University of Florida, College of Engineering

EGN4034 - ENGINEERING ETHICS – Section 5081

Fall 2008

 

Dr. Gerald Haskins

 

Office: CSE570

Phone: 392-1248

E-MAIL: gmh@cise.ufl.edu

 

Core Text Book: Engineering Ethics: Concepts and Cases (4th Edition) Harris, Jr., Charles E.Pritchard, Michael S. Rabins, Michael J.

 

COURSE OBJECTIVES - The objectives of this course are to provide students of engineering with an understanding of their duties and responsibilities as professionals through gaining knowledge of the philosophies of ethics, professional practice, and world culture. 

1.                  Students will be able to understand complex issues dealing with their profession.

2.                  Students will be able to make informed ethical decisions when confronted with problems in the working environment.

3.                  Students will develop their written communication skills through course assignments.

4.                  Students will develop their oral communication skills through creating computer-generated presentations of their assignments and presenting them before their classmates.

5.                  Students will develop team skills through working in teams on homework and in-class assignments.

6.                  Students will develop subjective analytical skills through investigation and evaluating of ethical problems in engineering settings using accepted tests for moral problem solving.

7.                  Students will be able to understand how societal mores vary with culture and how this influences ethical thought and action.

 

BASIC COURSE INFORMATION

Our society places a great deal of responsibility on its professionals and requires that they conduct themselves in a manner fitting to the place of prominence accorded to them by the community.  Studying and understanding professional ethics is as much a part of your development as an engineer as is the study of higher order mathematics.  You must be able to broaden you mind and be open to society’s ever-changing character.  It is important that you learn to share ideas and concepts regardless of the fact that you may not always agree; therefore, we will be working in teams on many of the assignments in this course.

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

General information and announcements will be posted on the course Website.  Students will be responsible for checking the Website for any information that may effect assignments, exercises, presentation schedule or any other information that could become the responsibility of the student before the next class meeting.   

 

 

COURSE CONTENT

 

·        Classes - will be run as lectures, discussions, and working sessions.

 

·        Bringing Text to Class - In-class exercises will require the use of your textbook.  Failure to have a textbook is not a valid excuse for inability to participate in classwork or for being unable to complete an in-class exercise.

 

·        Homework - Most Homework assignments will be a team effort although individual assignments may be given. Additional information or changes to the assignments will be announced in class and posted on the website.  All students will be responsible for knowing changes in assignments and other requirements by accessing the website and reading current announcements.

 

·        Class preparation - Everyone should be prepared for the class by reading the required class assignments.  Students will be called on, at random, to make brief presentations of questions dealing with the assignment.

 

·        Working in teams - You should take away from this learning experience the things that you will need to succeed as practicing engineers.  In the working world you will be judged more on team success than on individual success.  Teams will make oral presentations in class with each member of a team taking an active part. In order to work well in teams we should first know our own strengths and weaknesses.  You can learn how to work better in groups by taking a personality profile test such as the one found at: http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes1.htm.  Also visit the Keirsey site (http://keirsey.com/) for more in-depth interpretation of the different personality types.

 

·        Presentation (communication) - The quality most lacking in engineers graduated from the institutions of higher learning, as seen by industry, is their ability to communicate both orally and in writing.  You will have an opportunity in this course to improve your communications skills while learning something about the ethical responsibility that you assume as an engineer.  Please follow the requirements as outlined for each assignment.  Assignments will be conveyed to you in the syllabus, in class, and also on the WEB site for the course.  Requirements for formatting and content will be provided to you on the WEB site  This should work on most computers, but if you have trouble seeing the menu choices, try refreshing  this screen.

 

CLASS POLICIES:

·        Coming late to class - Coming in late to class causes disruption of lecture and of class activities.  It is impolite and unprofessional.  Being late to class is not a valid excuse for not signing the roll or for missing an in-class exercise.  Tardiness may be considered an absence.

 

·        Telephone policy - As with coming in late to class, using telephones in class is not only disruptive, but is disrespectful.  Make certain your telephone is turned off before class begins. 

 

·        Assignment Formatting - Please follow the requirements as outlined for each assignment.  Requirements for formatting and content will be provided to you in the “Formatting of Assignments” section on the Website.  Marks will be deducted for assignments not following the required formatting.

 

·        Working on other material - The use of computers during class will not be required.  Reading other materials such as the Alligator is similar disrespect.  These types of willful inattention will not be tolerated, as it is also distracting and disrespectful.  Students abusing this class requirement will be asked to leave and will not be counted present for this class meeting.

 

·        Dishonesty - You are expected to be of good moral character according to the ethical requirements outlined in the University Handbook.  In this course especially, you will be expected to conduct yourself ethically at all times.  This in particular deals with attendance.  Those who have others sign them in and those who do sign others in will be dismissed from the course if found out (as has occurred in previous years). 

 

·        Makeup policy - Students who miss class may be excused by notifying me PRIOR to an absence regarding the need for missing class.  Requests to miss class because of job interview trips or other professional development activities will be honored.  Other requests of a personal nature will be reviewed on their merit.  Missed quizzes, for which prior arrangements have been made, will be allowed to be made up by an assignment to be determined by the instructor.

 

 

COURSE GRADING METHODOLOGY

 

ACTIVITY

% OF GRADE

NOTES

Attendance

25

Current attendance may be posted on the website

Homework

50      *40

There will be 4 scheduled homework assignments

(the 4th will count as a the Final Project)

Quizzes/Exercises

25

There will be 4 scheduled quizzes or exercises

*Presentations

 

*10

*If time does not allow for scheduling presentation by all Teams, this 10% of the grade will be taken from Homework

 

·        Class Attendance - (Attendance will count as 25% of your grade) Since, this is a one hour course and the material is very important to your career development, class roll will be taken.  There will be in-class assignments throughout the term, which will be graded; therefore, class attendance in this matter is necessary.  Teams will only be able to receive the maximum on in-class exercises if all members of the group are participating.  Attendance and participation will be given consideration in determining the final grade.  Everyone is allowed one unexcused absence.  If you are sick or have a legitimate obligation that takes you away from class, you will be excused if you notify me by e-mail before hand (NOT AFTER YOU’VE MISSED).

 

·        HOMEWORK - (Homework will count as 50% of the final grade unless presentations become a possibility in which case homework will be reduced to 40%.) Homework will be assigned throughout the term and will be posted on the Website for the course.  There will be 4 homework assignments to be turned in for a grade.  The fourth assignment will be the term project.  Reading assignments that will be required for your participation in class exercises.  Homework assignments are due at the beginning of class on the Wed.  after the assignment has been made unless otherwise stated.  Unexcused late homework will be accepted with the loss of grade value of 20 percent.

 

·        Announced IN-CLASS EXERCISES or QUIZZES - (Each will be graded and all together will count as 25% of the final grade.)  There will be in-class exercises throughout the term as indicated in this syllabus.  There will be 4 of these exercises during the term.  Reading the assignments that are given in this syllabus will be necessary for your success on these in-class exercises.  Students will be allowed to makeup missed in-class exercises only if they have received a valid excuse prior to missing the class.  Alternatively, the instructor may elect to give a quiz on the material, in lieu of an exercise.

 

·        *IN-CLASS PRESENTATIONS - If presentations become a possibility, each team will be required to create a 10-minute Powerpoint presentation of an assignment topic.  The presentation along with the analysis would be turned in for 10% of the final grade, which would reduce the total homework percentage from 50% to 40%.

 

·        Pop Quizzes -  Pop quizzes may be given periodically and collected to evaluate student reading and learning of the subject material.  These quizzes will not have a point-count toward the final grade but may be used positively in case of borderline grade decisions.  Pop quizzes will also be the “final” means for determining attendance for that class meeting.

 

 

TEAM PERFORMANCE AND PEER GRADING - Since most of your work will be on teams, your grades will be based on the team performance.  If someone on the team does not pull his/her weight, the other members of the team have recourse.   

 

A person not actively participating in group assignments may receive a “Peer” grade from their team members that may be less than that grade the others receive.  This happens quite often and provides students with a rare opportunity to insure that others are not “unjustly enriched” for work that they did not do.  Any questions regarding team activities or concerns that a team or team member may have should be discussed within the team and brought to me before drastic action is taken. Peer grading forms will be available on the web site and will be strictly anonymous.

 

Lastly, a person may be fired from a team if he/she is not doing a fair share.  A team should not take this step without first consulting the offending party, and receiving OK from the instructor.

 

GRADING POLICY -           There will be a 10 point grading scale between letter grades with plus grades given for achieving 8 out of the 10 point spread.  Ex. 88 = B+.

 

·        Grade Question Policy: If there are any questions about grading, a written statement must be submitted with a copy of the problem or assignment in question.  Once reviewed, the statement and final decision will be returned.  No face-to-face lobbying will be permitted.

 

TENTATIVE COURSE SCHEDULE

 

CLASS

DATE

ACTIVITY AND MATERIAL TO BE COVERED

ASSIGNMENTS for this class meeting

1.

8/27/08

Introduction Knowing your personality type.  Myers-Briggs Personality type   http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes1.htm and http://keirsey.com/ )

Assignments are to be done prior to the meeting date on which they are noted below.

2.

9/3/08

Form Teams. Team-building exercise.  Review materials from Chapter 1. 

READ CHAPTER 1.

3.

9/10/08

Video - Gilbane Gold, Discussion

Read CHAPTER 2. Assignment #1 given

4.

9/17/08

Developing presentation skills.  Class discussion on Chapter 2.

Read CHAPTER 3 -

5.

9/24/08

Selective Presentations by Teams on Assignment #1

Written Assignment #1 due

6.

10/1/08

Use of analysis tools

Discussion of ethics from Chapter 4

Read CHAPTER 4 - Written Assignment #2 given

7.

10/8/08

 

Read CHAPTER 5-

8.

10/15/08

In-class exercise #1 from Chapter 3. 

Discussion of Ethical philosophies from Chapter 4 (cont).

 

Assignment #2 due

Read CHAPTER 6 -

9.

10/22/08

Selective Presentations by Teams on Assignment #2

Discussion of Chapter 5 on Responsibilities

Assignment #3 given

10.

10/29/08

In-class exercise #2 from Chapter 4.

Read CHAPTER 7

11.

11/5/08

Class presentations Assignment #3.

Discussion of Chapter 7

Read CHAPTER 8 Assignment #3 due Written Assignment #4 given

12.

11/12/08

Discussion of Chapter 8

in-class exercise #3 from Chapter 7.

Read CHAPTER 9

13.

11/19/08

Selective Presentations by Teams on Assignment #4

Read CHAPTER 10 Assignment #4 due

14.

11/26/08

Discussion of International aspects of ethics

Thanksgiving next day

15.

12/3/08

In-class exercise #4 from Chapter 8 .

 

16.

12/10/08

In-class makeup exercise