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Enhancing engineering ethics education (EEE) for green intelligent manufacturing: Implementation performance evaluation of core mechanism of green intelligence EEE

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The characteristics of green intelligent (GI) engineering ethics emphasize the necessity of GI engineering ethics education (EEE). The ethics education of GI engineering is in the development stage, and it is urgent to fully understand the significance of evaluating the development of GI EEE. Only based on the GI manufacturing situation system to understand the implementation status of the core education of EEE can we objectively grasp the improvement space of GI EEE. In this study, the corresponding indicators were selected from three dimensions of cultivation education, collaborative education, and situational education to form the element community of evaluation indicators. The fuzzy analytic hierarchy process and the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method were used to empirically evaluate the implementation of the key mechanism of GI EEE. The results are as follows. (1) The key education of GI EEE includes cultivation education of micro dimension, collaborative education of medium dimension, and situational education of macro dimension. (2) The most important education is to strengthen the ethics education of GI engineering in the training process of college students. The coordination of GI EEE is becoming more and more important, and the integration and construction are the important pursuit of GI EEE. (3) The cultivation education, collaborative education, and situational education of GI EEE are all at a general level. (4) There is not only a gap between theory and practice in GI EEE but also insufficient attention to localization and coordination issues. The willingness of the government to participate in the ethical education of GI engineering is very insufficient. The optimized space of training education includes teaching cases and full-cycle ethical education.
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TYPE Original Research
PUBLISHED 27 July 2022
DOI 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.926133
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Nan Zhang
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CITATION
Yin S and Zhang N (2022) Enhancing
engineering ethics education (EEE) for
green intelligent manufacturing:
Implementation performance
evaluation of core mechanism of
green intelligence EEE.
Front. Psychol. 13:926133.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.926133
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does not comply with these terms.
Enhancing engineering ethics
education (EEE) for green
intelligent manufacturing:
Implementation performance
evaluation of core mechanism
of green intelligence EEE
Shi Yin1*and Nan Zhang2*
1College of Economics and Management, Hebei Agricultural University, Baoding, China, 2School of
Marxism, Hebei Agricultural University, Baoding, China
The characteristics of green intelligent (GI) engineering ethics emphasize the
necessity of GI engineering ethics education (EEE). The ethics education of GI
engineering is in the development stage, and it is urgent to fully understand
the significance of evaluating the development of GI EEE. Only based on the
GI manufacturing situation system to understand the implementation status
of the core education of EEE can we objectively grasp the improvement
space of GI EEE. In this study, the corresponding indicators were selected
from three dimensions of cultivation education, collaborative education, and
situational education to form the element community of evaluation indicators.
The fuzzy analytic hierarchy process and the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation
method were used to empirically evaluate the implementation of the key
mechanism of GI EEE. The results are as follows. (1) The key education of GI EEE
includes cultivation education of micro dimension, collaborative education
of medium dimension, and situational education of macro dimension. (2)
The most important education is to strengthen the ethics education of GI
engineering in the training process of college students. The coordination
of GI EEE is becoming more and more important, and the integration and
construction are the important pursuit of GI EEE. (3) The cultivation education,
collaborative education, and situational education of GI EEE are all at a general
level. (4) There is not only a gap between theory and practice in GI EEE but also
insucient attention to localization and coordination issues. The willingness of
the government to participate in the ethical education of GI engineering is very
insucient. The optimized space of training education includes teaching cases
and full-cycle ethical education.
KEYWORDS
green intelligence, engineering education, ethical education, fuzzy analytic hierarchy
process, performance evaluation
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Introduction
In recent years, various engineering accidents occur
frequently, and many engineering technologies, such as
transgenic technology, embryo technology, and artificial
intelligence, have generated more and more ethical disputes
(Yin et al., 2020). There are also multiple ethical risks in
engineering practice, such as the environmental risks brought
by the integration of various technologies and their application
to nature, and the quality and safety risks of using technologies
to build artifacts (Martin et al., 2021). Due to the technical
complexity and social connection of engineering itself,
engineering ethics is no longer a problem within engineering
but related to the survival and development of the whole
human society. Mote, a member of the US National Academy
of Engineering, pointed out that engineering in the twenty-first
century is a combination of the technology part “creation and
solution” and the user part “people and society.” It is this ethical
load, including conscience and benevolence, that constitutes
the ultimate goal and value of engineering and promotes
its continuous development (Yin et al., 2020). The inherent
nature of the uncertainty in the development of science and
technology innovation will lead to more challenging ethical
problems in the future. The emergence of engineering ethics
problems is often caused by the lack of ethical awareness, the
insufficient estimation of the consequences of engineering
activities, the conflict of interests of all parties in the project,
the weak consciousness of natural social responsibility, and
other factors, which all come from the subject of engineering
practice (Yin and Zhang, 2021). Engineers who are direct
participants in engineering practice often face ethical dilemmas,
and the work they do, such as designing, planning, and
managing infrastructure, as well as designing materials and
systems, involves risk (Trentesaux and Karnouskos, 2022).
Engineers, therefore, have a high degree of responsibility to
society and stakeholders. It is necessary to strengthen students’
understanding of engineering ethics in the teaching process
so that they can have a certain sense of ethics after engaging
in information related work, and can use the learned ethical
knowledge to analyze, judge, and make decisions on their
engineering practice (Hsu, 2020).
With the acceleration of the new technological revolution
characterized by “green and intelligent, the integration
of green manufacturing and intelligent manufacturing
has become the key to the high-quality development of
manufacturing engineering. Intelligent manufacturing and
green manufacturing have become two major development
directions of contemporary manufacturing engineering
(Popescu et al., 2020). Although both serve the manufacturing
process, intelligent manufacturing and green manufacturing
have different manufacturing concepts and priorities. The
intelligent manufacturing mode focuses on how to use
information flow and data flow in the manufacturing process to
endue manufacturing system with intelligence, thus improving
production efficiency and reducing operating costs. Green
manufacturing focuses on how to plan the material flow
and energy flow in the manufacturing process to improve
the resource utilization rate and green production efficiency
of the manufacturing system. This then coordinates the
economic benefit and the social benefit of the enterprise.
In actual production, intelligent manufacturing and green
manufacturing have synergism and complementarity. Intelligent
manufacturing and green manufacturing are two subsystems
belonging to manufacturing system from the point of view of
system goal synergy (Yin et al., 2022a). From the perspective
of system function complementarity, the intelligence brought
by intelligent manufacturing subsystem is conducive to
the rational planning and utilization of resources of the green
manufacturing subsystem. The low carbonization insisted by the
green manufacturing subsystem is a necessary condition for the
intelligent manufacturing subsystem to reduce cost and improve
efficiency. The key to the integration of green manufacturing
and intelligent manufacturing lies in the continuous innovation
and promotion of important green intelligent (GI) key generic
technologies in the field of industrial engineering (He and Bai,
2021). Intelligent manufacturing endows manufacturing system
with new functions of self-organization, self-regulation, and
self-operation production intelligence. Green manufacturing
carries out dynamic planning of material flow and energy
flow for product research and development, production,
maintenance, recycling, and other manufacturing processes to
maximize green production efficiency in the manufacturing
process. In the process of GI manufacturing, the parallel
engineering and integration engineering of the intelligent and
green manufacturing process should be established to achieve
the dual goals of improving production efficiency and realizing
cleaner production (He and Bai, 2021). With the remolding of
traditional manufacturing engineering by GI manufacturing,
new requirements of engineering ethics also appear.
GI engineering ethics is the standard and guidance for
engineers and engineering activities, and its connotation
includes two aspects. On the one hand, the pursuit of goal
value is the commitment of engineering and engineers to
human progress and the pursuit of improving human wellbeing,
which is also the basis of engineering ethics (Trentesaux and
Caillaud, 2020). The other side contains various engineering
ethics rules and norms. These specific systems of ethical
principles influence the way project stakeholders live, how
decisions are made, and how those decisions later affect human
society. Although the innovation and rapid development of GI
manufacturing technology and its application in engineering
will bring great contributions to the welfare of human society
subjectively, it will inevitably pose severe challenges to human
ethics (Iphofen and Kritikos, 2021). This forms an increasingly
sharp ethical problem of GI engineering. The problems mainly
include those caused by the use of information technology
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and artificial intelligence. The wide application of information
technology in the field of engineering will impact the boundary
of traditional moral responsibility, thus causing ethical problems
that must be paid great attention to. The problems include
the possible infringement of copyright owners of various
works caused by digitization and Internet, the possible privacy
protection problems caused by the unrestrained dissemination
and collection of massive information to the public, and the
abandonment of traditional social ethical life by addicts in the
virtual network world (Royakkers et al., 2018). Improper use
of artificial intelligence technology may pose a great threat to
human society and trigger new ethical issues. For example,
robots challenge, threaten, and harm humans. Humanoid
robots impact human life and its way, and challenge law and
public order. Brain-computer interface technology and face
recognition technology bring personal privacy issues.
Compared with traditional engineering, GI engineering
has the typical characteristics of complexity, integration,
socialization, and globalization. GI engineering projects must
not only address technical and economic issues but also
ethical issues related to safety, cost-effectiveness, resources, the
environment, and ecology (Naphan-Kingery et al., 2019). The
characteristics of GI engineering ethics are mainly shown in
the following three aspects. (1) The development speed of
digital technology and the transmission speed of information
are incomparable to many traditional engineering technologies.
At the same time, because the transmission speed is beyond
imagination, the spread of good in the society makes people
happy, while the spread of evil makes people unprepared (Burr
et al., 2020). As the development of engineering ethics often
lags behind the development of technology, the researchers
and educators of engineering ethics feel more pressure in the
face of a large number of emerging and rapidly spreading
new phenomena and new events today. (2) In the digital
society, more information is generated through production and
exchange, and is flooded in all spaces of the society. At the same
time, people are able to record more and more information, and
even to present historical events in front of their eyes, which
further expands the concept of time and space. It is a great
challenge to carry out engineering ethics research and education
in such a wide range of fields. (3) The above two characteristics
result in the complexity and diversity of engineering ethics
research in the field of information. This means that ethical
research and education should not only consider the impact of
engineering technology but also consider the human thought
and spirit it carries (Sorenson, 2019).
The ethical problems and characteristics of GI engineering
highlight the necessity of ethics education oriented to GI
engineering. As a part of quality education, GI engineering
ethics education (EEE) helps students to pursue the value
rationality of science and technology in future engineering
practice (Balakrishnan et al., 2021). It is responsible for the
sustainable development of human society in the future, and
deals with the relationship between engineering and humans,
society and nature objectively, fairly and impartially (Frigo et al.,
2021). This maximizes the positive impact of engineering in
promoting human safety, health, and wellbeing.
The core of EEE for GI manufacturing is to guide
students to deal with the ethical problems in engineering
independently. This requires students to establish a conscious
sense of responsibility for the overall social significance and
long-term social impact of engineering activities, and have the
practical ability to identify, analyze, and solve new problems
in engineering ethics (Stransky et al., 2021). On the basis of
a dialogue with the public and other stakeholders, engineering
ethics is constructed to make their ethical decisions and actions
have practical effects on engineering practice. At present, the
ethics education of GI engineering is in the development stage.
It is urgent to fully understand the significance of evaluating
the development of GI EEE and to promote teaching through
evaluation. Only based on the GI manufacturing situation
system to understand the implementation status of the core
education of EEE can we objectively grasp the improvement
space of GI EEE. Therefore, it is of great theoretical and practical
significance to establish an effective evaluation index system
and assign weight to each index to evaluate the implementation
status of the core education of GI EEE.
In 1980, Hastings Center put forward a five-point consensus
on the goal of ethical education, namely, stimulating ethical
imagination, identifying ethical problems, analyzing key ethical
concepts and principles, helping students to deal with
ambiguous problems and improving the responsibility of
the educated (Avci, 2021). Many scholars analyzed the
teaching objectives of engineering ethics courses in colleges
and universities and summarized a list of EEE objectives,
including nine items (Balakrishnan et al., 2021; Frigo et al.,
2021). These contents include ethical imagination, students’
discovery of problems, students’ analysis of key ethical concepts
and principles, students’ handling of ambiguity, students
serious treatment of ethical issues, students’ sensitivity to
ethical issues, students’ mastery of relevant ethical principles,
ethical judgments and ethical will. Newberry (2004) proposed
three categories of educational goals: emotional participation
(willingness to make ethical decisions), intellectual participation
(using ethical decision-making tools to solve ethical problems),
and specialized knowledge (being familiar with ethical concepts,
theories, and norms) (Newberry, 2004). The above contents
can be further transformed into four aspects of EEE goals. (a)
Enhanced ethical sensitivity (identification of ethical issues);
(b) Development of ethical knowledge (understanding of
terminology, ethical codes, ethical theories); (c) Strengthening
ethical judgment (making judgments and decisions based
on sound grounds rather than chance or common sense);
(d) Enhancing ethical commitment, confidence, and courage
(taking action to address ethical issues). Based on the
research results, this study fully absorbs the viewpoints of the
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above scholars and integrates the objectives of EEE into the
following three aspects. (1) Ethical sensitivity or awareness. The
educational objective focuses on enhancing students’ awareness
of ethical situations. It is necessary to improve the students’
sensitivity to the ethical issues they may encounter after
working in the industry, and to understand the issues related
to people, society, and nature behind engineering technology
(Maxwell et al., 2021). (2) Ethical knowledge and skills. The
educational goal focuses on helping students know how to
avoid and solve ethical problems involving honesty, fairness,
wellbeing, environmental protection, and war. This goal can be
achieved in a variety of ways, such as learning ethical principles,
ethical theories, classic cases or carrying out engineering
practice (Saada, 2022). (3) Ethical willpower. The educational
goal focuses on internalization and requires students to have
confidence and courage in dealing with ethical issues. On the
basis of understanding and mastering the values of the engineer
community (such as justice and sustainable development, etc.),
the engineer should form and develop individual moral laws, be
able to judge right and wrong autonomously, and achieve the
unity of knowledge and action (Balakrishnan et al., 2020).
The teaching strategies of engineering ethics mainly include
course strategies, teaching contents, teaching methods, and
examination methods. At present, the main curriculum strategy
includes an independent curriculum, an embedded curriculum,
and integration with a non-technical curriculum (Mitcham
and Englehardt, 2019). (1) Independent courses. Independent
courses, the most common form of instructions, are usually
taught as electives by regular teachers over a full semester,
and the syllabus covers a variety of ethical topics, such as
engineering ethics and politics (Bielefeldt et al., 2018). (2)
Embedded courses. The embedded curriculum emphasizes the
introduction of ethics education in all professional courses
and the separation of knowledge points of ethics education
into different professional courses, which is one of the main
trends of current ethics education (Grosz et al., 2019). (3)
Integration of engineering ethics and non-technical courses.
The EEE should be integrated into non-technical courses of
humanities and social sciences, especially science, technology,
and society courses to carry out EEE (Winberg et al., 2020).
In addition, the delivery strategy mainly consists of a summit
course (incorporating engineering ethics into the final project)
and a seminar for senior students. The teaching content
of engineering ethics mainly includes the following aspects
(Haghighattalab et al., 2019; Martin et al., 2021). (1) Cases.
Common engineering ethics cases include challenger launch
failure and Bhopal chemical leakage, etc. Cases are mainly
from real historical events or fictional scenarios. (2) Ethical
code. (3) Ethical dilemmas or conflicts of interest. (4) Ethical
theory, mainly including deontology, utilitarianism, morality
ethics, China will also teach the theory of Confucianism, Taoism,
and other schools. (5) Commonly used concepts of engineering
ethics, ethical decision-making tools, engineering and laws and
regulations (especially intellectual property rights), engineering
and sustainable development are also frequently taught. In
addition, China also attaches importance to the teaching
of craftsman spirit, excellent traditional culture, patriotism,
and model worker spirit in EEE. At present, there is no
significant difference in the teaching methods advocated by
different scholars.
Teaching methods include case studies, group or classroom
discussions, guided teaching, literature learning, project-
based learning, games or role playing, service learning, etc.
(Balakrishnan et al., 2020, 2021; Martin et al., 2021). In addition,
engineering ethics educators have also explored and applied
other new teaching methods. (1) Case studies. Case study is
one of the most common methods in EEE. Cases provide an
effective medium for examining ethical dilemmas from multiple
perspectives and encourage students to develop action plans
based on different ethical theories so that they can simulate
ethical decisions in a professional context as realistically as
possible. (2) Games and role playing. Through games, students
can gain a practical understanding of ethical dilemmas. In the
games, the students can fully exercise and improve the ability
of negotiation, strategic planning, speech, and so on. (3) Service
learning. At present, service learning is paid more and more
attention in EEE. This method requires students to integrate
into the real world of engineering ethics and experience and
outline the real state of engineering ethics through participating
in a community service project. In service learning, students
participate in organized and continuous service activities related
to course learning and meet specific needs of the community.
Then, the students summarize and explain the experience
through classroom discussions or diaries. Service learning is
widely used in education and teaching of many subjects, and its
popularity continues to grow.
The assessment methods of engineering ethics courses
are as follows (Hess and Fore, 2018; Hagendorff, 2020). (a)
Written reports, usually completed by individuals or groups;
(b) Presentation; (c) exams/in-class tests; (d) Literature reading;
(e) Daily performance, such as attendance, online and offline
interactions, group performance, study notes, etc.; (f) Creative
product production, such as the development of environmental
protection products that can effectively solve the problem of
sewage discharge.
The evaluation of the effect of EEE in the United States
has the following characteristics (Hess and Fore, 2018). (1)
the evaluation focuses on the ethical reasoning ability of
engineering students; (2) Formed a relatively complete and
scientific evaluation tool system for EEE; (3) Comprehensive
use of quantitative and qualitative evaluation methods; (4)
Limitations of the study design were noted; (5) Pay attention
to the diversity of the assessment subject and assessment
environment. Compared with foreign countries, China is still
in the exploratory stage in the determination of evaluation
subjects, the exploration of evaluation methods, and the
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formulation of evaluation tools. At present, EEE in China has
been grounded in some colleges and achieved initial results.
However, it is urgent to fully understand the significance
of evaluation to the development of GI EEE and anchor
the actual needs of new engineering construction (Ye et al.,
2020). To explore the evaluation subjects, methods and
tools suitable for different development stages of EEE are
beneficial to promote the high-quality development of EEE in
China. At present, the effect evaluation of EEE mainly uses
qualitative evaluation and quantitative evaluation (Bielefeldt
et al., 2018). (1) Quantitative evaluation. The most common
quantitative assessment methods mainly include questionnaires,
pre/post tests, student productivity, moral assessment tools,
etc. (2) Qualitative evaluation. The most common qualitative
assessment methods mainly include interviews or focus
groups and classroom observations by teachers. Therefore, a
combination of qualitative and quantitative assessment methods
can be used to assess the comprehensive level of core mechanism
of GI EEE.
Based on the existing research, it is summarized as follows.
First, the goal of EEE is clear, and it is a unity formed by the
superposition of feeling, knowing, and expressing. Second, the
teaching strategies of EEE are rich and diversified. Thirdly, the
effect of EEE is affected by many factors. Fourthly, evaluation
feedback is an important part of quality control and continuous
improvement in EEE. With the gradual maturity of EEE teaching
methods, EEE evaluation is regarded as an important means to
promote the in-depth development of EEE practice. Its purpose
is to investigate whether all kinds of EEE teaching models
are effective and to pay attention to whether students meet
some educational goals. The evaluation object is no longer
limited to students but includes teachers, teaching materials,
teaching environment, and other categories. In recent years,
scholars have gradually attached importance to the evaluation
of the process and results of GI EEE, and emphasized the
continuous optimization of teaching programs to maintain their
effectiveness. However, compared with developed countries,
there are few practical exploration and theoretical research
achievements on the evaluation of GI EEE in China.
At present, the integration of green manufacturing and
intelligent manufacturing has become the key to high-
quality economic development. The improvement space of GI
EEE can be dialectically grasped only by understanding the
implementation status of key education of EEE based on GI
manufacturing situation system. Therefore, it is very necessary
to establish an effective evaluation index system and assign
weight to each index to evaluate the implementation status of
key education of GI EEE. On the one hand, the theoretical
structure of the key education of GI EEE is analyzed and
discussed. On the other hand, by constructing the evaluation
index system, the paper conducts an evaluation survey for
multiple types of personnel, and empirically evaluates the
implementation status of key education of GI EEE in colleges
and universities by using a fuzzy analytic hierarchy process and
a fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method. It is helpful to find
the educational obstacles affecting the development of GI EEE
on the basis of rational reflection of objective facts. This is
conducive to focusing on the key and difficult points and weak
links, and observing the overall trend of generation, change, and
iteration of GI EEE.
The rest of this paper is as follows. Section Core Mechanism
and Evaluation System is a core mechanism and an evaluation
system. Fuzzy AHP and a fuzzy comprehensive evaluation
method are shown in section Methodology. Section Results and
Discussion is the results of fuzzy comprehensive evaluation of
three layers. Conclusions and future prospects are presented in
section Conclusions.
Core mechanism and evaluation
system
GI EEE
The ethical education of GI engineering is influenced
by many factors (intelligent engineering characteristics,
educational consensus, carbon reduction, and efficiency
increase) (Holsapple et al., 2012; Ngoepe et al., 2022).
Situational education, collaborative education, and cultivation
education play their roles from different angles. Finally, the
effect is to enhance the quality of college education supply
and gather the synergy of ethical education. If the above three
kinds of education are in a positive state, it will make EEE
run smoothly and orderly, and ethics teaching can also better
enter the ear, the brain, and the heart. In order to further
explore the inner relationship of the key education of GI EEE,
the conditional matrix tool was used to analyze situational
education, collaborative education, and cultivation education.
The conditional matrix divides elements such as conditions and
consequences into many levels from micro to macro, including:
(1) Action; (2) Interaction; (3) Collective; (4) Secondary
organization; (5) Organization and system; (6) Community; (7)
Country; (8) International.
As shown in Figure 1, the key education of GI EEE includes:
cultivation education of micro dimension, coordination
education of medium dimension, and situational education of
macro dimension.
(1) Cultivation and education. In training and education,
educators transform the GI ethical concepts based on the
country, society, and class to the educated by means of
certain means and methods. To meet the requirements of GI
engineering ethical literacy, training education is an inevitable
measure of GI EEE (Zhang et al., 2022). Training education
is an inevitable measure of GI EEE. The cultivation education
responds to the problem of how to enhance the supply quality of
the educational end of colleges and universities through GI EEE.
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FIGURE 1
A core mechanism of GI EEE.
The practice of GI EEE has not yet effectively responded to the
core knowledge system, teaching syllabus, education methods,
and other key issues.
(2) Collaborative education. Collaborative education is that
all intermediary objects participating in GI EEE activities
are combined into an orderly structure and function whole
under the guidance and restriction of certain rules, so as
to strengthen the practical efficiency of EEE. Collaborative
education is the objective choice of GI EEE. Collaborative
education responds to the question of how to gather the
collaborative power of ethical education in GI EEE (Young et al.,
2021). At present, the concept of collaborative development
has become an important proposition for the development of
higher education. In the collaborative perspective, education
emphasizes the interactive connection among all elements,
especially the dynamic resource sharing, and realizes the
common development goals by means of the optimal allocation
of information and resources. The development of GI EEE
needs the synergistic effect of all intermediary objects, and
cannot only rely on the initiative of universities. GI EEE is a
complex and systematic project, which needs to give play to
the leading role of the government and strengthen the incentive
and support of the system. This also needs to give play to
the advantages of enterprise organizations, promote school-
enterprise cooperation, and encourage enterprises to take the
initiative to undertake the responsibility of EEE for employees
(Kim, 2022).
(3) Situational education. The comprehensive description of
GI EEE cannot be separated from the systematic interpretation
of situational education. The ethics education of GI engineering
in developed countries has different characteristics. Can the
region copy the experience of other countries? How to do the
local ethics education of GI engineering well? The answers to
the above problems lie in the fields constructed by situational
education, including social factors, natural factors, and spiritual
factors (Zhang and Zhu, 2021). Situational education is an
inevitable requirement of GI EEE. The field of GI EEE integrates
the needs and value judgment of things, and reflects the setting
of identity and position of things, the choice of educational
topics and contents, and the trend of teaching practice. The
correct choice of each region is not only to introduce and learn
the GI EEE from developed countries but also to highlight the
nationality and identify the heterogeneous characteristics that
cannot be perfectly explained by the GI EEE theory (Maqsoom
et al., 2020). In addition, each region should try to develop
regional characteristics of EEE, and finally put forward the local
EEE program.
Evaluation system of implementation
eect
GI EEE is the product of the unity, integration, influence,
and deployment of various elements in key education, and
also the result of the comprehensive effects of training
education, collaborative education, and situational education.
Corresponding indexes are selected from the three dimensions
of cultivation education, collaborative education, and situational
education to form the element community of evaluation indexes.
To ensure the scientific nature and accuracy of index selection,
Harbin Engineering University, Yanshan University, long-term
commitment to EEE, engineering education and engineering
ethics research of three GI engineering ethics teachers, education
economics and management professors, and three science and
technology philosophy and ethics professors was invited to
set an index and the statement for further revision. Through
repeated communication, 3 first-level indicators, 8 second-level
indicators, and 27 third-level indicators were finally determined.
Evaluation system of implementation effect is shown in Table 1.
(1) Training and education. Teachers’ personal experience,
professional experience, and belief dynamics affect teachers’
identity, and then affect teachers’ effectiveness and practice
in the classroom. Teachers’ teaching is influenced by many
factors from inside and outside the classroom, such as
professional knowledge, subject background, and teaching
content (Lomask et al., 2018). Teachers’ Colleges (departments),
gender, teaching years, practical experience of GI engineering,
and adopted curriculum delivery strategies (the independent
curriculum, the embedded curriculum, integration with the
non-technical curriculum, the vertex curriculum, etc.) all have
an impact on teaching effectiveness. The strength of teachers
not only determines the quality of GI engineering ethics
teaching but also determines whether the concept of GI
EEE can be implemented This mainly includes the number
of GI engineering ethics teachers and the interdisciplinary
teacher team. Strengthening interdisciplinary cooperation with
humanities and social sciences departments is an important
link for engineering departments to deeply understand and
grasp the specific ethical issues in the field of GI engineering.
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TABLE 1 Evaluation system of implementation eect.
Main criterion
layer
Sub-criteria
layer
Scheme layer serial Number Interpretative statement
Training and
education A
Faculty A1 Teachers’ professional level
and ability A11
1 The professional level and ability of teachers are competent for
the work of GI ethics education
Number and structure of
teaching staff A12
2 Building a reasonably structured teaching staff
Teacher career development
opportunities A13
3 Teachers can get full career development opportunities
Teaching process
A2
Course material A21 4 It can play a basic role in guiding the direction of GI EEE and
ensuring the high-quality development of education.
Teaching case A22 5 It can provide rich and diverse case choices for relevant teachers
to better support the realization of the goal of GI EEE.
Practice resource A23 6 It can bring students real ethical problems of GI engineering and
improve their ability to deal with ethical problems of GI
engineering.
Teaching quality A3 Combination of theory and
practice A31
7 It can help students understand the ethical issues of GI
engineering and the ethical norms and norms of GI engineering
Full cycle ethics education
A32
8 Organically run through professional courses, graduation design
and other links
Course evaluation and
improvement A33
9 Timely evaluate and improve the GI engineering ethics course
Collaborative
education B
Government B1 Supporting system
construction B11
10 The government actively promotes the construction of
supporting system for ethics education of GI engineering
Attention at the policy level
B12
11 The government emphasizes the value of GI EEE from the
perspective of policy
Funding level B13 12 Various research topics or educational reform projects have fully
supported the research and practice of GI EEE
Enterprise
organization B2
Attach importance to talent
ethical literacy B21
13 Enterprises (especially engineering enterprises) pay full attention
to the green intelligence and ethical literacy of talents
Participation form and quality
B22
14 Schools and enterprises jointly formulate the training objectives
and training programs of GI EEE, jointly develop ethics courses,
and provide teaching practice resources
Willingness to participate B23 15 Enterprises have a strong willingness to participate in GI EEE
Situational
education C
International vision
C1
Grasp of Global Frontier
Situation C11
16 Learn and introduce foreign advanced experience and teaching
resources
Academic dialogue C12 17 Published research articles on GI EEE in foreign journals
Practice dialogue C13 18 Cooperate with foreign universities to set up GI ethics courses
Regional discourse
C2
Theoretical localization C21 19 Constructing educational theory in line with national conditions
and the characteristics of GI engineering
Practice localization C22 20 Combined with the specific situation, carry out GI ethics
innovation on the educational concept, orientation, content and
methods
Local demands capture C23 21 In the process of carrying out GI EEE, the regional cultural
background, social system and engineering practice have been
given full attention
There is a shortage of teachers who understand GI engineering
and can teach ethics courses, which requires inviting part-time
teachers from government, enterprises, and other institutions to
teach as much as possible. Funding resources from universities
and governments are an important support to continuously
promote teachers’ innovative educational practice. Teachers
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career development opportunities also include the adequacy
of teachers’ access to teacher training opportunities (Lawlor,
2021). GI EEE must strengthen the construction of teaching
resources of GI EEE. GI EEE provides sufficient education and
teaching resources, including curriculum materials, teaching
cases, and practice bases. The construction of teaching materials
for GI engineering ethics needs to be based on scientific
research. The construction of the GI engineering ethics case
base is a comprehensive work. The reason why an advanced
learning concept is suitable for GI EEE is that the thinking
characteristics of different cognitive development stages are
different. In educational practice, the corresponding educational
focus and operation strategies should also be different at each
stage; appropriate measures are taken to complete key tasks,
which can make the educational effect work with half the effort
(Lavi and Dori, 2019).
(2) Collaborative education. For the collaborative goals
of GI EEE, on the one hand, the all-round development
of GI EEE should be actively supported. This is not only
conducive to promoting the multi-angle integration and sharing
of educational resources but also can form a huge resource
supply source. On the other hand, it is necessary to promote
the independent development of multiple governance subjects,
including the government and enterprises and enhance the
consciousness of conscious participation (Borenstein et al.,
2019). The gradual development of long-term interests involves
the foundation for independent development and enhancing
communication and interaction. On the basis of mutual benefits
and win-win, the collaborative promotion of GI EEE should
be carried out. In terms of promoting goals, we should
focus on realizing strategic coordination and construction
coordination, and take co-construction and sharing as the
core content. In the standardization of teaching system, GI
engineering ethics, joint construction of university teaching
resources, teacher training, and other aspects of cooperation
and exchange of needs. The normalization and standardization
of multi-subject participation are important foundations in the
overall development of GI EEE. According to the theory of
synergy advantage, member structure is dynamic. At present,
enterprises have not been deeply involved in the collaborative
development of GI EEE, and the auxiliary characteristics at
the edge are obvious (Vveinhardt et al., 2019). However,
as the main employment channel for engineering students,
enterprises play a special role in the education of GI engineering
ethics. In order to realize the organic combination of GI
engineering ethics and career, some colleges and universities
began to explore ways to cooperate with enterprises to
carry out GI EEE. Enterprises are becoming an important
part of the coordinated development of GI EEE. Some
universities use school-enterprise cooperation platforms to let
students go deep into the grassroots of enterprises (Zhang
and Zhu, 2021). Students communicate with GI engineers
of enterprises, and constantly strengthen the ethics of GI
engineering in the process of verifying and correcting their
own career.
(3) Situational education. Modern GI engineering projects
not only involve technical and economic issues but also are
related to sustainability, security, cost effectiveness, resources,
ecological environment, and other issues (Polmear et al., 2021).
The impact of automation and robot technology on human
psychology, the impact of information technology on human
society, and the threat of genetic engineering on human
dignity are becoming new topics in the ethical education of GI
engineering. GI EEE in China is undergoing a process from
transplantation, imitation, verification to transformation and
integration (Clancy, 2021). However, the duration is relatively
short, and the real absorption and internalization are less.
The depth and breadth should be expanded. Therefore, system
understanding and system integration of system construction
are very lacking. To give full play to the energy and function of
GI EEE, it should be endowed with the ability of self-perfection
and development. The localization of ethical education system
construction of GI engineering focuses on two ways. First,
the local transformation of professionalism has gradually
established the GI engineering ethical standard system and
the GI engineering vocational system construction theory
under the guidance of discourse. The acceptance of GI EEE
assessment will be a necessary prerequisite for the certification of
professional engineers in the future. Secondly, the certification
of GI engineering education based on real needs should clarify
the requirements that engineering graduates must possess the
ethical literacy of GI engineering.
Methodology
Determination of assessment methods
In the study, the evaluation system of implementation
effect includes the main criterion layer, the sub-criteria layer,
and the scheme layer serial. The evaluation of GI EEE
implementation status is a typical multi-factor comprehensive
evaluation problem. Most of the indicators are qualitative
indicators with fuzzy characteristics, which are difficult to
accurately judge and grade. The fuzzy comprehensive evaluation
method is a kind of comprehensive evaluation method
based on fuzzy mathematics. The comprehensive evaluation
method transforms qualitative evaluation into quantitative
evaluation according to the membership degree theory of fuzzy
mathematics. Fuzzy mathematics makes an overall evaluation
of things or objects restricted by many factors. It has the
characteristics of clear results and strong systematicness, and
can solve fuzzy and difficult to quantify problems well. Analytic
hierarchy process (AHP) can clearly show the attribute weight
of indicators at each level (Yin et al., 2022b). The weight is
determined by experts based on triangular fuzzy numbers. The
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advantages of triangular fuzzy numbers are as follows: First,
the expert team is very familiar with the field of triangulated
fuzzy books. Secondly, the triangle fuzzy number can solve
the contradiction that the performance of the evaluated object
cannot be measured accurately but can only be evaluated
by natural language. AHP is an effective tool to deal with
complex decision problems. In view of the uncertainty caused
by expert subjective judgment and language fuzziness in the use
of AHP, the traditional nine-level scale method is combined with
triangular fuzzy number. In the process of using the fuzzy AHP
method, the step of the consistency test can be omitted (Buckley,
1985; Akkaya et al., 2015). Therefore, the fuzzy AHP method
and the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method based on the
triangular fuzzy number were used to assess the comprehensive
level of the core mechanism of GI EEE.
Fuzzy AHP
Based on this combination, the established nine-level fuzzy
scale is shown in Table 2.
Table 2 was used to collect experts’ judgment opinions on
the relative importance of each factor. Assuming that there
are nrisk factors in an indicator layer, and ˜a(k)
ij is the relative
importance of the ifactor judged by the kexpert to the jfactor,
the fuzzy judgment matrix Ã(k)of this indicator layer is shown
in Formula (1).
Ã(k)=˜a(k)
ij =
(1, 1, 1) l(k)
12 ,m(k)
12 ,u(k)
12 ··· l(k)
1n,m(k)
1n,u(k)
1n
1/u(k)
12 , 1/m(k)
12 , 1/l(k)
12 (1, 1, 1) ... l(k)
2n,m(k)
2n,u(k)
2n
.
.
..
.
..
.
..
.
.
1/u(k)
1n, 1/m(k)
1n, 1/l(k)
1n 1/u(k)
2n, 1/m(k)
2n, 1/l(k)
2n··· (1, 1, 1)
k=1, 2, ··· ,K,i,j=1, 2, ··· ,n
(1)
Then the following modified formula is used to calculate
the triangular fuzzy number of the weight of risk factors at
each level.
˜
S(k)
i=
n
P
j=1
l(k)
ij
n
P
j=1
l(k)
ij +
n
P
z=1,z6=i
n
P
j=1
u(k)
zj
,
n
P
j=1
m(k)
ij
n
P
z=1
n
P
j=1
m(k)
zj
,u(k)
ij
n
P
j=1
u(k)
ij +
n
P
z=1,z6=i
n
P
j=1
l(k)
zj
i,j,z=1, 2, ··· ,n,k=1, 2, ··· ,K
(2)
e
S(k)
irepresents the triangular fuzzy number of the single
ranking weight of the irisk factor judged by the kexpert.
It is assumed that the index layer under the target layer is the
first layer, and each sub-index layer is the second (n-1) layer
in turn. Then, the total ranking weight relative to the target layer
obtained by iterative calculation of single ranking weight of each
factor can be expressed as:
h(k)
i=5n1
m=1S(k)(m)
i,k=1, 2, ···K,i=1, 2, ···n(3)
S(k)(m)
iis the weight of the m-level index judged by the k
expert, and h(k)
iis the total ranking weight of the bottom index
to the target level.
In order to facilitate sorting and comprehensive weight
calculation, the results are defuzzified. Given a triangle fuzzy
number ˜
N=(l,m,u), the defuzzification value of the triangle
fuzzy number can be calculated by using Formula (4).
˜
Ndefuzzification =l+2m+u
4(4)
Fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method
The fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method is a kind of
comprehensive evaluation method based on fuzzy mathematics.
The fuzzy relation synthesis principle is used to quantify the
factors that are relatively fuzzy and difficult to be quantified and
express them with accurate mathematics. Fuzzy comprehensive
evaluation is characterized by strong systematicness and clear
results. It is mainly used for comprehensive evaluation of
objects affected by multidimensional factors and unstructured
or difficult to quantify problems. The data in this study are
all qualitative data, and have the characteristics of multilevel,
multi-factor, and fuzziness. Therefore, the fuzzy comprehensive
evaluation method is suitable for this study. The fuzzy
comprehensive evaluation method is used to evaluate the
implementation status of GI EEE. The specific analysis steps are
as follows.
(1) Determine the evaluation object factor Set Uand
evaluation Set V. At the same time, determine the weight of each
influencing Factor W.
(2) Establish the scoring membership function and
comprehensive evaluation Matrix Rof each factor, calculate the
membership Degree R, and obtain the fuzzy set.
(3) The fuzzy comprehensive evaluation Set Y=W×Ris
calculated by the comprehensive evaluation matrix R.
(4) Calculate the comprehensive evaluation score S=W×N
of the evaluation object with the measurement Scale N.
Data source
In order to obtain index weight, constructing judgment
matrix is the key point of fuzzy AHP. According to the
evaluation criteria in Table 2, 35 experts (teachers, managers,
and scholars) in this study were given the empowerment table
of evaluation indicators of GI EEE through email and an
offline interview. The experts were asked to rate the relevant
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TABLE 2 Expert judgment term and fuzzy number transformation relationship.
Scale Meaning Triangular fuzzy number Reciprocal
1 The two elements are equally important (1,1,1) (1,1,1)
2 Between equally important and slightly important (1,2,3) (1/3,1/2,1)
3 The former is slightly more important than the latter (2,3,4) (1/4,1/3,1/2)
4 Between slightly important and more important (3,4,5) (1/5,1/4,1/3)
5 The former is stronger and more important than the latter (4,5,6) (1/6,1/5,1/4)
6 Between strong importance and strong importance (5,6,7) (1/7,1/6,1/5)
7 The former is more important than the latter (6,7,8) (1/8,1/7,1/6)
8 Between strong importance and extreme importance (7,8,9) (1/9,1/8,1/7)
9 The former is more important than the latter (8,9,9) (1/9,1/9,1/8)
indicators based on their own research or experience. In order
to obtain the original data of this study, the formal survey of this
questionnaire selected the research objects that met the research
conditions. From September to December 2021, questionnaires
were distributed and collected by star in Hebei province,
with 219 valid samples collected in total. Consistent with the
pre-survey, the sample of this survey is still dominated by men
(51.36%). Most of the respondents (86.49%) were teachers.
Engineering was the highest discipline (specialty) background
of the respondents (46.22%), of which digital engineering
accounted for 54.36; green engineering accounted for 36.89. The
teaching period is mainly 1–3 years and 4–6 years, accounting
for 62.86%, which is related to the short development time of GI
EEE in China. Approximately, 82.36% of the respondents have
participated in teacher training, which benefited from the great
attention and promotion of teacher training by the Steering
Committee for Graduate Education of Engineering Specialty
in recent years. Universities (66.89%) and enterprises (12.34%)
were the main channels for the respondents to obtain financial
aid, while only 7.63% of the respondents obtained financial aid
from the government (such as educational reform projects of
the education department). Only 53.96% of the respondents
have carried out interdisciplinary cooperation, among
which 36.94 and 28.74% have carried out interdisciplinary
cooperation in education and teaching and academic
research, respectively. The expertise of the respondents is
very uniform.
Results and discussion
Determination of weight based on fuzzy
AHP
According to the evaluation criteria in Table 2, more than
35 experts judged the relative importance of 21 indicators. Take
the judgment results of A11–A13 indicators as an example to
TABLE 3 Judgment on the importance of each risk factor under
meteorological conditions.
C1A11 A12 A13
Expert 1 A11 (1,1,1) (1/4,1/3,1/2) (1/9,1/8,1/7)
A12 (2,3,4) (1,1,1) (1/3,1/2,1)
A13 (7,8,9) (1,2,3) (1,1,1)
illustrate the calculation. The judgment results of Expert 1 are
shown in Table 3.
According to Table 3, the fuzzy judgment matrix of this level
is constructed as follows:
˜
A(1)
C1=
(1, 1, 1) (1/4, 1/3, 1/2) (1/9, 1/8, 1/7)
(2, 3, 4) (1, 1, 1) (1/3, 1/2, 1)
(7, 8, 9) (1, 2, 3) (1, 1, 1)
(5)
Formula (2) was used to calculate the
fuzzy judgment matrix ˜
A(1)
C1, and the triangular
fuzzy number of the indicator weight vector is
as follows:
˜
S(1)
C1=
˜
S(1)
N1
˜
S(1)
N2
˜
S(1)
N3
=
0.0668 0.0860 0.1175
0.1854 0.2654 0.3667
0.5408 0.6486 0.7347
(6)
Finally, formula (3) is used to calculate the triangular
fuzzy value of each index weight, and the mean value is
taken for the judgment results of each expert. Then, Formula
(4) is used to defuzzify the results. This round of weight
survey recovered a total of 35 scoring tables. In this study,
the software Yaahp was used for auxiliary calculation, and the
consistency test of each expert’s grading table was carried out
one by one. The arithmetic mean was used to calculate the
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TABLE 4 Weight of evaluation index of GI EEE.
Main criterion layer Weight 1 Sub-criteria layer Weight 2 Weight 3 Scheme layer Weight 4 Weight 5
A 0.389 A1 0.304 0.118 A11 0.387 0.046
A12 0.264 0.031
A13 0.349 0.041
A2 0.367 0.143 A21 0.291 0.042
A22 0.312 0.045
A23 0.397 0.057
A3 0.329 0.128 A31 0.291 0.037
A32 0.396 0.051
A33 0.313 0.040
B 0.324 B1 0.428 0.139 B11 0.334 0.046
B12 0.329 0.046
B13 0.337 0.047
B2 0.572 0.185 B21 0.296 0.055
B22 0.383 0.071
B23 0.321 0.059
C 0.287 C1 0.396 0.114 C11 0.326 0.037
C12 0.347 0.039
C13 0.327 0.037
C2 0.604 0.173 C21 0.262 0.045
C22 0.426 0.074
C23 0.312 0.054
weight of the score integration of 35 experts. The final weight
calculation results of evaluation indicators at all levels are shown
in Table 4.
According to Table 4, the relative weights of training
education, collaborative education, and situational education
in the main criteria layer to the target layer are 38.9, 32.4,
and 28.7%, respectively. It can be seen that the evaluation
dimension with the highest weight is training education. At
present, the most important education is to strengthen the
ethics education of GI engineering in the process of cultivating
college students. The coordination of GI EEE is becoming
more and more important. Integration and co construction are
important pursuits of GI EEE. Integration refers to the deep
integration of GI EEE with economy and society; engineering
practice and talent training EEE should be of real value to man,
nature, and society. Joint construction is to expand education
supply through multiple channels. The joint participation of
multiple subjects provides a qualitative opportunity to promote
the connotative and structured development of GI EEE. GI EEE
is concrete and diverse. In the process of practice, each country
not only has interoperability, but also the actual situation
is very different. How to correctly grasp the development
situation of international GI EEE and accurately implement
policies according to the practical development trend of GI
EEE has a profound impact on the effectiveness of regional
GI EEE.
The results of fuzzy comprehensive
evaluation of sub-criterion layer
(1) Construct the factor set. According to Table 2, the factor
set of fuzzy comprehensive evaluation of the sub-criterion layer
is γ={γ1, γ2, γ3}, where γ{A1, A2, A3, B1, B2, C1, C2}.
(2) Construct the comments set of the sub-criteria layer.
This study divides the reality of the key mechanism of industrial
process ethics education into five grades as follows: V=
{V1, V2, V3, V4, V5}A. This means very poor, poor, average,
good, and very good.
(3) Construct the sub criteria layer weight set. According
to the weights of evaluation indicators at all levels, this study
constructs the weight set vectors of indicators, which are
as follows:
WA1= {0.387, 0.264, 0.349}; WA2= {0.291, 0.312, 0.397};
WA3= {0.291, 0.396, 0.313}; WB1= {0.334, 0.329, 0.337};
WB2= {0.296, 0.383, 0.321}; WC1= {0.326, 0.347, 0.327};
WC2= {0.262, 0.426, 0.312}
The original data evaluation matrix is shown in Table 5.
According to Table 5, the A1 membership matrix of key
education status evaluation of GI EEE is constructed as follows:
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TABLE 5 The original data evaluation matrix.
Main criterion layer Sub-criteria layer Scheme layer V1 V2 V3 V4 V5 Mean value
A A1 A11 6 36 114 52 11 3.1187
A12 4 35 122 49 9 3.1096
A13 9 32 98 63 17 3.2146
A2 A21 15 32 109 55 8 3.0411
A22 19 41 104 34 21 2.9863
A23 8 31 113 55 12 3.1461
A3 A31 10 34 105 61 9 3.1142
A32 11 36 114 47 11 3.0502
A33 13 30 109 57 10 3.0959
B B1 B11 15 29 124 38 13 3.0228
B12 14 34 121 40 10 2.9909
B13 12 33 107 58 9 3.0868
B2 B21 8 26 122 55 8 3.1324
B22 7 28 116 53 15 3.1872
B23 9 24 113 60 13 3.2009
C C1 C11 15 33 120 42 9 2.9863
C12 14 31 117 47 10 3.0365
C13 5 29 128 46 11 3.1324
C2 C21 11 38 123 38 9 2.9817
C22 12 31 126 42 8 3.0137
C23 14 29 118 48 10 3.0502
RA1=
0.0274 0.1644 0.5205 0.2374 0.0502
0.0183 0.1598 0.5571 0.2237 0.0411
0.0411 0.1461 0.4475 0.2877 0.0776
The compound operation results of fuzzy matrix are
as follows:
YA1=WA1RA1
= {0.387, 0.264, 0.349}∗
0.0274 0.1644 0.5205 0.2374 0.0502
0.0183 0.1598 0.5571 0.2237 0.0411
0.0411 0.1461 0.4475 0.2877 0.0776
=n0.0298 0.1568 0.5047 0.2514 0.0574 o
Similarly, fuzzy comprehensive evaluation results of other
INDICATORS A2, A3, B1, B2, C1, and C2 can be obtained
as follows:
YA2=n0.0622 0.1554 0.4981 0.2258 0.0586 o
YA3=n0.0516 0.1513 0.4967 0.2553 0.0451 o
YB1=n0.0625 0.1448 0.5355 0.2078 0.0494 o
YB2=n0.0369 0.1179 0.5355 0.2567 0.0529 o
YC1=n0.0514 0.1419 0.5571 0.2042 0.0455 o
YC2=n0.0562 0.1507 0.5573 0.1943 0.0415 o
According to the maximum membership degree principle,
the maximum membership degree values in the sub-criterion
layer are all general, wherein the maximum membership degrees
of A1, A2, A3, B1, B2, C1, and C2 are 0.5047, 0.4981, 0.4967,
0.5355, 0.5355, 0.5571, and 0.5573, respectively. Therefore, it is
judged that the performance of GI EEE in this area is at the
average level.
The results of fuzzy comprehensive
evaluation of main criterion layer
According to the membership evaluation results of A1, A2,
A3, B1, B2, C1, and C2 obtained above, the fuzzy comprehensive
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evaluation value of the winner criterion layer can be obtained.
The evaluation results of the membership degree of A=
{A1, A2, A3}training education are as follows:
YA =WA RA
=n0.304 0.367 0.329 o
0.0298 0.1568 0.5047 0.2514 0.0574
0.0622 0.1554 0.4981 0.2258 0.0586
0.0516 0.1513 0.4967 0.2553 0.0451
=n0.0489 0.1545 0.4996 0.2433 0.0538 o
YB =WB RB
=n0.428 0.572 o"0.0625 0.1448 0.5355 0.2078 0.0494
0.0369 0.1179 0.5355 0.2567 0.0529 #
=n0.0479 0.1294 0.5355 0.2358 0.0514 o
YC =WC RC
=n0.396 0.604 o"0.0514 0.1419 0.5571 0.2042 0.0455
0.0562 0.1507 0.5573 0.1943 0.0415 #
=n0.0543 0.1472 0.5572 0.1982 0.0431 o
According to the principle of maximum degree of
membership, the maximum degree of membership in the main
criterion layer is general, among which the maximum degrees
of membership of A, B, and C are 0.4996, 0.5355, and 0.5572,
respectively. Therefore, it is judged that the development of GI
EEE in this region is at the general level in terms of cultivation
education, collaborative education, and situational education.
The results of fuzzy comprehensive
evaluation of target layer
According to G= {A,B,C}obtained above, the final
evaluation results of the membership degree of the target layer
can be obtained as follows:
YG =WG RG
=0.389 0.324 0.287
0.0489 0.1545 0.4996 0.2433 0.0538
0.0479 0.1294 0.5355 0.2358 0.0514
0.0543 0.1472 0.5572 0.1982 0.0431
=0.0543 0.1472 0.5278 0.2279 0.0500
According to the principle of maximum membership degree,
the membership degree of general was the highest (0.5278).
Therefore, it is judged that the implementation status of the key
education of GI EEE in Hebei is at the general level.
Discussion
From the above research, it can be seen that the maximum
membership degree of the implementation status of key
education in GI EEE is average. In order to further distinguish
the performance differences of each indicator, this study tries
to calculate the individual and overall scores of each indicator,
which is conducive to reflect the evaluation results to the
maximum and more truly and effectively. In this study, each
evaluation element of the comment set is assigned, with a value
of 50, 60, 70, 80, and 90, respectively. Thus, the semantic scale of
subjective evaluation is quantified. Table 6 shows the evaluation
scores of various indicators on the implementation status of key
education of GI EEE after analyzing the scoring data of 219
experts. A score of 80 or above is considered excellent, 70–80
is considered good, 60–70 is considered acceptable, and below
60 is considered unqualified.
Based on the statistical empirical test, this paper makes
a factual judgment on the implementation status of the key
mechanism of GI EEE in Hebei province.
(1) Analysis of key education. According to the score of
evaluation index, the implementation status of key education
of GI EEE is good and inferior. It is only 0.8368 higher than
the good baseline, and there is still room for improvement.
Among them, cultivation education (70.9699) and collaborative
education (71.1482) are above the average level, while situational
education (70.3050) is relatively low. According to the weight
distribution of evaluation indexes, cultivation education has the
highest weight and the most prominent importance. The second
is collaborative education and cultivation education, but the
evaluation results are contrary to them. It shows that there is a
gap between theory and practice in GI EEE. The main reason lies
in the late start of GI EEE. For a long period of time, the focus of
discussion is how to do the university itself, and the attention to
localization and coordination issues is obviously insufficient.
(2) Analysis of key situations. In terms of situational
education, there was no significant difference in the scores
of GI EEE in an international perspective (70.5151) and
regional discourse (70.1672). The key direction of promoting the
internationalization of GI EEE from an international perspective
is to actively carry out educational dialogues, including grasping
the global frontier situation and theory localization. From the
perspective of reality, the process of localization of GI EEE
needs a long time to accumulate and cannot be accomplished
overnight. Only step by step and in accordance with the world’s
leading trends can we effectively improve the local meaning of
GI EEE.
(3) Analysis of key directions. Combined with the score
data of each index of the sub-criteria layer and the program
layer, the score of each index of the subordinate of collaborative
education is basically good. Among them, the score of attaching
importance to policy was the lowest, only 69.9087. This reflects
that the government’s willingness to participate in the ethical
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TABLE 6 The scores of various indicators on the implementation status of key education of GI EEE.
Target layer Sub-criteria
layer
Score Sub-criteria layer Score Scheme layer serial Score
Implementation status of
key education in GI EEE
(Score: 70.8368)
Training and
education A
70.9699 Faculty A1 71.4978 Teachers’ professional level and
ability A11
71.1872
Number and structure of teaching
staff A12
71.0959
Teacher career development
opportunities A13
72.1461
Teaching process A2 70.6570* Course material A21 70.4110*
Teaching case A22 69.8630*
Practice resource A23 71.4612
Teaching quality A3 70.8313 Combination of theory and
practice A31
71.1416
Full cycle ethics education A32 70.5023*
Course evaluation and
improvement A33
70.9589
Collaborative
education B
71.1482 Government B1 70.3386* Supporting system construction
B11
70.2283*
Attention at the policy level B12 69.9087*
Funding level B13 70.8676
Enterprise organization
B2
71.7539 Attach importance to talent ethical
literacy B21
71.3242
Participation form and quality B22 71.8721
Willingness to participate B23 72.0091
Situational
education C
70.3050* International vision C1 70.5151* Grasp of Global Frontier Situation
C11
69.8630*
Academic dialogue C12 70.3653*
Practice dialogue C13 71.3242
Regional discourse C2 70.1672* Theoretical localization C21 69.8174*
Practice localization C22 70.1370*
Local demands capture C23 70.5023*
Mean value 70.8077 Mean value 70.8230 Mean value 70.8089
*means below average.
education of GI engineering is not enough, especially the
ethical literacy of talents has not been widely valued by the
government. It is not conducive to spreading a belief in the
usefulness of ethics throughout society. On the whole, there are
still some barriers in the coordination of GI EEE. No matter
the engineering government, enterprises, college teachers, and
engineering students, all have a non-committal attitude toward
the implementation of GI EEE.
(4) Analysis of key points. In the strategy of GI EEE, the
educational idea is the cornerstone, the teaching is the difficulty,
and the teaching staff is the support. Returning to the level
of colleges and universities, the overall performance of the
indicators of training and education subordinates is better.
The teaching staff (71.4978), teaching process (70.6570), and
teaching quality (70.8313) in the sub-criteria were all at a good
level. According to the score of the program level, the optimized
space of training education includes teaching cases, full-cycle
ethics education, etc.
In view of the above analysis, the following countermeasures
are put forward.
(1) The dynamic balance of training and education on
the connection between supply and demand. The cultivation
education in the key education of GI EEE is generated from the
mutual construction of educational ideas, course teaching, and
teachers. Therefore, the pursuit of high-quality development of
GI EEE should also closely focus on the above three factors.
According to the practical needs, the vitality and activity of GI
EEE should be continuously enhanced. This needs to strengthen
the effect of educational reform and innovation, anchor the
basic aspect of the educational concept, pay attention to the
basic points of teaching, and optimize the supporting line of
the teaching staff. It is helpful to improve the quality and the
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Yin and Zhang 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.926133
level of GI EEE. The idea is the forerunner of action, the
deviation between educational ideas and practice orientation
will directly affect the effect of education. Only when the
rational understanding of EEE is in place, the action can be
targeted. The educational idea of GI engineering ethics is to
adapt to the forefront changes of engineering ethics teaching
and learning. This should follow the law of students’ cognitive
development, growth and talent, teaching and educating, with
student-centered, interdisciplinary, and collaborative education
in the first place. The practice orientation of GI EEE and
even the whole higher education emphasizes that the roles and
functions of teachers and students should be changed positively
in educational practice. As a cross-body of multi-disciplines,
GI engineering ethics needs to guide the development of
GI EEE from the cross-disciplinary perspective. In terms
of horizontal interconnection, orderly infiltration of various
elements, integration and mobilization of multi-subjects and
all-round coordinated participation should be realized. This
can build a good development platform for the high-quality
development of GI EEE. GI EEE is expanded to practice, and the
theory and practice are mapped to each other. Alumni engineers
participate in classes and give full play to their advantages of
mentoring and form good positive feedback in students’ minds.
The ability and accomplishment of full-time teachers can be
improved by opening open classes, guiding young teachers
by key teachers, and establishing engineering ethics teacher
development centers.
(2) The governance means of GI EEE. Construct the
collaborative system of GI EEE and actively integrate various
forces. This is conducive to promoting the transformation
of colleges and universities from fighting alone to multi-
subject coordinated development, and fully fermenting the
power of high-quality development. A reasonable and effective
system supply criterion is the value dimension to maintain
and promote the coordinated and sustainable development
of GI EEE. In terms of policy, the urgency and significance
of GI EEE should be realized from the inevitable trend of
the development of global EEE. The ethics education of GI
engineering is a complex system engineering involving a wide
range and far-reaching influence. It plays an important role in
the improvement of higher engineering education system and
the development of engineering practice in China. At the same
time, the complexity and global nature of modern engineering
make the responsibilities of engineering talents more extensive
than ever before. Engineering students need to be prepared
for their future career development. Funding resources and
teaching practice resources are the two most urgently needed
resources for GI EEE. The development of GI EEE is highly
dependent on scientific research and teaching funds from the
government, forming an engineering ethics funding system
dominated by educational reform projects, supplemented by
self-science and social science funds. In this way, a number
of high-level scientific research projects and achievements can
be generated and turned into GI EEE and teaching resources.
The key reason for the long-term disconnection between the
theoretical teaching and practical teaching of GI EEE is the
lack of practical resources. Universities and enterprises should
make full use of the existing industry-university cooperation
platform, off-campus cooperative practice teaching bases, off-
campus practice training sites, etc., to move the practice teaching
link of engineering ethics to the practice site of enterprises.
This will help students understand the technical factors, human
factors, and economic factors involved in GI engineering in the
real world, and have a more real sense of abstract concepts, such
as safety, risk, cost, and efficiency.
(3) The ethical situational education of GI engineering.
Situational education is the most important key education.
How to realize the coordination between international vision
and regional discourse in the development of GI EEE has
become a key issue to be considered urgently. To construct
the Chinese discourse of GI EEE, we need to absorb the latest,
scientific, and advanced achievements from the world and take
the lead in the development of The Times. In designing the
subject system, teaching system, teaching material system, and
management system, it is necessary to pay attention to absorbing
new educational ideas and scientific teaching methods. It is
necessary to make new progress in practical cooperation and
broaden the space and object of GI EEE. In essence, the ethical
education of GI engineering is the ideological work of human
beings. It is necessary to re-understand the ethics education
of GI engineering from the height of ideological and political
education. Colleges and universities will bring GI EEE into the
big ideological and political pattern, and further improve the
status of GI EEE. In the course design, course teaching, and other
links, professional course teachers dig deeply into the ethical
norms, value orientation, and engineering spirit contained
in professional courses. In addition, GI engineering ethics
teachers can show the mission of Chinese engineers with the
help of fresh materials of “technological anti-epidemic” in the
course design.
Conclusions
Based on the key mechanism of GI EEE proposed above,
the initial evaluation index system of the implementation
status of the key mechanism of GI EEE is constructed.
Firstly, the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process is used to assign
weights to each index based on 35 expert weights. It can
be found that the importance of different evaluation levels
and indicators for EEE is different, and all evaluation levels
and indicators maintain a dynamic balance. The importance
of the cultivation mechanism was the highest, while the
importance of the collaborative mechanism and the situational
mechanism decreased in descending order. Secondly, based on
219 evaluation samples, the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation
method is used to empirically evaluate the implementation
status of key mechanisms of GI EEE. Finally, on the basis of the
Frontiers in Psychology 15 frontiersin.org
Yin and Zhang 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.926133
evaluation, the fact-oriented objective judgment is made on the
key mechanism of GI EEE.
The results of this study are as follows. (1) The key
education of GI EEE includes cultivation education of micro
dimension, collaborative education of medium dimension,
and situational education of macro dimension. The micro
dimension of training education is to enhance the quality of
the supply of higher education. Meso-dimension collaborative
education is the collaborative power of ethical education.
Macro-dimension situational education is the field space of
developing regional context. (2) The factor affecting the ethical
education of GI engineering is cultivation education. At present,
the most important education is to strengthen the education
of GI engineering ethics in the training process of college
students. The coordination of GI EEE is becoming more and
more important, and the integration and construction are the
important pursuit of GI EEE. (3) The ethical education of GI
engineering is at a general level in the development of cultivation
education, collaborative education, and situational education.
The implementation status of the key education of GI EEE is a
good deviation, and there is still a large space for improvement.
The key direction of promoting the internationalization of GI
EEE from an international perspective is to actively carry out
educational dialogues, including grasping the global frontier
situation and theory localization. The government’s willingness
to participate in the ethical education of GI engineering is
not enough, especially the ethical literacy of talents has not
been widely valued by the government. The optimized space
of training education includes teaching cases and full-cycle
ethical education. (4) Realize the dynamic balance of training
and education on the connection between supply and demand.
Enrich the governance means of GI EEE. Deepen the ethical
situational education of GI engineering.
Although the purpose of this study has been achieved, there
are still some issues that need to be studied in the future. One is
the lack of dynamic changes in evaluation data. Future studies
can consider the dynamic changes of key variables in time series
so as to accurately grasp the evolution trend. The second is
about the sample structure. In the survey samples, teachers and
scholars are in the majority. The small sample size of engineering
community managers may affect the conceptual validity of the
survey results to some extent. Future studies should increase the
sample size of engineering community managers.
Data availability statement
The data presented in this study are available on request
from the corresponding author.
Author contributions
SY and NZ: conceptualization and validation. SY:
methodology, software, and writing—review and editing.
NZ: writing—original draft preparation. Both authors have read
and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Funding
This research was funded by the 11th Batch of Teaching
Research Projects of Hebei Agricultural University in 2021,
Research on Interdisciplinary Cultivation and Reading Practice
Teaching Mode of Agricultural College Students (2021C-
39), the Construction of Ideological and Political Case Base
of Organizational Behavior (2021B-2-01), the Project of the
Chinese Association of Degree and Graduate Education,
Research on the Cultivation of Practical Ability of Graduate
Students Majoring in Agronomy (2020MSB37), and Hebei
Agricultural University First-Class Undergraduate Course
Construction Project Management System Engineering.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the
absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could
be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
Publisher’s note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the
authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated
organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the
reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or
claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed
or endorsed by the publisher.
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