Ethics in ME Professional Practice
Mark P. Rossow, PhD, PE Retired
Course Outline
This two-hour online course describes and presents examples of ethical principles applicable to engineering practice.
This course includes a multiple-choice quiz at the end, which is designed to enhance the understanding of the course materials.
Learning Objective
This course teaches the following specific knowledge and skills:
- Determine ethical behavior using several philosophical models;
- Evaluate a practical situation in terms of a professional code of ethics;
- Be able to identify situations that represent conflicts of interest and formulate a proper response;
- Apply the standards of professional ethics in technical communication;
- Recognize environmental impacts of engineering work; and
- Consider principles of sustainable development in the performance of professional duties.
Intended Audience
This course is intended for engineers seeking to learn ethical principles and how to apply them to their professional practice.
Benefit to Attendees
An attendee would gain familiarity with a prominent and well-respected ethics code and would be able to recognize situations to which it applies.
Course Introduction
Many engineering organizations have drafted codes of ethics to which their members are required to commit. Generally, these codes are quite similar and are based on a few fundamental principles which provide guidance to professional engineers in common situations. Nevertheless, there are many difficult or ambiguous situations in which the best ethical solution is difficult to determine
Course Content
This course is based on American Society of Mechanical Engineers Professional Practice Curriculum, Volume 8, Section: Engineering Ethics.
Ethics in ME Professional Practice
Please click on the above underlined hypertext to view, download or print the document for your study. Because of the large file size, we recommend that you first save the file to your computer by right clicking the mouse and choosing "Save Target As ...", and then open the file in Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you still experience any difficulty in downloading or opening this file, you may need to close some applications or reboot your computer to free up some memory.
Course Summary
In this course, background on the philosophical models that guide ethical behavior is discussed and then applied to specific situations in engineering codes of ethics.
Related Links
For additional technical information related to this subject, please visit the following websites or web pages:
http://sections.asme.com/colorado/ethics.html
Quiz
Once you finish studying the above course content, you need to take a quiz to obtain the PDH credits.
DISCLAIMER: The materials contained in the online course are not intended as a representation or warranty on the part of PDH Center or any other person/organization named herein. The materials are for general information only. They are not a substitute for competent professional advice. Application of this information to a specific project should be reviewed by a registered architect and/or professional engineer/surveyor. Anyone making use of the information set forth herein does so at their own risk and assumes any and all resulting liability arising therefrom.
