Changing the Engineering Student Culture with Respect to Academic Integrity and Ethics

Abstract

Engineers create airplanes, buildings, medical devices, and software, amongst many other things. Engineers abide by a professional code of ethics to uphold people’s safety and the reputation of the profession. Likewise, students abide by a code of academic integrity while learning the knowledge and necessary skills to prepare them for the engineering and computing professions. This paper reports on studies designed to improve the engineering student culture with respect to academic integrity and ethics. To understand the existing culture at a university in the USA, a survey based on a national survey about cheating was administered to students. The incidences of self-reported cheating and incidences of not reporting others who cheat show the culture is similar to other institutions. Two interventions were designed and tested in an introduction to an engineering course: two case studies that students discussed in teams and the whole class, and a letter of recommendation assignment in which students wrote about themselves (character, strengths, examples of ethical decisions) three years into the future. Students were surveyed after the two interventions. Results show that first-year engineering students appreciate having a code of academic integrity and they want to earn their degree without cheating, yet less than half of the students would report on another cheating student. The letter of recommendation assignment had some impact on getting students to think about ethics, their character, and their actions. Future work in changing the student culture will continue in both a top-down (course interventions) and bottom-up (student-driven interventions) manner.

Appendices

Appendix 1: Case Studies and Letter of Recommendation Assignment

Case Study 1: Student Offered a Previously Submitted Lab Report

You are working in the computer lab late in the evening on your laboratory report due the next day. Your friend Hans is using the computer next to you and asks what you are working on. You explain your lab report is due in the morning and Hans laughs and tells you that lab report took him 3 h to write when he took the same class last year. He offers to give you his old laboratory report to help you finish up faster.

You are exhausted from a long week of midterms and desperate to finish the report. You agree to his offer immediately and plan to simply check the conclusions to make sure you are on the right track. When you open the document you realize that your calculations are completely wrong and you will need to start from scratch. In desperation, you copy his calculations and parts of his lab write-up and turn it in the next day.

• 1. Would this behavior be considered cheating, forgery, or plagiarism or a combination of the three?

• 2. Consider how your behavior affects the other stakeholders with respect to the assignment. Fill in the table below.

  Stakeholder	How does your decision affect them?
  Other students in your laboratory class
  Your professor in the laboratory class
  Your future employer
  Your friend Hans
  Any other stakeholders?

• 3. What words describe your character in this situation?

• 4. What words do you want your teammates, colleagues, and managers to use to describe your character?

• 5. Your professor notices that your laboratory report has been copied and reports you for an academic integrity violation. What could you have said or done to prevent this outcome?

Case Study 2: Student observes cheating on an exam and tells professor

You are working diligently on your second midterm exam and drop your calculator. You lean over to pick it up and notice that your friend Leah is cheating on the exam with unauthorized notes resting on her lap. You know Leah has really struggled in this class and mentioned that she needs to pass this exam to avoid failing the course. She just broke up with her boyfriend Hans and has been struggling with some issues with a family member.

You are so distracted and upset by Leah’s cheating that you lose focus and do poorly on the rest of the test. When you get your graded exam back you go to visit the professor to ask about bringing up your score on the next exam and your overall grade in the course. Your professor asks what happened on the exam that might have caused your performance issue and you blurt out that you noticed another student cheating and you were very upset.

• 1. Would Leah’s behavior be considered cheating, forgery, or plagiarism or a combination of the three?

• 2. Consider how Leah’s behavior affects the other stakeholders with respect to the exam. Fill in the table below.

  Stakeholder	How does Leah’s actions affect them?
  Other students in your class
  Your professor
  Leah’s future employer

• 3. What do you believe will happen to you?

• 4. What do you believe will happen to Leah?

• 5. What do you believe the instructor will do with this information?

Your Future Letter of Recommendation

Instructions Each student should complete this assignment individually.

Consider the examples of ethical situations commonly observed by professors that were discussed in your section. Now consider the letter of recommendation your professors will write in 3 years about you when you are trying to find a job, get accepted to graduate school, join the military, or join a service organization. In your letter describe each of the following facets of your own behavior that your professor has observed over the last several years:

• Academic achievement. Describe how hard you worked in your classes and what skills and behavior your professor noticed when you worked in project teams. Tell a short story that demonstrates you are academically committed to your profession as an engineer or computer scientist.

• Ethical behaviors. Provide concrete examples of behaviors and conversations you had with this professor that made it clear that you have made tough decisions to make sure the ethical culture in the School of Engineering is the best in the nation.

• Professional behaviors. Describe your class attendance, class participation, and the way you treated your classmates and faculty. Tell a short story that your professor observed in a class that demonstrates you are a mature and professional engineer.

Your letter should be addressed to the hiring manager for the company, graduate school, or volunteer service organization you most wish to work for when you graduate. Your letter should be signed by your favorite professor, Dr. Kenobi, with the signature below:

Dr. O. Kenobi

Professor of Engineering

XXX School of Engineering

University of XXX

The letter should be 400–500 words in total length using 12-point font, singled-spaced, written in formal English. The letter should be formatted professionally and according to a standard letter style.

How to submit Upload a .docx or .pdf file to the course management system.

Appendix 2: Survey Questions for Baseline Ethics Culture Study

Applied Ethics Survey

Filling out this survey is optional; there is no penalty of any kind if you choose not to participate. The results of the survey may help the faculty improve the way ethics is embedded in the curriculum, and may be published anonymously in a conference or journal paper. If you object to the results of the survey being published please do not complete the survey. Thank you.

• 1. Age: ________

• 2. Class Year: ____________________

• 3. Gender (circle one, skip if you prefer not to disclose) M F

• 4. Have you had an engineering internship while attending this university?

  Yes No

• 5. How much exposure to applied ethics have you received during your engineering degree?

  None				A great deal
  1	2	3	4	5

• 6. Where did you learn applied ethics while attending the University of Portland? (skip the row if you did not take the course or activity)

  	None				A great deal
  PHL XXX Ethics	1	2	3	4	5
  EGR XXX Intro. to engineering	1	2	3	4	5
  EGR XXX Pre-capstone	1	2	3	4	5
  Other engineering courses	1	2	3	4	5
  Discussion with peers	1	2	3	4	5
  Internships	1	2	3	4	5

• 7. Which of the following activities have you participated in? (Circle all that apply).

  • Took engineering class because of service component.

  • Took a non-engineering class because of service component.

  • Participated in K-12 (kindergarten through high school) outreach.

  • Participated in volunteer service projects.

• 8. Which of the following activities have you participated in? (Circle all that apply).

  • Cheated on tests.

  • Cheated on problems sets/lab reports.

  • Lied to a professor about academic work.

  • Knew about cheating by another student and did not report it.

Consider the following scenarios:

• 9. While working for a client, an engineer learns confidential knowledge of a proprietary production process being used by the client’s chemical plant. The process is clearly destructive to the environment, but the client will not listen to the objections of the engineer. To inform the proper authorities will require the engineer to release information that he gained in confidence. Is it legal and/or ethical for the engineer to expose the client?

• 10. Under what conditions would it be legal and/or ethical for an engineer to rely on the information (e.g., elevations and amounts of cuts and fills) furnished by a grading contractor?

• 11. Your boss asks you to determine the lowest cost component for installation in a system that provides power. Your analysis indicates an increase in cost will give a component that has significantly less environmental impact. What is your course of action?

• 12. Rank which of the following you would be most interested in seeing University of X providing?

  	No interest				Very interested
  A certificate in professional engineering ethics	1	2	3	4	5
  A professional elective in engineering ethics	1	2	3	4	5
  Additional discussion of ethics during existing courses	1	2	3	4	5
  Pledge to uphold ethics as part of the national “Order of Engineer”	1	2	3	4	5

• 13. Do you have any suggestions or comments about broadening your exposure to ethics at the University of X?

Appendix 3: Survey Questions for Introduction to Engineering Students

For questions 1–10, circle SA (Strongly Agree), A (Agree), N (Neutral), D (Disagree), SD (Strongly Disagree), or N/A (if not applicable).

1. Having a code of academic integrity at the University of X is important to my learning	SA	A	N	D	SD	N/A
2. Having a code of academic integrity at the University of X impacts the decisions that I make regarding cheating, plagiarism, and forgery	SA	A	N	D	SD	N/A
3. Earning my degree by not cheating, committing forgery, and not plagiarizing is important to me	SA	A	N	D	SD	N/A
4. When I observe an incident that could be considered a violation of the code of academic integrity, I will report it	SA	A	N	D	SD	N/A
5. Having a code of academic integrity is important to me as a member of the University community	SA	A	N	D	SD	N/A
6. Adhering to an engineering professional code of ethics is important for my future work as an engineer or computer scientist	SA	A	N	D	SD	N/A
7. Completing the letter of recommendation ethics assignment made me think about how I want others to perceive my character	SA	A	N	D	SD	N/A
8. Completing the letter of recommendation ethics assignment made me think about ethics	SA	A	N	D	SD	N/A
9. Completing the letter of recommendation ethics assignment made me consider my professional conduct	SA	A	N	D	SD	N/A
10. I recommend keeping the letter of recommendation assignment in future Intro to Engineering courses	SA	A	N	D	SD	N/A

11. Write a brief description of an academic integrity violation that involves plagiarism.

12. What suggestions do you have about broadening exposure of ethics and the code of academic integrity in the School of Engineering?

Appendix 4: Faculty Interview Questions

• 1. What types of things did students bring up during the class discussion about ethics?

• 2. Was this discussion different than in prior years? If so please describe in what ways.

• 3. What did you feel went well with the case studies students analyzed in teams during class? What could be improved?

• 4. What themes did you observe in the letters of recommendation the students wrote?

• 5. What suggestions do you have to improve the ethics module?