Business ethics and e-learning: a contradiction in terms?

Ottewill, Roger and Wall, Ann (2002) Business ethics and e-learning: a contradiction in terms? Teaching Business Ethics, 6 (3), 319-334. (doi:10.1023/A:1016148112269).

Abstract

In seeking to stimulate the ethical awareness of first year undergraduates on business and public sector courses, the potential contribution of e-learning should not be underestimated. While ethics is traditionally associated with more discursive approaches, initially there is much to be gained from providing students with an interactive electronic facility which they can use at their convenience. If designed with due regard to the limitations of educational technology and modest aims, it can help students to become more ethically aware by familiarising them with the language and concepts of ethical discourse and to acquire the skills needed to evaluate situations from an ethical perspective. At Sheffield Hallam University, such a facility, based on the principles of progression and interactivity, is being developed within an action research framework. Involving close collaboration between tutors, those with relevant technical expertise and student volunteers, representing the interests of potential users, all concerned are committed to enhancing the quality and rigour of the first year student learning experience. The challenges faced have included working within the constraints imposed by the software platform, Blackboard 5, and ensuring that the facility is genuinely interactive rather than simply the replication of a paper based system; is user friendly; enhances learning and encourages users to build on the foundations laid. While face-to-face tuition must remain a key element in helping undergraduates become more aware of the ethical dimension of business life in its broadest sense, the project demonstrates that business ethics and e-learning are not a contradiction in terms.

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