Keeping the classroom experience relevant: ethics, leadership and professional development in undergraduate engineering education Jim Pfaendtner University of Washington, Department of Chemical Engineering Developmental History of Innovation My experience as a faculty has led me to conclude that today’s students crave additional training in their professional development as engineers specifically in these areas. The advent of postmodernism and rapid falling away of the traditional cultural norms of the 20 th century has left our students confused and unsure of 1) how to make informed decisions about constructing their own ethical framework (as it applies to their profession) and, critically, 2) how to use their own ethical framework to exercise leadership at the workplace and within their profession. Happily, the entire upper division of the undergraduate engineering curriculum is rife with examples with which we can better coach, motivate and prepare our students for their careers in this respect. All faculty have (or easily could) become more efficient at using the internet or other computer tools to facilitate learning and streamline the class, and thereby make room for additional learning objectives in this space. However, many faculty do not have the tools to bring to the classroom contextual ethics and leadership training. Last winter I taught for the first time CHEM E 485 “Senior Design I”. During my execution of this course I designed three new modules to take the first steps towards achieving the aforementioned goals. The titles and basic content of the modules are discussed on the remainder of the poster. Learning Activities and Materials The following table describes the modules developed to explore the aforementioned objectives An example of “Ethics Lab I”. All modules are available on request. For each item in the above list, the students filled out the following matrix: Answers were shared first in small groups to search for consensus or disagreement, and then a larger group discussion was held. The enrollment of CHEM E 485 was ~55 students, and this activity was conducted in the recitation sessions (1/2 class each). Discussion Based on a preliminary trial and assessment of three new modules related to ethics and leadership, I propose that there is a serious motivation for engineering faculty to think seriously about incorporating these concepts into their classrooms. The assessment was strongly indicative that students positively responded to the pedagogical approach in the modules (active learning focused) and found the subject matter valuable – especially to their professional lives, but also to their personal lives. These same modules will be piloted again during the Winter of 2014 (within the same course – CHEM E 485 Process Design). Little or no modification is planned to the module content, its implementation, or the assessment plan. If, indeed, this is a valuable approach the next steps to disseminating the modules and their measured impact on the students is unclear. A proposal to the NSF is not planned, nor is it clear that is an appropriate choice. Effective ways to reach other engineering faculty (and convince them of utility of this approach) are needed. Execution and Assessment In practice the modules were executed by the professor without the help of any teaching assistants. The professor is required to balance both 1) space for students to process and think about the issues with 2) a high energy level to get students actively engaged with the subject material. An assessment of the 1 st trial of the modules is listed below. The numerical data shown are the average and standard deviation according to the following point system. 33 students responded to the survey request: 1 = strongly agree, 2 = agree, 3 = neither agree nor disagree, 4 = disagree, 5 = strongly disagree 2013 Frontiers of Engineering Education Irvine, California October Sponsored by: The National Academy of Engineering and John McDonnell and the McDonnell Family Foundation Major Issues to Resolve My biggest hope for the FOEE meeting is to discuss with with other engineering faculty the following: 1)Is this issue observed in other campus, disciplines, or regions of the country? 2)Are there other ways to tackle ethics, leadership and professional development within the engineering curriculum? 3)Does my approach seem reasonable // are there any obvious flaws? I am interested in discussing both ways I can improve my approach and also help others implement it. I am also interested in discussing where this approach best fits within the undergraduate curriculum. Introduction and Objectives The proliferation of online learning, ranging from simple YouTube video to formal enrollment in a MOOC, raises serious questions for how faculty in traditional classrooms will maintain their effectiveness and keep students motivated to show up for class. Simply put, in the near future I believe that most students will be able to find online explanations or videos that transmit knowledge in a more meaningful or effective way than most of us are able to do in our own classrooms. In parallel, the internet has brought today’s undergraduate students an historically unrivaled exposure to cultures, diverse view points, and vastly different ethical/moral frameworks than undergraduates even 10 years ago were even aware of. Our students today are able to obtain knowledge and facts from a variety of sources. But the application of facts – especially in the context of ethical challenges in their profession – is an area where students remain critically underserved. Target discipline: Initially chemical engineering, eventually other departments Target courses: Senior design, upper division engineering coursework that is project based Acknowledgments The author is grateful to the University of Washington for startup resources in launching new areas of scholarship in research and chemical engineering pedagogy Support from the UW Center for Engineering Learning and Teaching (CELT) and Director Dr. Jim Borgford-Parnell is gratefully acknowledged Module 1Module 2Module 3 Helped me think critically about ethical/leadership issues in chemical engineering 1.8 (.81)1.7 (.7)2.0 (.61) Helped me develop my own ethical/leadership framework as it pertains to my profession 2.2 (.95)2.1 (.8)2.2 (.76) Helped me develop my own ethical framework as it pertains to my personal life 2.7 (.94)2.7 (1.1)2.3 (.92) Before Module 1 I was well- acquainted with the AIChE code of ethics 4.0 (1.0) After Module 1 I was well-acquianted with the code of ethics 2.0 (.67) 2.0 (.67) Module was valuable and should be repeated next year 1.5 (.57) Before Module 2 I practiced ethical case studies in my profession 3.5 (1.3) Module 2 helped me gain competence in negotiating ethical decisions in the context of my profession 1.9 (.65)