Nancy Tuana, Director, The Rock Ethics Institute Andy Lau, Associate Professor, College of Engineering

1. Learning and Teaching Engineering Ethics: Workshop for Vanderbilt Faculty Nancy Tuana, Director, The Rock Ethics Institute Andy Lau, Associate Professor, College of Engineering

2. Day 2: Learning Objectives and Assessment

3. Suspected Hazardous Waste Case Alex is an engineering student employed for the summer by Environmental Engineering, a consulting firm. RJ, the engineer who supervises Alex, directs Alex to sample the contents of drums located on the property of a client. From the look and smell of the drums, Alex believes that analysis of the sample will show hazardous waste in the drums. Alex knows that if the material contains hazardous waste, there are legal requirements for the transport and disposal of the drums, and that federal and state authorities must be notified. Alex informs RJ of the likely contents of the samples and asks what to do next. RJ instructs him to report only that samples have been taken, and not to do the analysis. Since the client is a major one for Environmental Engineering, RJ proposes to report to the client only where the drums are located and that they contain questionable material, and to suggest that they be removed. adapted from NSPE Case No. 92-6 http://onlineethics.org/cases/nspe/ec92-6.html

4. Day 2: Design of Ethics Activities • Writing Learning Objectives • Assessing Student Performance • Applying “tools” for teaching and learning ethics to meet objectives • Output: Design of learning experience and assessment plan matched to learning objectives

5. / 5 Activity • Reflect on the following questions, then write your answers on your worksheet: If students got the most out of your ethics assignment(s), • What would they know? • What would they be able to do? • How would they act?

6. Instruction Curriculum Learning Objectives Assessment “Big Picture”

7. Goals and Objectives • “Goals” are broad statements • “Students will understand ethics” • “Objectives” are statements that focus on what a student will do to demonstrate attainment. • “Given a certain situation, the student will identify from memory the applicable section of the NSPE Code of Ethics”

8. Characteristics of “Good” Learning Objectives • Linked to Program Goals • Learner or Student-Centered • What the student will do to demonstrate attainment, NOT what the teacher will do to present it • Specific enough to lead “naturally” to assessment measures

9. The “ABCD” Model • Audience – Who will be assessed? • “The CE544 Student” • Behavior – What will they do? • Recite from memory / Provide Ethical Solution • Condition – What can they work with? • Given a multiple-choice exam / Given access to the WWW • Degree – How well do they need to do it? • Without logical errors / With 80% correct

10. Example Learning Objective • “Students will demonstrate an understanding of a code of ethics in their discipline by correctly answering at least 8 of 10 short answer questions during an in-class exam.” • “Given an ethical case study to analyze, the student will be able to identify the most salient: facts, stakeholders, consequences, duties, virtues/underlying values, and relationships.”

11. / 6 Activity • Using the “ABCD” model as a guide, write an ethics-based learning objective. • Report Out

12. Classifying Learning Objectives • There are three primary domains for learning: • Cognitive • Affective • Psychomotor

13. Taxonomies of Learning Objectives • Provide a framework for thinking through various types of outcomes • Bloom et al. – Cognitive Domain • Krathwohl et al. – Affective Domain

14. Higher Level Lower Level Bloom’s Taxonomy Synthesis Evaluation Analysis Cognitive Application Knowledge Comprehension See Resource Pages 15 & 16 for discussion related to cognitive objectives

15. Krathwohl et al.’s Taxonomy: Affective Objectives Characterization by Value Organization Valuing Affective Responding Receiving See Resource Pages 17 & 18 for a discussion related to Affective Objectives

16. / 6 Activity: Learning objectives • Based upon your earlier statements about successful students and your understanding of the characteristics of learning objectives, write three learning objectives for your course.

17. / 6 Activity Part 2: Learning Objectives • Review your list of learning objectives and classify them according to Bloom’s or Krathwohl’s taxonomies, as appropriate. • Report Out

18. A Few More Examples • Four examples of approaches to integrating ethics into engineering classes presented at the 2001 ASEE Conference are summarized on Resource Pages 19-23. • Junior level ME class • Intro CSE class • First year design class • Intro to Environmental Engineering class

19. Assessment • Assessment: “Production of information to determine the status of an activity in relationship to goals for that activity.” -- Learning through Assessment, AAHE, 1997 • Underlying Questions: • What will students be able to do or what characteristics will they exhibit when the outcome is met? • How can I measure what they are doing or the characteristics that they exhibit?

20. Assessment • Why do we do assessment? • To assist students in developing their knowledge and skills, or to improve the course / presentation - “formative.” • To evaluate student performance for purpose of giving a grade or assessing program effectiveness - “summative.”

21. Ethics-related Assessment • Some examples • “Typing” instruments. • Assessment instruments for ethical development. • Pre/Post Surveys • Scoring grids (“rubrics”) for evaluation of student work specific to your assignment.

22. “Typing” Instruments • Instruments developed to measure one’s tendencies in making ethical decisions. • “Taxonomy of Ethical Ideologies” by Forsyth • See Resource Pages 24 & 25

23. Ethical Development • Defining Issues Test – James Rest, based on Kohlberg’s analysis of moral reasoning. • Resource Pages 26-27 • “Individual Beliefs about Organizational Ethics” – Froelich and Kottke • Resource page 28

24. Pre/Post Survey • Use to obtain “self-reported” impact of ethics activities • Set of possible questions for pre/post surveys developed by LCEEE/EIS • See resource page 29. • Used by several previous years’ participants to formulate surveys for their classes.

25. Scoring Grids (“Rubrics”) • Scoring grids establish the scoring criteria for an assignment. • List the aspect being evaluated and the level of performance required for a given number of points or grade. • It is very useful to give these to students with the assignment. • Resources – page 30-32.

26. Scoring Grids & Ethics Assignments • What will you assess, e.g.? • Factual knowledge of codes or other class material • The number of options generated • The quality of options generated • The process of selecting the best option • The “correctness” of their decisions

27. / 7 Scoring Grid Activity • Create a scoring grid for two objectives indicated by arrows on Worksheet 9 • Objectives are from a participant in a previous year’s workshop • Three step process • Individual • Groups • Share results

28. Time for Reflection • Please reflect upon the material discussed so far in the workshop, and write your responses the following questions on the worksheet. • What questions come to mind as you think about the ethics related activities that you are planning for your class? • Are there any topics on which you would like additional information? / 8

29. We need your input • How could we have done a better workshop today? / 10