community of Ethics Educators in Graduate Engineering Programs: Developing an Ethics Workshop Following a User-Oriented Approach

Xiaofeng Tang; Eduardo Mendieta; Thomas A. Litzinger

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Conference: 2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Columbus, Ohio
Publication Date: June 24, 2017
Start Date: June 24, 2017
End Date: June 28, 2017
Conference Session: Engaging Ethics in Teams and Communities
Tagged Division: Engineering Ethics
Page Count: 13
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--27983
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/27983
Download Count: 580

Paper Authors

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Xiaofeng Tang Pennsylvania State University, University Park orcid.org/0000-0002-6279-9941

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Xiaofeng Tang is a postdoctoral fellow in engineering ethics at Penn State University. He received his Ph.D. in Science and Technology Studies from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

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Eduardo Mendieta Pennsylvania State University, University Park

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Eduardo Mendieta is professor of philosophy and acting director of the Rock Ethics Institute at Penn State University

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Thomas A. Litzinger Pennsylvania State University, University Park

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Thomas A. Litzinger is Director of the Leonhard Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Education and a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Penn State. His work in engineering education involves curricular reform, teaching and learning innovations, assessment, and faculty development. Dr. Litzinger has more than 50 publications related to engineering education including lead authorship of an invited article in the 100th Anniversary issue of JEE and for an invited chapter on translation of research to practice for the first edition of the Cambridge Handbook of Engineering Education Research. He serves as an Associate Editor for Advances in Engineering Education and on the Advisory Board for the Journal of Engineering Education. He was selected as a Fellow of ASEE in 2008 and of ASME in 2012. He holds a B.S. in Nuclear Engineering from Penn State, an M.Eng. in Mechanical Engineering from RPI, and a Ph.D. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Princeton.

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Abstract

Ethics education in undergraduate engineering programs tends to focus on ethical issues that arise in the professional context. By contrast, ethics education for graduate students in engineering often addresses different kinds of ethical challenges, ones that relate to norms and expectations in the research community as well as the broad social impact of engineering research. In recent years, leading organizations such as NSF, NIH and the National Academy of Engineering have made significant efforts to promote ethics training for graduate researchers. In spite of these concerted efforts, few sustainable models for incorporating ethics in graduate engineering programs have been described in the literature. As designers of ethics education programs, we argue that considerable progress can be achieved through engaging and empowering our users—the engineering faculty members who teach graduate courses and advise graduate students in research groups.

This paper presents a user-oriented approach to building a community of ethics educators in graduate engineering education. We begin the paper by reporting our “user study” of engineering faculty’s current approaches, challenges, and needs for teaching ethics to graduate students at a large, public research university. Findings of the user study guided our design of a workshop on “Ethical Literacy and Ethical Data Management,” which helped engineering faculty members develop conceptual understanding and instructional skills for teaching ethical inquiries that are related to particular areas of engineering research.

Design of the workshop sought to meet three objectives: 1) help participating faculty members develop basic understanding of ethical theories and concepts; 2) introduce ethical issues related with engineering research, especially with the handling of research data; 3) share and demonstrate instructional methods for leading discussion based ethical analysis.

Feedback from the workshop participants and their subsequent presentations of ethics teach plans indicate that our user-oriented approach successfully engaged a cohort of ethics educators in graduate engineering programs. We conclude this paper by reflecting on the lessons we learned from the workshop design and reporting our plans for refining the workshop in the future.

Citation
Format

Tang, X., & Mendieta, E., & Litzinger, T. A. (2017, June), Building a Community of Ethics Educators in Graduate Engineering Programs: Developing an Ethics Workshop Following a User-Oriented Approach Paper presented at 2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Columbus, Ohio. 10.18260/1-2--27983

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Ethics education in undergraduate engineering programs tends to focus on ethical issues that arise in the professional context. By contrast, ethics education for graduate students in engineering often addresses different kinds of ethical challenges, ones that relate to norms and expectations in the research community as well as the broad social impact of engineering research. In recent years, leading organizations such as NSF, NIH and the National Academy of Engineering have made significant efforts to promote ethics training for graduate researchers. In spite of these concerted efforts, few sustainable models for incorporating ethics in graduate engineering programs have been described in the literature. As designers of ethics education programs, we argue that considerable progress can be achieved through engaging and empowering our users—the engineering faculty members who teach graduate courses and advise graduate students in research groups. 

This paper presents a user-oriented approach to building a community of ethics educators in graduate engineering education. We begin the paper by reporting our “user study” of engineering faculty’s current approaches, challenges, and needs for teaching ethics to graduate students at a large, public research university. Findings of the user study guided our design of a workshop on “Ethical Literacy and Ethical Data Management,” which helped engineering faculty members develop conceptual understanding and instructional skills for teaching ethical inquiries that are related to particular areas of engineering research. 

Design of the workshop sought to meet three objectives: 1) help participating faculty members develop basic understanding of ethical theories and concepts; 2) introduce ethical issues related with engineering research, especially with the handling of research data; 3) share and demonstrate instructional methods for leading discussion based ethical analysis.

Feedback from the workshop participants and their subsequent presentations of ethics teach plans indicate that our user-oriented approach successfully engaged a cohort of ethics educators in graduate engineering programs. We conclude this paper by reflecting on the lessons we learned from the workshop design and reporting our plans for refining the workshop in the future.

AU  - Xiaofeng Tang
AU  - Eduardo Mendieta
AU  - Thomas A. Litzinger
CY  - Columbus, Ohio
DA  - 2017/06/24
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Building a Community of Ethics Educators in Graduate Engineering Programs: Developing an Ethics Workshop Following a User-Oriented Approach
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/27983
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--27983
ER  -