DAPE1300 Diskret matematikk Emneplan

The goal of this course is to help students reflect over ethical dilemmas so that they make sound ethical choices throughout their doctoral studies and future careers. This course gives the students insight via relevant example projects from the spectrum of disciplines within engineering science including mathematics, physics, computer science, eletrical engineering, built engineerng and product design. Students will reflect on key philosophical questions related the explicit and implicit premises within their field as they relate to epistemology, methodology, ethics and history. The examples will expose the students to the full complexity of engineering projects, where ethical dilemmas and sustainability issues form the planning and execution of the project as well as the final product.

The course will be offered once a year, provided 3 or more students sign up for the course. If less than 3 students sign up for a course, the course will be cancelled for that year.

None.

Knowledge:

On successful completion of the course, the student:

• can account for the terminology and models related to ethics in engineering science
• has thorough knowledge of the requirements and standards for registration, processing, and storage of information about of participants in scientific research
• has a deep understanding of the role of scientific, societal and ethical values on their research.

Skills:

On successful completion of the course, the student can:

• present arguments and viewpoints relevant to ethical dilemmas prevalent in engineering science
• analyse and assess arguments relevant to ethics in engineering science in relation to their relevance and validity
• argue for solutions to ethical problems using theories and techniques relevant to engineering science
• deal with complex professional issues with an academic approach and reflect critically on established knowledge and practice in his/her own field in relation to sustainability, ethics and to other engineering disciplines
• reflect deeply on the nature of their research and its contribution to the production of knowledge

General competence:

On successful completion of the course, the student can:

• identify, discuss and reflect upon ethical and societal implications of his/her own research as well as of the applications they enable,
• reflect over values and ethical boundaries within engineering science

The course will consist of six gatherings. Each gathering will contain a mixture of lectures and student presentation of relevant academic papers and cases. Each presentation will be followed by in-class discussions.

The student will write four reflection notes on ethical and sustainability issues. One of these will be related to their doctoral thesis project. One or more of the reflection notes may form a basis for inclusion as a section on ethical reflection in the student's final doctoral thesis.

Engineers have to make many important decisions on use of tools, work processes, project organizations, technical frameworks and many other topics throughout their career. Currently, too many of these choices are based on what is fashionable and argumentation made by people with vested interested. This course has as its main goal to teach students how to be evidence-based and make better judgments and decisions in engineering disciplines. To be evidence-based means in this context to base important decisions and judgments on well-formulated decisions and questions, collection of valid, relevant and representative empirical evidence, proper analyses and synthesis of the evidence, and use of the synthesized evidence as input in properly designed judgment and decision processes.

The course will be offered once a year, provided 5 or more students sign up for the course. If less than 5 students sign up for a course, the course will be cancelled for that year.

Knowledge

On successful completion of the course, the student:

• knows how to formulate decision to be made or questions to be answered so that it can be subject to evidence-based engineering
• knows about relevant sources for collection of evidence
• knows about the most common empirical methods for creating empirical evidence
• knows about theories and models for evaluation of argumentation and empirical evidence
• knows about theories and models for synthesizing evidence, including that of systematic litterature reviews
• knows about theories and models for good judgment and decision-making

Skills

On successful completion of the course, the student can:

• formulate decisions and questions as basis for evidence-based engineering
• collect and evaluate the quality and relevance of evidence
• design empirical studies for the purpose of creating empirical evidence
• aggregate the evaluated evidence so that it can be used to support a decision or answer a question
• design proper processes for judgment and decision-making

General competence

On successful completion of the course, the student can:

• practice evidence-based engineering in work settings
• support and lead experimentation and other means of creating local evidence in work settings
• assess the need for, initiate and drive innovation in the use of evidence-based principles in engineering contexts.

Two examiners. External examiners are used regularly.

The following required coursework must be approved before the student can take the exam:

Prior to examination it is required that a compulsory assignment be completed, presented to the other students, and approved.

The exam itself is a report written on a self-selected estimation topic. The structure and content of the report should follow evidence-based principles and require searching for, evaluating and summarising practice and research-based evidence.

The exam can be appealed.

All aids are permitted.