Abstract
As ethical behavior is a part of engineers' professional identity and practice, developing ethical behavior skills in future engineers is a vital component of the engineering curriculum. There are already established instructional methods to teach engineering ethics (EE), however, it is concentrated on ethical awareness, and little attention has been given to how this will affect the ethical behavior. Even though students are capable of exercising ethical judgment, it does not mean that they are ethically literate or likely to act ethically. The assessment of engineering ethics cannot be conducted based on ethical judgment, because the ethical awareness of some engineers has not translated into ethical behavior. An alternative instructional method for measuring the ethical behavior is required to see how the ethical awareness given in the classroom setting is translated to the actual ethical behavior. Therefore, the focus of this paper is to propose an instructional method that correlates with both ethical awareness and ethical behavior, through aspirational ethics which require the students to contribute to the society. This method integrates the theory of morals and values, ethical and unethical conduct, code of practices of an engineer, ethics with the environment, and the responsibility of the engineer for the safety of everybody. Students’ ethical behavior in the society will be demonstrated through the University Social Responsibility (USR) projects. From these projects, the students’ ethical behavior is assessed by their peers, beneficiaries that they are serving, as well as by the educators, regarding their ethical conduct. This will be the tools to observe the degree of correlations between the ethical awareness instilled and behavior manifested. Applying these instructional methods will allow educators to build confidence and trust in their students' ability to build a professional identity and be prepared for the engineering profession and practice.
Highlights
A growing number of engineering curricula are emphasizing ethics
Analysis on the perceptions of students on both the course content and methods of delivery are shown in Figure 2 for the previous Engineering Ethics (EE) course, whilst Figure 3 relates to the newly developed EE course based on Instructional Methods
About 43% of the respondents mentioned that the educator was able to blend the content of the engineering and Islamic perspective well. 31% mentioned that half of the subjects was similar to the university required subject UNGS 2050, while the other half was relevant to engineering
Summary
A growing number of engineering curricula are emphasizing ethics. There are more and more engineering ethics electives being offered in Malaysia's Institutes of Higher Learning (IHL). As a Kulliyyah-required subject, it was presented from the Islamic perspective and taught by educators who have a strong background in Islamic Revealed Knowledge. This was practiced for quite some time until the EAC came out with a regulation that only engineering background educators teach the subject. As a Kulliyyahrequired subject, it was viewed from an Islamic perspective, and taught by educators well-versed in Islamic Revealed Knowledge This practice was sustained for quite some time until the EAC issued a new regulation that only educators with an engineering background could teach the subject. The activities involved traditional methods of teaching, with a theory-based approach, including discussions as well as standard case studies from past records
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
