PRiME: designing challenge-based ethics instruction for undergraduate engineers

Engineering Communication faculty at The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) are developing Web-based educational modules designed to infuse the teaching of engineering ethics into the engineering curricula. To accomplish this, the College of Engineering has developed an instructional framework to embody the principles of challenge-based instruction deriving from the work of Bransford et al. in How People Learn. The challenge cycle has worked very well for developing a series of interactive, learner-centered materials and activities, but the HPL model, which includes four "lenses" that used together create a successful learning environment, may be problematic when applied to the teaching of ethics. This paper discusses the design of the modules, including self-assessment strategies, and the particular problems facing instructors of engineering ethics as they attempt to create an environment that is learner-centered, knowledge-centered, assessment-centered, and community-centered. The first two principles, especially, may be difficult to fulfil.