Introduction to Ethics and Professional Behavior

This course is a fourteen (14) week, 1 credit course dealing with the most common ethical issues that face students in a chiropractic educational program. The course will introduce the incoming student to the role of ethics in a health care education environment. It is intended to increase and/or raise the awareness of ethics as it relates to a student in a professional health care educational setting. It is also intended to assist the student to recognize and resolve ethical dilemmas that may be encountered in their course of study.The course is designed to be a blend of online activities and face to face interaction. There are four (4) face to face activities planned, the first being an introduction to the course.

Student Analysis

The learners are adults who are entering a program to become health care providers. The students are, for the most part, young adults (i.e. early to mid-twenties) and are continuing their education from undergraduate school. However, there are a number of students who are slightly older, have been in the work force for some time, and are embarking on a second career.Students come from a wide variety of backgrounds and cultures. While the majority are from an English speaking environment, there are several who only speak English as a second language. Some students come from relatively far distances and a few come from foreign countries. In addition, many of the students have young families and must juggle the demands of a full time educational program with the task of raising a young family.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this course, the successful student will be able to;

• by completing an internet search, students will be able to define ethics and selected terms commonly used in ethics (knowledge)
• by completing an internet search, students will provide examples of ethics and selected terms commonly used in ethics (synthesis)
• read and describe the structure and content of the SCUHS student codes of conduct (comprehension)
• read and describe the structure and content of the California codes of conduct covering students of the chiropractic profession (comprehension)
• by reading the student code of conduct and the California code of conduct, describe the various ethical responsibilities of the student chiropractor (knowledge)
• identify, discuss and resolve ethical dilemmas in chiropractic college (knowledge, comprehension, evaluation)
• describe the process involved in resolving conflicts with peers and faculty at SCUHS (comprehension)
• identify relevant ethical concepts and use that information to assist in the formulation of an appropriate response (synthesis, evaluation)
• describe and apply ethical concepts to problem-oriented situations (knowledge, application)

Supporting Materials

During the course a number of different activities are planned. The students will be required to do the following;

• scavenger hunt - define common ethics terms and find an article that addresses each
• discuss - respond to questions posted
• research - evaluate the authenticity of a website
• listen - podcast
• apply - role play
• course calendar
• checklists for each module
• icebreaker activity

Plagiarism Prevention

One of the most common problems in education today, particularly with the widespread use of electronic media, is the issue of plagiarism; i.e. representing the work of someone else as one's own. Several different mechanisms may be employed in this course to discourage such activities. These include the use of;
Reflection on Blogger - reflections are indications of a students' individual learning. As such, the faculty has a responsibility to read each reflection carefully and to evaluate the level of communication
Zoomerang - students will be asked to fill out surveys and quizzes on Zoomerang. It is assumed that they will have access to course materials in this process
Peer to Peer assessment - Breeze - since this portion of the course is "live", plagiarism is not likely to be a big problem.

Summary and Conclusions

The course is designed to increase the awareness of students regarding the most common type of ethical issues and concerns that they are likely to confront during the course of the chiropractic educational program. The course is designed to provide both online class experiences and face to face activities. It is anticipated that this course will improve the students' understanding of the type of problems they may encounter and will provide a foundation for discussion of clinical ethical issues in a later term.

Peer to Peer

One of the components of online education is the peer to peer collaboration that is such a natural part of the classroom experience. It came as a bit of a surprise to this student that, with a little effort and attention, the class can actually develop a cohesive spirit that may not be found in a face to face class. While many of the online classes use a non-synchronous approach that allows students to access course material at a time that is convenient for them, there are advantages to periodic synchronous classroom activities. In these activities, using software as a bridge, students interact at the same time. This approach is becoming more and more common in the corporate training world where travel costs can be unacceptably high.There are several software programs that make such synchronous classroom activities possible. These include programs such as Go To Meeting, and Adobe Connect Pro (formerly known as Breeze). Users of these programs can design web conferences, eLearning programs, and Webinars. A time can be agreed upon prior to the actual meeting time and class members can “plug in” at the appropriate time. I once took course work from Tulane University. The course work was delivered in a synchronous format and each member of the class was required to connect at a specified time of the week. Although the time was not always convenient, the class sessions were recorded on the software and could be accessed at any time later if necessary.Advantages of this type of class session include the feeling of being part of a class. Students have the opportunity to ask questions, either by using a microphone and headset, or by texting in a chat area. It’s worth noting that many side conversations occur between students in the text chat area, just like side conversations in a face to face classroom.

Course Tracking

One important aspect of teaching, whether it is in a face to face classroom or an online environment is keeping track of students. This entails knowing who the students are, what their purpose is in taking course work, and how they are performing in the class. There are several software programs that make this task easy to manage.One such software program is Microsoft Excel. While not specifically designed for this purpose, Excel is adept at storing and manipulating information. Students’ names, identification numbers and/or information, notes about students, etc. can be included. Special fields may be designed and incorporated that can remind a teacher why a specific grade was awarded. In addition, summaries of student discussions can be tracked. Grading rubrics may be designed in Excel that enable teachers to maintain current grade information on each student. Perhaps one of the most significant advantages of Excel is its’ widespread distribution. With so many users of Microsoft Office, Excel is already available on many computers.In addition to the variety of uses found with Excel, another software program that is useful in course tracking is Calendar Builder. With this program teachers can publish course calendars that contain due dates for assignments and other important dates.

Reflection - Blogger

One of the most useful components in the process of assessment is the use of the blog. The ease of access, minimal to zero cost, and ease of use make the blog an ideal vehicle for use in course assessment.I have introduced the use of blogs into one of my face to face classes. I am able to post course assignments, student presentations, grading rubrics and group assignments online for all class members to see. I am also able to use the blog to assess students' progress by requiring them to post comments about specific posts.Advantages include the cost, with most blogs being provided free of charge. Also, blogs are easy to use and have a user-friendly learning curve. In the future I intend to require students to develop their own course blogs. I will use the blogs to have students respond to specific questions relevant to the course material and will have students track their own learning with self-assessment tools.While the advantages of using blogs in an online classroom are excellent, there are a few disadvantages. First, the teacher and the student must have a computer and access to the internet. This is not as likely to be a problem in an online course as in a face to face classroom. Second, the teacher and the student must be willing to take the time to learn how to best utilize the blog.

Quiz and Test Builder

First, Zoomerang is a useful method of gathering information from students. The software, which is open source (i.e. available as a free download) allows the user to create and send surveys online. These surveys may be used to gather information about the students, their likes, interests, hobbies, educational background and goals and aspirations. Zoomerang can be used in a precourse survey to identify the learning needs and goals of the class. It can also be used to provide personal information that may be used in an icebreaker activity.During the course itself, Zoomerang may be used to assess the progress of the students. It may also be used in an attempt to identify problem areas and issues that students may be having difficulty with. Finally, it may be used to determine the direction of the course as it progresses.At the end of the course, Zoomerang may be used to evaluate the efficacy and utility of the course. Students may be asked to provide input regarding the parts of the course they enjoyed and the parts they had trouble with.Zoomerang is particularly adept at providing information derived from open ended questions. It looks for commonly used terms and plots them into graphs. This allows relatively easy analysis of the information provided.The basic (Free) version of Zoomerang is available at no cost, and allows the development of surveys containing up to 30 questions. In addition to the Free version, there are several other versions (Pro and Premium) with additional features. These obviously come at a cost. The Pro level ($149 per year) allows an unlimited number of questions and responses and includes some advances in the charting features. Lastly, the Premium version ($449 per year) provides additional features.