Assessment 1 Reflective Activity
The reflective activity is to be completed after you have completed your report. The activity will be
completed in your gradCAP Workbook on PebblePad on the Engineering Australia Professional
Competency 3.1 page.
Reflect upon the application of ethics to your practice as an emerging engineer (approx. 300
words).
It is suggested you:
• upload a copy of your report to your gradCAP workbook as evidence
• refer to what you have learnt in the process of completing this report in your reflection.
You may find the following reflective framework helpful:
• What? Describe the event or learning. Include any background or theory.
• So What? Why is this important and relevant to you?
• Now What? How will this influence you in the future (thinking and behaviour)?
The following are reflections by previous students with comments indicating where improvements
could be made. Note as these reflections have been submitted by previous students, they have been
entered into Turnitin. These examples should be used to inform how you approach the reflection
only.
For more information and examples on Reflective Writing, check the resources on the Engineering
Students Community Site.
Comments:
• The first paragraph is a good attempt at “what” but does not identify the learning, only what was
done. The actual learning is only identified half-way through. This means more than half the word
count has been used to summarise the topic and ethics in general as opposed to discussing the
actual question.
• The first few sentences are also repetitive and could be more concise. Writing clearly and concisely
is a big part of technical writing. Use the technical writing resources to help you edit your work.
• Reflection could be strengthened with some relevant evidence as to why ethics is important and/or
relevant.
• The last paragraph is a good discussion of what student has learnt but still lacks the relevance to
themselves as an engineer.
• Overall, this reflection fails to establish how ethics is relevant the student as an emerging engineer,
and would benefit from following a framework to clarify ideas.
Reflection 1
The individual report provided me with an opportunity to investigate a case study from an ethical
perspective. This assignment predominantly involved using the Engineers Australia (EA) Code of
Ethics to identify unethical behaviour within the case study. The case study I investigated was the
death of Ayrton Senna who was a famous Formula One driver who represented team Williams in the
1994 Grand Prix season at the time of his death. Numerous instances of behaviour that contradicts
the EA Codes of Ethics were identified and discussed with in my report.
Due to the equivocal nature of ethics, it is important for engineers to have guidelines that provide a
framework for exercising their judgment in a way that is accepted by the industry as being ethical.
EA provide this through their 2019 Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct. The Code of Ethics
provides 4 headings under which numerous situations and circumstances are described which are to
be followed in order to adhere to the codes. This assignment provided me with the opportunity to
gain experience interpreting these codes in a real life context through the Ayrton Senna case study.
As an emerging engineer I believe these EA Code of Ethics are a great resource to refer to in order to
help ensure you are making ethical decisions.
One thing I have learnt during this assignment is that it is quite difficult to interpret these codes in a
real-life scenario. The case study highlighted to me the high level of complexity that surrounds these
situations, as well as the importance of considering the context. For example, section 2.3 which
states that engineers are to act on the basis of adequate knowledge depends heavily on the context
and determining whether the certain behaviour adheres to this or not is quite subjective and
complicated.
Comments:
• More specific examples and relevant evidence would have helped to establish why ethics is
important and/or relevant. As it is, the reader does not understand why the writer agrees with the
code of ethics, only that they do (e.g. helps engineers build projects which do not endanger the
public).
• More emphasis should be placed on the learning that occurred as a result of writing the report. The
student does a good job mentioning this, but more specifics should be mentioned e.g. what ethical
values were challenged?
• Overall, this reflection has been well done.
Reflection 2
The unit “Engineering Innovation and Ethics” introduced me to the Engineers Australia’s Code of
Ethics, and the ethical case study on the Mascot Tower Block Scandal was the first incident that I
critically evaluated with respect to the Code of Ethics. As an emerging engineer, I acknowledge the
importance of ethical conduct, and the Code of Ethics serve as an appropriate framework for
engineers and guide them to make satisfactory decisions throughout their engineering career.
Through the report, I was able to challenge my ethical values and critically evaluate the incident. It
enabled me to think from different perspectives and made me realise that my values align closely
with the EA Code of Ethics. I was able to effectively identify the Code of Ethics that were violated in
the incident.
In my opinion, the engineers failed to demonstrate integrity, practise competently, exercise
leadership and promote sustainability; basically, breaching all Code of Ethics. The developers of the
building allegedly indulged in ill practices to benefit themselves, which in my opinion is a
characteristic no engineer should exhibit as the work of an engineer impacts the lives of many
people. No engineer should have unprofessional and unethical conduct and should practise
engineering in compliance with the Code of Ethics to demonstrate integrity and uphold the
reputation of the practice of engineering.
Once I am a qualified engineer, my approach to making decisions would be in accordance with the
Code of Ethics and in the best interest of the community and all the people involved in the project.
Through extensive research on my topic and carefully listening to the presentations on other topics, I
have been able to comprehend the impact of unethical behaviour, and I will strive to engage in
ethical practices and promote ethical behaviour in the workplace and everyday life.
Comments:
• Writing should still be formal in reflective pieces – “pretty big difference” is informal.
• Student has not answered the question, and appears to have misunderstood the requirements of
the reflective assignment. Student has presented a summary of their report. No reflection is
evident (i.e. no personal observations/thoughts/feelings – nothing in first person). Whilst a brief
summary is appropriate (as seen in reflections 1 and 2), the question specifically requires you to
reflect personally, which this student has not done.
• The use of paragraphs would have helped the reader understand the main points the writer was
trying to make.
• Student has used American spelling conventions throughout (“analyzing”, “favored”). All
assessments at ECU should be completed using Australian English.
Reflection 3
The analysis of the Mascot Towers scandal has shown that by not considering the small details they
can make a pretty big difference in the sustainability of an engineering project. The Mascot Towers
Scandal started when major cracks were found in the garage of the Mascot Towers, as a result the
residents were promptly evacuated, and the building has been evacuated for 2 years now. In the
build up to the mascot towers scandal both parties involved, being the Mascot Towers and Aland,
the company who was contracted to build the Peak towers which is located next to the Mascot
towers had allowed some minor construction aspects to be overlooked such as sealing of Pools,
gardening systems and the sealing of the shoring system. The main issue from the beginning of
construction is that engineer who signed off on the construction of the Peak Towers has a reputation
of signing off on construction projects which did not meet the standards required and for the
excavating of the Peak Towers where they dug below the foundations on the Mascot Towers which
had no shoring system. In a as case as the Mascot Towers Scandal the 2 biggest ethical subsections
broken was 2.3: where they did not act based on adequate knowledge and 4.3: where they did not
consider how their actions would affect future generations. By analyzing the Mascot Towers scandal
and identifying key decisions that favored time efficiency and meeting deadlines concerning water
sealing, shoring systems, and information on the surrounding environment. In the workplace and in
the progress meetings the pressures to meet deadlines, keep the job and to avoid the reputation the
own reputation being tainted played a factor in the decisions these engineers took, and the methods
of construction used. By analyzing the Mascot Towers scandal and understanding the circumstances
that the engineers faced, to prevent such issues, an engineer must be transparent on deadlines and
on key components that must be done to a high standard.
Comments:
• This reflection is very well done.
• Only comment would be to add references (e.g. Flint Water crisis) – any in-text citations would be
included in the word count, but not end-text references.
Reflection 4
The course ENS2159 – Engineering Innovation and Ethics required a research report to be written on
a particular industrial scandal or disaster. My report was written on the Flint Water Crisis which
occurred in the city of Flint Michigan, United States in 2014. The Flint Water Crisis resulted in
devastating health effects on the public when unethical behaviours by officials resulted in the public
being exposed to dangerous amounts of lead in their drinking water.
Whilst researching this crisis I was exposed to the consequences that unethical behaviour can have
within the engineering and management fields. In the Flint Water Crisis, the pressure from the city’s
government created a conflict of interest to choose the cost-cutting strategy over the health and
safety of the public. As an emerging engineer, learning about the Flint Water Crisis has made me
more aware of unethical decision making and has aided my understanding of the need for upholding
the Engineer’s Australia Code of Ethics.
Before researching and writing this report, I had limited knowledge of the Australia Engineering
Code of Ethics. I had also not been exposed to the drastic implications that can occur when
engineers and other officials fail to comply with the ethical standards that govern their industry.
Moving forward, I now feel more knowledgeable on the importance of adhering to the ethical codes
and I believe it is vital that all engineers voice their opinion when they find themselves being
presented with an unethical dilemma in the workplace.
To enhance my knowledge and plan for similar experiences, I believe it is critical that I get exposure
to an engineering environment through work experience during my degree – something which I am
currently pursuing. This will expose me to the decision-making processes which occur within the
engineering field and allow me to put my knowledge of the Engineer’s Australia Code of Ethics into
practice in real-life scenarios.
Comments:
• Again, student has not answered the question, and appears to have misunderstood. Whilst the
student has presented a reflection, they have reflected on their difficulty in completing the report,
not on how ethics can be applied to themselves.
• No application of current learning to future conduct is presented. Student would have benefited
from using a reflective framework.
• Reflection is only 200 words long. This represents 2/3 of the word count for the assessment. It is
unlikely a student can fully answer an assessment question and receive a good grade if they have
only written 2/3 of the specified word count.
• Assessment includes numerous grammatical errors, particularly with sentence structure. Explore
the “Editing and Proofreading” resources. If this is something you know you struggle with, work
through the resources on English Language skills, or you can make an appointment to see a
Learning Adviser.
Reflection 5
As part of my Engineering innovation and ethics unit, I was asked to write a report about an incident
that happened due to a violation of the engineers Australia code of ethics and following unethical
behaviors. I’m an engineering student who prefers to work practically and not theoretically, I would
say writing reports is my weakness, but I’m trying very hard to improve my skills of investigating and
reporting. Although this assignment was writing a report, I found it interesting when I started to read
a dig for information from reports and articles, I would say this assignment drew a bigger picture in
my mind on how to write a proper report, and how to find which resources are more reliable from
others.
Time is the biggest enemy I would say for all students, but it wouldn’t be an issue if everything is
planned way ahead, putting this in order in terms of priority, is what the students are lacking. In my
case, I found it hard to plan for making a poster presentation in a group, as the members of the
group are from around the world. But eventually, we found a way to communicate effectively. The
previous assessment was not easy to be done but we have done it successfully and every member is
satisfied with his work.