“In Our Own Little World”: Invisibility of the Social and Ethical Dimension of Engineering Among Undergraduate Students

Abstract

This paper explores how undergraduate students understood the social relevance of their engineering course content knowledge and drew (or failed to draw) broader social and ethical implications from that knowledge. Based on a three-year qualitative study in a junior-level engineering class, we found that students had difficulty in acknowledging the social and ethical aspects of engineering as relevant topics in their coursework. Many students considered the immediate technical usability or improved efficiency of technical innovations as the noteworthy social and ethical implications of engineering. Findings suggest that highly-structured engineering programs leave little room for undergraduate students to explore the ethical dimension of engineering content knowledge and interact with other students/programs on campus to expand their “technically-minded” perspective. We discussed the issues of the “culture of disengagement” (Cech, Sci Technol Human Values 39(1):42–72, 2014) fueled by disciplinary elitism, spatial distance, and insulated curriculum prevalent in the current structure of engineering programs. We called for more conscious effort by engineering educators to offer meaningful interdisciplinary engagement opportunities and in-class conversations on ethics that support engineering students' holistic intellectual growth and well-rounded professional ethics.

Social responsibility attitudes among undergraduate computer science students: an empirical analysis

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Assessing Awareness and Competency of Engineering Freshmen on Ethical and Responsible Research and Practices

“…Despite the growing need for and importance of ethics courses in engineering, these courses are rarely considered as a core requirement in engineering [2]. Ethical awareness of students is not an immediate priority of courses in engineering and as a result students are less inclined to think about the impact their job has on the society [2]. Engineers are trained to control and maintain complex socio-technical systems and develop products and services that transcend national borders [3].…”