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Embedding Engineering Ethics in Introductory Engineering Courses using Stand-Alone Learning Modules

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Conference

Middle Atlantic ASEE Section Spring 2021 Conference

Location

Virtual

Publication Date

April 9, 2021

Start Date

April 9, 2021

End Date

April 10, 2021

Page Count

11

DOI

10.18260/1-2--36298

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/36298

Download Count

238

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Paper Authors

biography

Ashish D Borgaonkar New Jersey Institute of Technology

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Dr. Ashish Borgaonkar works as Asst. Professor of Engineering Education at the New Jersey Institute of Technology's Newark College of Engineering located in Newark, New Jersey. He has developed and taught several engineering courses primarily in first-year engineering, civil and environmental engineering, and general engineering. He has won multiple awards for excellence in instruction; most recently the Saul K. Fenster Award for Innovation in Engineering Education. He also has worked on several research projects, programs, and initiatives to help students bridge the gap between high school and college as well as preparing students for the rigors of mathematics. His research interests include engineering education, integration of novel technologies into the engineering classroom, excellence in instruction, water, and wastewater treatment, civil engineering infrastructure, and transportation engineering.

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Jaskirat Sodhi New Jersey Institute of Technology

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Dr. Jaskirat Sodhi is interested in first-year engineering curriculum design and recruitment, retention and success of engineering students. He is the coordinator of ENGR101, an application-oriented course for engineering students placed in pre-calculus courses. He has also developed and co-teaches the Fundamentals of Engineering Design course that includes a wide spectra of activities to teach general engineering students the basics of engineering design using a hands-on approach which is also engaging and fun. He is an Institute for Teaching Excellence Fellow and the recipient of NJIT's 2018 Saul K. Fenster Innovation in Engineering Education Award.

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Chizhong Wang New Jersey Institute of Technology

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Chizhong Wang received the B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Harbin University of Science and Technology, Harbin, China, in 2013 and M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ, US in 2015.

He is currently a Ph. D. candidate in Electrical and Computer Engineering department of New Jersey Institute of Technology. His current research interests include biomedical signal processing, wearable medical devices, image processing, and engineering education.

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Abstract

Ethics is a core principle of any service profession and in particular the engineering profession for the direct impact it has on human life and the environment. However, many engineering degree curricula rely on general education requirements (GER) to introduce and teach ethics to engineering students. More often than not engineering students take ethics-based courses in their junior year or later. Also, in many cases, such GER courses teach ethics based on fundamental theory and students cannot always connect it to engineering practice easily. To address this issue, many engineering course instructors have successfully introduced ethics-based learning modules in their courses, including introductory first-year courses. The authors have developed and taught an introduction to engineering design course to students in the general engineering program. The General Engineering program serves undecided and underprepared students. The authors have continuously upgraded and updated the course based on feedback and lessons learned. This paper presents a summary of various ways the authors have explored to teach engineering ethics to first-year students through a stand-alone module. Some of the successful modules include townhall style presentations, ethics debates, and more recently breakout sessions in response to the switch to remote instruction due to the COVID-19 pandemic situation. The paper will provide information on how to run these modules as well as the pros and cons of each of the methods attempted. We hope to help instructors quickly design and implement such modules in their course as well as to get valuable feedback on improving such modules in our courses.

Borgaonkar, A. D., & Sodhi, J., & Wang, C. (2021, April), Embedding Engineering Ethics in Introductory Engineering Courses using Stand-Alone Learning Modules Paper presented at Middle Atlantic ASEE Section Spring 2021 Conference, Virtual . 10.18260/1-2--36298

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