| Course
Information |
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Course Description: |
This
course serves as an introduction to the discipline of ethics and
values. This class explores the various theories and practices
that have led to, and continue to dominate the study of ethics and
values in public service. Students will display their knowledge of
ethics and values in various reading, writing and oratorical assignments
throughout the semester.
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Course Objectives: |
At the end
of this course the students will be able to:
- Discuss
the history and development of ethics and values as an academic
discipline.
- Create analytical
reasoning techniques that the would apply to their professional
career as an administrator in a public or non-profit agency professional
career as an administrator in a public or non-profit agency.
- Analyze emerging
issues and trends impacting the ethics and values of public administrators.
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| Prerequisites and
Corequisites: |
There
are no specific course prerequisites, as this course does not presuppose
a background in ethics. This course is a core course in the Master
of Professional Studies Degree Program. Enrollment in this course
is limited to students who have been admitted into the MPS Program.
Other students seeking to enroll in this course must have departmental
permission.
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Course Topics: |
Topics covered
within the course include:
- Introduction
to ethics and professional life issues; research and reference
tools, professional codes and references, orientation to the
course
- Applied ethics:
Ethics assessment, identification of issues, development of options;
understanding contextual features of your profession
- Ethics decision-making
models (structured approaches to thinking through ethical dimensions
of professional life)
- The Nature
of Professions and Professionalism
- Role conflicts:
professional vs. personal morality
- Professionals
and Clients
- Deception
- Informed consent
- Privacy and
confidentiality
- Individual
and collective responsibility of professionals
- Compensation
and Conflicts of Interest
- Ethics, communication,
and conflict management
- Issues in global
and international contexts
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Specific Course Requirements: |
Students
should be skilled in using a web browser to connect to websites (such
as Internet Explorer, Netscape, etc.) and skilled in sending and
receiving e-mails with attachments.
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| Textbooks,
Supplementary Materials, Hardware and Software
Requirements |
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Required Textbooks: |
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Supplementary Materials: |
A list
of other published material the student is required to purchase for the
course including lab manuals, lab kits,
etc. |
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Hardware Requirements: |
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Software Requirements: |
The
minimum requirements can be found at http://www.rodp.org/students/hardware_software.htm.
Specific hardware requirements for this course include...(A list of
software the student is required to purchase or download for the course,
Real Player, Media Player, Acrobat Reader, Microsoft Office,
etc). |
| Instructor
Information |
Please
see the separate page inside the course to find instructor contact
information as well as a statement of virtual office hours and other
communication information. |
| Assessment and
Grading |
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Testing Procedures: |
This
course will have one final exam.
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Grading Procedure: |
A rubric
will be developed for each assignment with the total number of points
available. Different assignments may carry different weights. These
weights will be defined with each assignment.
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Grading Scale: |
The
course will consist of 1000 points total. The final grade will be
a percentage of the total number of points available listed below:
90- 100 = A
80-89 = B
70-79 = C
60-69 = D (The grade of "D" may not be available at all universities.)
59 and Below = F
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| Assignments and
Participation |
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Assignments and Projects: |
Annotated
Bibliography 100
points
Two
Position Papers 200
points
Final
Exam 100
points
Weekly
Assignments 100
points
Total 500
points
Final
Grades will be premised on cumulative points as follows: A = 500-
450; B = 449 - 390; C = 389 - 320; D = 319 - 260; F = below 260.
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Class Participation: |
Students
will be expected to participate in the asynchronous discussion forum
through WebCT. All assignments must be submitted electronically.
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Punctuality: |
All assignments
will be assigned a due date when they are distributed. Failure
to meet this deadline will result in a loss of five points from
the original point value of the assignment for every 24 hour interval
an assignment is late. Assignments must be submitted electronically
and therefore will be date and time stamped.
Note: Following
explicit directions is an important aspect of graduate school training. Therefore,
it is important that the student follow the stated guidelines in
this syllabus, throughout the course of this class, because failure
to do so will result in point reductions. Furthermore, it
will probably be to your best interest to submit papers to me before
the due date (at least two weeks), so I can make suggestions on
how you might want to change your work in order to receive a higher
grade.
Late
projects will automatically be reduced one letter grade for each
day they are late (not class period or week). If the
papers are more than three days late they will not be accepted,
period!
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| Course Ground
Rules |
Participation
is required. You are expected to communicate with other students
and the instructor as part of the course assignments. You are
expected to be able to navigate in WebCT and to keep abreast of course
announcements. Observe course netiquette at all times. The student
is responsible for ensuring their programs and hardware are compatible
with WebCT and acceptable to the instructor.
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| Guidelines for
Communications |
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Email: |
- Always include a
subject line.
- Remember without
facial expressions some comments may be taken the wrong way. Be careful
in wording your emails. Use of emoticons might be helpful in some
cases.
- Use standard
fonts.
- Do not send large
attachments without permission.
- Special formatting
such as centering, audio messages, tables, html, etc. should be avoided
unless necessary to complete an assignment or other
communication.
- Respect the privacy
of other class members
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Discussion Groups: |
- Review the
discussion threads thoroughly before entering the discussion. Be a
lurker then a discussant.
- Try to maintain
threads by using the "Reply" button rather starting a new topic.
- Do not make
insulting or inflammatory statements to other members of the discussion
group. Be respectful of others' ideas.
- Be patient and read
the comments of other group members thoroughly before entering your
remarks.
- Be cooperative with
group leaders in completing assigned tasks.
- Be positive and
constructive in group discussions.
- Respond in a
thoughtful and timely manner.
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Chat: |
- Introduce yourself
to the other learners in the chat session.
- Be polite. Choose
your words carefully. Do not use derogatory statements.
- Be concise in
responding to others in the chat session.
- Be prepared to open
the chat session at the scheduled time.
- Be constructive in
your comments and suggestion
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Web
Resources: |
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Library |
The Tennessee Virtual Library
is available to all students enrolled in the Regents Degree Program.
Links
to library materials (such as electronic journals, databases,
interlibrary loans, digital reserves, dictionaries, encyclopedias, maps,
and librarian support) and Internet resources needed by learners to
complete online assignments and as background reading must be included
in all courses. |
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Students With Disabilities |
Qualified students with disabilities will be provided reasonable
and necessary academic accommodations if determined eligible by the
appropriate disability services staff at their home institution. Prior
to granting disability accommodations in this course, the instructor
must receive written verification of a student's eligibility for
specific accommodations from the disability services staff at the home
institution. It is the student's responsibility to initiate contact with
their home institution's disability services staff and to follow the
established procedures for having the accommodation notice sent to the
instructor. |
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Syllabus Changes |
The
instructor reserves the right to make changes as necessary to this
syllabus. If changes are necessitated during the term of the course, the
instructor will immediately notify students of such changes both by
individual email communication and posting both notification and nature
of change(s) on the course bulletin board. |
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Technical Support |
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Telephone Support: |
If you
are having problems logging into your course,
timing out of your
course, using your course web site tools, or other technical problems,
please contact the AskRODP Help Desk by calling
1-866-550-7637 (toll
free)
or go to
the AskRODP website at:
http://askrodp.custhelp.com
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