Chicago, Illinois
June 18, 2006
June 18, 2006
June 21, 2006
2153-5965
Engineering Technology
8
11.600.1 - 11.600.8
10.18260/1-2--1183
https://peer.asee.org/1183
545
David Dvorak is Professor of Mechanical Engineering Technology and Director of the School of Engineering Technology at the University of Maine. He joined the UMaine faculty in 1988. From 1982 to 1988 he worked at GE aircraft engines in Cincinnati, Ohio. Dr. Dvorak received B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1981 and 1982 respectively, and a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Maine in 1998. He is a Registered Professional Engineer in Maine and Ohio. Dr. Dvorak is active in ASME and ASEE, recently serving on the Executive Board of the Engineering Technology Leadership Institute (ETLI).
Assistant Professor Ron Fulle has been teaching at RIT since 1998 in the Telecommunications Engineering Technology Program. He received his MS in Telecommunications from the U of Colorado—Boulder and BS in Mathematics from SUNY Oswego. He has over 25 years of telecom industry experience with a large US based telecommunications company.
Ethics, Social Responsibility, and Global Awareness in the Engineering Technology Curriculum ABSTRACT
As globalization affects the technology-based companies and industries that form our constituents, it becomes increasingly important that our students become aware of these issues within the context of their engineering technology curriculum. In addition, TAC/ABET specifies educational outcomes in these areas that must be assessed and demonstrated by our students prior to graduation. For these reasons, it is necessary and appropriate that we imbed instruction in ethics, social responsibility, professionalism, and global awareness into the fabric of our undergraduate culture. This paper describes a workshop given at the 2005 Engineering Technology Leadership Institute, held in Rochester New York on October 1-3. The workshop involved 16 faculty and administrators from two-year and four-year programs at 13 different institutions. In addition to describing the workshop for those who were not able to attend, the paper draws conclusions and points out a “best practice” approach for future workshops.
INTRODUCTION
The importance of ethics, social responsibility, and global awareness in the practice of engineering cannot be overstated. This paper will focus on ethics; it is also proposed that studying ethics within the broader context of social responsibility and global awareness enhances the students learning experience and may bring a more valuable engineer and citizen to society. In fact, Globig1 discusses the importance of defining engineering ethics within a broader “global ethic” based on universal moral ideals that transcend culture-specific mores. Almost all engineering and engineering technology programs incorporate ethics education at some level, either as a separate course or distributed within other courses. The approach used in the workshop described in this paper focuses on what engineering technology educators can do to enhance the ethical education of their students by incorporating content and learning activities within the so-called technical portion of the curriculum.
Engineering Technology Leadership Institute The Engineering Technology Leadership Institute (ETLI) is the leadership development activity of the Engineering Technology Council of ASEE. The purpose of the ETLI is to bring together engineering technology leaders and educators from two-year and four-year institutions and discuss issues of common interest and concern2. The stated goals of ETLI are • To prepare leadership personnel through faculty and administrative development; • To enable participants to broaden their knowledge of engineering technology leadership issues; • To discuss problems of management in an engineering technology environment; • To provide specific leadership training; • To provide an opportunity to exchange ideas with fellow educators; • To provide participants with an opportunity to share their successes in leadership areas;
Dvorak, S. D., & Fulle, R. (2006, June), Ethics, Social Responsibility, And Global Awareness In The Engineering Technology Curriculum Paper presented at 2006 Annual Conference & Exposition, Chicago, Illinois. 10.18260/1-2--1183
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