‘Working at My Own Pace’: Incorporating Blended Learning in an Engineering Ethics Course

Abstract

This study investigates how blended learning (BL) methods can be best applied in higher education and especially in an engineering ethics course. The course was configured as a rotational model BL class. The module was given to the students as a project: could students identify the ethical and practical frameworks involved in an engineering ethics case study? The overall objective was to explore the role and applications of BL practices, such as simulations, in shaping students' understanding and to trace elements within an ethics course that could be adapted to support BL models. The underlining hypothesis is that this BL model can provide an effective teaching methodology. Regarding methodology, a virtual lab was created as a learning resource integrated with a case study that concerned Hurricane Katrina (2005). It referred to the wider context of engineering ethics and climate change. Through this approach students worked individually and in teams while confronted with real life situations. Conclusively, this interactivity from simulation combined with an Individual Rotation Model led to each student working at her/his own pace and provided a personalised learning framework that met the course's main objective.