Engineering Ethics Education

Current Project: Efficacy of Macroethics Education in Engineering

  • CCE-STEM, National Science Foundation. 
  • Grant #1540348, #1540341, #1540308, #1755390. 2015 - 2019.  
  • PIs: , PhD, PE (University of Colorado Boulder); , PhD (Tufts University); , PhD, PE (CYS Structural Engineers, formerly Seattle University).
  • Project evaluation specialist: Daniel Knight, PhD (University of Colorado Boulder)
  • Graduate research assistant: Madeline Polmear (University of Colorado Boulder, PhD candidate)
  • Undergraduate student research assistants: David Zhao and Jake Lewis (University of Colorado Boulder); Elizabeth Simon (Seattle University); Reese Wallace, Zach Harned, Allie Kulich, Emily Decker, Janith Kulatunge (Tufts University)

  • Theoretical Frameworks:

    • For effective ethics education: Vanasupa et al.'s Four Domain Development Diagram; see:
    • For faculty decisions about macroethics teaching practices: Lattuca & Stark's Academic Plan (an Input-Environment-Output model)

  • Project Phases:

    1. Survey of faculty and academic staff who teach engineering and computing students. Determine perceptions of the sufficiency of ethics and societal impacts (ESI) education and if, where, and how individuals personally teach ESI in their courses and informal learning settings, including topics, pedagogy, and assessment. ~1400 survey responses. Results are finding differences by discipline, institutional setting, and personal factors. Publications highlight examples of ESI education that should help faculty to integrate ESI into courses and co-curricular environments they mentor.
    2. Interviews with ~36 faculty to learn more about their potentially exemplary ESI educational practices. From this effort, 35 current "cases" of ESI educational practices were summarized (, ). The research teams and ESI educators rated these teaching examples in order to select ESI educational settings for further study. Faculty also described challenges and rewards of ESI education.
    3. Evaluation of potentially exemplary ESI educational settings, as case studies. The goal is to gather multiple lines of evidence to examine the effectiveness of ESI education, using: faculty perceptions (follow-up interviews were conducted), student self-reporting (surveys and focus groups), alumni perceptions (survey and potentially interviews), and independent assessment of student work. A student survey to evaluate ESI education using qualitative questions from and Likert-type questions that map to Vanasupa's Four Domain Development Diagram was developed (email Angela.Bielefeldt@colorado.edu to request a copy).  

  • Journal Publications:

    • Educating engineers to work ethically with global marginalized communities. Environmental Engineering Science, 2021. 38 (5), 320-330. DOI 10.1089/ees.2020.0269.
    • Exploratory Investigation of Personal Influences on Educators’ Engagement in Engineering Ethics and Societal Impacts Instruction. Science and Engineering Ethics. 2020. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-020-00261-x
    • Educating Civil Engineering Students about Ethics and Societal Impacts via Co-curricular Activities. Journal of Civil Engineering Education, 2020. DOI 10.1061/(ASCE)EI.2643-9115.0000021
    • Disciplinary Variations in Ethics and Societal Impact Topics Taught in Courses for Engineering Students, Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice, 2019. 
    • Analysis of Macroethics Teaching Practices and Perceptions in Engineering: A Cultural Comparison. European Journal of Engineering Education, 2019.
    • Ethics Education of Undergraduate and Graduate Students in Environmental Engineering and Related Disciplines, Environmental Engineering Science, 2018.
    • Intersections between Engineering Ethics and Diversity Issues in Engineering Education, Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice, 144 (2), April 2018.
    • Macroethics and Microethics Education of Biomedical Engineering Students in the United States, Ethics in Biology, Engineering and Medicine: An International Journal, 7 (1-2), 2016.
    • Contributions of Learning through Service to the Ethics Education of Engineering Students, International Journal for Service Learning in Engineering, Humanitarian Engineering and Social Entrepreneurship, v.11, 2016.

  • Conference Paper Publications:

    • Alumni reflect on their education about ethical and societal issues. 2021 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition.
    • Engineering alumni rate the impact of co-curricular activities on their ethical development. 2021 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition.
    • Undergraduate engineering students’ exposure to, and valuation of, ethics through the lens of socialization. 2021 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition.
    • Variations in reflections as a method for teaching and assessment of engineering ethics. 2020 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition.
    • Student Perceptions of an Ethics Intervention: Exploration Across Three Course Types. 2020 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition. Best paper Award Engineering Ethics Division and PIC IV. 
    • Sustainable Engineering Ethics: Teaching Sustainability as a Macroethical Issue. 2019 IEEE International Symposium on Technology in Society (ISTAS) Proceedings.
    • Exploration of the Ethics and Societal Impacts Teaching Practices of Anglo and Western European Educators. 2019. 8th Research in Engineering Education Symposium.
    • Institutional Variations in Ethics and Societal Impacts Education: Practices and Sufficiency Perceptions Among Engineering Educators. 2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition.
    • Hidden Curriculum Perspective on the Importance of Ethics and Societal Impacts in Engineering Education. 2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition. Best paper award Technological and Engineering Literacy / Philosophy of Engineering Division.
    • Student Views on their Role in Society as an Engineer and Relevant Ethical Issues. 2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition.Best paper award PIC IV and the Engineering Ethics Division.
    • Development of an Ethics Survey based on the Four-Domain Development Diagram. 2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition.
    • Education of Electrical Engineering Students about Ethics and Societal Impacts in Courses and Co-curricular Activities. 2018 ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education (FIE) Conference.
    • Exploring the Range of Methods Used to Assess Engineering Students' Education on Ethical and Societal Impact Issues. 2018 ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education (FIE) Conference.
    • Faculty Perceptions of Challenges to Educating Engineering and Computing Students About Ethics and Societal Impacts. 2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition. Best Paper Engineering Ethics Division. 
    • Ethics and Societal Impacts in the Education of Chemical Engineering Undergraduate and Graduate Students. 2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition.
    • Effective Ethics Education: Examining Differing Faculty Perspectives. 2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition.
    • Faculty Perceptions of the Most Effective Settings and Approaches for Educating Engineering and Computing Students About Ethics and Societal Impacts. 2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition. 
    • Ethics Across the Curriculum? Integrating Ethics and Societal Impact Topics into Core Engineering Courses. Proceedings of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Rocky Mountain Section Conference. 2017.
    • An Overview of the Microethics and Macroethics Education of Computing Students in the United States. ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education (FIE) Conference.
    • Analysis of Macroethics Teaching Practices and Perceptions in Engineering: Results of an International Survey, REES 2017 - Research in Engineering Education Symposium, 2017.
    • Challenges and Opportunities: Faculty Views on the State of Macroethical Education in Engineering, 2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition.
    • Institutional Differences in the Education of Engineering and Computing Students about Ethics and Societal Impacts. Christian Engineering Conference.
    • Incorporation of Ethics and Societal Impact Issues into First-Year Engineering Courses: Results of a National Survey, 2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition. Best paper First-Year Programs Division. 
    • Incorporation of Ethics and Societal Impact Issues into Senior Capstone Design Courses: Results of a National Survey, 2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition.
    • Macroethics Instruction in Co-curricular Settings: The Development and Results of a National Survey, IEEE Proceedings of the Frontiers in Education (FIE) Conference, 2016. DOI: 10.1109/FIE.2016.7757437.
    • Efficacy of Macroethics Education in Engineering. 2016 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition DOI: 10.18260/p.26919. 21 pp.

  • Recommended Resources:

    • Infusing Ethics into the Development of Engineers: Exemplary Education Activities and Programs. 2016. National Academy of Engineering - Center for Engineering Ethics and Society. National Academies Press.
    • Online Ethics Center for Engineering and Science. . National Academy of Engineering.
    • Cambridge Handbook of Engineering Education Research, Chapter 33 - Engineering Ethics, B.E. Barry and J.R. Herkert, 2014, p. 673-692.
    • An Assessment of Engineering Students' Curricular and Co-Curricular Experiences and Their Ethical Development. 2012. C.J. Finelli, M.A. Holsapple, E. Ra, R.M. Bielby, B.A. Burt, D.D. Carpenter, T.S. Harding, J.A. Sutkus. Journal of Engineering Education. vol. 101, issue 3, pp. 469-494.
    • Journal: Science and Engineering Ethics.

Bielefeldt's Other Ethics Teaching and Research

Conference Paper Publications:

  • Lewis, J.W., A.R. Bielefeldt. How are engineering ethics integrated into high school STEM education in Colorado? American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Annual Conference & Exposition.
  • Lewis, J.W., A.R. Bielefeldt. 2021. High school STEM teacher perspectives on the importance and obstacles to integrating engineering ethical issues in their courses. American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Annual Conference & Exposition.
  • Bielefeldt, A. 2020. Listening to community voices as part of ethical civil engineering: experiences in civil engineering courses.  American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Annual Conference & Exposition. 17 pp.
  • Bielefeldt, A.R. 2019. Human Rights as a Lens for Engineering Ethics? American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Annual Conference & Exposition. 13 pp. https://peer.asee.org/32905
  • Bielefeldt, A.R., N.E. Canney. 2016. Perspectives of Engineers on Ethical Dilemmas in the Workplace. American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Annual Conference and Exposition Proceedings. June 26-29. New Orleans, LA. DOI: 10.18260/p.25892. 18 pp. Best Paper Ethics Division and PIC IV.
  • Bielefeldt, A.R. 2016. Infusing Macroethical Ideas into a Senior Engineering Course. American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Annual Conference and Exposition Proceedings. June 26-29. New Orleans, LA. DOI:10.18260/p.25693. 15 pp.
  • Bielefeldt, A.R. 2015. Ethic of Care and Engineering Ethics Instruction. Proceedings of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Rocky Mountain Section Conference. April 10-11. Denver, CO. 7 pp.
  • Bielefeldt, A.R. 2011. Sustainability Ethics among First-Year Civil and Environmental Engineering Students. American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Annual Conference and Exposition Proceedings.  Ethics Division.  June 26-29, Vancouver, BC Canada. Paper AC 2011-1362. 18 pp.

Teaching:

  • CVEN 1317 Introduction to Civil Engineering. Overview course required for first-year CE students, includes modules on engineering ethics and sustainability.
  • CVEN 4897 Professional Issues in Civil Engineering. Required course for senior CE students. Includes engineering ethics (review ASCE Code of Ethics, FE-style questions, macroethics) and sustainable engineering.