Engineering Ethics and Professional Practice

stevenso@sfu.ca
 

ENSC 406 provides an introduction to the engineering profession, professional practice, engineering law and ethics. The course also offers opportunities to explore the social implications and environmental impacts of technologies and to consider engineers' responsibility to society. The topics covered in this course include the following:

• Engineering ethics, including worker and public safety
• Professional codes of ethics
• Ethical problem-solving strategies
• Professional engineering practice
• Contracts and torts, intellectual property law, employment law, and business and corporate law (an engineer's survival kit)
• Sustainable development
• Social implications and environmental impacts of technology

Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, participants should be able to

• recall the items in the APEGBC code of ethics
• analyze and solve ethical dilemmas and justify decisions
• distinguish between professionally acceptable and unacceptable behaviour
• recognize legal problems and ethical dilemmas in a given situation and identify situations that could develop into them
• formulate a personal perspective on the social responsibilities of an engineer
• compare the responsibilities of an unregistered practicing engineer and a PEng
• assess the value of registering as a PEng
• explain the concept of sustainable development
• examine social implications and environmental impacts of technology

Expectations
Participants are responsible for preparing cases and completing assigned readings before tutorials, participating in discussions, completing assignments on time, and regularly attending lectures and tutorials. Note that audio tapes of lectures will be available in the library and, if provided, Power Point presentations of lectures will be posted on the web version of the lecture schedule as soon as available.

Textbook
Fledderman, Charles B. 2004. Engineering Ethics. 2nd edition. Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River, NJ. (Please note that the edition is new for 04-1)

Additional cases and readings will be available on the web site (see Tutorials).

Course Requirements and Evaluation
In order to pass the course, participants must attend at least 80% of lectures and tutorials, complete all the assignments, and write the mid-terms.

Grades will be determined in the following manner (subject to change):

The grading scheme for this course is as follows:

Any student who questions an assignment grade should speak to the person who marked the assignment. If the marker was a TA and concerns remain, the student should make an appointment to meet with the instructor. As noted in the SFU Calendar under Reconsideration of Grades, "Students who feel there has been an error in arriving at or recording a [final] grade should apply in writing for consideration to the instructor . . . Course grade changes will be permitted up to, but not beyond, the fifth day of classes of the semester immediately following the one in which the grade is awarded."

Academic Honesty and Integrity
Participants should be familiar with policies T10.02, Code of Academic Honesty, and T10.03, Academic Dishonesty and Misconduct Procedures. Any confirmed cases of academic dishonesty (for example, of cheating on a mid-term, plagiarizing an assignment, or helping someone else to cheat on an exam or assignment) will result in an F for the course and could lead to a University Board of Student Discipline hearing if more severe discipline is deemed appropriate.

Week 1
January 08

Mid Term # 1