CASL Flag/Distribution Reporting Exemplar
Ethics and Personal Values
Sections: B, C & D
Rater Evaluation:
Justification: THESE EXEMPLARS WERE CHOSEN BECAUSE OF THEIR HIGHLY REFLECTIVE NATURE AND THE MULTIPLE METHODS THAT WERE
USED IN ASSESSING STUDENT OUTCOMES. THE FACULTY MEMBER INCLUDED A THOROUGH EXPLANATION OF METHODS USED TO MEASURE
OUTCOMES AND COPIES OF ASSIGNMENTS AND EXAMS USED TO DETERMINE PROFICIENCY. This EPV Assessment showed significant
reflection and valuable data collection that provided informed decision-making.
B. STUDENT WORK EXAMINED – List the methods used to measure each outcome (e.g., pre-/post test, exams, papers, projects,
presentations, performances, class assignments, etc.) and attach a copy of each.
Outcome #1
Outcome #2
Outcome #3
In-class discussion and quiz
In-class discussion
In-class discussion and quiz
Final exam
Two essays
Final exam
Two essays
Two essays
Because my course, Experiencing Literature, lends itself so well to the study of ethics and personal values and has usefully
incorporated measures which met the outcomes, I will honestly say that since I last taught the course, I have not changed the course
significantly. Methods used this past semester included presentation of a powerpoint, a quiz, two essays, and a question on the final
exam. This semester, I began the course with a powerpoint which introduces the major ethical theories, and followed it up with a
quiz over the same. After the powerpoint and quiz, I assigned the course’s first essay, which is a personal values essay. It asked the
students to consider which of the theories informs their way of living. During the time of writing the essay, I focus class discussion of
literary texts on how we can see characters in short fiction and a drama, narrators in essays, and voices in poems reflect specific
ethical perspectives. We discuss also how conflict arises when different ethical perspectives meet, as well as how ethical
perspectives can change over time and because of situations characters encounter. This helps students to recognize how their own
ethical perspectives can cause conflict in their lives and how their own ethical perspectives can change. Because the essay involves
personal narrative, I do not use peer review; rather, I meet one-on-one with each student to conference over the first draft of the
essay, and we talk about not only the writing process, but also the content of the paper. I challenge them to explore their beliefs and
to be willing to see themselves as who they are, in the context of the experiences which have helped to shape them thus far. The
second essay pairs with a reading that argues for the use of literature as a means of exploring ethical frameworks. The essay requires
them to choose a text for a thematic literary analysis which addresses both the text’s literary value and its attention to some ethical
conflict and/or moment of ethical awareness in a character or characters. During the writing process for this essay, the students
collaboratively write an essay on Susan Glaspell’s short drama “Trifles,” which is a model for the essay they write on their own, and
the complete an in-class assignment of thesis and topic sentence exercise on Tim O’Brien’s “The Things they Carried,” following the
same model. They also complete a peer review exercise. Finally, on the final exam I pose a question that asks them, once again, to
explore some ethical conflict, naming it (based on one of the named theories), and showing how the conflict is resolved. Relevant
parts of assignments are below:
Ethical Theory Quiz
Choose the theory that matches most closely the sentence or phrase from among those below.
1.
________ “My stomach is churning, and something is telling me this isn’t the right thing to do.”
2.
________ Tenets outlined in the Magna Charta or the Bill of Rights
3.
________ “I need to make sure this is the right option for me.”
4.
________ “But your honor, that’s not fair.”
5.
________ Tenets outlined in the Ten Commandments
6.
________ “As a physician, I have taken an oath to do no harm.”
7.
________ “Be a good person”
8.
________ “How can I be useful to my society?”
9.
________ “I watched him spit on the ground at my feet.”
Theories
A. Divine Command Theories
B. The Ethics of Conscience
C. Ethical Egoism
D. The Ethics of Duty
E. The Ethics of Respect
F. The Ethics of Rights
G. Utilitarianism
H. The Ethics of Justice
I. Virtue Ethics
10. Present an ethical dilemma and ask questions from the perspectives of three of the ethical positions. The questions you ask
should address how one might attempt to base a decision upon the tenets of a given ethical theory. Make sure you state the
theory and then offer the question.
Personal Values essay assignment prompt:
Write an essay in which you explore and explain your personal values. Drawing from the ethical theories outlined in the powerpoint
(available on BlackBoard) presented in class, you should model your value system after one of the ethical theories introduced in
class (or perhaps more than one since many overlap). Whatever organizational method you choose, be sure you define your terms
(the ethical theories) and apply them to your own life, focusing your content on exploration of your own beliefs and practices. And
pay particular attention to underlying presuppositions that justify actions and speech. This is a personal essay: you are describing
yourself rather than trying to persuade others to believe as you do. Thus, you want to focus on your own articulation of how you see
the world and what motivates you to do what you do.
Be certain to offer a thesis, an organizational point, which you’ll support with specific examples from your life experience. You want
to choose life experiences that demonstrate the values you lay out in your essay.
Literature and Ethics assignment prompt:
We have spent time in our literary discussions applying different ethical theories to characters and situations from short stories,
dramas, and essays. This assignment asks you to continue that application, but it requires that you apply arguments from an essay to
ground your application. Hence, the assignment invites you to read, think, and write critically.
One's ability to read critically directly affects one's ability to write analytically. To develop your critical reading and analysis skills, you
are to provide a critique of Nina Rosenstand's text "Stories and Morals." In order to provide a critique, you first need to demonstrate
that you have a working knowledge of Rosenstand's main claims: What is her main claim (thesis)? What are the points which
support it? What kinds of evidence does Rosenstand offer to you? What exactly is she saying about the ways in which literature and
moral considerations intersect? These are only a few of the questions you could consider as you work through book chapter.
Your critique should have several interrelated components: first, you want to supply your own thesis. Second, you should set forth
the main idea of the essay and its main points. Third, you want to show how those points can be applied to a creative text of your
own choosing from among those in our thematic section on "Culture and Identity."
Here are the steps you want to follow:
1.
Provide an overarching statement of purpose for your entire essay. Remember: you're not only paraphrasing Rosenstand's
essay, but you're also going to analyze another text through the lens of her argument. How can you tie your essay together?
2.
Offer a paraphrase of Rosenstand (refer to the questions above).
3.
Remind your reader of your whole purpose as you transition into your own analysis of your chosen text.
4.
Analyze your text.
5.
Conclude, making sure to remind your reader how your analysis supports or refutes
Rosenstand's ideas about what
constitutes ethical lit.
Anyone reading your essay should, at the conclusion of reading it, be able to articulate what you see as Rosenstand's theory of how
literature facilitates a moral sense, and your reader should also be able to state why your chosen creative text fits into her
theoretical framework.
Final Exam questions:
37. The short dramas “Trying to Find Chinatown” and “Trifles” both present characters who engage with cultural considerations.
Choose one of the two dramas for analysis. In the drama of your choice, identify and support the ethical positions of the main
characters, showing how those positions guide and/or dictate the character’s actions.
38. Both “The Man to Send Rain Clouds” and “The Lottery” depict a culture’s clash over an important human event which hinges on
cultural tradition. Detail the clash, showing the problematic relationship between the two positions presented and the ethical
implications of the actions in the story. Also, explore what, if any, resolution occurs.
C. SCORING CRITERIA – Briefly explain the criteria used to evaluate student performance in relation to each outcome (i.e., what
constitutes Advanced, Proficient, Partially Proficient, Not Proficient).
In order to evaluate student performance in the context of each outcome, I averaged student grades for each assignment which
addressed the outcome. For “exceeds expectations,” I used student scores in the A range; for “meets expectations,” I used student
scores in the B and C ranges; and for “does not meet expectations” (both partially proficient and not proficient), I used student
scores in the D and F ranges. I used five different measures to assess the first outcome, four measures for the second, and five
different measures to assess the third outcome. Those measures are detailed in section B.
Part D: Reflection on the Results
Part One: Briefly, why do you think students performed as they did in this class? What changes might be enacted to improve their
performance? (Answers can include ideas about assignment revision, pedagogy, administration of assessment, and/or collection of
data for assessment).
I was very pleased that on the final examination 96% of the students exceeded or met outcomes 1 and 3 (which were combined on
the final in a question that asked for terminology, application of two theories to current women's and gender issues, and critical
evaluation of which argument was stronger). Also, 93% exceeded or met the expectation to reflect on their personal values in
relation to a poem. I think these are the highest scores a Women and Literature class has achieved so far, using relatively similar
measures.
I had a large number of excellent students in this class, more than my fair share. Many were very hard workers and generally earn
As in classes. This course did seem to teach them about both ethics and personal values because the pre-test writing results were
lower, showing that many had not studied ethics before and that they did get at least an introduction to ethics and articulation of
personal values in this course.
Pretest Ethics
EE 8%
M 35%
PM 42%
DM 15%
Posttest Ethics
EE 50%
M 46%
PM 4%
DM 0%
Pretest Pers. Values
EE 38%
M 42%
PM12%
DM 8%
Posttest Pers. Values
EE 62%
M 31%
PM 8%
DM 0%
What accounts for how well they did? Several factors:
1. They were mostly a group of smart, hard-working students, driven to achieve academically.
2. The midterm was an indicator of their success or lack of it in relation to the ethical theories. Those who lost a significant number
of points on the midterm because they did not understand the theories well enough and could not argue their strengths and
weaknesses as theories knew they had to buckle down and learn the theories well for the final so they could apply them.
3. A new initiative was meeting with several of the students who did poorly on the ethical section of the midterm and directing
them through a definition and analysis session, followed by rewriting the ethical section of the midterm exam. This seemed to help
cut down on the lowest scores on the final assessment.
4. I selected women's literature that lent itself to ethical discussions, and students had the option of writing on ethical issues in the
literature on many of the twice-weekly journal entries. We also discussed these issues in class in large and small groups.
5. I gave more journal prompts toward the end of the class that involved relating the literature to their lives and personal values. A
final project reinforced personal value indirectly, but was not used for assessment.
6. Seven teams did oral presentations that involved providing background a gender-related controversial question, relating two
ethical theories to the issue, and leading the class in a debate or discussion. I did not assess this because I gave team and not
individual grades, but it reinforced knowledge of the theories and gave them examples of applying theories to specific contemporary
social issues.
7. The Rachels handout on ethics seems to work well.
8. I strictly enforced a "no laptop open" rule, except when actually using laptops in class for a project. Students paid attention
better than in the past, when I was more casual about this rule.
What will I change?
I think I will keep this plan, including concentrating on using the midterm as an indicator of who needs remedial ethics work. I plan
to tweak the oral presentation assignment so that the theories play a larger role in directing discussion and debate. I also want to
find a spot in the course to illustrate more dramatically that not every viewpoint is a pro or con, but that there can be alternative
positions from various perspectives or that use different reasoning. Bruce Forbes mentioned a format he uses for this at the last EPV
meeting.
I do not think this course can probe ethical theories or ethical issues as thoroughly or in as much complexity as a philosophy or
religious studies course in ethics, but the literature does show the effects of social ethics and individual ethical choices on human
beings, and this is a plus.
This course, more than others in the past, had students who became quite passionate about personal values related to marriage,
stopping abuse, raising children, gay rights, protecting nature, stopping self-harming activities, etc. I think the reason is that these
good students got more heavily involved with journaling, doing much more than the bare minimum and probing issues more fully.
This was also an indication that more of them were actually reading the literature carefully.
Part Two: Briefly, if you previously completed an assessment form for the course, did the ideas and suggestions for improvement
find their way into the course? How did those changes work for you? If changes weren’t made, please explain your reasoning.
I didn't make major changes in the course because I have refined what works and what doesn't over time (learning from my
mistakes), but I did add more ethical and personal values options to the journaling prompts, and I intervened with students who
were not doing well on ethics at the midterm. Last time I used the final creative project to assess personal values, which only semiworked since sometimes the personal values were expressed indirectly. This time I added a personal values assessment section to
the final to get a more direct measure.