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Professional issues in Civil and Natural Resources Engineering. Society and environment, ethics, communication skills, historical developments, future engineering issues, and system thinking.
Course PhilosophyThis course has been developed to be a bridge between your studies towards the BE and the studies you will do later—either in engineering practice or in your post-graduate studies. To succeed in professional practice you will need to change your learning style and this course will help you develop new skills.At the same time, the course serves to round-off your education. Your engineering studies necessarily start with a strong emphasis on mathematics, sciences, and equation solving. That is an important part of engineering practice, but not the most important part. More important to you will be the interface between the technical dimension of engineering and the other dimensions. This course serves to develop your understanding of the role of the engineer in society, particularly in the study of safety and engineering ethics.These two purposes of the course intertwine in the study of engineering failures. The study of failures forces students into a reflective and non-quantitative analytical approach to problem-solving that has a strong emphasis on the engineer’s role in society. That is there is an emphasis in the course on engineering failures—it helps you to develop a different way of learning while also better understanding the engineer in society.The course is also about improving your ability to reflect on your own work, the dynamics of your team, and the impact that you have on society as a whole. You will need these reflection skills in practice and in gaining Chartered Engineer status. The course helps you to develop these skills through workshops and focused assignments, culminating in the development of your own Professional Development Plan.
At the end of the course, students are expected to be able to:- Apply reasoning informed by contextual knowledge to assess societal, health, safety, legal, and cultural issues.- Apply ethical principles, and commit to professional ethics and responsibilities and norms in engineering practice.- Prepare to engage in independent and life-long learning in the broadest context of technological change.- Improve communication skills, with an emphasis on development of an argument and conveying complex concepts.The course builds upon the material in ENCN313 (Design Studio 2) and ENCN371 (Infrastructure Management), as well as your communication skills developed in earlier courses (and formally assessed at 1st/2nd Pro level via the Communications Portfolio).
ENCN301 (in 2014 and beyond)
ENCI403
Mark Milke
Late assignments will have 20% deducted, and an additional 20% for each full day late, unless prior arrangement has been made. While a minimum of 50% of the overall course marks is required for passing, you must also achieve at least 50% on the ethics part of the examination.
For guidance with communication skills used in this course, students are required to have a copy of the Department’s Communications Portfolio Guide (2nd edition), which can be purchased from University Bookshop for ~$30. This will also serve as a useful reference for your future engineering career.Students are also expected to monitor Learn regularly for any notices about the course and to use it for class/group discussions and queries to lecturers.
Domestic fee $1,018.00
International fee $4,863.00
* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.
This course will not be offered if fewer than 15 people apply to enrol.
For further information see Civil and Natural Resources Engineering .