scholarly journals Impacts of Engineering Justice Curriculum: A Survey of Student Attitudes

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tina Lee ◽  
Elizabeth Buchanan ◽  
Devin R. Berg
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Service Learning ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
General Education ◽  
Student Attitudes ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Societal Implications ◽  
Engineering Practice ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages

As part of a larger project examining the role of humanitarian service learning in engineering (NSF project number EEC-1540301), we conducted an investigation of first-year engineering students' perceptions of humanitarian service learning projects, social responsibility in their discipline, and ethics in STEM. Students (n=231) taking a required freshmen level engineering course were surveyed with a pre- and post-instrument, and provided with these working definitions: * Community Service is voluntary work intended to help people in a particular community. * Social Responsibility is an obligation that an individual (or company) has to act with concern and sensitivity, aware of the impacts of their own action on others, particularly the disadvantaged. * Social Justice relates to the distribution of the advantages and disadvantages in society, including the way in which they are allocated. * Pro bono- work done without compensation (pay) for the public good. This course specifically addresses the issues described above with the goal of providing early exposure to topics that will be reinforced in non-major coursework, such as general education elective courses. Results showed that there was little change in student perceptions before and after completion of the course in terms of their perceptions of ethics, social responsibility, and social justice. In the areas in which there were statistically significant changes, students were, on average, slightly less sure the engineering profession can help people or solve social issues and slightly less interested in a job that involves helping people. On the other hand, students were slightly more aware, after the course, of the need to include social aspects in engineering practice and rated technical and professional skills as slightly less important after the class. It was also found that some groups in the class (women, minority students, first-generation students, and student less focused on salary in thinking about their future jobs) entered the class with different attitudes and changed in different ways by the end of the course. Overall, the results of this survey support other findings in engineering ethics which suggests that one course is insufficient to make significant impacts on the ways engineering students think about the societal implications of their work. However, these declines in student confidence, while small, are important to take seriously and this paper will draw out potential implications of this finding. Finally, we will discuss the implications of the differences within the class in terms of effective teaching of these topics and retention of underrepresented students.

scholarly journals Impacts of Engineering: An Introductory Course in Engineering Featuring Social Justice

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Devin R. Berg
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
General Education ◽  
Time Management ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Global Perspective ◽  
Educational Objective ◽  
Good Communication ◽  
Capstone Courses ◽  
Communication Time

Impacts of Engineering is a three-credit required course for all incoming engineering freshmen and is also available as a general education elective to all university students. The course was developed to address the needs of new engineering students while setting the stage for how they might approach engineering work in later curriculum. Prior to the development of this course, engineering students at UW-Stout were exposed to the topics of ethics, social justice, and social responsibility solely through general education electives and through limited discussion in capstone courses. In addition, there is a selection of ``extra-curricular'' opportunities for student engagement, most notably a chapter of Engineers Without Borders USA, however these opportunities don’t carry curricular integration. The first effort at more directly integrating these topics into the engineering curriculum was through the development of a new course called ``Impacts of Engineering,'' which is described in the course documentation as shown in the following section. Broadly, this course supports the program educational objective of graduating students who are ``committed to high ethical standards, global perspectives, and principles of social responsibility and social justice.'' The course aims to supplement the technical content typically found in introductory engineering coursework with professional or life skills such as good communication, time management, and ability to function on a diverse team. Finally, the course objectives include several that are specifically directed at developing an understanding of engineering design from a global perspective.

Diverse Applications of Sociological Imagination: A Qualitative Study of Service-Learning Mentoring

2021 ◽  
pp. 193672442110213
Author(s):  
Laura C. Atkins ◽  
Shelley B. Grant
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Service Learning ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Media Representations ◽  
At Risk Youth ◽  
Reflection Data ◽  
Student Mentors ◽  
Diverse Backgrounds ◽  
Personal Histories ◽  
Media And Crime

This project expands discussions regarding critical ways that students’ diverse backgrounds and experiences intertwine with service-learning and social justice. Educators need to empower the next generation to explore their views, apply their skills, and engage with social issues. The research intersects with complex conversations about students’ perspectives regarding media representations, justice system responses, and views of at-risk youth. The project spanned four semesters of a sociology of media and crime course with service-learning mentoring. Qualitative reflection data drawn from 104 participating student mentors provided insights into how service-learners’ unique personal histories and sociological imaginations inform their views of youth, the mentoring experience, and social justice. The findings focus attention upon diversity within classrooms and expand the conversation about social justice praxis and service-learning pedagogy. Through reflexivity, the researchers consider their own social justice and service-learning practices, and add to the call for greater reflexivity within community-engaged sociology classrooms.

scholarly journals Incorporation of liberal education into the engineering curriculum at a polytechnic

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Devin R. Berg ◽  
Tina Lee
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Service Learning ◽  
General Education ◽  
Liberal Education ◽  
Engineering Curriculum ◽  
Engineering Programs ◽  
Cultural Engagement ◽  
Ethical Frameworks ◽  
Professional Careers ◽  
High Level

Traditional engineering education often falls short when it comes to the inclusion of issues related to social justice, ethics, and globalization. While engineering programs are required to include ethics content for accreditation, most seem to rely primarily on general education electives, providing only a high-level overview and including the bare minimum in the program core. This can lead to an inconsistent student experience and minimal exposure to topics which are critically important for achieving worldwide equity and operating responsibly in the engineering workplace. Given the role that engineers play in economic development, this is unacceptable. It is therefore the responsibility of engineering educators to find a better way to shape the future of the engineering profession. This paper outlines the early efforts at integrating the topics of ethics, social justice, and social responsibility more directly into the engineering curriculum. This is approached from the perspectives of pedagogy, curriculum development, and service learning opportunities. It is within this context that the authors hope to influence students' awareness of and connection to social and environmental issues as well as the ethical frameworks they develop and carry with them into their professional careers. This paper centers around the creation and delivery of a new introductory engineering course combining liberal education topics and introductory engineering topics. This course also includes a substantial design project which incorporates a cultural engagement component through collaboration with international partners. The first offering of this new course revealed that, while some reservations persist, students found value in exploring what it means to be an engineer in a broader global context.

A Grand Challenge

2018 ◽  
pp. 429-444
Author(s):  
Adam Moore ◽  
Susan Trostle Brand
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Service Learning ◽  
General Education ◽  
Teacher Candidates ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Change Agents ◽  
Grand Challenge ◽  
Service Learning Projects ◽  
Learning Projects ◽  
Structure And Design

Teacher educators committed to social justice are charged with preparing future professionals with the knowledge and skills characteristic of change agents. This chapter explains how two university faculty members co-taught a general education course about education and social justice enlisting service-learning. This multidisciplinary course allowed teacher candidates to work with peers from other majors to select, plan, and implement a service-learning project. The structure and design of the course is described, along with examples of readings, film, media, and organizations that promote social justice. Qualitative reflections from former students are included, along with descriptions of service-learning projects. Recommendations and implications for teacher educators designing a similar course are provided.

scholarly journals Redesigning MGMT 4010S: Creating A Cause Of Social Responsibility And Social Justice

2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-160
Author(s):  
Cary A. Caro ◽  
Kolby Lirette ◽  
Myke Yest
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Service Learning ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Leadership Practices ◽  
Business Schools ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
American Business ◽  
Senior Leadership ◽  
Business Organizations ◽  
Project Objectives

As business organizations face more and more scrutiny for poor leadership practices, American business schools have come under more pressure to prepare students to enter organizations with an understanding of and an appreciation for quality leadership. This manuscript focuses on the introduction of a service-learning project to a Senior Leadership Seminar course at a small university in Louisiana. This manuscript describes the impetus for change, including wanting to establish a method for students to actively engage in the principles of leadership, the course and project objectives, the measurement of those objectives, and the lessons learned through several iterations of the course. This paper is designed to provide a guide for future practitioners to integrate service learning into their courses, and to provide an outline of how it can be done through a senior seminar course.

Sustainability

2012 ◽  
pp. 263-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ken D. Thomas ◽  
Helen E. Muga
Keyword(s):  
Service Learning ◽  
General Education ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Student Organizations ◽  
Science And Engineering ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Us ◽  
Upper Level ◽  
Current Engineering

The relation of sustainability to science and engineering will be delved into so as to validate the need for its inclusion in current engineering curricula. The chapter will highlight key elements of sustainability that need to be incorporated into a General Education requirement (i.e. lower level undergraduate) course as well as some options for elective (i.e. upper level undergraduate) or postgraduate courses. The chapter will act as a “how to” curriculum development guide to give ideas for the quick development of sustainability courses. It also highlights how engineering students can become engaged in service learning (something that is at the fore of importance for most engineering departments in the US) through their student organizations and associated academic staff advisors with sustainability at the core.

Intergenerational service-learning, sustainability, and university social responsibility: A pilot study

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-85
Author(s):  
Asier Arcos - Alonso ◽  
Ángel Elías - Ortega ◽  
Ander Arcos - Alonso
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Service Learning ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Basque Country ◽  
Community Services ◽  
Teaching Methodology ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Entity ◽  
The University

This paper presents a study of university social responsibility (USR), carried out through an innovative educational action. The students of the studied classrooms in the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) collaborated with a social entity Emmaus Social Foundation dedicated to environmental sustainability, social justice and the social and solidarity economy to provide community services through a service-learning methodology. Using a mixed method approach, we combined the practical experience of the social entity with an active student-centred teaching methodology in order to foster the acquisition of general and specific competencies related to sustainability and social justice. The aim was to create learning connections between members of the university community and links with the environmental and social reality of the Basque Country. This pilot study was carried out in the first term of the 2018–2019 academic year. This work allowed (a) critical knowledge to be generated by incorporating and hybridising discussion elements of social justice, such as sustainability; (b) intergenerational participation processes to be generated between elders, university students and social organisations in order to acquire general and specific learning competencies and (c) social and environmental needs to be addressed through community services.   Keywords: Higher education, intergenerational learning, service-learning, teaching innovation, university social responsibility.

scholarly journals Intergenerational service-learning, Sustainability and University social responsibility

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 1629-1641
Author(s):  
Asier Arcos Alonso ◽  
Ángel Elías - Ortega ◽  
Ander Arcos - Alonso
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Service Learning ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Basque Country ◽  
Community Services ◽  
Teaching Methodology ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Entity ◽  
The University

This paper presents a study of university social responsibility (USR), carried out through an innovative educational action. The students of the studied classrooms in the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) collaborated with a social entity Emmaus Social Foundation dedicated to environmental sustainability, social justice and the social and solidarity economy to provide community services through a service-learning methodology. Using a mixed method approach, we combined the practical experience of the social entity with an active student-centred teaching methodology in order to foster the acquisition of general and specific competencies related to sustainability and social justice. The aim was to create learning connections between members of the university community and links with the environmental and social reality of the Basque Country. This pilot study was carried out in the first term of the 2018–2019 academic year. This work allowed (a) critical knowledge to be generated by incorporating and hybridising discussion elements of social justice, such as sustainability; (b) intergenerational participation processes to be generated between elders, university students and social organisations in order to acquire general and specific learning competencies and (c) social and environmental needs to be addressed through community services.   Keywords: Higher education, intergenerational learning, service-learning, teaching innovation, university social responsibility.

Integrating General Education Courses into Engineering Curriculum

2012 ◽  
pp. 247-262
Author(s):  
Jacek Uziak ◽  
M. Tunde Oladiran ◽  
Venkata Parasuram Kommula
Keyword(s):  
General Education ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Soft Skills ◽  
Engineering Practice ◽  
Engineering Curriculum ◽  
Fully Integrated ◽  
University Of Botswana ◽  
General Education Courses ◽  
Equal Split ◽  
Education Courses

General Education Courses (GEC) are natural sources of “soft” skills in engineering curricula. Such skills are becoming increasingly important if the graduates are to operate successfully and be fully integrated in their workplaces. The importance of “soft” skills is fully recognized by engineering accreditation boards. The chapter reports on the engineering students’ reactions to the introduction of GEC at the University of Botswana (UB). The position of engineering students’ on the issue of GEC is not very clear. The questionnaire administered to final year students in all engineering programmes at UB gave a mixed response. On average, there were 25% neutral answers to the questions in the survey. The fact that on average one quarter of all graduating engineers did not have an opinion about GEC and their implementation was very disappointing and showed the general problem of students not being interested in that area of their study. The survey showed that students were not fully convinced that GEC were either important or relevant to their future career. The fundamental question on whether GEC were a necessary part of engineering programme brought almost an equal split between positive, negative, and neutral answers, with a slight advantage of positive answers (37%) over negative ones (33%). The students were equally split (36% positive and negative answers) on the question of whether GEC were relevant to their career paths. A small majority were of the opinion that GEC should not be retained. As it is critical that elements of general education are retained in the engineering curriculum, it is necessary to convince the students of the importance of those elements of the study. An effective advisory students’ system is recommended starting with general discussions on engineering practice within departments led by senior members of staff. Also, an introductory course in engineering or any course directly dealing with engineering practice is recommended.

A Grand Challenge

2021 ◽  
pp. 122-137
Author(s):  
Adam Moore ◽  
Susan Trostle Brand
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Service Learning ◽  
General Education ◽  
Teacher Candidates ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Change Agents ◽  
Grand Challenge ◽  
Service Learning Projects ◽  
Learning Projects ◽  
Structure And Design

Teacher educators committed to social justice are charged with preparing future professionals with the knowledge and skills characteristic of change agents. This chapter explains how two university faculty members co-taught a general education course about education and social justice enlisting service-learning. This multidisciplinary course allowed teacher candidates to work with peers from other majors to select, plan, and implement a service-learning project. The structure and design of the course is described, along with examples of readings, film, media, and organizations that promote social justice. Qualitative reflections from former students are included, along with descriptions of service-learning projects. Recommendations and implications for teacher educators designing a similar course are provided.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document