Empathy in Engineering: Why it Matters Wednesday, September 20 th , - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Empathy in Engineering: Why it Matters

Wednesday, September 20th, 2017 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM, ET

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Today’s Speakers

Joachim Walther

Associate Professor and Founding Director of the Engineering Education Transformations Institute (EETI) University of Georgia

Shari Miller

Associate Professor and the Associate Dean of the School of Social Work University of Georgia

Nicola Sochacka

Co-Director, Engineering Education Research CLUSTER University of Georgia

Educating Empathic Engineers

why empathy in engineering? why now?

• I. Fundamental Canons

Engineers, in the fulfillment of their professional duties, shall:

• 1. Hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public.
• 2. …

https://www.nspe.org/sites/default/files/resources/pdfs/Ethics/CodeofEthics/Code-2007-July.pdf

New Study Reveals Engineering Schools Fail To Teach Empathy

Jon Marcus , PTC

With its relentless emphasis on technical problem-solving, engineering education may be overlooking something equally important according to a new study...

https://www.forbes.com/sites/ptc/2013/12/16/new-study-reveals-engineering- schools-fail-to-teach-empathy/#5ba88ec0482f

Brain Can't Empathize And Analyze At Same Time, New Study

Wednesday 31 October 2012 By Catharine Paddock PhD

Scientists have discovered that the brain circuits we engage when we think about social matters, such as considering other people's views, or moral issues, inhibit the circuits that we use when we think about inanimate, analytical things, such as working on a physics problem or making sure the numbers add up when we balance our budget. And they say, the same happens the other way around: the analytic brain network inhibits the social network. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/252241.php

empathic design

“The basic movement of empathic design is that of researchers and designers moving towards end-users, of trying to get closer to their lives and work, of trying to empathize with them, with their experience and emotions.” (p. 10)

Steen, M., Kuijt-Evers, L., & Klok, J. (2007, July 5-7). Early user involvement in research and design projects – A review of methods and practices Paper presented at the 23rd EGOS Colloquium (European Group for Organizational Studies), Vienna.

how we approached the challenge...

engineering and social work: a transdisciplinary dialogue

productive tensions and remarkable similarities

educating practitioners for 21st century challenges

engineering and social work: a transdisciplinary dialogue

fostering a mutually beneficial and rewarding collaboration

“Technological Agency in Social Work Practice” “Educating Empathic Engineers”

what has come out of our collaboration...

a new theory of empathy for engineering

Who we are What we can do What we will do

Who we are Who we allow

• urselves to be

What we can do What we will do How we develop What skills we seek

empathy modules in a design course

course context

sophomore engineering and society course in mechanical engineering design sequence

Engineering embedded in complex, socio-technical systems Linking skills, orientation, and being through reflection Focus: Systems understanding & problem framing

Module 4: Mode switching Module 3: Affective responding Module 2: Emotion regulation Module 1: Self awareness

Intro to empathy facet Debrief Skills exercises Debrief & reflection Application scenario: Roleplay

some key principles of facilitation

critically self-reflective orientation

instructor’s use-of-self is the primary tool willingness to be self-reflective, to use self as consciously and effectively as possible

prioritize process in the classroom

process of engaging actively is most essential process also becomes content

modeling

through intentional behavior convey empathic skills, orientation, and way of being make specific use of active communication techniques in classroom when debriefing

a range of student responses

less buy in

“The only part of the exercise that was even marginally challenging was during the role play when my group members started arguing amongst themselves during the role play. In real life, I would have simply asked the belligerent parties to leave the room for being disruptive, but during the role play I had to devote all my energy to keeping the group on track.”

Excerpt from a post-module reflection

more buy in

“As an engineer, this activity made me realize how important listening can

• be. Engineers are required to communicate well, and this means more

than just working around problems… With attentive listening, responses come naturally, and in the future I will try to be a better listener rather than just a problem solver.”

Excerpt from a post-module reflection

insight

“When my partner responded to my story analytically I felt like he was less worried about me… I was able to see how a person who felt very strongly about a situation could take offense to an overly analytical response, because it almost turns them into a variable in a problem.”

Excerpt from a post-module reflection

struggles

“During today’s module, I struggled to get my head around… how to apply mode switching. This was not easy and it was unnatural… Yet mode switching is a good skill to have as an engineer because you need to be able to empathize with your stakeholders and solve problems at the same time. I am sure I will be trying to perfect this way of communication for the rest of my life.”

Excerpt from a post-module reflection

transformation

“In the past, I considered myself as a truly rational person who believed in science, and I treated those laymen as “less knowledgeable” and “irrational”… I thought a nuclear power plant was just about science, technology, and

• economy. In fact, I was the arrogant one…

Now, I believe this world is a big and complex system that no subsystems should be ignored. Being an engineer who is so specialized in science and technology does not mean it is appropriate to ignore others…”

Excerpt from final reflection from a sophomore mechanical engineering student

references and resources

Walther, J., Miller, S. E., & Sochacka, N. W. (2017). A Model of Empathy in Engineering as a Core Skill, Practice Orientation, and Professional Way of Being. Journal of Engineering Education, 106(1), 123-148. Brewer, M. A., Sochacka, N. W., Walther, J., & Miller, S. E. (2017). How do students meaningfully interpret the role of empathy in engineering? A social phenomenological study. Paper presented in July at the 2017 Research in Engineering Education Symposium (REES), Bogotá, Columbia. Walther, J., Miller, S. E., & Sochacka, N. W. (2016). Fostering empathy in an undergraduate mechanical engineering course. Paper presented at the 2016 American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Annual Conference and Exposition, New Orleans, LA.

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