Syllabus
Professional Ethics: Global Engineering Ethics
Instructor: Dmytro Mykhailov
Code: ENGR4960J
Email:
[email protected]Logistics
Teaching team
Teacher Assistant (section 1): Liu Leyuan (刘乐远) -
[email protected]Teacher Assistant (section 2): Lu Xintong (陆忻彤) -
[email protected]Teacher Assistant (section 3): Luo Yuankai (罗元凯) -
[email protected]Schedule:
Section 1
• Tuesday – 16:00-17:40 – DXY-311
• Thursday – 16:00-17:40 – DXY-311
Section 2
• Monday 12:10 – 13:50 – DXY-402
• Wednesday 12:10 – 13:50 – DXY-402
Section 3
• Monday 8:00 – 9:40 – DXY-402
• Wednesday 8:00 – 9:40 – DXY-402 (week 5: DSY-408)
Office hours:
• Instructor: Tuesday: 13:30 – 15:30 (Office 409A)
• Teacher Assistant: Upon request
1
Course Description
Engineering and technology play crucial roles in shaping today's world, having the power to either
enhance or harm it. This influence has amplified in our increasingly interconnected global
landscape. To better intertwine the activities of engineers into society and to help in providing a
“better” world through their work, ethical conduct is paramount. Yet, what does ethical behavior
entail in the realm of engineering and technology? This course delves into the nuances of
engineering and technology ethics, emphasizing a cross-cultural and international perspective. The
ultimate objective is to heighten students’ awareness of ethics, fostering an understanding of
professional and ethical obligations within a global context. The course equips students to
recognize and navigate ethical dilemmas related to technology. Additionally, it nurtures a profound
self-awareness, enabling students to articulate and defend their personal beliefs.
Course Outcomes
After completing this course, students will be able to
• Understand the nature of ethics, and why ethics should be of particular concern to engineers
and those working with technology
• Identify ethical issues and argue for their resolution using a case-study procedure
• Explain the nature of professionalism, its relation to ethics, and the roles of engineers
• Explain the nature of objective versus subjective safety
• Outline why considerations of culture, values, and ethics should be important to
engineers and those working with technology
• Understand conflicts of interests, and conditions under which whistleblowing would be
ethically acceptable and required
• Explain the nature of rights in general and those of engineers specifically
• Work in teams to research and write a case study related to engineering and/or
technology with ethical dimensions
Readings
Course readings and reflection exercises are based on Global Engineering Ethics, by Heinz
Luegenbiehl and Rockwell F. Clancy.
Assessment and grading
The final grade will be based on the following:
• In-class attendance 10%
• In-class activity 10%
• Group home assignments 20%
• Five quizzes, 2 % each, in total – 10%
• Peer review for your group members (3 reviews, each review 3%, in total – 9%)
• Final oral exam 20% (10% for the oral presentation + 10% for the PDF with the case
analysis)
2
• Final written exam 20%
• Course feedback at the end of the course – 1%
Final avarage Course grade Final avarage Course grade
98% and above A+ 77% and above C+
93% and above A 73% and above C
90% and above A- 70% and above C-
87% and above B+ 60% and above D
83% and above B 59.9 and below F
80% and above B-
Policies and expectations
Attendance – Since the course is discussion- and exercise-based, class attendance is mandatory.
Additionally, according to UM-SJTU JI regulations, class attendance is required, and students who
miss over 1/3 of classes cannot pass. To quote the JI policy on leave/missed classes: 1. “An advance
request for leave of absence is required if the student cannot attend the class due to illness or other
reasons. Absence without approval will be regarded as skipping classes.” 2. “A note that a student
visited a medical facility is not a sufficient excuse for missing an assignment. The note must
specifically indicate that the student was incapable of completing an assignment due to medical
problems and that this condition was sudden enough that it was impractical to contact the instructor
in advance.” You are responsible for all material covered in class, including lecture content, and
schedule and policy changes.
Electronic devices and notetaking – To maintain engagement – and free will – unless otherwise
specified, you should put away cell phones, tablets, and other devices when class begins. Students
are permited to use laptops for taking notes during the class. Nevertheless, refrain from playing
with and checking other stuff while class is in progress.
Readings and reflection questions – To contribute meaningfully to discussions and exercises,
readings should be done before class. Additionally, reflection exercises are dispersed throughout
the readings, to reflect on concepts and contents related to the course, arriving at a deeper
understanding of what you do (not) know and/or believe. Please answer these before you move on
in the reading. The site and these questions are related to an ongoing research initiative at the UM-
SJTU JI and SJTU to develop more effective applied ethics education. Although questions are
related to the readings, they are not based on the readings. That means they do not have correct
answers as such. To receive full credit, you simply need to reflect on and answer the questions to
the best of your ability. In many cases, you are not expected to think about answers very hard or
for too long – just write the first thing that comes to mind. If you have absolutely no idea how to
answer some of the questions, then you can simply write “I don’t know.”
Homework – To become familiar with contents related to engineering ethics and practice skills in
ethical reasoning, there will be homework assignments determined by the professor according to
the different needs of the students in the sections, consisting mainly in case-study analyses. We
will discuss cases both individually and in groups. Be sure to give reasons for your answers, which
can be based on information in the case study itself and/or your own knowledge/personal
3
experience. Your further homework will be mainly related to reading the book Global Engineering
Ethics, by Heinz Luegenbiehl and Rockwell F. Clancy in accordance with the course schedule.
Please, read and answer questions in the book for every class. Any questions that you will have we
can discuss during the class.
Policy statement for using generative AI. ChatGLM［智谱清言］and Doubao［豆包］are the
only generative Al tools permitted for use in this class. Moreover, these tools may only be used in
support of pre-planning, idea generation, and a limited number of revision tasks. They may not be
used to do the writing for you. If you use Al tools at all, you must provide a statement which details
the specific ways in which you used them. Ideas generated by Al must be verified by published
sources, given its tendency to provide "hallucinations" and wrong information. You may not cite
the Al itself as your source since the Al was trained on human data, so the human's ideas must be
credited. Academic research is founded upon transparency, where the reader can easily trace the
source of your ideas and evaluate the soundness of your evidence and reasoning. Al's opaqueness
goes against these principles, so its use must be mitigated through checking and validation to
adhere to the principles of transparency.
To make the learning process more interactive I am sharing a list of movies that you will need to
watch outside of the classroom within the course. We will discuss them in the classroom. All the
movies are related to the topics of the course.
The list of movies
1. The Social Network (2010) by David Fincher
2. Snowden (2016) by Oliver Stone
3. Brexit: The Uncivil War (2019) by Toby Haynes;
4. The Social Dilemma (2020) Directed by Jeff Orlowski-Yang;
5. Oppenheimer (2023) by Christopher Nolan
In-class/attendance exercises – To facilitate greater engagement with and reflection on course
materials, we’ll have group discussion and do some other interesting in-class activities. These will
also contribute to your final grade.
Final exam – To assess your overall grasp of the contents and skills covered in the course, there
will be one final exam divided in two parts: an oral presentation and a written text. The exam will
consist in short-answer questions and a case-study analysis. No partial grades will be provided.
Case study assignment – To bring together the skills you’ll develop in this course, applying them
to real life, the largest part of your grade will be based on the development and presentation of a
case study related to science/technology/engineering and broader social issues related to ethics,
society, economics, or politics. This will be completed in multiple steps with team members. Based
on your past experience and future goals related to science/technology/engineering, you and your
team members will research and develop an original case study or research project. You should
utilize at least four reputable English-language sources in writing up your case, using 1-inch
margins, 1.5 spaced, twelve-point Times New Roman font, APA style. Your report should also
include at least five references to different sources. Academic resources such as scientific articles,
4
monographs, etc., should be prioritized. Wikipedia is not a bad place to start learning about a new
topic, but isn’t a reputable source. In some cases – especially in those of new technologies – social
networks can offer a lot of information and be a useful resource. You can use and refer to social
networks, although they should not comprise more than one of your four reputable sources. There
should not be any significant overlap in cases, meaning each group will present a different case.
Priority will be given on a first-come, first-serve basis. Hence, if you want to present on a particular
case/incident/topic, then you should decide this and inform the TA as soon as possible. In case
you’re having a difficult time choosing a topic, I’ll post a list of potentially interesting topics early
in the semester. The average length of the report will be five to seven pages (two to three pages of
your reports will present/outline/explain the case, while the second three to four pages will analyze
the case according to the case-study procedure). Your group will also be responsible for a
presentation of the case, which will occur during the final week of the semester. You are not
allowed to simply read something you’ve written beforehand. Make your presentation visually
interesting, for example, by using illustrations, pictures, or graphs. In preparation for both your
written report and presentation, you’ll submit a short abstract – no longer than one page, including
four English-language sources – with a summary of your topic, list of ethical issues, and four
English-language sources. You’ll receive feedback on these to improve your final report and
presentation. Your grade on all of these will be determined as much by form as content – in other
words, that your written work follows the conventions of the English language, employs APA style
for the references, is free of punctuation, grammar, and syntactical mistakes, etc.
Academic integrity – To ensure you get as much as possible out of this course, all work handed
in must be your own. The inclusion of any data, words, or ideas from any other source must be
acknowledged, and that source must be given proper credit. Failure to do so is a violation of the
Honor Code. Any suspected violation of the Honor Code will be reported to Honor Council for
investigation. For this course, plagiarism is defined as: 1. The use of any passage of three words
or longer from another source without proper attribution. Use of any phrase of three words or more
must be enclosed in quotation marks (“example, example, example”). The source of the material
must be identified in the text, by a parenthetical reference. 2. Use of material from an uncredited
source, making very minor changes (like word order or verb tense) to avoid the three-word rule.
3. Inclusion of facts, data, ideas, or theories originally thought of by someone else, without giving
that person (organization, etc.) credit. You must identify the source, whether in a parenthetical
reference or the text. 4. Paraphrasing ideas or theories (writing them in your own words) without
giving the original thinker proper credit. 5. Allowing another person to make extensive changes to
your paper. This is considered “unauthorized aid.” Allowing a friend to check your work for minor
errors is fine. 6. Use of an electronic translation program such as Google Translate. The use of
machine translation programs is classified as “unauthorized aid.” Even assignments that you have
struggled with will result in a grade higher than that of plagiarized work. If you have any questions
about what constitutes or how to avoid plagiarism, please do not hesitate to ask.
Language – Since the official language of the UM-SJTU JI is English, as long as students are in
the classroom, they should speak English. Feel free to speak to me in Chinese, since I like to
practice.
5
Courtesy – Please foster a positive learning environment by respecting your classmates and the
TA. For in-class discussions and debates, if you disagree with classmates, then please do so in a
respectful manner. Also, please refrain from talking when others are talking.
Assignments and tentative course schedule
In general, each lesson focuses on one chapter of the textbook. However, this division is only a
general idea. Some lessons can embed elements related to different chapters in order to help the
students to understand specific parts and topics better. Small variations will be communicated
during the class.
Number of the Topics
Class
1 Introduction of the class and general framework
2 Chapter 1 of the textbook
3 Chapter 2 of the textbook
4 Chapter 3, 4 of the textbook
5 Group task – Tesla crash analysis (steps 1-5)
6 Chapter 5 of the textbook
7 Chapter 6 of the textbook
8 Chapter 7 of the textbook
9 Group task – Tesla crash analysis (steps 6-10)
10 Chapter 8, 9 of the textbook
11 Chapter 10 of the textbook
12 Group task – Flying cars case analysis
13 Chapter 11 of the textbook
14 Oral exam (presentations by students)
15 Oral exam (presentations by students)
16 Written exam
