Teaching Inclusive Engineering Design at a Small Liberal Arts College

TL;DR

This paper describes an educational approach that integrates social impact discussions into engineering courses at a small liberal arts college to promote inclusive and socially aware engineering practices.

Contribution

It introduces a new elective course and a lecture module focused on social impacts, enhancing traditional engineering curricula with critical reflections.

Findings

Students gain awareness of social impacts of technology

The approach fosters inclusive engineering perspectives

Course materials successfully integrate social considerations

Abstract

Modern engineering education tends to focus on mathematics and fundamentals, eschewing critical reflections on technology and the field of engineering. In this paper, I present an elective engineering course and a 3-lecture module in an introductory course that emphasize engaging with the social impacts of technology.