IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2013 - 62

Map of Ethical Judgments
Absolute

Some People
Should Always...

All People
Should Always...

Some People
Should Sometimes...

All People
Should Sometimes...

Universal

Particular

Relative

Fig. 1. Map of ethical judgments.

matrix asks students to locate their
ethical judgments within the world
of possible theories and ideals,
putting them again within a structure of self-evaluation and usercentered learning. Each corner of
the diagram offers the opposite
perspective, Particular vs. universal and Absolute vs. relative: that
is, whether judgments apply to all
or allow exceptions, whether judgments are unchanging or transitory. There is no prescribed answer
as the map is a simple evaluation
tool. Students can see whether or
not their ethics are consistent or
rigid, flexible or erratic, and, most
importantly, how far from the center of the matrix their evaluation
and reasoning skills exist. The
map offers students the opportunity to view the diversity in ethical
judgments. With practice, students
can develop the agility to consider
dilemmas from multiple ethical
perspectives (i.e., all sectors of
the map) in order to make better
informed decisions.

Case Studies
Case study evaluation is arguably
one of the most important aspects of
ethical consideration and learning,
after students master core ethical
systems. Jonassen et al. [14] support
engaging the engineering student
and "rather than teaching students
about ethics, we advocate requiring the student to solve authentic,
everyday engineering ethics problems." According to May [15],
the student must "not only understand the theoretical development
in organization studies .... but ....
should know how... [it is] enacted
in ethical organizational practice." Educational institutions often
implement special programs, such
as an ethics case study laboratory, to
increase and enhance ethical decision making skills [16]. Through
the study of actual events, students
can determine how to apply the
ethical systems and processes they
have learned. Application of theory
to real-world situations promotes
a deep understanding of ethical

Meaning of "Ethics"
8%
Do What Is Right

10%
35%

No Meaning/Unsure
Religion

11%

Do No Harm
Legal Term

13%
23%

Fig. 2. Meaning of "Ethics" survey answers.
62

Golden Rule

responsibility and how individual
decisions can impact others. With
the consideration of case studies in
the public forum of the classroom,
"...students can begin to see the possible clash between the values of an
audience in industry, heavily influenced by the profit motive, and the
concerns of the public" [10]. This
course utilized short simulated case
studies to derive a student response
and engage the student in the ethical
decision making process.

Outcomes
Concluding Assessment Survey
After the introductory short course,
sixty-eight engineering students
at Florida Institute of Technology
and Texas A&M at Qatar answered
a written survey regarding their
knowledge of and feelings about ethics. Internal review Board permission was granted by Florida Institute
of Technology, Texas A&M at Qatar,
and Texas Tech university for this
study. The first survey question
asked students what the term "ethics"
meant to them. As shown in Fig. 2,
Meaning of "Ethics", approximately
77% of the students surveyed attributed some specific meaning to the
term "ethics," while 23% reported
that they were unsure of the meaning. When asked whether or not
ethical decision making skills were
important to the engineering curriculum, 100% of the students reported
that engineers must be able to make
ethical choices. Approximately 88%
of the 68 students surveyed felt that
ethical decision making required
a global perspective (Fig. 3). One
student stated that "...the world is
becoming smaller... we have to
understand and respect all of the
people we serve as engineers." Other
participants shared similar sentiments regarding the necessity of a
globalized ethical viewpoint.
Students also pointed to an
overall feeling that there is a
"...lack of concern when it comes
to international considerations and
also international students in the

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