Rel 491/492 - 28
Class Outline
Fall Semester, 1998
Class Information: T,TH 12:00-12:50, 125 CTB
Instructors: Professor Steven E. Benzley and several special guests
Textbook: You will acquire materials to place in your personal ethics portfolio. At a minimum, the portfolio it should contain
1. Course Packet - (Excerpts of O.C. Tanners Christ’s Ideals for Living, and other selected papers)
2. Your papers and assignments related to this class
3. Newspaper clippings of current engineering ethical situations
Course Objective: To place ethical engineering practice within the framework of the Gospel of Jesus Christ
Office Hours: Professor Benzley: 2:00-4:00 M,T; 9:00-11:00 W,Th - 350 MSRB
Special Guests - After Class They Teach
Grading:
In class responsibilities 24%
Exams 20%
Out of Class Assignments 56%
100%
In Class Responsibilities (71 points, 24% of grade)
1) Attendance (56 points - 18% of total grade)
Attendance at every class is important. The discussion in class, which will include the interchange of ideas and the insights and experiences of all class members, is one of the most valuable portions of the class. The only way you can get this is to be present in both body and mind. You will keep your own attendance on the Assignment Log Sheet, two points for each class fully attended in both body and mind, one point if more than 15 minutes tardy. Final Review meeting is a makeup day
2) Team Case Evaluation (15 points - 5% of total grade)
You will be assigned to a team and each team will be required to give a 5-10 minute class presentation of an assigned case. The presentation will be on an assigned case that supplements the topic being discussed in class that particular day. At the end of the semester, each team will assign themselves the points (0-15) that they feel they earned. To assign these points consider the following: 1) how your presentation compared with the others given, 2) the thoughtful effort your team actually put into the assignment, 3) the relative maturity in resolving ethical dilemmas your team had (i.e. note that those that present later in the semester should have a deeper understanding than those who present earlier in the semester).
Exams (60 points, 20% of grade)
1) Mid Term Exam (30 points, 10 %)
Exam can be picked up in the Civil and Environmental Engineering office between the hours of 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. any day between Nov 9-13. The exam will focus on reading material to date.
2) Final Exam (30 Points, 10%)
Tuesday, December 15, 1998, 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. - In classroom, Comprehensive Exam.
Out of Class Assignments: (169 points, 56 % Percent of Grade)
1) Reading (36 pts. assigned reading, 10 pts. videos, 8 pts. book , total 54 points - 19% of total grade)
Eighteen reading assignments are listed on the assignment log. To obtain full credit for the reading assignment it must be completely read before (not during) class. The majority of the class time will be spent discussing the subject found in the daily reading assignment. 2 points are given if read before class, 1 point if read after class and 0 points if read during class. Two videos are to be viewed this semester- "A Man for All Seasons" and "Bridge on the River Kwai." A small book titled The Power of Ethical Management, is to be read. For full credit, one of these assignments must be done before February 1, the second before March 1, and the final before April 1. Penalize yourself 4 points each time you miss one of these due dates. The Power of Ethical Management can be checked out from the Civil and Environmental Office or purchased from the bookstore. You can reserve it for check out for a three/four day period (i.e. Mon - Thurs or Fri - Sun). Penalize yourself 2 points if you don’t return the book on time because there are a limited number of books and many students in the class. Use all of the reading materials, particularly the supplementary material, as you write your closure report.
2) Papers (3 @ 20 points each = 60 points, 24% of total grade)
Each paper should be 3-5 typed pages in length. The thoughtful content and ability to express your feelings to others is the value of the paper, not its length. Papers will be given a maximum of 10 points for thoughtful content, and a maximum of 10 points for readability. Papers will be penalized 5 points if late. Papers 1 and 3 should include several references.
Paper #1 - Title: When does the End Justify the Means?
Consider this topic very thoughtfully. After all papers are submitted, we will discuss his topic in class. Do the Ends ever justify the Means? Reflect on the case studies we have viewed in class. Consider Nephi’s experience with Laban in 1 Nephi.
Paper #2 Personal Application Paper
As part of your study of ethics this semester, you will pick 3 topics from the reading that have personal meaning to you. Try "abiding by" or applying each passage for a period of one week. Write up each week’s effort separately, indicating the date for each week’s application. Indicate how you selected each topic. The final paper will be a compilation of each week’s effort explaining the topics used the things you did, and the insights gained. Specific attention should be given to how you applied the topics in your life. Explain some of your daily efforts. Provide a paragraph at the end of your paper summarizing your feelings about the experiences and tying the three experiences together. The due date for the paper is indicated on the reading schedule. It would be wise to write up your feeling and experiences after each week of application.
Paper #3 - Title: Personal Responsibility and the Common Good.
The engineering profession has the responsibility to protect the public safety. This responsibility ethically goes beyond insuring a safe design of your product. Express in this paper your philosophy of what you think an engineer’s responsibility is for mankind’s welfare. Use the Supplementary Material ( i.e. videos and book) to support your position. Conclude this paper with your personal engineering ethics mission statement.
3) Personal Case Study Evaluations (5 @ 5 points each = 25 points, 8.3% of total grade)
The case studies you will personally evaluated can be accessed through Professor Benzley’s Web site. The first and last cases are the "Current applied ethics case of the month" found at the University of Washington site. Evaluate these cases and provide your vote for the proper resolution. You can see later how your resolution compared with the total group who evaluated. Personally select cases II through IV from the National Society of Professional Engineers, Board of Ethical Review sites. Compare your evaluation to the judgments given by the professionals. For all five cases, provide a one-page summary of your evaluation and the judgement. Grade yourself on your write-up. Give yourself a maximum of 5 points if you felt your thought process and evaluation were appropriate for the case. Penalize your evaluation 2 points if it is late.
4) Closure report (20 points, 6.67% of total grade)
The closure report is due on the last day of class. This report is to provide you the opportunity to write about your semester’s experience with respect to your educational and life goals and plans. You should include a discussion on what you have learned, how you expect this new knowledge to benefit you both in your chosen field of service and in life in general. Explain also how this course experience fits into your plans and goals, and what responsibilities you have. As much as anything, this is a personal philosophical statement and will be evaluated according to the thought, effort, and genuineness evidenced in the paper.
5) Personal Ethics Portfolio (10 points, 3.33%)
A neatly kept ethics portfolio that should include:
a) 1st Page - Completed Assignment Log
b) The packet of reading materials
c) The three major papers you wrote
d) The case study evaluations you wrote
This portfolio will be your own "Textbook on Engineering Ethics" - Make it something you are proud of and permanent. Turn it in on the last day of class. Be sure that the Assignment Log is the first page and is completed with every score except those for the Closure Report and the Final Exam. Professor Benzley will enter those and also include your final grade.
6) This semester an effort to provide the majority of the information necessary for this class will be included on the World Wide Web. Much of this work will be in process as we proceed through the semester. You can access this information by going directly to Professor Benzley’s home page:
http://www/et.byu.edu/~seb
Included will be the class schedule, a copy of this class outline, the Assignment Log Sheet, some of the readings, the case studies, connections to other ethics sites, and other things to aid in the discussion of engineering ethics.