General Education Program
1801 N. Broad Street
500 Conwell Hall (040-07)
Philadelphia, PA 19122-6096
tel.: 215-204-2855
email: gened@temple.edu
web: gened.temple.edu
Ethical Reasoning Assignment Stipend (ERA)
What counts as right and wrong action? What human ends are worth pursuing, and via
what means? What are valuable qualities of human character? Ethical inquiry explores
such questions of human conduct to address the nature of moral rights and
responsibilities, fairness and decency, personal virtue and vice, the worthiness of
individual choices and the rightness of public policies, and visions of what constitutes a
good life.
There is no doubt that our world is faced with ever-increasing ethical dilemmas—from
ecological calamities to war-inflicted genocides. Ethical Reasoning, therefore, is an
integral skill in preparing our students for future circumstances both in their professional
as well as in their private lives. The General Education Program (GenEd) is responding
to this reality.
One of the key competencies in GenEd—Civic Engagement—specifically compels
student “to define, pose, probe, and attempt to solve problems with an awareness of
diverse values and interests.”
Goal/Objective:
The General Education Program seeks to enhance student civic engagement through
encouraging course embedded ethical reasoning assignments throughout the General
Education curriculum.
Thus, the program solicits proposals for assignments that can be employed throughout
General Education designed to facilitate students’ ethical reasoning processes.
The Details:
The goal of the Ethical Reasoning Assignment (ERA) will be to design, implement and
assess a learning activity for either:
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two or more existing GenEd courses in multiple GenEd areas, or:
two or more courses in one GenEd area.
Assignment descriptions will be shared with the larger General Education community as
examples of best and innovative practices.
Ethical Reasoning assignments, usually, include some type of writing focused on an
ethical question or questions, or analyze a concrete case, policy, or dilemma using an
ethical framework as they relate to contexts such as, society, science, technology, law,
etc.
These assignments should enable learners to integrate content and extend their
investigations, become more self-directed, and assume greater control over their own
learning and values.
An ethical reasoning individual is able to:
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Discern the ethical issues at stake in individual and collective
decisions
Identify, understand, and use multiple normative concepts and
arguments
Evaluate competing ethical perspectives on human problems and
action
Articulate and critically evaluate distinct ethical perspectives on
concrete dilemmas
Define and probe ethical judgments about right and wrong action or
policy in the face of competing ethical judgments
Nota bene: While newly developed assignments are preferred, a proposal may expand on
an already existing exercise currently used in a single course as long as the proposal
explicitly describes how the assignment may be amended for use in other General
Education courses.
Submissions:
Applicant must:
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actively teach at least one course in the General Education curriculum and be a full-time
faculty member
agree to provide student samples of assignment at end of semester
In 750 words or less, please describe the proposed ERA activity on a separate sheet.
In your description, please address how the assignment meets five (5) learning goals as
outlined in the bulleted listed above; how the assignment is to be integrated into the
courses and area(s), and finally how the new assignment will be assessed for its
effectiveness, including its impact on the final course grade.
Evaluation Criteria:
A GenEd subcommittee will evaluate submissions to select the most promising
assignments.
Proposals will be evaluated on the project’s fit with the ethical reasoning learning goals,
the assignment’s potential for implementation in a wide range of courses and/or GenEd
areas and or innovative pedagogical practices.
The Award/Requirements:
General Education will fund up to ten (10) ERA stipends per academic year. If the
committee approves your proposal, there is a $500 stipend for each assignment developed
and successfully implemented and assessed.
After the completion of the assignment during the spring term, a one-page final report
with student examples must be submitted by the faculty instructor to the GenEd office.
The report should summarize the successes/failures of the activity and possible
suggestions for improvement.
Deadline:
The proposal submission deadline is: November 30, 2015 .
.
The stipend will be dispersed once the final report is received in the GenEd office.
Please complete the information on the coversheet and attach it to the proposal. For
more information, please contact Istvan Varkonyi: samsa@temple.edu
COVER SHEET
for
Ethical Reasoning Assignment (ERA) Stipend
Please attach to your proposal submission.
Deliver to: General Education Program Office
500 Conwell Hall
Instructor’s Name_________________________ Email_____________________
GenEd Course (s) you are scheduled to teach in the current academic
year:______________________________________________________________
Department____________________________
Date___________________
GenEd Course Titles/Numbers and Area(s) for the ERA Stipend:
__________________________________________________________________