Learning and Intelligent Systems: Modeling Learning to Reason with Cases in Engineering Ethics: A Test Domain for Intelligent Assistance

9720341 Ashley临床伦理学家、认知心理学家、法学教授/计算机科学家和计算机科学家/语言学家联合起来，在两学期的研究生工程伦理学必修课的背景下，研究学生如何从基于案例的文本中进行推理和学习。由临床伦理学家教授，课程的结构是让学生定期讨论和解决案例，因为他们被引入了道德推理和一套方法工具，以帮助解决道德困境。本研究的总体目标是帮助学生学会识别实际工程问题中的伦理成分，并提高他们在解决困境时应用方法论工具和理由的能力。更具体地说，该项目的目标是：(1)研究工程学生如何适应伦理推理的概念工具，因为他们被引入，讨论和解决基于案例的文本中呈现的困境；(2)使用与web浏览器兼容的自动绘图环境（ADE）作为数据收集工具，对这一过程进行描述性建模；(3)研究ADE的基于案例的文本在线数据库如何协助这一过程，该数据库可在ADE的类似web浏览器的起草环境中方便地访问；(4)探索如何使用基础案例推理的计算模型，使ADE在过程的各个方面提供智能协助；(5)评估获得ADE如何促进或干扰学生识别、表达、分析和解决道德问题的能力发展。由此产生的方法论工具，ADE为教师和学生提供了方便的访问在线文本材料数据库，例如必修课程文本中概述的方法和案例，中级原则，工程伦理专业守则，专业协会伦理审查委员会的决定以及现有的在线工程伦理案例和评论库。ADE就像一个智能助手，让学生参与到辩证的过程中。它提供了一个“论证工作表”，一个帮助学生分析道德问题的清单，基于案例的信息获取来构建论证，以及反馈。在基于案例的学习解决不明确问题的实证研究中，根据认知模型对ADE进行了经验评估。构建ADE还有助于人工智能、基于案例的推理和智能辅导的三个主要研究领域：1。案例表达与相关性评估，2。策划伦理争论并解释这些计划；识别学生的解决方案。

9720341 Ashley A clinical ethicist, cognitive psychologist, law professor/computer scientist, and computer scientist/linguist team up to examine how students reason with and learn from case-based texts in the context of a two-term required graduate engineering ethics course. Taught by the clinical ethicist, the course is structured so that students regularly discuss and resolve cases as they are introduced to ethical reasoning and a set of methodological tools developed to aid in the resolution of ethical dilemmas. The overall goal of this research is to help students learn to identify ethical components in practical engineering problems and to enhance their ability to apply the methodological tools and justifications as they resolve the dilemmas. More specifically, the project goals are to (1) examine how engineering students adapt conceptual tools for ethical reasoning as they are introduced to, discuss, and resolve dilemmas presented in the case-based texts; (2) descriptively model this process using a Web-browser-compatible automated drafting environment (ADE) as a data gathering tool; (3) examine how ADE's on-line data base of case-based texts, conveniently accessible in ADE's Web-browser-like drafting environment, can assist this process; (4) explore how to use computational models of the underlying case-based reasoning to enable ADE to provide intelligent assistance in aspects of the process; and (S) evaluate how having access to ADE compliments or interferes with students' developing ability to identify, articulate, analyze and resolve ethical problems. The resulting methodological tool, ADE provides convenient access, for both teacher and student, to an on-line database of textual materials such as methodologies and cases outlined in the required course texts, mid-level principles, professional codes of engineering ethics, decisions of a professional association ethics review board and an existing on-line repository of engi neering ethics cases and commentary. ADE acts like an intelligent assistant engaging students in a dialectical process. It provides an "argument worksheet", a checklist to help the student analyze an ethical problem, case-based access to information for constructing the arguments, and feedback. ADE is evaluated empirically in terms of a cognitive model to be developed in an empirical investigation of case-based learning to solve ill-defined problems. Building ADE also contributes to three main research areas in Artificial Intelligence, Case-Based Reasoning, and Intelligent Tutoring: 1. Case representation and relevance assessment, 2. Planning ethical arguments and explaining those plans, and 3. Recognizing students' solution plans.