1. Keywords: Engineering ethics, design education,
Keywords: Engineering ethics, design education, engineering design, capstone
Ethics in Design Practice: Integrating Ethics Education into Engineering Capstone Courses
Kate Fu, PhD

2. Why? What problem are you solving?
Engineering ethics education, as currently offered in most UG curricula, lacks a direct, practiced connection to students’ future professional practice. Students cannot learn this practical application without explicitly and intentionally practicing it during their undergraduate curriculum.
What are your educational objectives?
Integrate and rigorously apply ethical consideration and problem-solving skills into the practice of engineering design
Contribute to a larger conversation in higher education about the importance of ethics across the curriculum
Form a generation of engineering designers and problem solvers with more dedication to the ethical execution of their work

3. When? What is the developmental history of your innovation?
Dr. Kate Fu collaborated with Dr. Robert Kirkman (Assoc. Prof, Sch. of Public Policy, GT) on the development of a new course in Design Ethics, offered in Spring 2016
The learning outcomes of the course involved developing one's capacity to notice, respond to and think about ethical values in concrete, open-ended design problems.

4. Where?
Phase 1: Development: Work closely with five (5) faculty collaborators – instructors who will teach senior capstone courses in engineering during– to develop specific and detailed plans for integrating ethics into design courses.
First Workshop: project team and faculty collaborators examine structure and learning outcomes of capstone courses to identify opportunities for integration of ethics instruction.
Second Workshop: project team presents approach and instructional materials to faculty collaborators for discussion, critique and refinement.
Third Workshop: project team presents revised materials and implementation plan to faculty collaborators for discussion, critique and refinement; all develop final plans for implementation.
Phase 2: Implementation and Assessment
Project team and faculty collaborators follow through on the implementation plan, with faculty collaborators themselves conducting instruction in ethics, with support and guidance from project team. Project team assesses effectiveness of approach.
Phase 3: Debriefing and Data Analysis
Fourth Workshop: project team and faculty collaborators meet to assess prospects for wider implementation of an integrative approach to ethics instruction.
Data Analysis: project team analyzes data from assessment protocol.
Dissemination: project team, with faculty collaborators, prepares conference/journal articles on project and its results.

5. What? What learning activities and materials have you developed?
Each student submits a substantial piece of writing examining the ethical dimensions of one of the design decisions the student’s team made. The assignment includes:
A thorough analysis of the context of the design decision to identify issues of philosophical salience
A recounting of the team’s decision in responding to the situation and one alternative they might have considered
A thorough, even-handed, critical consideration of each option in terms of basic moral values, making use of several, distinct philosophical perspectives (utility theory and autonomy theory).
These considerations, and the lecture content that support and scaffold them, as well as the rubrics with which to evaluate them, have been developed and implemented in the Design Ethics course

6. Prognosis?
Success
In Design Ethics course, students were highly engaged in the material, and became more acutely aware of the ethical issues at play in their engineering design process as semester progressed.
Improvements
Smooth and streamline the integration of ethics into the design process, rather than having it be discretely sprinkled throughout.
A final, more holistic analysis on ethical impact of entire design project should be added, to allow for more thorough reflection and deeper systematic understanding of entire project.
Sustainability Plan
With careful design, development, and evaluation, the modules could be introduced into any Capstone section
The Center for Ethics and Technology could play a more permanent long-term role in training instructors in the adaptation and use of the modules.
Sponsors and potential employers may see efforts as a sign of Institute’s ongoing dedication to graduating engineers/designers who act with integrity and courage – potential future funding source to support programming