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Work in Progress - Teaching Engineering Ethics to Professional Engineers in Puerto Rico William J. Frey University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez,
[email protected]
Efrain O’Neill-Carrillo University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez,
[email protected] Abstract –A productive dialogue has arisen between engineering ethicists teaching at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez and the Puerto Rico State Society of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors (CIAPR). This Work In Process will discuss three themes arising out of this dialogue by summarizing engineering ethics in Puerto Rico, outlining a workshop developed to respond to CIAPR continuing education requirements, and detailing the ethical challenges facing engineers in Puerto Rico. Teaching engineering ethics to practicing engineers raises pedagogical challenges that elicit creative responses. This essay will provide readers with insights into teaching engineering ethics. Index Terms – Engineering, ethics, professions INTRODUCTION Much has been done on how to teach engineering ethics to undergraduates. But correspondingly little has been done to develop initiatives in continuing education in ethics for practicing engineers. This Work in Process will present an effort in Puerto Rico to fill this gap. All Puerto Rican government employees are required to take ten hours of continuing education in ethics every two years. This has led the Office of Government Ethics (OEG) and the Puerto Rico State Society of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors (CIAPR according to its Spanish acronym) to ask the authors to give workshops in engineering ethics to help practicing engineers meet these requirements. This paper will (1) characterize engineering ethics in Puerto Rico, (2) describe a workshop in engineering ethics held in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, and (3) enumerate four ethical challenges faced by Puerto Rican engineers. ENGINEERING ETHICS IN PUERTO RICO: FOUR MORAL ECOLOGIES
Moral ecologies form the backdrop over which professionals exercise their specialized knowledge and skills.[1] The word “ecology” helps to portray these dynamic organizational contexts; just as individual species find their functional niche within a natural ecology, professionals find their actions constrained by the roles they play within different organizational and institutional contexts. Four overlapping, interacting moral ecologies
allow for the characterization of engineering ethics in Puerto Rico. The authors have identified these by studying the activities of the CIAPR and by carrying out a series of issue identification and case writing workshops with engineering faculty.[2] 1. The Professional Context. Law 173 established the CIAPR as a quasi juridical and public corporation charged with establishing and regulating engineering practice in Puerto Rico. The CIAPR’s Disciplinary Tribunal investigates complaints regarding violations of these standards and, if warranted, punishes the violators. 2. The Corruption Context. Engineers competing for contracts for government projects became caught up in the corruption scandals that broke out in the late 1990’s. Engineering ethics needs to address how engineers should respond to and successfully resist corruption. 3. The Social Justice Context. Some Puerto Rican engineers have distinguished themselves by fighting against social injustice. For example, Puerto Rican engineers played key roles in opposing mining projects that threatened environmental damage. Using their specialized knowledge and skill to uncover potential harms, they turned to the role of social activist and led grassroots opposition to these projects. 4. The Craft Context. In the craft context, engineers become helpers. They use their engineering skills and knowledge both to specify and to solve ethical problems. For example, civil and electrical engineers have led special projects designed to bring water and electricity to isolated Puerto Rico communities.[3] Continuing engineering ethics education efforts in Puerto Rico need to address each of these four moral ecologies. ENGINEERING ETHICS IN PUERTO RICO: A CONTINUING EDUCATION WORKSHOP On November 15, 2007, the authors directed the first of several planned workshops in engineering ethics. It consisted of four key parts: 1. Professional context of engineering in Puerto Rico. Presenters highlighted the role played by the CIAPR and its Disciplinary Tribunal. 2. CIAPR Code of Ethics. To provide participants with a road map for navigating this code, the authors discussed four engineering stakeholders: public, client,
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profession, and peer. Some provisions within the CIAPR code establish standards of minimally acceptable behavior. Others set forth aspirations that model exemplary engineering practice. Workshop leaders focused on aspirations to create the moral space for exemplary engineering practice. Problem-solving in ethics. To aid participants in designing solutions to ethical problems, presenters covered ethics tests, problem-solving frameworks, and socio-technical system grids. This material was quickly summarized, and participants were divided into small groups to carry out problem-solving exercises. Incident at Morales Video. Workshop participants viewed the engineering ethics video, “Incident at Morales.” Working in small groups, they designed solutions to different decision points taken from the video. Then they used a solution evaluation matrix that included three ethics tests, a code test, and a feasibility check list, to compare and rank their solutions in terms of ethical implications. The workshop ended with a debriefing activity where the participants presented their group decisions to the plenary. This constituted a qualitative assessment that affirmed that the workshop was effective in raising the ethical awareness of the participants. The ideal of excellence in engineering practice also resonated well with participants.
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CONCLUSION
This Work In Process has outlined a workshop on engineering ethics for practicing, professional engineers in Puerto Rico. More workshops are planned so future updates are forthcoming. Workshop assessments can found at Connexions®: cnx.org plus module search for m15501. ACKNOWLEDGMENT
THE EAC TOOLKIT An NSF-funded project, the EAC Toolkit, has developed online resources and tools to support ethics across the curriculum efforts.[4] The student module, Professional Ethics In Puerto Rico: Codes, Problem-Solving, and Ethical Dissent, provides online support to the CIAPR workshop in engineering ethics. Its textboxes explore the meaning of codes of ethics, review problem-solving frameworks, and identify strategies for carrying out ethical dissent. This and other Toolkit modules are available at cnx.org. (Search under the title just above or for module, m15501.) FUTURE ETHICAL CHALLENGES TO PUERTO RICAN ENGINEERS
Bringing together engineering pedagogy and practice. Workshop participants, as practicing engineers, have experience that should be integrated into engineering ethics education. This requires a twoway process: (a) participants learn from engineering ethics initiatives, but (b) engineering ethics initiatives need to be informed with practical experience. Future workshops need to find ways to draw in practitioners as contributors to engineering ethics education. Highlighting macro-ethical issues in Puerto Rico. Much work has been done to call the attention of engineers to macro-ethical issues. The danger in Puerto Rico is that many now think that engineering only contributes to creating macro-ethical problems while adding nothing to their solution. Future workshops can engage the community of engineers in a dialogue where participants imagine positive contributions that engineering can make to macro-ethics.
The authors would like to thank the National Science Foundation for funding initiatives that form the background of this paper. These include NSF SBR 9810253, SES 0551779, and SES 0629377. REFERENCES [1]
Huff, C., Barnard, L., Frey, W., “Good Computing: A pedagogically focused model of virtue in the practice of computing”, Under Review, pp. 30-32.
[2]
Cruz, J., Frey, W., “An Effective Strategy for Integrating Ethics Across the Curriculum in Engineering: An ABET 2000 Challenge, Science and Engineering Ethics, Vol. 9, No. 3, 2003, pp. 543-568.
[3]
O’Neill, E. et al, “Mentoring Interdisciplinary Service Learning Projects”, 37th ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference, October 10-13, 2007, Session F4B-20.
Given the CIAPR’s continuing education program and the [4] Frey, W., Cruz, J., “Work in Progress—The Ethics Across the OEG’s ethics requirements for government employees, there Curriculum Toolkit: An Online Environment for Ethics Resources”, will be a regular demand for more workshops like the one 37th ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference, October 10-13, described above. Future workshops will need to respond to 2007, Session S4H-9. four ethical challenges facing Puerto Rican engineers. 1. Reorienting engineering ethics toward the AUTHOR INFORMATION aspirational. As Puerto Rico successfully deals with William J. Frey, Professor of Business and Engineering corruption issues, more time needs to be spent helping Ethics, College of Business Administration, University of engineers to uncover opportunities for realizing ethical Puerto Rico at Mayagüez,
[email protected]. values through engineering design. Workshop organizers use virtue ethics to steer participants toward Efrain O’Neill-Carrillo, Professor of Electrical and the path of excellence. Computer Engineering and Director of Social, Ethical and 2. Supporting engineers who would be ethical. Future Global Issues, College of Engineering, University of Puerto workshops should encourage professionals to identify Rico at Mayagüez,
[email protected] the different ways in which their societies can enable and support ethical—even exemplary—behavior. 978-1-4244-1970-8/08/$25.00 ©2008 IEEE October 22 – 25, 2008, Saratoga Springs, NY 38th ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference F3A-20
