Essential Learning Outcome:

Social Responsibility and Ethics (SRE)

Definition:  Ethics and Social Responsibility involves reasoning about right and wrong conduct, assessing the moral beliefs and practices of oneself and others, and applying that knowledge to make a positive difference in the community and the world.

EXPECTATIONS FOR STUDENT LEARNING

Students must demonstrate knowledge of and/or skill in four of the following criteria:

1. Identifying moral questions as a distinct type of question about right and wrong conduct.
2. Identifying, analyzing and defending one’s own attitudes and beliefs towards key societal moral issues.
3. Evaluating the impact of actions taken by individuals and organizations that have made or attempted to bring about change for social good.
4. Designing and implementing a project that addresses a community need, explaining and defending the importance of that project from a moral standpoint.
5. Applying moral reasoning to concrete ethical problems in their social context, showing an awareness of the competing values at stake and the implications of the moral decision.
6. Identifying the various types of ethical theories and the methods of moral reasoning associated with them.
7. Identifying the diversity and commonality of moral values across cultures.

Sample Activities or Assignments

• The student produces a written essay addressing an important contemporary moral issue.  The essay should demonstrate an understanding of each side of the debate and the arguments defending each position, and an ability to make a reasoned defense of one’s conclusion.  [Criteria 1, 2, 5, & 6]

• The student integrates their academic work with community engagement, producing a tangible product (a piece of legislation or policy, a business, building, or civic infrastructure, water quality or scientific assessment, needs survey, research paper, service program or organization) that engages community constituents and responds to community needs and assets through the process.  [Criteria 3, 4 & 5]

• The student creates and manages a service program that engages others (such as youths or members of a neighborhood) in learning about and taking action on an issue they care about.  In the process, the student also teaches and models processes that engage others in a deliberative democracy forum, one that includes multiple perspectives on the issue and seeks how best to make positive changes.  [Criteria 3, 4, & 5]