Circular Economy & Technology Assessment
5 ECTS | 50€ | Self-paced online course | 9 May – 29 July 2023
The course covers the core concepts and business models of Circular Economy. It also dives into professional values, responsibilities and judgement: an introduction to what professional work requires from an ethical point of view. Ethical theory, such as utilitarian ethics, rule based ethics, virtue ethics, rights based ethics and a few more are also studied.
The focus will also be on CSR, Corporate Social Responsibility or CR, Corporate Responsibility. We work in a context, an organization and these organizations define much of the boundaries for the professional behavior. Thus, it is important for an employee to have an idea about corporate values and ethics as well.
Technology Assessment, core concepts, aims with TA, criteria, different methods etc. are studied.
Learning outcomes
After the course the student should be familiar with basics in Circular Economy, ethical theory, corporate ethics and technology assessment. Most importantly, the student should have an understanding of the human aspects of (engineering) work. A goal is to give the students building blocks in their strive towards ethical autonomy at work.
Methods
All lectures and tasks for the course will be shared with you on the course platform Moodle. During the course, there will be a few online sessions for questions and answers. Otherwise, the course will be asynchronous, with small tasks to do spread over several weeks. In other words, you can do the work with this course where and when it suites you, in your own pace, fast or slow.
Discussions will be opened in Moodle on the topics and small case studies to be handed in and to comment on other’s contributions.
Novia University of Applied Sciences
Roger Nylund
All students concerned about social and environmental sustainability. Studies in a technical field is an advantage, but not a prerequisite for the course.
5 ECTS = 135 hours of students work
Alongside the lectures and tasks, there will be recommended readings from Withbeck, C.: Ethics in Engineering Practice and Research, first or second edition and from other sources. Readings will be specified on Moodle.
Grading 1-5
1 – 2 The student does the assignments and shows a basic knowledge and understanding of the concepts introduced in the course.
3 – 4 The student can analyze the cases based on the ethical theories presented in the course and also discuss alternative courses of actions in the cases from different ethical, technical and economical perspectives based on TA and CE-frameworks.
5 In addition to the above mentioned, the student shows a good mature understanding of the strengths and weaknesses in different ethical perspectives and can also evaluate their applicability in engineering practice as presented in the cases. The student also shows an ability to evaluate technical solutions based on the content of the course in terms of TA and CE.