The contents of this class were super interesting, but I feel like it wasn't worth spending a whole quarter on the subject. The writing portion was mildly annoying since we had to submit either a draft or a paper every 2-3 weeks. My TA, Ryan, was super nice and helpful on reviewing our papers, and the professor also gave great lectures. Overall, I would recommend taking this class with this professor, given that engineering writing is a degree requirement.

Dr. Weltman has some incredibly outdated opinions on modern topics, having received his PhD in 1962, and fails to consider perspectives outside his own. I don't think my ethical skillset benefitted at all from this class, it just made me disappointed in the state of the field of engineering. The writing portion of this class is extremely time-consuming for little to no benefit. Your grade lies entirely in the hands of the TA when it comes to this portion, and somehow the guidelines vary from section to section. In my section, we wrote two 2500-word papers and one group paper that totaled 2500 words x the number of group members. The group paper comes with a short presentation.

Engineering 183EW was more interesting than I expected it to be. I learned about major ethical theories, history topics, and other concepts that are interesting to learn about.

Weltman teaches most of the lectures and Dr. Browne teaches two case study lectures before the midterm. I recommend going to all classes to not miss important topics. For the midterm and final, I went over ALL the lectures (I rewrote them, which is time-consuming, but it is my style) as well as the types notes I made on the book chapters. For the midterm, we got tested on Chapters 1-5 in the ethics textbook and for the final, we got tested on Chapters 3 and 6-10. Unlike what other people believe, just going over the gray boxes is NOT enough. You should try to also go over the italicized sections (e.g., major types of fallacies), which are not in gray boxes. This will make sense when you take the class. Also, if you are a good writer, then the essays will be time-consuming but nothing impossible or too stressful. PLEASE try to do the best first draft you can so that the final version of your two individual papers involves less work and therefore less tress. The team paper is time-consuming, so it is essential to communicate with your team members effectively and to ensure that everyone does his/her own part with a solid effort. Also, Dr. Browne is in charge of the administrative details of this class, NOT Weltman, so email Dr. Browne if you have any questions about changing discussion sections, etc. For the 8 AM lectures, there was not a sign in sheet on the first day of class, and Dr. Browne did not include one either. What I don't get is why there even is a sign in sheet to begin with. You also use an online UCLA poll in lecture to answer questions in many classes. Couldn't this be a way of ensuring attendance, thus rendering the sign-in sheet moot? Maybe there's something I'm missing, but hopefully the professors can address this in a future class.

Overall, I did like a lot of the things that I learned, and just try to stay on top of your work both in lecture and discussion. Do NOT procrastinate, and you should be in good shape.

stuff in the lectures were either cool or absolutely useless, no in between- like why do i need to know the diversity statistics of ucla's engineering department? whole class is just a fat load of work for nothing. schedule is packed, you literally have something almost every week or at least every other week: two essays (rough and final draft due dates), multiple choice midterm and final, a group essay report and presentation. grading is heavily TA dependent, mine kinda tore apart our papers then lightened up at the end...

I’m very glad that this class is being phased out and replaced with technical writing classes for each department, because it was a complete waste of time. Lectures were made mandatory for the first time this quarter via pop quizzes every two weeks or so. The syllabus claimed these only accounted for 5% of the final grade, but this was never explicitly communicated and we were all left guessing how heavily we would be penalised for attendance. I’m not sure how the grading ended up working out, but in the interest of your time I suggest just taking the L on the 5% and not showing up to lecture ever.
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The midterm and final exams were extremely easy, as they were take-home open-everything and consisted of 50-70 multiple choice, true/false, and matching questions on Canvas that were ripped straight from the lecture material. I erroneously bought the textbook when it was not required, which ended up being a blessing in disguise, as the answers were sometimes word-for-word written in the text. I would like to take a moment and acknowledge the contributions CTRL+F did to my stress level entering the midterm and final.
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I think the main selling point were the essays, which were fairly BS-able. There was significant flexibility in what was permissible in the two individual papers. The first was a report about a technological advancement and the second as a post-mortem study of some engineering disaster from the perspective of some ethical framework. Definitely ask your TA for feedback - they will appreciate you wanting to perfect the essay to their liking and be more inclined to grant you a higher grade. The final project was a group report selected from a pre-determined list of topics. It consisted of a final presentation (30-40 min) and a written report (at least 40 pages). The time and page restrictions may appear terrifying, but remember that this is work split between 5-6 people. One person only has to write the length of an essay and speak for five minutes.
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Definitely pick a good TA, too. I’ve heard some TAs make their students stay the entire there hour duration of discussion. My TA, Oindrila, always finished her spiel within 40 minutes, and then required 20-30 minutes of discussion with our groups about the final report. After that we were free to leave. I was usually out within 70-90 minutes.
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Final verdict: useless. Take the writing class offered by your department.

Useless material, mandatory pop quizzes, currently over a week past the grade deadline and I know my grade for only the midterm and the first essay.

The professor's presentation was engaging. I was not interested in the course material however.

This class is one of the most useless classes you will take at UCLA. I'm surprised HSSEAS still requires it. While you do learn an "ethical perspective," the professor's opinions and past career experience really shine through and impact the supposedly objective material taught. You are recommended to purchase the textbook because 5% of your exams are the optional textbook quizzes. Unfortunately, the textbook is not free and suspiciously enough is written by the professor himself. I felt like I was paying the professor for a grade boost. The lectures effectively copy from the textbook, provide little new insight than a high school history class, and have minimal relation to the class essays. The first essay takes over 6 weeks to complete while you only have 3 weeks to complete the second essay. In addition, the professor re-introduced a complete waste of time class project that supposedly builds teamwork skills. This took way too much time to complete and felt completely unrelated to the class. They also required a recorded team presentation to be viewed only by the TAs which was an even bigger waste of time. The professor and Professor Browne hardly helped with the assignments. It felt like the TAs were in charge the whole quarter. The tests were equally useless. Questions typically involved meaningless factoids that the professor writes about in his book. They ask you questions about quotes, random historical events, and random statistics. Even more infuriating is the insertion of questions with answers that reflect the professor's opinions on the subject. I received points off on my final due to these questions. Unfortunately, you have to take this class, so I recommend preparing yourself to be subject to an insane and cramped workload with no help from the Professors. Once you accept that you will learn nothing useful, the class becomes way easier to take.

Professor Weltman gave a very biased view on ethics, US politics, and global politics.
He shared his Zionist, Eurocentric views to give examples of lethal autonomous weapons and the majority of the class was military propaganda. He truly glorified US's engagement in war and never criticized it the same way he criticized the US's climate policies or gender rights.

On the several occasions that the professor mentioned the Middle East, he portrayed it as a threat (pictures of suicide bombers and terrorists), and emphasized how the US and Israel have joint forces to combat Gaza. The content of this class in regards to global issue was severely ill-informed and it never questioned military authority or the need for war.
- A large portion of course content is about the professor's life and friends. (some exam questions too)

*In terms of workload, this class is very easy. Multiple choice exams based on the slides, and 2 10 page essays and a short presentation.

- Professor Weltman shared his OWN views on ethics and failed to question them per the ethical guidelines he taught us about.

+ He was one of the developers of a US military training software and he was proud to share that without addressing how that can be unethical and how that could have lead to the killing of many lives

Overall, it was a very ironic experience to see just how biased he was while teaching engineering ethics.

The curriculum is disappointing. Question what you are taught in this class please.

Took for ENGR 183EW (system messed up so doesn't let you chose the correct course) and I am very glad it's over! For those of you who are slow writers or is a perfectionist, this class could be a nightmare. Felt like it was massive amount of work. What we did in 8 weeks was...
A. Write one 2-page essay (dbl space).
B. Write two 6-7 page essays (dbl space).
C. Write one 8 page essay (1.5 space) and combine with 4 or 5 other team members to make it one group essay.
D. Write five team reports (a page or two contribution per person).
E. Midterm
F. Take-home Final
G. In-class Final (yes, you have to take 2 finals!)
H. Make a 40 minute group presentation
I. + several other minor things like writing a bibliography etc.
Attendance is mandatory and taken for both sections and class (2x2 hours class/week, 3 hours discussion/week). Nothing personal, but lectures were 80% useless. The focus wasn't on ethics at all. I suggest renaming the class as "ENGR183EW History and Impact of Technology to Society." I found Dr. Browne as a better speaker but he only lectures twice or so. DC-10 case and the City Corp case isn't a bad story. The good part about this class is that statistically speaking, 60-70% get straight A's or higher so it's not too hard to beat the curve. I got my A but probably spent much more effort than average.