Papers by Diana Adela Martin
European Journal of Engineering Education, 2019
The article aims to expand upon traditional case based instruction through role-play and to explo... more The article aims to expand upon traditional case based instruction through role-play and to explore the effectiveness of the approach in raising students’ awareness of the social dimension of the engineering profession. For this purpose, we added a contextual description to the case study Cutting Roadside Trees
driven by a macroethical outlook.
Our contribution draws on an exercise based on the contextualised case
study in which 80 students at Technological University Dublin
participated. The results gathered show that role-playing contributed to
complex student responses to the scenario and an awareness of the
social factors that are part of engineering practice and which can
constrain or enable decision-making. We suggest that exposing students
to the perspectives of the different stakeholders that are involved in
engineering professional practice can contribute to their understanding
of the social context of engineering practice.
Engineering Education for Sustainable Development 2018 Proceedings, 2018
What kind of engineering ethics is needed to develop holistic engineers who can practice and prom... more What kind of engineering ethics is needed to develop holistic engineers who can practice and promote the principles of sustainable development?
According to Grasso and Helble (2010), holistic engineers need to address social needs and be ethically grounded. In many countries engineering educators are mandated to provide ethics education focusing on “the responsibilities of the engineering profession towards people and the environment” (Engineers Ireland 2007). The Irish Code of Ethics says engineers “must practice and promote the principles of sustainable development”. Despite these mandates, research suggests that provision of ethics education in engineering is inadequate, discussion of cases is the most prevalent means of teaching, and that “the broad public purposes of engineering receives little attention” (Colby and Sullivan 2008: 330). It is also the case that in light of the dissatisfaction with the dominant approach, there is an increasing variety in approaches to teaching ethics (see Conlon and Zandvoort 2010).
In the context of sustainability it has been argued that there are contradictions between the goals of engineering, such as sustainability, and current political and economic priorities (Petrella 2001) leading to a demand for the profession to influence change in “social, political, economic, and institutional paradigms” increasing our ability to move in sustainable directions (Donnelly and Boyle 2006). It has also been argued that traditional approaches to ethics derived from moral philosophy are inadequate for this task (see Becker 2012).Thus there is a requirement to go beyond, as some suggest, “training engineers for handling ethical dilemmas in sustainability contexts” (Lundqvist and Svanstrom 2016)
Drawing on ongoing work which has sought to use sociological theory to understand different approaches to teaching ethics this paper will present a framework for understanding approaches to engineering ethics. It is based on four different levels of analysis which emerge from the interaction of two social continua: the macro/micro and the subjective/objective and thus engages which the demand for engineering ethics to address macro ethical issues (Herkert 2005).
This will be used as the basis to argue for a more integrated approach which allows us to focus on the relationship between social structure and human action and the need for “adequate social institutions and structures” (Becker 2012: 28) to enable ethical action. Thus it is argued that the key focus should be to convey an understanding of the agency/structure relationship so that engineers not only understand the constraints and enablers emanating from the environments in which they work but can also strive for change in these environments.
Teaching and Learning in a Digital World. ICL 2017. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing. Springer, Cham, 2018
Our paper aims to explore the effectiveness of a constructivist approach to the teaching of engin... more Our paper aims to explore the effectiveness of a constructivist approach to the teaching of engineering ethics through case studies, by putting forward a contextualization of the much discussed case study “Cutting Road Side Trees” (Pritchard, 1992) in light of the constructivist frame suggested by Jonassen (1999).
First, we briefly analyse how the use of case studies for the teaching of engineering ethics eludes the complexity of the engineering professional environment before arguing that constructivism is a learning theory that can help address this complexity. The final section proposes a constructivist reworking of the case method in a manner that aims to correct the deficiencies identified, followed by a discussion of the results of applying the contextualized exercise to First Year engineering students. The key findings reveal that the contextualized scenario enhances, in some respects, students’ understanding of the social dimension of the engineering profession.
Drafts by Diana Adela Martin
SEFI Annual Conference "Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship for Engineering Education Exc... more SEFI Annual Conference "Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship for Engineering Education Excellence", 17-21 September 2018, Copenhagen
Recently, the use of case studies for teaching engineering ethics attracted criticism pointing to its inadequacy in capturing the complexity of the profession [19], [5]. Our paper examines case instruction of engineering ethics, arguing that the microethical use of this teaching method does not fully capture the metaphysical and epistemological dimension of engineering. We proceed by looking in the first section at the beginnings of case instruction, highlighting its main characteristics and benefits according to empirical research. We then zoom in on the use of case studies for engineering ethics instruction, presenting four deficiencies that fail to fully materialize the strengths of the method. We claim that these deficiencies are rooted in a microethical approach to engineering ethics education, which leads to a dilution of the major features of case pedagogy.
1984 and Philosophy, 2018
At the heart of 1984 lies an erotic love story between Winston and Julia. Love and the enjoyment ... more At the heart of 1984 lies an erotic love story between Winston and Julia. Love and the enjoyment of sex is forbidden by the Party. According to it, sex should be an act of procreation not to be enjoyed (certainly not by the woman), but to be barely endured as a 'duty to the Party'. The liaison is therefore a political act in opposition to the powers that be. But our two heroes have quite different views of how their relationship challenges the Party.
Conference Presentations by Diana Adela Martin
UK & Ireland Forum for Engineering Education, 2018
This paper is part of a larger study which is investigating the provision of ethics education in ... more This paper is part of a larger study which is investigating the provision of ethics education in four year honours degree (Level 8) Engineering programmes in Ireland. The aim of our paper is to examine patterns in the provision of ethics education with a particular focus on the priority given to ethics compared to other learning outcomes. The data is derived from analysis of programme documents submitted by HEIs for professional accreditation purposes. 13 programmes that were accredited in 2017-18 were examined: 5 programmes offered by universities and 8 programmes by institutes of technology. The programmes covered a range of engineering disciplines. Issues examined included the topics, learning outcomes and assessment methods reported by programme modules as contributing to meeting the ethical criteria set by the accreditation body Engineers Ireland. Key findings reveal that there is a discrepancy between the institutions surveyed in how they self assess their implementation of this learning outcome. The learning outcome purporting to ethics is consistently self-assessed by all honour degree programmes as the lowest of the seven learning outcomes evaluated by Engineers Ireland for accreditation purposes across both institution types.
SEFI Annual Conference "Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship for Engineering Education Exc... more SEFI Annual Conference "Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship for Engineering Education Excellence", 17-21 September 2018, Copenhagen
Recently, the use of case studies for teaching engineering ethics attracted criticism pointing to its inadequacy in capturing the complexity of the profession [19], [5]. Our paper examines case instruction of engineering ethics, arguing that the microethical use of this teaching method does not fully capture the metaphysical and epistemological dimension of engineering. We proceed by looking in the first section at the beginnings of case instruction, highlighting its main characteristics and benefits according to empirical research. We then zoom in on the use of case studies for engineering ethics instruction, presenting four deficiencies that fail to fully materialize the strengths of the method. We claim that these deficiencies are rooted in a microethical approach to engineering ethics education, which leads to a dilution of the major features of case pedagogy.
ICL 2017 Teaching and Learning in a Digital World, Budapest
A dominant teaching method, the use of case studies started to attract in recent years more and m... more A dominant teaching method, the use of case studies started to attract in recent years more and more criticism pointing to its weakness in capturing the dynamics and realities of the work place. Case studies appear to fail at capturing the nature of engineering practice on two grounds. From an epistemological point of view, they rely on the assumption of the pre-eminence of explicit knowledge, such as the one provided by professional codes and moral theories, in addressing possible ethical dilemmas faced by engineers. But the knowledge involved in engineering practice is not covered exhaustively and thoroughly by this pedagogical method, with its emphasis on clear cut, black and white scenarios. As Vaughn (1996) argues in her study dedicated to the Challenger disaster, the workplace is often subject to an “incremental change” that makes a certain deviation from norms an institutionalized work routine. Such that the institutionalisation of patterns of behaviour and the evaluation of risks are matters that require professional engineers to make use of implicit knowledge, which is highly contextual. While from a metaphysical perspective, case studies elude the nature of engineering artefacts. These are not mere products whose creation is restricted to the application of certain scientific principles, but they also comprise a certain social dynamic or have political effects (Feenberg 1998, Winner, 1986).
Bringing insights from learning theory, this presentation examines the pedagogical challenges of extending the case method in a manner that aims to correct its epistemological and metaphysic minuses highlighted above. For this, we put forward a proposal to recontextualize the case study “Cutting roadside trees” designed by Pritchard (1992) in light of Burawoy’s approach (1998, 2009) and the constructivist frame suggested by Jonassen (1999), as to conclude with a reflection on its implication for teaching informed by our pedagogical experience with students enrolled in the General Engineering programme at Dublin Institute of Technology. The desired learning outcome is that such extended contextualization makes students aware of the existence of institutional logics and relations of power inherent to engineering practice, as an enabler of exercising their agency to change or resist unethical practices.
26.08.2015, European Forum Alpbach, Austria
Invited panelist
11 Dec 2015 - European, Global and Hidden Job markets for Researchers, European ... more Invited panelist
11 Dec 2015 - European, Global and Hidden Job markets for Researchers, European Researchers' Day, Europe House, Tokyo
Euraxess Voice of Researchers Conference, Brussels
15 April 2014: Workshop "Research and Mobility" - Euraxess Roadshow, University of Maastricht
EURAXESS – Voice of the Researchers Conference "Raising Researchers' Voices: opinions on jobs, ca... more EURAXESS – Voice of the Researchers Conference "Raising Researchers' Voices: opinions on jobs, careers and rights", 21 – 22 November 2013, Brussels, Belgium
=> Show discrepancy in perception of the efficiency of university education to facilitate the tra... more => Show discrepancy in perception of the efficiency of university education to facilitate the transition from university to the labor market, but willingness from the part of higher education representatives to be involved in the process of transition and an interest to assume responsibility and to cooperate.
Uploads
Papers by Diana Adela Martin
driven by a macroethical outlook.
Our contribution draws on an exercise based on the contextualised case
study in which 80 students at Technological University Dublin
participated. The results gathered show that role-playing contributed to
complex student responses to the scenario and an awareness of the
social factors that are part of engineering practice and which can
constrain or enable decision-making. We suggest that exposing students
to the perspectives of the different stakeholders that are involved in
engineering professional practice can contribute to their understanding
of the social context of engineering practice.
According to Grasso and Helble (2010), holistic engineers need to address social needs and be ethically grounded. In many countries engineering educators are mandated to provide ethics education focusing on “the responsibilities of the engineering profession towards people and the environment” (Engineers Ireland 2007). The Irish Code of Ethics says engineers “must practice and promote the principles of sustainable development”. Despite these mandates, research suggests that provision of ethics education in engineering is inadequate, discussion of cases is the most prevalent means of teaching, and that “the broad public purposes of engineering receives little attention” (Colby and Sullivan 2008: 330). It is also the case that in light of the dissatisfaction with the dominant approach, there is an increasing variety in approaches to teaching ethics (see Conlon and Zandvoort 2010).
In the context of sustainability it has been argued that there are contradictions between the goals of engineering, such as sustainability, and current political and economic priorities (Petrella 2001) leading to a demand for the profession to influence change in “social, political, economic, and institutional paradigms” increasing our ability to move in sustainable directions (Donnelly and Boyle 2006). It has also been argued that traditional approaches to ethics derived from moral philosophy are inadequate for this task (see Becker 2012).Thus there is a requirement to go beyond, as some suggest, “training engineers for handling ethical dilemmas in sustainability contexts” (Lundqvist and Svanstrom 2016)
Drawing on ongoing work which has sought to use sociological theory to understand different approaches to teaching ethics this paper will present a framework for understanding approaches to engineering ethics. It is based on four different levels of analysis which emerge from the interaction of two social continua: the macro/micro and the subjective/objective and thus engages which the demand for engineering ethics to address macro ethical issues (Herkert 2005).
This will be used as the basis to argue for a more integrated approach which allows us to focus on the relationship between social structure and human action and the need for “adequate social institutions and structures” (Becker 2012: 28) to enable ethical action. Thus it is argued that the key focus should be to convey an understanding of the agency/structure relationship so that engineers not only understand the constraints and enablers emanating from the environments in which they work but can also strive for change in these environments.
First, we briefly analyse how the use of case studies for the teaching of engineering ethics eludes the complexity of the engineering professional environment before arguing that constructivism is a learning theory that can help address this complexity. The final section proposes a constructivist reworking of the case method in a manner that aims to correct the deficiencies identified, followed by a discussion of the results of applying the contextualized exercise to First Year engineering students. The key findings reveal that the contextualized scenario enhances, in some respects, students’ understanding of the social dimension of the engineering profession.
Drafts by Diana Adela Martin
Recently, the use of case studies for teaching engineering ethics attracted criticism pointing to its inadequacy in capturing the complexity of the profession [19], [5]. Our paper examines case instruction of engineering ethics, arguing that the microethical use of this teaching method does not fully capture the metaphysical and epistemological dimension of engineering. We proceed by looking in the first section at the beginnings of case instruction, highlighting its main characteristics and benefits according to empirical research. We then zoom in on the use of case studies for engineering ethics instruction, presenting four deficiencies that fail to fully materialize the strengths of the method. We claim that these deficiencies are rooted in a microethical approach to engineering ethics education, which leads to a dilution of the major features of case pedagogy.
Conference Presentations by Diana Adela Martin
http://satoriproject.eu/satori-final-conference/conference-programme/
Recently, the use of case studies for teaching engineering ethics attracted criticism pointing to its inadequacy in capturing the complexity of the profession [19], [5]. Our paper examines case instruction of engineering ethics, arguing that the microethical use of this teaching method does not fully capture the metaphysical and epistemological dimension of engineering. We proceed by looking in the first section at the beginnings of case instruction, highlighting its main characteristics and benefits according to empirical research. We then zoom in on the use of case studies for engineering ethics instruction, presenting four deficiencies that fail to fully materialize the strengths of the method. We claim that these deficiencies are rooted in a microethical approach to engineering ethics education, which leads to a dilution of the major features of case pedagogy.
Bringing insights from learning theory, this presentation examines the pedagogical challenges of extending the case method in a manner that aims to correct its epistemological and metaphysic minuses highlighted above. For this, we put forward a proposal to recontextualize the case study “Cutting roadside trees” designed by Pritchard (1992) in light of Burawoy’s approach (1998, 2009) and the constructivist frame suggested by Jonassen (1999), as to conclude with a reflection on its implication for teaching informed by our pedagogical experience with students enrolled in the General Engineering programme at Dublin Institute of Technology. The desired learning outcome is that such extended contextualization makes students aware of the existence of institutional logics and relations of power inherent to engineering practice, as an enabler of exercising their agency to change or resist unethical practices.
11 Dec 2015 - European, Global and Hidden Job markets for Researchers, European Researchers' Day, Europe House, Tokyo
driven by a macroethical outlook.
Our contribution draws on an exercise based on the contextualised case
study in which 80 students at Technological University Dublin
participated. The results gathered show that role-playing contributed to
complex student responses to the scenario and an awareness of the
social factors that are part of engineering practice and which can
constrain or enable decision-making. We suggest that exposing students
to the perspectives of the different stakeholders that are involved in
engineering professional practice can contribute to their understanding
of the social context of engineering practice.
According to Grasso and Helble (2010), holistic engineers need to address social needs and be ethically grounded. In many countries engineering educators are mandated to provide ethics education focusing on “the responsibilities of the engineering profession towards people and the environment” (Engineers Ireland 2007). The Irish Code of Ethics says engineers “must practice and promote the principles of sustainable development”. Despite these mandates, research suggests that provision of ethics education in engineering is inadequate, discussion of cases is the most prevalent means of teaching, and that “the broad public purposes of engineering receives little attention” (Colby and Sullivan 2008: 330). It is also the case that in light of the dissatisfaction with the dominant approach, there is an increasing variety in approaches to teaching ethics (see Conlon and Zandvoort 2010).
In the context of sustainability it has been argued that there are contradictions between the goals of engineering, such as sustainability, and current political and economic priorities (Petrella 2001) leading to a demand for the profession to influence change in “social, political, economic, and institutional paradigms” increasing our ability to move in sustainable directions (Donnelly and Boyle 2006). It has also been argued that traditional approaches to ethics derived from moral philosophy are inadequate for this task (see Becker 2012).Thus there is a requirement to go beyond, as some suggest, “training engineers for handling ethical dilemmas in sustainability contexts” (Lundqvist and Svanstrom 2016)
Drawing on ongoing work which has sought to use sociological theory to understand different approaches to teaching ethics this paper will present a framework for understanding approaches to engineering ethics. It is based on four different levels of analysis which emerge from the interaction of two social continua: the macro/micro and the subjective/objective and thus engages which the demand for engineering ethics to address macro ethical issues (Herkert 2005).
This will be used as the basis to argue for a more integrated approach which allows us to focus on the relationship between social structure and human action and the need for “adequate social institutions and structures” (Becker 2012: 28) to enable ethical action. Thus it is argued that the key focus should be to convey an understanding of the agency/structure relationship so that engineers not only understand the constraints and enablers emanating from the environments in which they work but can also strive for change in these environments.
First, we briefly analyse how the use of case studies for the teaching of engineering ethics eludes the complexity of the engineering professional environment before arguing that constructivism is a learning theory that can help address this complexity. The final section proposes a constructivist reworking of the case method in a manner that aims to correct the deficiencies identified, followed by a discussion of the results of applying the contextualized exercise to First Year engineering students. The key findings reveal that the contextualized scenario enhances, in some respects, students’ understanding of the social dimension of the engineering profession.
Recently, the use of case studies for teaching engineering ethics attracted criticism pointing to its inadequacy in capturing the complexity of the profession [19], [5]. Our paper examines case instruction of engineering ethics, arguing that the microethical use of this teaching method does not fully capture the metaphysical and epistemological dimension of engineering. We proceed by looking in the first section at the beginnings of case instruction, highlighting its main characteristics and benefits according to empirical research. We then zoom in on the use of case studies for engineering ethics instruction, presenting four deficiencies that fail to fully materialize the strengths of the method. We claim that these deficiencies are rooted in a microethical approach to engineering ethics education, which leads to a dilution of the major features of case pedagogy.
http://satoriproject.eu/satori-final-conference/conference-programme/
Recently, the use of case studies for teaching engineering ethics attracted criticism pointing to its inadequacy in capturing the complexity of the profession [19], [5]. Our paper examines case instruction of engineering ethics, arguing that the microethical use of this teaching method does not fully capture the metaphysical and epistemological dimension of engineering. We proceed by looking in the first section at the beginnings of case instruction, highlighting its main characteristics and benefits according to empirical research. We then zoom in on the use of case studies for engineering ethics instruction, presenting four deficiencies that fail to fully materialize the strengths of the method. We claim that these deficiencies are rooted in a microethical approach to engineering ethics education, which leads to a dilution of the major features of case pedagogy.
Bringing insights from learning theory, this presentation examines the pedagogical challenges of extending the case method in a manner that aims to correct its epistemological and metaphysic minuses highlighted above. For this, we put forward a proposal to recontextualize the case study “Cutting roadside trees” designed by Pritchard (1992) in light of Burawoy’s approach (1998, 2009) and the constructivist frame suggested by Jonassen (1999), as to conclude with a reflection on its implication for teaching informed by our pedagogical experience with students enrolled in the General Engineering programme at Dublin Institute of Technology. The desired learning outcome is that such extended contextualization makes students aware of the existence of institutional logics and relations of power inherent to engineering practice, as an enabler of exercising their agency to change or resist unethical practices.
11 Dec 2015 - European, Global and Hidden Job markets for Researchers, European Researchers' Day, Europe House, Tokyo