Variations in Reflections as a Method for Teaching and Assessment of Engineering Ethics
- Conference
- Location
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Virtual On line
- Publication Date
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June 22, 2020
- Start Date
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June 22, 2020
- End Date
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June 26, 2021
- Conference Session
- Tagged Division
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Engineering Ethics
- Page Count
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16
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--35485
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/35485
- Download Count
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470
Paper Authors
Angela R. Bielefeldt University of Colorado, Boulder
Angela Bielefeldt is a professor at the University of Colorado Boulder in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering (CEAE) and Director for the Engineering Plus program. She has served as the Associate Chair for Undergraduate Education in the CEAE Department, as well as the ABET assessment coordinator. Professor Bielefeldt was also the faculty director of the Sustainable By Design Residential Academic Program, a living-learning community where students learned about and practice sustainability. Bielefeldt is also a licensed P.E. Professor Bielefeldt's research interests in engineering education include service-learning, sustainable engineering, social responsibility, ethics, and diversity.
Madeline Polmear
University of Florida
orcid.org/0000-0002-7774-6834
Madeline Polmear is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Civil and Coastal Engineering at the University of Florida. Her research interests include workforce development and engineering ethics education.
Chris Swan
Tufts University
orcid.org/0000-0001-5670-8938
Chris Swan is Dean of Undergraduate Education for the School of Engineering and an associate professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering department at Tufts University. He has additional appointments in the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life and the Center for Engineering Education and Outreach at Tufts. His current engineering education research interests focus on community engagement, service-based projects and examining whether an entrepreneurial mindset can be used to further engineering education innovations. He also does research on the development of sustainable materials management (SMM) strategies.
Daniel Knight University of Colorado Boulder
Daniel W. Knight is the Program Assessment and Research Associate at Design Center (DC) Colorado in CU’s Department of Mechanical Engineering at the College of Engineering and Applied Science. He holds a B.A. in psychology from Louisiana State University, an M.S. degree in industrial/organizational psychology and a Ph.D. degree in education, both from the University of Tennessee. Dr. Knight’s research interests are in the areas of K-12, program evaluation and teamwork practices in engineering education. His current duties include assessment, team development, outreach and education research for DC Colorado's hands-on initiatives.
Nathan E. Canney
Dr. Canney conducts research focused on engineering education, specifically the development of social responsibility in engineering students. Other areas of interest include ethics, service learning, and sustainability education. Dr. Canney received bachelors degrees in Civil Engineering and Mathematics from Seattle University, a masters in Civil Engineering from Stanford University with an emphasis on structural engineering, and a PhD in Civil Engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder.
Abstract
Personal reflections integrated into teaching and assessment practices are becoming somewhat more common in engineering education. Reflections may be particularly effective as part of ethics education, to increase engineering students’ moral development and critical thinking about ethical issues. On a large survey, 48% of 1122 engineering educators who taught ethics and/or societal impact issues reportedly used reflection in their teaching or assessment. Reflection was variously common in different course types, co-occurred to varying extents with different teaching methods, and appeared to be more commonly associated with different topics. Based on interviews with educators who teach ethics and/or societal impacts to engineering students, it became apparent that reflection is an imprecise term that encompasses a broad diversity of activities (from class wide discussion to individual reflective essays on personal experience or case studies). Specific examples of reflective prompts used for written essays and journals are provided. These examples of reflection activities may help engineering educators determine the best ways to integrate reflection into their teaching practices. The different types of reflection described in the literature -- including critical, dialogic, and descriptive – provide a framework to contrast different goals for student reflection.
Bielefeldt, A. R., & Polmear, M., & Swan, C., & Knight, D., & Canney, N. E. (2020, June), Variations in Reflections as a Method for Teaching and Assessment of Engineering Ethics Paper presented at 2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual On line . 10.18260/1-2--35485
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