Learning Ethical, Environmental and Professional Responsibility at Universitat Politècnica de València. Where Are We?

Abstract

This paper presents a study on the development of the cross-curricular learning outcome (CCLO) “Ethical, environmental and professional responsibility” for students of different Bachelor’s Degrees taught at Universitat Politècnica de València (Spain). The work involved in the development of this learning outcome entails great complexity, given the double dimension of responsibility that it involves. At the end of their training at the university, students are expected to show ethical, environmental, and professional responsibility towards themselves and others. Interviews have been conducted with lecturers who work and assess this outcome in their subjects, most/all of them related to science and engineering. The objective was to identify the learning approach used in the different subjects to guarantee the acquisition of this CCLO by the students. A focus group has also been carried out with students to determine the importance they give to this learning outcome, and to know their degree of satisfaction with the training received. The methodology used to obtain the data from lecturers and students and to process the information to get a precise diagnosis is fully described in the paper. Results are satisfactory to some extent: most of the lecturers carry out appropriate activities and most students achieve the expected proficiency level. Finally, recommendations are given to improve the development of this cross-curricular learning outcome.

What works (and what does not) to incorporate ethics as a cross curricular competence?

“…The specific description of the activities to be carried out for the achievement of the cross curricular competence is uneven, with a high number of subjects detected (27.45%) that do not describe them in detail [2].…”

“…2. Lectures´opinions [2] the UPV cross-curricular outcome [2] However, it is remarkable that most lecturers are willing to incorporate this content into their subjects along with other specific content. Most of them are also willing to design activities related to it.…”

“…− Lecturers in charge of working with and assessing the part of the competence related to ethical and professional responsibility need guidance in training and designing activities for assessing students. Approximately 40% of the activities that are currently being carried out in the classroom do not work on or assess this competence despite the desire to do so [2]. − Students have four academic years (the duration of the bachelor degree) to achieve a certain proficiency level of the transversal competence.…”

“…It is desirable to develop coordination between lecturers who are going to work on this transversal competence throughout the degree, in order to correctly design the activities and increase the degree of complexity without repeating content, and taking into account the progress in the development of the competence. − Accordingly it is interesting to start in the first years (first proficiency level) with less complex activities (identification of unethical and unprofessional behavior, for instance [3][4]). As the curriculum progresses, more complex activities such as the resolution of ethical dilemmas that require knowledge in order to be able to argue the most appropriate solutions can be proposed.…”

Promoting Educational Reform to Enhance Talent Cultivation Quality of Civil Engineering Majors Based on Deep Learning Background

“…Three-dimensional urban construction, structural systems, and engineering environment of diversification and complexity have become the main features of modern engineering construction, while with the deepening of economic system reform, civil construction enterprises are also facing more opportunities and challenges; the competition between enterprises is also increasingly intensified [8][9][10]. On the one hand, they should have a broad and solid theoretical foundation; on the other hand, it is more important that they have strong analytical, problem-solving, and innovation abilities [11][12]. In order to adapt to the needs of this situation, higher education in civil engineering must carry out corresponding reforms to cultivate professional technical and managerial talents who are more adaptable to modernization for society [13][14].…”