Work-in-Process: An EAC Matrix Designing and Assessing an Ethics Across the Curriculum Program in Engineering (Keeping and Assessing Ethics Momentum Between ABET Visits) University of Puerto Rico – Mayagüez José A. Cruz, William J. Frey, Halley D. Sánchez Frontiers in Education Conference 2006 October 29, 2006 © by Cruz, Frey & Sanchez

2 The University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez SMET campus of the UPR System Established in 1911 Land-Grant, Sea-Grant & Space-Grant Four Colleges –Engineering –Agricultural Sciences –Arts & Sciences –Business Administration Student Body ( ) –Registered - 12,380 students 49.5% female 11,305 Undergraduate students, 1075 Graduate students –4,498 number of engineering undergraduate students –369 number of engineering graduate students uprm.edu

3 Ethics Across the Curriculum at UPRM  What do we mean by EAC? Ethics across the curriculum is an approach to ethics education that relies heavily on ethics modules integrated directly into mainstream business, science, and engineering courses. Example: An engineering professor discusses an ethics case as part of a lecture on materials

4 EAC is an effective approach to meet the ethics dimension of ABET accreditation  Standards Specifically Address Ethics Emphasis on integrating ethics into engineering practice  4 Broad Themes of ABET EC 2005 ED: Ethics in Design (3c) MT: Multidisciplinary Teams (3d) ER: Ethical & Professional Responsibility (3f) GI: Global Impacts (3h)

5 EAC: A Hybrid Holistic Approach Interrelated Activities to place ethics into and across the Curriculum

6 EAC requires building an interdisciplinary foundation  Faculty Development Workshops Interdisciplinary and promoted Co-Mentoring  Support for Community, Collaboration and Continuity is important cases, frameworks, instructor manuals, exercises, modules, syllabi, assessment materials EAC Toolkit: an online approach to C-C-C  Interdisciplinary Community empowered in EAC collaborating to develop modules & resources committed to continuity and continual improvement

7 15/85 EAC Concept: A Dual Lens Metaphor Faculty Faculty Committed to EAC Train/Mentor 15% of Faculty in EAC Magnify efforts Students with Ethics Awareness (85+ %) Students

8 Results (Faculty Development and Resources)  84 BSE Ethics Cases  42 EAC modules for BSE classes 22 published in  181 faculty participants from Puerto Rico, U.S., Canada, & Dominican Republic  Online:

9 Results (Grants)  NSF SBR (faculty development workshop in EAC)  NSF SES (Development of EAC Toolkit using Connexions as platform)  NSF EESE (Graduate Research Ethics in Science and Engineering)  2 UPR – Central Administration Grants  4 Puerto Rico Humanities Foundation Grants

10 We recognize the need to coordinate various EAC elements Objectives (ABET 3c, 3d, 3f, 3h) with Activities (Ethics Infusions into the Engineering Curriculum) and Levels (UPRM Moral Development Skills) to identify… EAC Efforts, Challenges, and Projections

11 EAC Matrix: Objectives vs. Activities vs. Levels 3c-Integrating ethics in design 3d-Multi- Disciplinary Team Skills 3f-Prof. & Ethical Responsibility 3h-Global and Social Impacts Engineering ethics Mod-A Pattern Recognition and Power Engineering Mod-B ECE Capstone Design Courses Awareness Evaluation Integration Prevention ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ = Primary Focus = Secondary Focus = Actual Outcomes

12 Objectives: ABET 3c, 3d, 3f, 3h  Ethics in Design (ED) 3c: an ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs within realistic constraints such as economic, environmental, social, political, ethical, health and safety, manufacturability, and sustainability  Team Skills (TS) 3d: an ability to function on multidisciplinary teams  Ethical Responsibility (ER) 3f: an understanding of professional and ethical responsibility  Global Impacts (GI) 3h: the broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global, economic, environmental, and societal context

13 Activities: Ethics Infusions  Introductory Module “Creating Ethical Awareness in Electrical and Computer Engineering Students: A Learning Module on Ethics” (FIE 2005 Proceedings, #1580) Pattern Recognition and Power Engineering  EAC Module in Capstone Design Courses “Social and Ethical Implications of Engineering Design: A Learning Module Developed for ECE Capstone Design Courses” (FIE 2006 Proceedings, #1439) ECE Capstone Design Courses

14 Levels: UPRM Moral Development Skills Ethical Awareness Ethical Evaluation Ethical Integration Ethical Prevention

15 Ethics Integration Module / Activity Recognition & Documentation Form CourseModule / Activity Description TimeFocus EDERTSGIEAEEEIEP INEL 4407 Several short scenarios were presented to dramatize ethical conflicts and ethical violations: Example: Case where engineers violate National Electrical Code in designing electrical systems to reduce costs Primary ✔✔✔✔ Electrical Systems Design I Secondary ✔ ED=Ethics in Design / ER=Ethical Responsibility TS=Team Skills / GI= Global Impacts EA=Ethical Awareness / EE=Ethical Evaluation EI=Ethical Integration / EP=Ethical Prevention Skills

16 Facilitate and accelerate EAC by empowering committed faculty Faculty Faculty Committed to EAC Train/Mentor 15% of Faculty in EAC Magnify efforts with a Toolkit Students with Ethics Awareness (85+ %) Students

17 How can we accelerate EAC?   Share EAC resources cases, modules, exercises, assessment tools, etc.   Share Best Practices pedagogical strategies, faculty development, etc.   Build an EAC Community collaboratively develop resources and best practices interdisciplinary co-mentoring (BSE and Ethicists)   Develop an EAC “Intellectual Commons” advocate an “Open Source” approach share and build on existing resources and practices members contribute by enhancing or customizing

18 What is the EAC Toolkit?   A web-based online environment… for interactive dissemination and development of EAC resources and instructional best practices that complements existing online / offline resources that promotes community building and co-mentoring   resulting in an EAC repository that is self sustaining through the collaborative efforts of the EAC community

19 EAC TOOLKIT Community Ethics Instructors BSE Instructors Students Professionals Industry / Government Browsers Commentators Authors / Editors Mentors

20 EAC Toolkit Template: to facilitate interaction Module Content (Core) META-KNOWLEDGE (How to effectively teach the module content) Case / Scenario Online Resource (link) Textbook Exercise (ref.) Video clip (ref.)

21 Module Content (Core) Learning Objectives Module Activities Assessment Pedagogical Commentary Supplementary Information Background Information References and Links Meta- knowledge

22 CNX.ORG by Rice University CNX is an online environment for the “open source” development and sharing of educational modules, courses and textbooks CNX is an online environment for the “open source” development and sharing of educational modules, courses and textbooks Our project is to develop and test an EAC Toolkit prototype built on selected CNX features Our project is to develop and test an EAC Toolkit prototype built on selected CNX features

23 Does this sound interesting?  EAC Toolkit Project NSF SES Collaborative Development of Ethics Across the Curriculum Resources and Sharing of Best Practices  How You Can Participate Browser Commentators (sign up in Connexions and provide feedback through Open Learning Support Forum provided by Utah Valley State University) Authors/Editors (sign up in Connexions and notify us to add you to our EAC Toolkit workgroup)

24 Thank You!  Questions? Comments? Suggestions?  Contact us  or