Work in progress - ethics instruction for the workplace

Abstract

Ethics has long been a part of engineering education and practice. Thus, engineering educators have adopted various strategies for teaching ethics, including the use of various codes of ethics promulgated by professional organizations. Additionally, case studies have been used to introduce the subtleties and complexities of engineering ethics within engineering projects. This paper describes another approach to engineering ethics instruction, one that can be used in lieu of, or in conjunction with, other common ethics instruction scenarios. The approach focuses on various aspects of ethics important to young engineers as they enter industry, e.g., "workplace ethics". The materials developed cover a variety of practical subjects important for a new engineer to know when entering the engineering workplace. The teaching materials are based on the experiences of a group of practicing engineers.