A Multi-level Review of Engineering Ethics Education: Towards a Socio-technical Orientation of Engineering Education for Ethics

Martin, Diana Adela; Conlon, Eddie; Bowe, Brian

doi:10.1007/s11948-021-00333-6

Cited by 66 publications

(71 citation statements)

References 233 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…As a result, the type of professional engineering ethics pursued in most courses remains within the scope of "microethics" (Herkert, 2001) leaving other critical dimensions of engineering ethics behind. Martin et al (2021) note that the invisibility of macro topics in engineering ethics education including the broader mission and implications of the profession and public good.…”

Section: Student Perceptions Of Engineering Ethicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The growing body of empirical research over the past two decades suggests that systemic and cultural level barriers may explain the unsuccessful implementation of ethics in engineering education programs (Martin et al, 2021). Understanding the larger cultural and institutional context of technically dominant engineering education programs seems essential to understanding the current challenges in Teaching Engineering Ethics to undergraduate students.…”

Section: Cultural Context Of Teaching Engineering Ethicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…She explains three ideological backdrops of the culture: the concept of depoliticization, which portrays nontechnical matters irrelevant to engineering, and technical and social dualism, which discounts non-technical and social competencies, and meritocracy which uphold the current social structure as natural, legitimate, and fair. In their extensive review of research on engineering ethics education, Martin et al (2021) argue that the culture of engineering education is characterized by "the valorisation of the technical and the marginalisation of the societal dimension of engineering" (2021, p. 60). Researchers emphasize a persistent cultural bias that evaluates non-technical knowledge and competencies as holding less value and importance in engineering fields (Niles et al, 2020, p. 498).…”

Section: Cultural Context Of Teaching Engineering Ethicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is no shortage of literature reporting multiple challenges in Teaching Engineering Ethics, confirming the hardship of raising the next generation of engineers equipped with a well-rounded professional ethics (Li & Fu, 2012;Martin et al, 2021). Scholars recognize that facilitating students' critical awareness of and commitment to the profession's shared responsibility to the welfare of larger society is one of the hardest tasks to accomplish through the programmatic and instructional means currently available in higher education (Martin et al, 2021). This calls for a fundamental perspective change in engineering education-including how to conceptualize, address, and teach engineering ethics-to discuss to ensure that the next generation of professional engineers is equipped with a robust, more holistic concept of engineering ethics.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Discussions on engineering ethics remain on the level of "engineers' ethics," personal ethics left to the individual's discretion and actions (Basart & Serra, 2013) rather than addressing the profession's collective responsibilities to society. There is no shortage of literature reporting multiple challenges in Teaching Engineering Ethics, confirming the hardship of raising the next generation of engineers equipped with a well-rounded professional ethics (Li & Fu, 2012;Martin et al, 2021). Scholars recognize that facilitating students' critical awareness of and commitment to the profession's shared responsibility to the welfare of larger society is one of the hardest tasks to accomplish through the programmatic and instructional means currently available in higher education (Martin et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

“In Our Own Little World”: Invisibility of the Social and Ethical Dimension of Engineering Among Undergraduate Students

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper explores how undergraduate students understood the social relevance of their engineering course content knowledge and drew (or failed to draw) broader social and ethical implications from that knowledge. Based on a three-year qualitative study in a junior-level engineering class, we found that students had difficulty in acknowledging the social and ethical aspects of engineering as relevant topics in their coursework. Many students considered the immediate technical usability or improved efficiency of technical innovations as the noteworthy social and ethical implications of engineering. Findings suggest that highly-structured engineering programs leave little room for undergraduate students to explore the ethical dimension of engineering content knowledge and interact with other students/programs on campus to expand their “technically-minded” perspective. We discussed the issues of the “culture of disengagement” (Cech, Sci Technol Human Values 39(1):42–72, 2014) fueled by disciplinary elitism, spatial distance, and insulated curriculum prevalent in the current structure of engineering programs. We called for more conscious effort by engineering educators to offer meaningful interdisciplinary engagement opportunities and in-class conversations on ethics that support engineering students' holistic intellectual growth and well-rounded professional ethics.

show abstract

Section: Student Perceptions Of Engineering Ethicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Cultural Context Of Teaching Engineering Ethicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Cultural Context Of Teaching Engineering Ethicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

“In Our Own Little World”: Invisibility of the Social and Ethical Dimension of Engineering Among Undergraduate Students

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Motivational dynamics in basic needs profiles: Toward a person‐centered motivation approach in engineering education

Bombaerts

Vaessen²

2022

J of Engineering Edu

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background While educators strive for optimal student motivation to enhance the quality of learning for all, different students attending the same course can have different needs. Person‐centered approaches on basic needs profiles, categorizing individuals into groups with similar motivational profiles, have the potential to inform the relationship between different variables per cluster and to support instructional design sensitive to student differences. However, they are still absent in engineering education research (EER). Purpose/Hypothesis This gap is addressed by analyzing the basic psychological needs of engineering students as potential mediators during a mandatory, first‐year course on the ethics and history of technology. The aims are thus to (1) determine whether distinct basic needs profiles can be identified and (2) investigate how students' motivation differed and evolved during the course for the different basic needs profiles. Design/Methods Two‐step cluster analyses, MANOVA, and t‐test analyses were conducted using the data collected from 1864 students with digital questionnaires completed at three points within a semester of a course. Results We construed four student profiles from the survey data based on the distinct roles of competence and autonomy, with post hoc tests showing relationships between meaningful differences in evaluation of course elements, motivation, course appreciations, and motivation dynamics. Conclusions The person‐centered approach is promising in engineering education design to answer differences in students' basic needs to improve the quality of learning for all. We showed that the person‐centered approach could also add important insights complementary to the variable‐centered approach in EER on dynamics of motivation for learning.

show abstract

How do ethics and diversity, equity, and inclusion relate in engineering? A systematic review

Hess,

Lin,

Whitehead

et al. 2023

J of Engineering Edu

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BackgroundThis paper begins with the premise that ethics and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) overlap in engineering. Yet, the topics of ethics and DEI often inhabit different scholarly spaces in engineering education, thus creating a divide between these topics in engineering education research, teaching, and practice.PurposeWe investigate the research question, “How are ethics and DEI explicitly connected in peer‐reviewed literature in engineering education and closely related fields?”DesignWe used systematic review procedures to synthesize intersections between ethics and DEI in engineering education scholarly literature. We extracted literature from engineering and engineering education databases and used thematic analysis to identify ethics/DEI connections.ResultsWe identified three primary themes (each with three sub‐themes): (1) lenses that serve to connect ethics and DEI (social, justice‐oriented, professional), (2) roots that inform how ethics and DEI connect in engineering (individual demographics, disciplinary cultures, institutional cultures); and (3) engagement strategies for promoting ethics and DEI connections in engineering (affinity toward ethics/DEI content, understanding diverse stakeholders, working in diverse teams).ConclusionsThere is a critical mass of engineering education scholars explicitly exploring connections between ethics and DEI in engineering. Based on this review, potential benefits of integrating ethics and DEI in engineering include cultivating a socially just world and shifting engineering culture to be more inclusive and equitable, thus accounting for the needs and values of students and faculty from diverse backgrounds.

show abstract

A Multi-level Review of Engineering Ethics Education: Towards a Socio-technical Orientation of Engineering Education for Ethics

Cited by 66 publications

References 233 publications

“In Our Own Little World”: Invisibility of the Social and Ethical Dimension of Engineering Among Undergraduate Students

“In Our Own Little World”: Invisibility of the Social and Ethical Dimension of Engineering Among Undergraduate Students

Motivational dynamics in basic needs profiles: Toward a person‐centered motivation approach in engineering education

How do ethics and diversity, equity, and inclusion relate in engineering? A systematic review

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About