Software Engineering Ethics Education

The difficulties inherent in the nature of software as an intangible object pose problems for specifying its needs, predicting overall behavior or impact on users, and therefore on defining the ethical questions that are involved in software development. Whereas software engineering drew from older engineering disciplines for process and practice development, culminating in the IEEE/ACM Professional Code in 1999, the topic of Software Engineering Ethics is entwined with Computer Science, and developments in Computer and Information Ethics. Contemporary issues in engineering ethics such as globalization have raised questions for software engineers about computer crime, civil liberties, open access, digital divide, etc. Similarly, computer-related ethics is becoming increasingly important for engineering ethics because of the dominance of computers in modern engineering practice. This is not to say that software engineers should consider everything, but the diversity of ethical issues presents a challenge to the approach of accumulating resources that many ethicists maintain can be overcome by developing critical thinking skills as part of technical training courses. This chapter explores critical pedagogies in the context of student outreach activities such as service learning projects and considers their potential in broadening software engineering ethics education. The practical emphasis in critical pedagogy can allow students to link specific software design decisions and ethical positions, which can perhaps transform both student and teacher into persons more curious about their individual contribution to the public good and more conscious of their agency to change the conditions around them. After all, they share with everyone else a basic human desire to survive and flourish.

Conflict Resolution and Ethical Decision-Making for Engineering Professionals in Global Organizations

As an introduction to recognizing individual and organizational conflict as well as ethical issues within global firms, the goals of this chapter are to equip Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) professionals, especially those in engineering, with solid decision-making tools, including self-awareness, ethical perspectives and theories, ethical decision-making models, and various conflict resolution approaches. Given the current challenges in business and industry that have often led to unethical practices, and ultimately conflict, it is critical that both organizational leaders and followers possess the necessary tools and perspectives to create an ethical climate that deals appropriately with various types of conflict. This chapter examines new trends in conflict coaching and the delivery of ethics training in an effort to provide the aforementioned tools and perspectives.

Engineering Ethics Education

In this chapter, the importance of engineering ethics education in engineering programmes is discussed, involving major elements that build ethics education. Definitions and concepts of engineering ethics are introduced, along with an engineering code of ethics. Ethical education in engineering programmes is analyzed, focusing on teaching approaches and the effect of science and technological development on engineering socio-ethical issues. Survey results are presented, which illustrate students' attitudes toward engineering ethics, where it is found that students' attitudes were poor. Some strategies are suggested to improve engineering ethical education in engineering programmes.

Teaching Ethics to Engineering Students in India

Most engineering colleges in India have integrated ethics courses into their curriculum for the reason that students may develop an ethical ability to engage in sound decision making. However, there are differences noticed in defining the concept of “ethics” by the engineering students and the teachers who teach them ethics. Often, it is observed that students' positions with regard to ethics courses are egoistic pragmatism while the teachers follow idealistic pragmatism. This ideological difference makes teaching ethics to engineering students a difficult task and thus undermines the effectiveness of the ethics course. The major objective of this chapter therefore is to examine the extent to which the “gap” can be merged and make the students more ethically responsible. It also helps to achieve more job satisfaction for teachers. Finally, the chapter discusses some suggestions to make engineering students more ethically sensible.

Ethical Theories and Teaching Engineering Ethics

As an area of academic study, engineering ethics focuses primarily on practical ethical issues. A primary aim of the study of practical ethics is to help students make good ethical decisions in whatever practical endeavors they may undertake, including in their chosen careers. The authors argue that reflection on the sorts of ethical problems that arise in engineering practice should be the starting point, with ethical theory coming into view primarily in this context. This is in contrast to a more “top-down” approach that tries to “apply” theory to practice only after laying out a spectrum of philosophically grounded theories, each of which attempts to give us a comprehensive picture of ethics, as such.

Engineering as Normative Practice

The concept of social practice was introduced by Alisdair Macintyre as a means for ethical reflections for professional situations. This concept has been extended by Hoogland and Jochemsen to include different types of norms. The term “normative practice” indicates that practices are determined by the norms by which they are defined. Engineering is such a normative practice, one that is part of a more complex situation of technological developments, in which other normative practices are also involved (e.g., a government practice, a business practice, a consumer practice). The norms in a normative practice are not only ethical norms but also include task descriptions. In this chapter, the role of both non-ethical and ethical norms in engineering as normative practices is analyzed. This is illustrated by two case studies: one from military ethics (with a specific focus on the role of technology) and one from synthetic biology.

Ethical Issues for User Involvement in Technological Research Projects

In recent years, it has become common for users to participate in the development of new technologies for health and quality of life. This development requires ethical issues to be taken into account. In this chapter, the researchers review the important recommendations and directives both worldwide and in European legislation in order to guide technological researchers. All research with human participants that poses any risk to them must be supervised by an external multidisciplinary entity. In addition, the participants must decide whether or not they want to participate, having been provided with all the information about the experiments and the risks of taking part. The privacy of the participants' personal data is another important issue.

Integrating Ethics into Engineering Education

In this chapter, the authors aim to explore the necessity of teaching ethics as part of engineering education based on the gaps between learning “hard” knowledge and “soft” skills in the current educational system. They discuss why the nature of engineering practices makes it difficult to look beyond dealing with engineering design problems, identify the difference between knowledge and risk perceptions, and how to manage such tensions. They also explore the importance of developing moral responsibilities of engineers and the need to humanize technology and engineering, as technological products are not value neutral. With a focus on Problem-Based Learning (PBL), the authors examine why engineers need to incorporate ethical codes in their decision-making process and professional tasks. Finally, they discuss how to build creative learning environments that can support attaining the objectives of engineering education.

Engineers, Emotions, and Ethics

This chapter tries to answer the question: What part, if any, should emotion have in making engineering decisions? The chapter is, in effect, a critical examination of the view, common even among engineers, that a good engineer is not only accurate, laconic, orderly, and practical but also free of emotion. The chapter has four parts. The first, the philosophical, provides a critical analysis of the term “emotion.” The second and third parts show how that analysis helps us understand the relation between emotion and engineering. It explicates what a reasonable emotion is. These two sections are organized around an ethical problem concerning management's rejection of engineering judgment. The fourth part, the pedagogical, delineates how we should develop a curriculum for a course in engineering ethics. It suggests teachers of engineering ethics should take time in class to help students accept the fact that engineering has an emotional side, for example, that doing good engineering is likely to delight them and doing bad engineering to depress them.

Teaching Engineering Ethics in the Classroom

Engineering students are introduced to their profession's ethical and social responsibilities along with their education and training at university. This might be the only time and place where public welfare engagement may be promoted by the institution and acknowledged by students. Their future behavior as engineers heavily depends on the understanding and commitment they may develop during this process. The purpose of this chapter is to discuss the main points related to the teaching and learning of Engineering Ethics at universities. In order to gain insight into this complex educational scene, a set of questions are formulated and explored. The discussion of these questions amounts to explain what Engineering Education consists of, how to integrate Engineering Ethics courses into the curriculum and develop instructional designs for classroom teaching, who should assume teaching responsibilities, and finally, what Engineering Ethics goals should be. For each query, the primal issues, controversies, and alternatives are discussed.