Teaching Ethics Through Ethical Teaching

Teacher behavior as a possible vehicle for communicating ethics content to students is explored. In the absence of a formal Code of Ethics for higher education teaching, six major principles enumerated in the revised NASW Code are adapted and applied. The analysis suggests five practice principles which, if followed, could promote teacher behavior that models the ethical imperatives advanced in the NASW Code.     

SOCIAL WORK DIALOGUES: TRANSFORMING THE CANON IN INQUIRY,PRACTICE, AND EDUCATION

Social work educators require textbooks and other teaching materials that can be used in research courses to enhance student learning. Likewise, social work practitioners require resource books that can be used to enhance practice. This article provides an essay review of four recently published books representing diverse viewpoints on social work research, and discusses these books in the context of the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) 2008 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards and the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics. The major aims, content, and scope of each book are reviewed as well as suggestions for their use in undergraduate or graduate courses, or as a resource for social work practitioners.     

The Value Dilemmas of Faculty Advising; Significant Issues in a Code of Ethics for Faculty Advisors

ABSTRACT

Although frequently challenging, faculty advising continues to be a crucial component of social work education. Yet the current diversity of students, educational programs, and field placements present many ethical dilemmas to the faculty advisor. This paper explores the administrative, educational, and supportive roles of the faculty advisor, the inherent conflicts which develop and the effects of these conflicts on the ethical advising of social work students.

Similar to the classroom teacher, the faculty advisor can positively model ethical social work practice to students. Case examples from faculty advisors are used to study ethical dilemmas which arise in promoting social work values of self-determination and confidentiality. Recommendations are made to promote ethical practice among faculty advisors.     

Diversity and Difference in the Online Environment

ABSTRACT

The online environment challenges social work educators in their approach to developing students’ cultural awareness and culturally competent skills. To develop student competencies, it is important for accredited social work programs to consider both their explicit and implicit curricula. Although research has focused on the influence of multicultural classrooms and engaging diverse students, scant literature has been focused on teaching about diversity and difference in the online environment. This article hopes to fill this gap in knowledge by providing recommendations for social work programs to consider as they look to teach diversity and difference in the online environment.     

Distance and Online Social Work Education: Novel Ethical Challenges

Digital technology has transformed social work education. Today's students can take individual courses and earn an entire degree without ever meeting their faculty members in person. Technological innovations such as videoconferencing, live online chat, asynchronous podcasts, and webinars enable social work educators to reach students whose personal circumstances and geographical locations make it difficult for them to attend school in person. This paper highlights complex ethical issues associated with the proliferation of digital and online social work education. Key ethical issues concern student access; course and degree program quality and integrity; academic honesty and gatekeeping; and privacy and surveillance.     

Group Projects: Student Perceptions of the Relationship Between Social Tasks and a Sense of Community in Online Group Work

Abstract

This study explored the relationship between specific social tasks and student perceptions of a sense of community during online group work. A survey instrument was developed, piloted, and deployed to 125 students in six different online classes. Results revealed few significant relationships between each of the five social tasks examined and student perceptions of a sense of community during online group work; however, students reported that some social tasks were important. Students seemed to focus more on completing a task for a grade than seeing group projects as part of developing community to enhance learning. This might reflect a lack of understanding by the students of the importance of social tasks to successful group project completion.     

Beyond Avoidance and Secrecy

Abstract

This paper describes a process-oriented approach to teaching ethical dilemmas to graduate social work students. The authors examine related empirical data and use classroom vignettes to illustrate their teaching methods. Several ethical dilemmas in different phases of clinical practice will be presented, including gift giving and receiving, flexible treatment frame and contact post termination.     

The effect of industrial training on ethical awareness of final year students in a Malaysian public university

Studies (for example, Dellaportas in Making a difference with a discrete course on accounting ethics. J Bus Ethics 65(4):391–404, 2006; Saat in An investigation of the effects of a moral education program on the ethical development of Malaysian future accountants, 2010) on final year accounting students show that industrial training has a positive impact on the ethical development in a way that students improved in their ethical judgement after attending a 6-month training. Thus, this research aims to evaluate the influence of industrial training in the development of ethical awareness among final year students from a Malaysian public university. These students were from multiple academic backgrounds—engineering, science and social science. A pre and post study was adopted in order to achieve the objectives. A set of survey was distributed to students before and after they have attended industrial training. In assessing students’ ethical awareness, 15 business-related and workplace ethical situations were given and students had to rate their acceptance on these situations from not acceptable (1) to most acceptable (7). From the findings, it can be observed that although the level of ethical awareness among students is fairly good, industrial training has minimal impact in improving or developing students’ ethical awareness. The impact is such because students who undergone industrial training may have observed certain behaviour that they thought are acceptable in a workplace; this may have changed the way students perceived their acceptance on the situations.     

A Synchronous Online Social Work PhD Program: Educational Design and Student/Faculty Response

ABSTRACT

Faculty and students evaluate the curriculum design and delivery of a synchronous online PhD program in social work that prepares scholar-practitioners in social work research, education, and organizational practice. The designers envision a collaborative community of scholars and leaders nurtured by a cohort-based, sequenced curriculum, and intentional faculty mentoring. This teaching and learning platform provides an opportunity to engage with a globally diverse population of doctoral students while fostering both relationships and quality learning outcomes. Educational design and pedagogical features of the program are described and analyzed through the collaborative thinking and learning platform of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) model’s interdependent elements–teaching, cognitive, and social presence. Eighteen students and ten faculty evaluated the strengths and limitations of the online program across each dimension of the model through student course evaluations, focus-group reflections, and qualitative faculty survey data. Student and faculty respondents specified the benefits of synchronous presence across all three dimensions. They also identified significant barriers, particularly in the areas of teaching and social presence. Implications and recommendations are based on a review of findings that inform pedagogical decisions and design options for online PhD education in social work.     

Course Content in Structured Knowledge Areas

The author discusses the use of role-play to teach research ethics in three semesters of a research methods class. Small groups of students were assigned one of nine ethical norms discussed in the course textbook and the American Sociological Association Code of Ethics. Each group role-played the violation of their assigned ethic to the class. The class guessed the ethical norm that was being violated. Written, open-ended feedback from students demonstrates overwhelming approval and appreciation for this activity. Role-playing the violation of ethical norms is appropriate for a course in any discipline that includes a discussion of research ethics.     

Ethical Practices in the Provision of Guidance by Further Education Health Care Tutors who hold a Nursing,Midwifery or Health Visiting Qualification

This paper seeks to establish what constitutes ethical practice in the provision of guidance by Further Education health care tutors who hold a nursing, midwifery or health visiting qualification and are therefore bound by the United Kingdom Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting (UKCC) Code of Professional Conduct. It considers potential ethical dilemmas which such tutors may encounter during guidance activities, in the context of the UKCC standards and the five key ethical principles of autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, justice and veracity. Whilst these professional standards and principles may appear to provide a comprehensive foundation for ethical guidance practice, in reality they fail to offer clear support in the resolution of many of the ethical dilemmas that face health care tutors undertaking guidance work. Since guidance provided by such tutors may not be fully impartial, the importance of 'ethical sensitivity' and ethical decision-making skills are also highlighted.     

Ethical Dilemmas in College Counseling:

Since 1988, the Professional Development Committee of ACPA Commission VII has written a column focusing on ethical dilemmas that face counselors and psychotherapists in a college setting. "Dear Doctor Ethics" has become extremely popular in the commission, and this article shares the first two years of the good doctor's work with counselors who are not Commission VII members. A commentary follows which compares and contrasts five ethical codes utilized by pscyhotherapists who work with college students.     

Using Movies to Illustrate Ethical Dilemmas in Undergraduate Criminal Justice Classes

Ethics education in criminal justice programs has increased in popularity, but instructors sometimes struggle to teach ethics in such a way that students retain what they have learned and apply ethical principles in the criminal justice field upon graduation. The current research highlights that there are several benefits of presenting ethical dilemmas to students through popular movies such as Mississippi Burning and Road to Perdition. Compared to the control group (Section A) that was taught in a traditional lecture format, students who were required to identify ethical dilemmas in movies (Section B) were more likely to understand the complexities of such situations, to rate unethical behavior properly, and to see how ethical principles could be applied to their everyday lives.     

Teacher as Client Therapy (TACT): A Model for Simulated Learning for Traditional and Online Delivery Models

ABSTRACT

The movement towards competency-based education in social work has required a shift in delivery to more experiential learning opportunities for students. Looking forward, the Council on Social Work Education [CSWE] has instituted a Futures Task Force, exploring roles social workers may play in the future, with particular attention to the evolution and revolution in technology. It is clear that social work programs will need to consider opportunities for ensuring the development of competency in an ever changing digital landscape. This article presents the evolution of a simulation model for use in various delivery models, including traditional face-to-face campus-based offerings, off-campus satellite classes, and hybrid or fully online courses. It documents the origin of the model in an off-campus format, highlighting the attributes afforded with its application on a traditional campus, and proposes an online solution to the resource dilemma endemic to many off-campus satellite models.     

心理学与非心理学专业大学生职业伦理意识比较

为了研究我国当前心理学与非心理学专业大学生的心理咨询职业伦理意识现状,研究采用钱铭怡等人根据美国咨询协会ACA伦理规范自编的职业伦理意识和态度问卷对新疆师范大学、石河子大学共639名心理学与非心理学专业大学生进行调查。结果发现:(1)心理学与非心理学专业大学生在22个条目评判上有显著差异,其中涉及咨询关系原则3条,保密性原则4条,职业责任原则7条,评估、测量和解释原则5条,督导、培训和教学原则1条,另外两条为询问被调查者是否认为有必要在中国制定此领域的职业伦理以及目前是否适宜在中国制定此领域的职业伦理;(2)不同性别的心理学与非心理学专业大学生在部分条目上存在显著差异。     

Integrating Work–Life Balance with 24/7 Information and Communication Technologies: The Experience of Adult Students With Online Learning

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the online learning experience as related to work–life balance from the student’s perspective. Four open-ended discussion questions were asked of 302 students in sixteen graduate business courses, over a three-year period. Two hundred and ten students voluntarily responded with their observations and perceptions of their personal online learning experience and how this experience impacted their work/life/school balance. This paper, using content analysis and qualitative coding, is focused on understanding the student’s perception of how online learning impacts their work–life balance, especially as compared to brick-and-mortar classroom learning. This paper concludes that online learning can enhance work–life balance for most students, especially when compared to the alternative of traditional fixed time and place classroom learning.     

Just Google it! Digital literacy and the epistemology of ignorance

ABSTRACT

In this paper we examine digital literacy and explicate how it relates to the philosophical study of ignorance. Using data from a study which explores the knowledge producing work of undergraduate students as they wrote course assignments, we argue that a social practice approach to digital literacy can help explain how epistemologies of ignorance may be sustained. If students are restricted in what they can know because they are unaware of exogenous actors (e.g. algorithms), and how they guide choices and shape experiences online, then a key issue with which theorists of digital literacy should contend is how to educate students to be critically aware of how power operates in online spaces. The challenge for Higher Education is twofold: to understand how particular digital literacy practices pave the way for the construction of ignorance, and to develop approaches to counter it.     

Developing and Supporting Faculty Training for Online Social Work Education: The Columbia University School of Social Work Online Pedagogy Institute

ABSTRACT

With the growth of online and distance education in social work, faculty training and support need to be provided to ensure high-quality online social work education. A model for training social work educators in online teaching is outlined that focuses on pedagogy, technology, and social work values. Columbia University School of Social Work’s Online Campus provides a five-week Institute on Pedagogy and Technology for Online Courses for prospective social work instructors. The Institute provides a faculty training model that can be adopted in other social work programs, and seeks to model best practices in online education.     

Practice-focused ethics in Australian engineering education

The paper focuses on educational changes we see as necessary for future graduates to take up the emerging social and ethical challenges of their profession. This paper summarizes some Australian initiatives, presents some of our approaches to teaching ethics and suggests some ways to encourage both the study of ethics and actual ethical practice. The practice of engineering in Australia is guided by a Code of Ethics developed by the Institution of Engineers, Australia (IEAust). There is an expectation that Australian educators will guide students to develop the abilities to make ethical decisions and an appreciation of ethical conduct. The authors endorse the view that ethics issues should be included as an intrinsic part of engineering curricula. Wego further, and suggest that the social impact and the international and global nature of engineering practice call for an extension of traditional ethical frameworks to incorporate treatment of questions of social responsibility, including the issue of sustainability. We outline changes in engineering education in Australia over the past two decades, indicating some of the effects of these changes on the culture of engineering and the ways in which ethics issues are being conceptualized and taught. Experience at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) is our main focus because UTS is widely recognized as a leader in engineering education in Australia. Wedescribe the restructuring of our undergraduate programme so as to focus on engineering practice issues and discuss its implications for practice-focused ethics in engineering education.     

Teaching Teamwork: Electronics Instruction in a Collaborative Environment

ABSTRACT

The Teaching Teamwork Project is using an online simulated electronic circuit, running on multiple computers, to assess students’ abilities to work together as a team. We pose problems that must be tackled collaboratively, and log students’ actions as they attempt to solve them. Team members are isolated from one another and can communicate only through an online chat channel, but modifications to the circuit made by any team member, insofar as they alter the behavior of the circuit, can affect measurements made by the others. We log all relevant student actions, including calculations (using an online calculator), measurements (using an online multimeter), inter-student communications, and alterations made by the students to the circuit itself. Automated analysis of the resulting data sheds light on the problem-solving strategy of each team, sometimes with surprising results.