ED1 Report: Engineering Ethics, Communication, and Lifelong Learning

This report presents summaries and reviews of presentations on several key topics relevant to engineering ethics and professional development. The presentations cover freedom of speech in cyberspace, communication skills, creativity and problem-solving, lifelong learning, and privacy/personal information. Each summary provides an overview of the topic, highlighting the main points discussed, the relevance to engineering practice, and any questions or comments raised. The report also includes presentation ratings and whether sources were properly cited. The presentations delve into the significance of freedom of speech, the importance of effective communication for engineers, the role of creativity in innovation, the need for lifelong learning in a rapidly evolving technological landscape, and the challenges of maintaining privacy and data security. Furthermore, it discusses the ethical considerations and best practices associated with each topic, offering insights into how engineers can navigate these complex issues in their professional lives. Finally, the report includes a list of cited references.

Running head: ED1
ED 1
Name of Student
Name of University
Author Note

1ED1
Team 1: Freedom of speech in cyberspace
Summary: Freedom of speech in cyberspace
The presentations mostly covered the topics and the problems associated with them. The pros
and cons of the various situation and steps taken has also been discussed. The presentations
have clearly stated the link of those topics with engineering profession. Why these topics are
related to engineering has also been discussed.
Review
The presentation provides basic definition of freedom of speech and what is
cyberspace. The significance of freedom and speech and how according to UN it should be
protected has been also informed. The presentation also acknowledges that the freedom of
speech is fundamental right even in cyberspace and the big picture of it has been presented
(Turton-Turner, Pamela). The responsibility of engineers and scientists to balance freedom of
speech with the platform they make has been discussed. The cyberspace made by engineers
i.e google, facebook, youtube need to be maintained. How cyberspace helps in
communication via open source platforms like stack overflow and github. The contradiction
between freedom of speech and reputability is discussed along with examples of facebook’s
problem to remove fake news, reddit’s issue to remove inappropriate videos (Delgado,
Richard, and Jean Stefancic). The best practices of and standards of freedom of speech is also
highlighted to keep the cyberspace clean from hatred videos, speeches and other abusive or
fake contents. Need of censorship as precausive measure along with the proper care that it
does not become a form of dictatorship is also needed. How developing countries can be
given access to content via unused satellite bandwidth is also stated and the fact that private
companies do not offer access to content in lower price in those developing nations has also
been mentioned. The government initiatives that should be taken has not been mentioned.

2ED1
How these initiatives will benefit the underprivileged to access to internet and how it will
help in education, communication and information system by online tutorials, portals, blogs
been discussed.
Questions or comments
What steps government should take has not been discussed in the presentation. The flaws in
algorithms of the social networking sites which restrict inappropriate content has not been
mentioned.
Was the topic adequately covered?
Yes most of the topics were covered except the Government’s role to provide an uncensored
cyberspace.
Presentation rating- 9
Did the presenters do proper citing?
yes
Team 9: Communication skills
Summary: Communication skills
The presentation covers the basic definition of communication and need of it has been
discussed. The importance of communication in engineering practice has been presented. The
benefits of communication for the engineers and how it increases performance has been
stated.
Review
The presentation describes what is communication skill and how it is a two way
process and how it is important to both understand the message and later convey such

3ED1
messages. The fact that communication is not only verbal but also it includes non verbal is
stated. The brief overview of communication is also stated. Why people do not try to actively
improve their communication skills because of fear, nervousness has been mentioned. How
communication can help human to great work has been stated. The next part states how
communication skill is relevant to the engineers and how success of a software project can
depend on communication among the members of the development team. How and where
communication issues are encountered in engineering practices. The ineffectiveness of
current communication channels and social or organizational barriers has been stated though
how those barriers can be overcome has not been discussed. The best practices and standards
i.e oral skills, listening skills, visual skills and challenges of good communication has been
presented here. Lastly the need of clarity and concision has been mentioned for a project
approval. The resources like internet, communication workshops to improve communication
skills has also been told.
Questions or comments
How does communication skill helps an engineer to boost up his own performance?
How to overcome the fear factor of communication skill?
How non verbal skills can be improved has not been discussed.
Was the topic covered adequately?
Yes, most the topics were covered except some minor parts.
Presentation rating-8
Did the presenters cite sources for images, quotes, claims
Yes.

4ED1
Team 10: Creativity and problem solving
Summary: Creativity and problem solving
The presentation describes creativity and its benefits. The importance of creativity in
engineering profession has also been discussed. The research that proves that high creativity
can outperform high IQ has been shown. The implementation of creativity with example has
been discussed in defence, healthcare sector.
Review
The dictionary definition of creativity along with brief overview has been given. The
significance of creativity in engineering is also discussed and how the companies look for
problem solving skills apart from GPA but they also look for the projects the candidate
worked on and how they used their problem solving skills to overcome the challenges they
faced(Beaty, Roger E., Emily C. Nusbaum, and Paul J. Silvia.). The research outcome which
showed that person with high creativity has often outstripped the person with high iq. The
engineering design and practice is depending largly on creativity and problem solving skills.
The issues encountered in three examples are health monitoring devices like new methods of
monitoring patients. The second one is prosthetic limbs which are very creative device and in
defence sector the harmful effect has been discussed. The root of issue is also included. To
overcome the issues the steps that should be taken i.e making unbiased committee and self
evaluation should be done before launch of any product. The problems related to
implementation of creativity and thinking out of the box has been stated(Carmeli, Abraham,
Roy Gelbard, and Roni Reiter‐Palmon). The benefits of problem solving affects every aspect
of life and how ideas become fluent and fluid has been discussed.

5ED1
Questions and comments
The ways how creativity and problem solving skills should be implemented in engineering
practice has not been discussed.
Was the topic adequately answered?
Yes the topic was adequately answered.
Rating-9
Did the presenters cite the sources
Always the sources has been cited.
Team 11: Lifelong learning
Summary: Lifelong learning
The presentation adequately covers the definition of lifelong learning and its need to
constantly update our knowledge. How engineering is a lifelong process has ben mentioned.
Review
What is lifelong has been stated and essence of learning has been put forward. The
adult learning theory is a part of lifelong learning. The 5 assumptions of adult learning as
stated by malcom has also been discussed. Engineering learning is a type of lifelong learning
as the technology changes day by day and new technology is being introduced. The
opportunities of adult learning and how it will help an engineer to become more competent is
mentioned (Merriam, Sharan B., and Laura L. Bierema.). Best practices of lifelong learning
has been mentioned and why engineers should continue lifelong learning has been stated. The
comparison of japan and USA based on their investment for lifelong learning has been done.
The problems of big companies in terms of fully re-skilling its employees is one of the major
issues.

6ED1
Questions and comments
The presentation should discuss the benefits of employee reskilling of the companies.
Was the topic adequately covered?
Yes except some parts like company’s benefit from employee reskilling.
Presentation rating-8
Did the presenter cite the sources?
Yes.
Team 12: Privacy and personal information
Summary: Privacy and personal information
The presentation describes how our privacy is breached online and it has become a
commodity. The importance of data security is discussed along with fatal consequences of the
data leak.
Review
The presentation states the fact that now information has become a commodity and
how when we search on internet our information gets stored behind our back without our
concern. The companies are buying the information from our internet service providers. The
companies are willing to buy it for their use. How privacy and personal issues regarding
engineering professions such as large scale of data loss is a huge issue and in what ways data
can be lost have been discussed(Squicciarini, Anna Cinzia, et al.). The three main ways
physical destruction, through loss of an encryption key and malicious programs have been
stated. Leaks of sensitive data which is almost impossible stop and its fatal consequences
have been discussed. Another major issue the misuse of data and how the data misuse occurs
has been stated. Finally best practices of data security and privacy is stated.

7ED1
Question and comment
The presentation is rich in information and very decent.
Was the topic adequately covered?
Yes.
Rating-9
Did the presenter cite the sources?
Always.
Team13: Freedom of speech in cyberspace
Summary: Freedom of speech in cyberspace
The presentation discusses the need of freedom of speech in cyberspace. The importance of it
along with the importance of it in engineering sector and how engineers are responsible has
been presented.
Review
The first point which is discussed here is what is freedom of speech and why it is
important. The look of uncensored internet is also described which is very close to “deep
web”. It will though lead to immoral practices and huge amount of unwanted content. How
government has blocked tracked and blocked fake and inappropriate contents. Further the
relevance of engineering design and practice is discussed in the context (Toulouse, Chris, and
Timothy W. Luke, eds.). The censor backlash which means the dilemma that who decides the
content is inappropriate is also stated. The possible solutions of the issue is also described
with example that the facebook has passively banned the censored content by algorithm.
Lastly the fact that government may intervene in certain content is also discussed.

8ED1
Questions and comments
What are the steps the users of internet should take to maintain freedom of speech in
cyberspace?
Can engineers provide the freedom of speech in cyberspace or it is also responsibility of users
also?
Was the topic covered adequately?
Yes.
Ratinng- 9
Did the presenter cite the sources?
Yes.

9ED1
References
Beaty, Roger E., Emily C. Nusbaum, and Paul J. Silvia. "Does insight problem solving
predict real-world creativity?." Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts 8.3 (2014):
287.
Carmeli, Abraham, Roy Gelbard, and Roni Reiter‐Palmon. "Leadership, creative problem‐
solving capacity, and creative performance: The importance of knowledge sharing." Human
Resource Management 52.1 (2013): 95-121.
Delgado, Richard, and Jean Stefancic. "Hate speech in cyberspace." Wake Forest L. Rev. 49
(2014): 319.
Merriam, Sharan B., and Laura L. Bierema. Adult learning: Linking theory and practice.
John Wiley & Sons, 2013.
Squicciarini, Anna Cinzia, et al. "Privacy policy inference of user-uploaded images on
content sharing sites." IEEE transactions on knowledge and data engineering 27.1 (2015):
193-206.
Toulouse, Chris, and Timothy W. Luke, eds. The politics of Cyberspace. Routledge, 2013.
Turton-Turner, Pamela. "Villainous avatars: The visual semiotics of misogyny and free
speech in cyberspace." Forum on Public Policy: A Journal of the Oxford Round Table.
Forum on Public Policy, 2013.