Ethics Discussions Across the Information Highway

Lucia Peek, George Peek,
and William Maakestad,
Western Illinois University
Maria Roxas,
Central Connecticut University
Albert Boonstra,
Noordelijke Hogeshool Leeuwarden

Synopsis

The purpose of the project entitled Ethics Discussions Across the Information Highway was to develop a significant semester assignment that would provide students with an opportunity to develop and expand a broad range of skills critical for success in the accounting profession: Ethical Reasoning, Teamwork, Technology, and Communications. The students used accounting, marketing or management ethics vignettes developed through the Arthur Andersen Business Ethics Program as a focus for their discussions. The project uses cooperative learning techniques to structure student groups' tasks; students must work together as a team with students at another university. The project introduces students to communication and workflow technologies by requiring them to correspond using the Internet and its e-mail and document exchange capabilities. Further, the project requires that students' written outcomes range from informal introductory comments between team members to a formal report or policy developed by the entire team. The students' recognition and handling of problems in using the technology and the impersonal medium of communication and in dealing with the writing of others in teams develop their ability to adapt to difficult communication situations in the workplace. The students thus have the advantage of discussing an important topical ethics issue; are facilitated in this discussion by the use of structured learning techniques; are required to exercise their writing skills on both informal and formal levels; and in many cases must acquire new technical and intellectual skills for communication across the Internet.

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