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Research in Engineering Education Symposium 2011 - rees2009

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Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) Pág<strong>in</strong>a 604 de 957<br />

Topic: Ethics & Values – Chair: Cynthia F<strong>in</strong>elli<br />

Assess<strong>in</strong>g the ethical development of eng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g undergraduates <strong>in</strong> the United<br />

States<br />

Donald D. Carpenter<br />

dcarpente@ltu.edu<br />

Lawrence Technological University, Southfield, MI<br />

United States of America<br />

Cynthia J. F<strong>in</strong>elli, Matthew A. Holsapple, Rob M. Bielby, Brian A. Burt<br />

cf<strong>in</strong>elli@umich.edu , mapple@umich.edu , rbiebly@umich.edu , bburt@umich.edu<br />

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI<br />

United States of America<br />

Janel A. Sutkus<br />

jsutkus@cmu.edu<br />

Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA<br />

United States of America<br />

Trevor S. Hard<strong>in</strong>g<br />

thard<strong>in</strong>g@calpoly.edu<br />

California State Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo, CA<br />

United States of America<br />

Abstract: Develop<strong>in</strong>g eng<strong>in</strong>eers must be aware that technological development<br />

and emerg<strong>in</strong>g global issues will require a keen sense of ethical responsibility and<br />

be prepared to reason through and act appropriately on the ethical dilemmas<br />

they will experience as professionals. This <strong>in</strong>vestigation evaluated different<br />

<strong>in</strong>stitutional approaches for ethics education with a goal of better prepar<strong>in</strong>g<br />

students to be ethical professionals. The project <strong>in</strong>cluded visit<strong>in</strong>g 19 diverse<br />

partner <strong>in</strong>stitutions and collect<strong>in</strong>g data from nearly 150 faculty/adm<strong>in</strong>istrators<br />

and over 4000 eng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g undergraduates. Data were used to identify variables<br />

that have the most positive impact on students’ ethical development. F<strong>in</strong>d<strong>in</strong>gs<br />

suggest that the number and type of co-curricular experiences have an<br />

important <strong>in</strong>fluence on ethical development, that students with higher levels of<br />

ethical reason<strong>in</strong>g are less likely to be satisfied ethics <strong>in</strong>struction, and that the<br />

<strong>in</strong>stitutional culture made a difference on how students behaved and how they<br />

articulated concepts of ethics.<br />

Introduction and Context<br />

The development of future technologies and emerg<strong>in</strong>g global issues will require a keen<br />

sense of ethical and social implications (NAE, 2003; NAE 2004). Therefore, develop<strong>in</strong>g<br />

eng<strong>in</strong>eers must not only be aware of exist<strong>in</strong>g national and <strong>in</strong>ternational ethical standards,<br />

but must also be prepared to reason through and act appropriately on ethical dilemmas<br />

they will experience. This sentiment is echoed by Sheppard, et al. (2009), who argue that<br />

Proceed<strong>in</strong>gs of <strong>Research</strong> <strong>in</strong> Eng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g <strong>Education</strong> <strong>Symposium</strong> <strong>2011</strong><br />

Madrid, 4 th - 7 th October <strong>2011</strong>

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