TY - JOUR
T1 - Building students’ nascent understanding of ethics in engineering practice
AU - Valentine, Andrew
AU - Lowenhoff, Stephanie
AU - Marinelli, Melissa
AU - Male, Sally
AU - Hassan, Ghulam Mubashar
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - Engineering professionals are expected to conduct their work in an ethical manner. However, students may receive limited instruction on ethics and demonstrate resistance to learning about ethics in practice, contributing to graduates being ill-prepared to face ethical dilemmas in the workplace. This study investigated the nascent learning by engineering students (N = 183) about the relevance of ethics to engineering practice in a two-hour workshop that included recounts of experiences that were of immediate relevance to engineering interns and graduates, through use of videos and a serious game. Thematic analysis of qualitative responses highlighted that students gained understanding of how ethics influences engineering practice in general, and how ethical issues influence the work of engineering professionals. Exposing students to the presence of ethical issues in practice through immediately relevant examples early during their studies is likely to improve the way they approach ethics throughout their studies, and subsequently, the workplace.
AB - Engineering professionals are expected to conduct their work in an ethical manner. However, students may receive limited instruction on ethics and demonstrate resistance to learning about ethics in practice, contributing to graduates being ill-prepared to face ethical dilemmas in the workplace. This study investigated the nascent learning by engineering students (N = 183) about the relevance of ethics to engineering practice in a two-hour workshop that included recounts of experiences that were of immediate relevance to engineering interns and graduates, through use of videos and a serious game. Thematic analysis of qualitative responses highlighted that students gained understanding of how ethics influences engineering practice in general, and how ethical issues influence the work of engineering professionals. Exposing students to the presence of ethical issues in practice through immediately relevant examples early during their studies is likely to improve the way they approach ethics throughout their studies, and subsequently, the workplace.
KW - engineering education
KW - ethics
KW - role acquisition
KW - serious game
KW - video
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85088038820&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/03043797.2020.1793913
DO - 10.1080/03043797.2020.1793913
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85088038820
SN - 0304-3797
SP - 957
EP - 970
JO - European Journal of Engineering Education
JF - European Journal of Engineering Education
ER -