ELEC-E0110 - Academic skills in master's studies, Lecture, 4.9.2023-21.4.2024
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15.10.2023 The impact of an electrical engineer in society - submit essay
Completion requirements
You may disagree with the material but justify your point of view. An approved assignment requires your own reflection based on the material. Simply referencing the material is not enough nor is just your own unsubstantiated opinions without references to the source material.
Make a submission
Due: Sunday, 15 October 2023, 11:59 PM
- This exercise supports the development of sustainability competencies. It provides the students an opportunity to reflect upon the impact of their own potential interventions (e.g., development actions, management decisions) during their careers. The tools for reflection focus on future thinking, normative thinking and systems thinking competencies.
- The workload of this assignment is about 1,5 cr = 40 hours of work
Materials:
- Lamber Royakkers, Ibo van de Poel: Ethics, Technology, and Engineering: An Introduction. Chapters 1 "The Responsibilities of Engineers" and 10 "Sustainability, Ethics, and Technology"
- Kate Raworth: Ted talk Doughnut economics video
https://www.kateraworth.com/doughnut/ (additional reading material A doughnut for anthropocene (pdf). - Mikko Dufva, Christopher Rowley: Weak signals 2022. Chapters Intro, At work, In nature and What if nothing changes.
https://www.sitra.fi/app/uploads/2022/02/weak-signals-2022_web-1.pdf
- Look through the entire material first to get an overall picture.
- Read through the materials in the given order. If reading feels difficult, you can try pomodoro (http://pomodorotechnique.com/) or other similar techniques to concentrate better.
- Make notes of the thoughts which the material evokes. You can use the following questions:
-Imagine what kind of moral questions you might come across in your career? How would you act in a conflict situation considering the approaches mentioned in the book?
-Think about your own career ten years from now. What kind of position are you in? What kind of responsibilities do you have? What kind of ethical reflection does your position require?
-Assess what kind of possibilities you have as an engineer to promote sustainable development based on Raworth's Donut model. How can you, as an individual engineer, question the framework of continuous growth?
-How can you consider planetary boundaries in your own activities as an engineer? How can you promote a more socially and economically sustainable society?
Part 2: Write an essay
Write a three page essay in which you reflect upon your own values, goals, opportunities to influence and your agency in relation to the themes presented in the source material. Briefly explain in a few sentences which materials you have read. Reflect upon the text based on your notes and following questions:
Write a three page essay in which you reflect upon your own values, goals, opportunities to influence and your agency in relation to the themes presented in the source material. Briefly explain in a few sentences which materials you have read. Reflect upon the text based on your notes and following questions:
-How
do you assess your impact upon society as a representative of the
engineering profession? How do you see your responsibility as a
technology developer?
-What kind of mark do you want to leave on society with your achievements? What motivates you to pursue those achievements?
-What possibilities do you have to bring about a more sustainable society? What does it require of you as an engineer?
- How should we change the way we think in order to live according to the principles of sustainable development?
You may disagree with the material but justify your point of view. An approved assignment requires your own reflection based on the material. Simply referencing the material is not enough nor is just your own unsubstantiated opinions without references to the source material.
Font
size used in your writing should be 12, length of the essay at least
three pages. The structure of the essay should include introduction,
body text, conlusion and references.
For references you can use either IEEE (numeric citation system) or Harvard (author-date system, e.g. as used by Monash University, Australia).
Submit the essay by 15 October.