Choreographing Virtue: The Role of Situatedness and Layering in Building Moral Muscle Memory in Engineering Ethics Education

Sergio Guillen Grillo; Bryn Elizabeth Seabrook

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Conference: 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Portland, Oregon
Publication Date: June 23, 2024
Start Date: June 23, 2024
End Date: July 12, 2024
Conference Session: Virtues in Engineering Ethics Education
Tagged Division: Engineering Ethics Division (ETHICS)
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/48460

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Paper Authors

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Sergio Guillen Grillo University of Virginia orcid.org/0000-0002-5231-3303

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Sergio GUILLÉN GRILLO, Ph.D., is an experienced public policy, conflict resolution and democratic deliberation scholar and practitioner who has worked extensively in social and environmental policy issues. He is an Assistant Professor in Engineering and Society at the University of Virginia. He has worked as a Project Director and Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist at the Foundation for Peace and Democracy (FUNPADEM). He earned a Doctor of Philosophy in Policy and Governance at the Australian National University in Canberra, a Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical) from Carleton University in Ottawa; a Certificate of Graduate Studies in Natural Resources Organization Management from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor; and Master of Arts in Environmental Security and Peace from the University for Peace in Costa Rica.
For approximately a decade, Sergio worked on sustainable energy policy and finance throughout Latin America and collaborated with leading U.S. government agencies, multilateral banks, and public interest organizations involved in international clean energy policy and rural electrification, including the Rockefeller Foundation and the InterAmerican Development Bank. His engagement with public interest conflicts related to energy infrastructure led him to the field of conflict resolution, and he obtained international mediation certification from the Mediation Training Institute International in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and also became accredited as a mediator of the Conflict Resolution Center of the Costa Rican Professional Body for Engineers and Architects (CFIA-CRC). Sergio has worked for over 20 years as a researcher, practitioner, and trainer of public interest conflict analysis and resolution throughout Latin America, including work on transboundary water management, labor relations, participatory policy analysis, and land-use management.
He has also taught courses on Leadership, Tech Ethics, Sustainability and Conflict Resolution at Universities in Costa Rica, the United States, Honduras, and Mexico.

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Bryn Elizabeth Seabrook University of Virginia

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Bryn Seabrook is an Assistant Professor in Science, Technology, and Society at the University of Virginia. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Humanities, Science and Environment with a minor in Vocal Performance in 2012, a Master of Science and Technolo

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Abstract

This paper explores the contribution that a situated and competency-layering pedagogy can offer to enhance the effectiveness of Giving Voice to Values (GVV), a growing model for teaching ethical leadership in engineering, business, law, and other professional fields. The uptake of GVV as a framework for ethical leadership practice and education has had a growing influence in business school curricula, and more recently, in engineering ethics education. GVV is an innovative model that bridges ethical decision-making and ethical action by preparing learners to develop scripts and action plans for acting consistently with their values in ethically challenging scenarios. The approach moves away from discussing what the right action would be according to different ethical normative frameworks, and instead starts from the premise that most people are able to recognize the right course of action that is consistent with their values, and want to pursue it; however, they have difficulties acting accordingly. Central to this learning model is the application of a thought experiment framed as: “Assuming I know what I want to do to act on my values, how can I get it done?” The capacity to bridge the space between decision and action is strengthened by reflection about past experiences and each person’s specific style and personality. [Department Name] at [University Name] is currently applying the GVV model in its undergraduate engineering ethics courses. The developer of the GVV framework has stated that the model’s use of the notion of “moral muscle memory” draws in part from the pedagogical approach to layering the physical, emotional, and cognitive abilities to respond to situations of violence that were developed within the Impact or Empowered Self Defense method of gender violence prevention. The authors, faculty members of [Department Name] at [University Name] are proposing a Situated Ethical Action Framework (SEAF) described in this paper to enhance the development of engineering students’ competencies for responding to ethical predicaments. SEAF draws on both conflict resolution process design methods and on elements of layering derived from the Empowered Self Defense pedagogy. It introduces additional scenario-building and response-planning strategies that can enhance the stepwise rehearsal experience of the learner, and therefore their sense of self-efficacy in applying the GVV framework. The proposed innovation incorporates two additional elements: concentric circles of engagement and stepwise rehearsal of interactions. Concentric circles of engagement involve different centers of focus and degrees of involvement of others in the learner’s process of ethical decision-making and action, which expand from an internal cognitive space where the dilemma is acknowledged and analyzed, to preliminary interactions with trusted others to better understand the issue, to assessing organizational cultures and stakes, to ultimately engaging with others to raise concerns and seek alternatives. Stepwise rehearsal of interactions includes a breakdown of the steps necessary to engage with others at each of these circles, from preparing to frame concerns to scripting difficult conversations. This paper presents the pedagogical foundations for this revised approach and preliminary insights from its early application in an undergraduate course.

Citation
Format

Guillen Grillo, S., & Seabrook, B. E. (2024, June), Choreographing Virtue: The Role of Situatedness and Layering in Building Moral Muscle Memory in Engineering Ethics Education Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. https://peer.asee.org/48460

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - This paper explores the contribution that a situated and competency-layering pedagogy can offer to enhance the effectiveness of Giving Voice to Values (GVV), a growing model for teaching ethical leadership in engineering, business, law, and other professional fields. The uptake of GVV as a framework for ethical leadership practice and education has had a growing influence in business school curricula, and more recently, in engineering ethics education. GVV is an innovative model that bridges ethical decision-making and ethical action by preparing learners to develop scripts and action plans for acting consistently with their values in ethically challenging scenarios. The approach moves away from discussing what the right action would be according to different ethical normative frameworks, and instead starts from the premise that most people are able to recognize the right course of action that is consistent with their values, and want to pursue it; however, they have difficulties acting accordingly. Central to this learning model is the application of a thought experiment framed as: “Assuming I know what I want to do to act on my values, how can I get it done?” The capacity to bridge the space between decision and action is strengthened by reflection about past experiences and each person’s specific style and personality. [Department Name] at [University Name] is currently applying the GVV model in its undergraduate engineering ethics courses. 
The developer of the GVV framework has stated that the model’s use of the notion of “moral muscle memory” draws in part from the pedagogical approach to layering the physical, emotional, and cognitive abilities to respond to situations of violence that were developed within the Impact or Empowered Self Defense method of gender violence prevention. The authors, faculty members of [Department Name] at [University Name] are proposing a Situated Ethical Action Framework (SEAF) described in this paper to enhance the development of engineering students’ competencies for responding to ethical predicaments. SEAF draws on both conflict resolution process design methods and on elements of layering derived from the Empowered Self Defense pedagogy. It introduces additional scenario-building and response-planning strategies that can enhance the stepwise rehearsal experience of the learner, and therefore their sense of self-efficacy in applying the GVV framework. The proposed innovation incorporates two additional elements: concentric circles of engagement and stepwise rehearsal of interactions. Concentric circles of engagement involve different centers of focus and degrees of involvement of others in the learner’s process of ethical decision-making and action, which expand from an internal cognitive space where the dilemma is acknowledged and analyzed, to preliminary interactions with trusted others to better understand the issue, to assessing organizational cultures and stakes, to ultimately engaging with others to raise concerns and seek alternatives. Stepwise rehearsal of interactions includes a breakdown of the steps necessary to engage with others at each of these circles, from preparing to frame concerns to scripting difficult conversations. This paper presents the pedagogical foundations for this revised approach and preliminary insights from its early application in an undergraduate course. 
AU  - Sergio Guillen Grillo
AU  - Bryn Elizabeth Seabrook
CY  - Portland, Oregon
DA  - 2024/06/23
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Choreographing Virtue: The Role of Situatedness and Layering in Building Moral Muscle Memory in Engineering Ethics Education
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/48460
ER  -