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On p. 229 of the text, Brookfield uses the term "ethical pedagogy" referring to continuous assessment. I can remember very clearly taking courses that rested on a final exam worth 100%. This, today, might not be considered ethical. There are other practices and behaviours that would also not be considered ethical.
Imagine that everyone in this course belongs to one college faculty. The Dean wants us to draft a departmental statement of ethical conduct in the design, delivery and evaluation of our courses. He asks all of us to submit two practices/behaviors that should be included in the document. What two would you suggest? Why?
Here is my response to this question:
A code of ethics document provides a set of guidelines to help professionals conduct their actions in accordance with the organizations primary values, missions and ethical standards. Ethical code becomes more important nowadays in an increasingly diverse workplace. For a university, code of ethics ensures teaching and learning activities are conducted in a safe, professional and ethical manner. It also serves as foundations for continuous development of teaching and learning. (Ethics and Professionalism, PIDP3260, 2015)
It is beneficial to have an ethical conduct that guides design, delivery and evaluation of our courses. The first ethical code I would add is that "Instructors should design courses to improve students' knowledge, skills and abilities in order to prepare them for future workplace responsibilities. ". Here is why:
Courses should challenge students to learn, grow and develop applicable skills. To fulfill our goals as a learning community, we always insist that the learning objectives are not being compromised. We strive to maintain high expectations and high academic standards.
This statement also emphasizes on future workplace responsibilities. It encourages integration of employability skills in the curriculum and individual course design. Employability skills include academic skills, personal management skills, teamwork skills, ethical awareness, and many more. It is essential that courses help students improve these skills to become a qualified professional.
To follow this statement, a needs assessment may be conducted. Needs assessment is a systematic process for determining learning needs, or gaps between current conditions and desired conditions of learning (Needs assessment, PIDP3210). The desired condition is determined by carefully examining student's future responsibilities. The current condition is what our students have known so far. The course should be designed in a way to bridge the gap.
The second statement I suggest is that "Instructors should use authentic assessment to measure student abilities and progress. The assessment instrument should hold high level of validity and reliability. "
Authentic assessment refers to the measurement of intellectual accomplishments that are worthwhile, significant, and meaningful (Key Terminology, PIDP3230, 2015). Authentic assessment applies practical criteria that are closely related to construction of knowledge, discipline inquiry and the value of achievement beyond school. We do not just want students to know or remember the content. We also want our students to be able to apply, evaluate and synthesize the knowledge. Our assessments have to tell us if the students can apply what they learned and solve problems in an authentic situation.
Assessment needs to maintain high level of validity and reliability in order to provide accurate feedback to the instructors. Reliability is defined as "the ability of a test to obtain the same results if administered to the same learner a second time"; validity is defined as the ability of a test to measure what we set out to measure (Validity and Reliability, PIDP3230, 2014). This statement discourages a 100% weighted final exam or all multiple-choice tests that often do not measure student's learning accurately.
Reference:
[1] Ethics and Professionalism, PIDP3260 Course Moodle Site, Vancouver Community College, Vancouver BC, 2015
[2] Key Terminology, PIDP3230 Course Moodle Site, Vancouver Community College, Vancouver BC,2014
[3] Needs Assessment, PIDP3210 Course Moodle Site, Vancouver Community College, Vancouver BC, 2014
[4] Validity and Reliability, PIDP3230 Course Moodle Site, Vancouver Community College, Vancouver BC, 2014
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