PRIME
Professional Responsibility Modules for Engineering
The overall goal of the project is to compile and develop teaching materials that address the topics of leadership, information ethics, and professional responsibility.
In an endeavor to foster leadership skills and a clear understanding of professional responsibility in engineering practice, the Chair of Free Enterprise has funded the PRIME project. Proposed by Engineering faculty (see Table 1 for a list of participants) teaching communication courses in the College of Engineering, the overall goal of the project is to compile and develop teaching materials that address the topics of leadership, information ethics, and professional responsibility. Ultimately, those materials will be organized into web-based teaching modules. Each of the planned modules will include materials that can be adaptable to different classes and will include assessment tools, case studies or scenarios, exercises, homework, formal assignments, and suggested readings.
Table 1
Faculty and Teaching Assistants Working
on the PRIME Project
| Participants | Department | Title |
| Mark Carpenter | Electrical Engineering | Lecturer |
| Hillary Hart | Civil Engineering | Sr. Lecturer |
| Christy Moore | Mechanical Engineering | Sr. Lecturer |
| D’Arcy Randall | Chemical Engineering | Lecturer |
| Randi Voss | Biomedical Engineering | Lecturer |
| Theresa Jones | Education | Specialist |
| John Gronbeck-Tedesco | American Studies | Teaching Assistant |
| Beth Bruinsma | Anthropology | Teaching Assistant |
| Colleen Shmitt | American Studies | Teaching Assistant |
The project got underway in the summer of 2004 with initial research into the state of the pedagogical practice in the areas of leadership, information ethics, and professional responsibility. In the fall of 2004, that research continued with a review of literature on those topics; an in-depth critical analysis of curriculum at peer institutions; consultations with experts in the field, such as Dr. Stephanie Bird of MIT; and an assessment of what aspects of these curricula are most effective. Once that evaluation was completed, development of the actual modules began.
The first modules are being piloted and assessed in the 333T Engineering Communications courses during the spring semester of 2005 and should be ready for adoption in the fall of 2005. The modules cover such topics as Ownership of Information, Professional Ethics, Ethical Leadership, and Ethical Decision-making.