Alumni Reflect on Their Education About Ethical and Societal Issues

Abstract

This study explored the extent to which engineering alumni felt that they had received adequate education to face ethical and societal issues in their work, and what they believed to be most helpful regarding their formal education on these topics. Mixed-methods were used to answer these research questions, using a survey instrument with responses from eight groups of alumni who had taken at least one course with exemplary integration of engineering ethics and one 'control' group, plus interviews with 14 engineering alumni. Among engineering alumni who had received at least one exemplary ethics educational experience, 58% rated the level that they believed they were adequately prepared through their education to face ethical issues in their work at 8-10 (on a scale of 1 to 10), and 49% rated their preparation to consider societal issues at 8-10; only 1% and 4% rated these at 4 or less, respectively. These averages differed across institutions (e.g., average for ethical issues 8.2 at a religiously-affiliated R2 institution versus 6.3 at a Public R2 institution). Alumni described courses in college (undergraduate or graduate), if any, that impacted their understanding of the role of engineering and/or computing in society. These courses included an array of humanities/social science (HSS) courses and engineering courses (e.g., capstone design). Many described feeling somewhat unprepared for a variety of ethical situations on the job. Most advocated for greater engineering ethics education, primarily through integration into existing engineering courses. Limitations in the work include a fairly small sample. The results provide insights into how educational practices are influential in terms of the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of working engineers with respect to ethics and broader impacts.