School: Engineering

This unit information may be updated and amended immediately prior to semester. To ensure you have the correct outline, please check it again at the beginning of semester.

  • Unit Title

    Engineering Innovation and Ethics
  • Unit Code

    ENS2159
  • Year

    2025
  • Enrolment Period

    1
  • Version

    11
  • Credit Points

    15
  • Full Year Unit

    N
  • Mode of Delivery

    On Campus
    Online
  • Unit Coordinator

    A/Prof Alexander RASSAU

Description

This unit introduces the innovation sequence and the ethical requirements of the engineering profession. The innovation component explores the processes behind the research, development, adoption and implementation of new technologies. Entrepreneurial skills, negotiating skills, and communication skills are emphasised. The ethics component introduces the professional responsibilities related to ethics, industrial relations, occupational health and safety, and concern for the community and the environment. Issues of sustainability and internationalisation are also discussed.

Non Standard Timetable Requirements

Online delivery: If offered, only in summer semester.

Prerequisite Rule

Students must have passed ENS1154.

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this unit students should be able to:

  1. Analyse an engineering practice in relation to innovation, sustainability and environmental impact.
  2. Demonstrate effective teamwork skills to plan, investigate and communicate outcomes of an engineering study.
  3. Present technical information in oral, graphical and written formats to both technical and non-technical audiences.
  4. Discuss how ethical standards, cross-cultural competencies, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community partnerships influence the development of a flexible and responsive career perspective in the engineering sector.

Unit Content

  1. Professional bodies and their role in promoting ethical principles.
  2. The code of ethics for Professional Engineers.
  3. Social, environmental and sustainability responsibilities of engineers.
  4. Cultural awareness and ethical practice in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community engagement.
  5. Occupational health and safety.
  6. Introduction to innovation and entrepreneurial activities.
  7. Intellectual property in Australia: confidentiality, copyright, designs, patents, protection of computer technology.
  8. Diffusion, adoption and implementation of engineering innovations.
  9. Entrepreneurship, marketing and internationalisation.
  10. Engineering considerations related to engineering projects and operating environments.
  11. Establishing personal, corporate and national engineering goals through effective leadership and management practices.

Learning Experience

ON-CAMPUS

Students will attend on campus classes as well as engage in learning activities through ECU's LMS

JoondalupMount LawleySouth West (Bunbury)
Semester 113 x 1 hour lectureNot OfferedNot Offered
Semester 113 x 2 hour tutorialNot OfferedNot Offered

For more information see the Semester Timetable

ONLINE

Students will engage in learning experiences via ECU’s LMS as well as additional ECU learning technologies

Assessment

GS1 GRADING SCHEMA 1 Used for standard coursework units

Students please note: The marks and grades received by students on assessments may be subject to further moderation. All marks and grades are to be considered provisional until endorsed by the relevant School Progression Panel.

ON CAMPUS
TypeDescriptionValue
ReportEngineering ethics report25%
AssignmentEngineering innovation group poster presentation and professional skills development40%
PortfolioEmployability portfolio35%
ONLINE
TypeDescriptionValue
ReportEngineering ethics report25%
AssignmentEngineering innovation group poster presentation and professional skills development40%
PortfolioEmployability portfolio 35%

Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005)

For the purposes of considering a request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005), inherent requirements for this subject are articulated in the Unit Description, Learning Outcomes and Assessment Requirements of this entry. The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the support for students with disabilities or medical conditions can be found at the Access and Inclusion website.

Assessment

Students please note: The marks and grades received by students on assessments may be subject to further moderation. Informal vivas may be conducted as part of an assessment task, where staff require further information to confirm the learning outcomes have been met. All marks and grades are to be considered provisional until endorsed by the relevant School Progression Panel.

Academic Integrity

Integrity is a core value at Edith Cowan University, and it is expected that ECU students complete their assessment tasks honestly and with acknowledgement of other people's work as well as any generative artificial intelligence tools that may have been used. This means that assessment tasks must be completed individually (unless it is an authorised group assessment task) and any sources used must be referenced.

Breaches of academic integrity can include:

Plagiarism

Copying the words, ideas or creative works of other people or generative artificial intelligence tools, without referencing in accordance with stated University requirements. Students need to seek approval from the Unit Coordinator within the first week of study if they intend to use some of their previous work in an assessment task (self-plagiarism).

Unauthorised collaboration (collusion)

Working with other students and submitting the same or substantially similar work or portions of work when an individual submission was required. This includes students knowingly providing others with copies of their own work to use in the same or similar assessment task(s).

Contract cheating

Organising a friend, a family member, another student or an external person or organisation (e.g. through an online website) to complete or substantially edit or refine part or all of an assessment task(s) on their behalf.

Cheating in an exam

Using or having access to unauthorised materials in an exam or test.

Serious outcomes may be imposed if a student is found to have committed one of these breaches, up to and including expulsion from the University for repeated or serious acts.

ECU's policies and more information about academic integrity can be found on the student academic integrity website.

All commencing ECU students are required to complete the Academic Integrity Module.

Assessment Extension

In some circumstances, Students may apply to their Unit Coordinator to extend the due date of their Assessment Task(s) in accordance with ECU's Assessment, Examination and Moderation Procedures - for more information visit https://askus2.ecu.edu.au/s/article/000001386.

Special Consideration

Students may apply for Special Consideration in respect of a final unit grade, where their achievement was affected by Exceptional Circumstances as set out in the Assessment, Examination and Moderation Procedures - for more information visit https://askus2.ecu.edu.au/s/article/000003318.

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