After Enron: Integrating Ethics into the Professional Communication Curriculum

Recent scandals in the business community have alerted professional writing teachers to the importance of highlighting ethics in the curriculum. From former experiences in teaching courses emphasizing ethics, the authors have adapted the curriculum to include a limited discussion of ethical approaches and terms and assigned group writing projects that consider the effects of business on the broader community. As a result of the integration of this ethical component into the entire course, students learn major ethical approaches; gain a vocabulary of ethical terms they can apply in the business world; interrogate the larger questions of business and its interactions with the local, national, and international community; and engage in the kind of dialectical discussions that require critical thinking.
Kienzler, Donna S. and Carol David. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2003). Articles>Education>Ethics
Ethics, Critical Thinking, and Professional Communication Pedagogy

Critical thinking pedagogy offers a supportive environment for teaching ethics in the professional communication classroom. Four important aspects of critical thinking which particularly encourage ethical thought and behavior are identifying and questioning assumptions, seeking a multiplicity of voices and alternatives on a subject, making connections, and fostering active involvement. Focusing on these behaviors allows an ongoing incorporation of ethics into many different aspects of the classroom.
Kienzler, Donna S. Technical Communication Quarterly (2001). Articles>Education>Ethics>Methods
Teaching Ethics Isn't Enough: The Challenge of Being Ethical Teachers

Rather than acting on less examined beliefs, I am personally comfortable acting on ethics that have been burnished by repeated polishing from my colleagues, community, and profession. Let us use our professional conferences and journals to further that conversation.
Kienzler, Donna S. JBC (2004). Articles>Education>Ethics
There are 8 readers currently online: 0 registered users and 8 guests. Register.

![]()
![]()


![]()
![]()
![]()