Collaborative Research: The Online Ethics Center for Engineering and Science

这里提出的项目目标是将工程与科学在线伦理中心（以下简称OEC，可在http://onlineethics.org上找到）转变为一个永久性的、高度可见的工程与科学伦理公共场所，作为美国国家工程院（NAE）工程伦理倡议的一部分。这一公地将为科学和工程伦理的发展提供更大的智力和物质支持。目前，OEC以其丰富的案例、问题、论文、教学大纲、道德准则和建议而闻名，并以其精心创建的符合W3C/WAI标准的HTML和对Web超媒体功能的智能使用而产生的异常高的“友好”标准和可访问性而闻名。此外，OEC提供了一个创新的模式，说明主要由本科生组成的工作人员可以实现什么。为了准备向NAE过渡，拟议的项目将对OEC中材料的典型教育用途的有效性进行主要研究，目的是开发和完善科学和工程伦理（SEE）教学的教育方法、工具和教学模块。这是一个重要的目标，因为在伦理教学中越来越多地使用基于网络的伦理材料，例如复杂的基于问题的场景或案例，其中包括与道德规范和专家评论等其他支持性材料的有用链接。对于学习者和教育者来说，通过网络访问引人入胜的教学材料、课程和自主学习是一个更加可行和有吸引力的机会，尽管OEC的用途多种多样，但它目前是SEE教学资源中心的最佳范例之一。然而，一流的在线材料的可用性本身并不能保证SEE课程质量的提高。在教育研究的发展阶段，教育心理学家将与经验丰富的SEE讲师密切合作，利用OEC材料设计方法，基于网络的教学工具和评估，这些可以纳入独立的SEE模块。在项目的测试阶段，这些模块将在一系列SEE教师教授的课程中进行评估。最后的模块将为SEE基于问题的教学提供明确的“最佳实践”标准。这项设计和评估研究将基于教育研究和理论的前沿工作。它将极大地帮助教育工作者充分利用外语教学教材，并将对评价理论和方法作出贡献。该项目将通过为更多本科生提供机会，进一步为过渡做好准备。在项目期间，其他大学的学生将通过暑期工作帮助建设OEC。该项目将创建一个特殊的内容管理系统，以确保新内容符合使OEC在可访问性、用户友好性和对超链接的周到使用方面处于领先地位的高标准，并确保内容添加足够简单，以便本科生继续为OEC的建设做出贡献。OEC团队是唯一有资格准备网站的人，可以轻松地合并和完整索引页面，既符合OEC设计标准，又符合本科生的能力。

The goal of the project here proposed is to transform the Online Ethics Center for Engineering and Science (hereafter OEC, available at http://onlineethics.org) into a permanent, highly visible commons for engineering and science ethics as a part of the new National Academy of Engineering (NAE) initiative in engineering ethics. This commons will provide a base for greater intellectual and material support for the growth of science and engineering ethics. Currently, the OEC is known both for its wealth of cases, problems, essays, syllabi, and ethical guidelines and advice, and for the exceptionally high standards of "friendliness" and accessibility resulting from its thoughtful creation of HTML that meets W3C/WAI standards and from its intelligent use of the hypermedia capabilities of the Web. In addition, the OEC provides an innovative model of what can be achieved with a staff composed primarily of undergraduates. In preparation for the transition to the NAE, the proposed project will conduct major research into the effectiveness of typical educational uses made of the materials in the OEC with the goal of developing and refining educational methods, tools, and instructional modules for science and engineering ethics (SEE) instruction. This is an important goal given the increasing use in ethics instruction of web-based ethics materials, such as complex problem-based scenarios or cases that include useful links to other supporting materials like ethics codes and expert commentaries. Web access to engaging instructional materials, for courses and for self-directed learning, is an evermore viable and attractive opportunity for learners and educators, and though the uses of the OEC are diverse, it presently provides one of the finest examples of a resource center for SEE instruction. However, the availability of first-rate online materials does not in itself guarantee improvement in the quality of SEE course offerings. In the development phase of the educational research, an educational psychologist will work closely with experienced SEE instructors, utilizing OEC materials to design methods, web- based instructional tools, and assessments that can be incorporated into self-contained SEE modules. In the test phase of the project, these modules will be evaluated in courses taught by a range of SEE instructors. The final modules will provide clear criteria for "best practices" in SEE problem-based instruction. This design and evaluation research will be based on cutting edge work in educational research and theory. It will greatly aid educators in making the best use of OEC instructional materials and will itself contribute to evaluation theory and methods. The project will further prepare for the transition by offering opportunities to a wider population of undergraduates. During the project, students at other universities will help build the OEC through summer jobs. The project will create a special a content management system that will ensure that new content will conform to the high standards that have made the OEC a leader in accessibility, user friendliness, and thoughtful use of hyperlinking, and ensure that content addition is simple enough to allow undergraduates to continue to contribute to the construction of the OEC. The OEC team is uniquely qualified to prepare the website to readily incorporate and fully index pages that both meet the OEC design standards and which undergraduates are competent to create.