Policy advisor: Ethics of care without a syllabus
Context:
A bold plan has landed on your desk: replace your university's standard ethics course with a student-led project to create an open-access casebook on workplace discrimination. Students would collaborate across institutions, developing real scenarios while earning credits.
Dilemma:
A) Support this hands-on approach, but must create new systems to assess ungraded collaborative work while ensuring ECTS compliance.
B) Support the traditional lecture course with proven grading methods.
Story behind the dilemma:
A pilot project at four British Columbia universities invited diverse undergraduate students to co-create an open educational resource (OER) casebook on workplace discrimination and diversity issues. Over three months, 28 students from various programs expressed interest, with 16 participating in three virtual focus group sessions (fall 2021) and 10 continuing to develop cases asynchronously (spring 2022). Facilitators used democratic principles to guide discussions, with students selecting topics like "invisible disabilities at work" and drafting realistic ethical scenarios. The project emphasized care, collaboration, and open licensing, with participants reflecting on their experiences.