Ethical Decision Making in Engineering
- Author:
- William Frey
- Subject:
- Humanities
- Institution Name:
- Connexions
- Collection:
- Connexions
- Grade Level:
- Post-secondary
- Abstract:
Recent work in moral psychology demonstrates that case discussion helps students to refine decision making techniques, leads them to question unexamined attitudes, and helps improve their moral reasoning. This module works with these developments by providing students with short, realistic scenarios whose narratives end at crucial points of decision. Students are provided with solutions that bring the narrative to a close and are asked to evaluate and rank them by using ethics and feasibility tests. The format bears a superficial resemblance to the Gray Matters exercise currently being used at Boeing Corporation in their ethics training program. But this particular version is more open-ended (students are invited to design their own solutions) and more oriented toward getting students to think about ethical issues and values. The first UPRM version of this module was introduced during an NSF funded retreat (SBR-9810253) held at Maricao, Puerto Rico in 1999. Different versions of this activity have been used in engineering, computer, and business ethics classes.
- Course Type:
- Learning Module
- Languages:
- English
- Material Type:
- Homework and Assignments, Readings, Syllabi
- Media Format:
- Text/HTML
- Conditions of Use:
-
Creative Commons Attribution 2.0
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