Designing Positive Engineering Education (PE<sup>2</sup>) — ASN Events
  1. Schedule
  2. Afternoon Tea & Poster Session 1
  3. Designing Positive Engineering Education (PE2)

Designing Positive Engineering Education (PE2) (#667)

Jun Fudano 1
  1. Waseda University, Shinjuku-ku, TOKYO, Japan

Background

We are currently living in a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) era, where establishing a sustainable social model is crucial due to limitations in resources, the environment, and population. The focus has shifted towards well-being (WB) for individuals and society. Engineering societies worldwide have expressed the significance of prioritizing WB[1], and it is now widely recognized that the purpose of science and technology is to promote WB[2]. To achieve this goal, engineers must possess the necessary knowledge, skills, and attitudes. However, there is currently a lack of dedicated positive education for engineers at the tertiary level. 

Aims

This project aims to assess the feasibility of a next-generation Positive Engineering Education (PE2) program. It will develop a model curriculum to train engineers who can scientifically and systematically understand WB and practice engineering to improve it.

Method

The Japan Society for Engineering Education's committee on engineering ethics, in collaboration with the Centre for Well-being Science at the University of Melbourne, conducted a survey on the state of positive education in higher education worldwide. The committee proposes the objectives and a curriculum model of PE2. A panel of experts will examine them through multiple Delphi surveys.

Results

Although the expert panel is not scheduled until April 2023, it appears that PE2 could be constructed based on systems-informed approaches. Assuming institutional initiatives for well-being, such as those at the University of Waterloo, the "Okanagan Charter (2015)[3]," WB literacy should be established first. Subsequently, engineers could be trained in the knowledge, skills, and attitudes required to promote WB for individuals, groups/organizations, and society through a WB-across-the-curriculum approach and the installation of the WB Impact Assessment procedures recommended by the IEEE Standard Committees[4].

Conclusion

PE2 is feasible with a systematic and creative combination of already existing ideas, approaches, and pedagogies, along with new elements. It is essential to train engineers who can promote WB and contribute to a sustainable social model.

 

  1. 1 For example, the first principle of the Code of Ethics of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), the world's largest computer science society, is "1.1 Contribute to society and to human well-being, 1.1 Contribute to society and to human well-being, acknowledging that all people are stakeholders in computing.
  2. 2 The IEEE Global Initiative on the Ethics of Autonomous and Intelligent Systems, “Ethically Aligned Design: A Vision for Prioritizing Human Well-being with Autonomous and Intelligent Systems,” IEEE, 2019.
  3. 3 https://www.healthpromotingcampuses.org/okanagan-charter. Retrieved March 3, 2023.
  4. 4 “7010-2020 - IEEE Recommended Practice for Assessing the Impact of Autonomous and Intelligent Systems on Human Well-Being.” Retrieved March 3, 2023 from https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9084219
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