Generic Ethics Assignment or Negotiated Study

(Teacher Note: It is not intended that all options be given to students - please select one or two according to desired difficulty and available time.)

Everything we do, or don't do, is a choice that affects both our lives and the lives of others. Ethics is about making choices based on rational principles and common values rather than self-interest or quick-returns.

Making ethical decisions is about:

• being consistent with our own beliefs
• coordinating both ends and means
• living in harmony with common ethical values
• being consistent about what is thought to be right or wrong
• treating others as we want to be treated
• understanding facts, alternatives and consequences
• understanding how other people think and feel
• being discerning in right vs right situations

 

1. For this subject or a related career find an existing code of ethics/practice/conduct.

Outline how you would apply the code to some choices you have made, or are likely to make, in this class.

• Codes of Conduct/Practice/Ethics from Around the World
• Codes of Ethics and Conduct - Online Ethics Center for Engineering and Science
• Australian Institute of Ethics and the Professions
• Codes of Ethics Online - collection of over 850 codes of ethics.
• Indigenous Protocols - Message Stick - ABC, Australia

 

2. For this subject develop a code of ethics/practice/conduct.

Based on existing codes related to this subject design a code that everyone in this class agrees with and that others can understand. Outline how you would apply the code to some choices you have made, or are likely to make, in this class.

• Creating a Code of Ethics for Your Organization
• Ethics Across the Curriculum
• Ethical values or Ethical Values (Brief)
• Dos & Don'ts of Character

 

3. Explore an ethical dilemma

Choose an ethical dilemma based on a case study or current media topic that is related to this subject. Outline the following:

1. Exactly what is the decision being made and what are the alternatives?
2. Separate the solid facts from beliefs, desires and opinions taking into account the credibility of the sources of information and possible self-interest or bias. What are the relevant ethical values?
3. What are the consequences of the different alternatives? How will these affect the different stakeholders?
4. How do you decide which are the best ethical alternatives?

• Making Ethical Decisions
• Ethical values
or Ethical Values (Brief)
• Justifying Un-ethical Behaviour
• Ethical Dilemma Database: Right vs Right - Institute for Global Ethics
• Case Studies - Ethics Updates - many subjects More Ethics Case Studies
• Case Studies in Science and Online Ethics.org - Case Studies in Science
• Teaching Engineering Ethics - Engineering, MDT Case Studies
• Ethics Issues - many issues - Trinity College, WA
• Classroom Exercises - mostly IT industry

 

4. Making Ethical Decisions

Describe a real ethical decision that you have faced in this subject or that is related to this subject. Following the Five Steps of Principled Reasoning:

1. Clarify
2. Evaluate
3. Decide
4. Implement
5. Monitor and Modify

outline how you would make and implement an ethical decision.

• Making Ethical Decisions
• Ethical values
• Dos & Don'ts of Character
• Justifying Un-ethical Behaviour
• Gensler's Philosophy Exercises - Ethics

 

Ethics Resources on the web

E-zines

• Ethics Updates Magazine
  Ethics Updates is designed primarily to be used by ethics instructors and their students. An excellent Ethics website with many articles and links and forums for discussion a fine ethics glossary, case studies
• Issues in Ethics Journal
  Issues in Ethics is published three times a year, by the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, California to heighten ethical awareness and improve ethical decision-making on campus and in the community at large.

Web Tutorials

• Gensler's Philosophy Exercises - Ethics - Each tutorial has reading plus multiple-choice problems.
• National Science Foundation - Classroom Exercises
• Ethical Choices: How to Reason Ethically - Free on-line course
• Complete Guide to Ethics Management: An Ethics Toolkit for Managers
• Making Ethical Decisions - Josephson Institute of Ethics
• Ethics World - On-line courses ( Free courses - pay for certificate)

Organisations

• Institute for Global Ethics

• National Character Education Center - USA

• Centre for the Study of Ethics in the Professions
• The Kenan Institute for Ethics

General resources

• Ethics Resources - Institute of Global Ethics (Including links for educators)
  Based at the Institute for Business & Professional Ethics
• How Big is Your Backyard? An ethics-based approach to environmental decision making By Abby Kidder (Excellent staged introduction - Lesson 4 includes Chernobyl)

• Applied Ethics Resources on the Web (University of British Columbia)

• Ethics on the WWW

• Ethics Quotes

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Page last updated: 20-Sep-2004