This course provides an overview of theories of ethics from classical to the present with an emphasis on impact of ethical systems on the technical'professional communicator. Readings and discussions include case studies with ethical implications, such as the Challenger explosion and the Exxon Valdex oil spill. You will work with case-based content from the Dombrowski textbook. You'll prepare an annotated bibliography to feed into short cases that you will develop, cases modeled on the ones in texts we'll be reading in the course, such as Dombrowski. (7730 or similar class advised before taking this class, but not required.)
This class is a web-based class without physical meetings. However, you are always welcome to "talk" with me about class readings and projects electronically via e-mail. I will not have on campus office hours during the summer; however, we can also arrange to talk by phone if you prefer.
Instructor Contact Information
E-mail is the best way to get in touch with me. I check my voice mail when I'm in the office, but not often otherwise. I answer e-mail as quickly as I can; however, I'm not generally online on Saturdays or on Sunday mornings before noon. During online office hours, go to Blackboard > Communications > Collaboration > Offfice Hours and click on "Join."
| Donna Kain, PhD Department of English East Carolina University Office: 2139 Bate Bldg. Phone: (252) 328-6724 E-mail: kaind@ecu.edu |
Summer 1 office hrs: |
Course Goals and Other Details
- To prepare you to communicate effectively, ethically, responsibly, and professionally in a professional environment.
- To provide you with skills, strategies, and conceptual knowledge to help you understand and interpret issues involving ethics.
- To help you understand the symbiotic relationships among form and content, audience and purpose, and rhetoric and ethics.
- To give you practice expressing your ideas in an open forum and to improve your own individual communication and management skills.
- To communicate your understanding and application of your readings through discussion and projects.
- To use technologies to construct knowledge as a learning community.
Required Textbook
Dombrowski, Paul. Ethics in Technical Communication. 1st ed. NY: Pearson Longmann, 1999. ISBN# 0205274625.
I will provide additional readings that will be made available on Blackboard (see "Course Docs" area).
East Carolina University and the Americans with Disabilities Act
East Carolina University seeks to fully comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Students requesting accommodations based on a covered disability must go to the Department for Disability Support Services, Brewster A-114, to verify the disability before any accommodations can occur. The telephone number 252-328-6799.
Please let me know if you have any accessibility problems with the Web site.
Academic Honesty
In this course, plagiarism and all other forms of academic dishonesty will be treated based on the East Carolina University Code of Conduct. Because this is a graduate level course, I'm assuming that you are all familiar with what constitutes improper uses of sources and copyrighted materials. Sometimes, however, the rules for adequately citing sources and/or the procedures for acquiring permissions are not entirely clear cut. We should discuss any issues as they arise, particularly in terms of the ways in which these areas are related to publication practices.
Course Communications
Blackboard. We'll use the asynchronous discussion board utility on Blackboard to discuss various topics and readings. Though I won't post replies to every post of yours, I'll chime in periodically.
I'll also post on Blackboard additional readings, sample documents, PowerPoint presentations, and other course materials that I want to make available only to participants in the course. These will be available in the "Course Docs" section of Blackboard.
To access Blackboard, click on the Blackboard tab at the top right of any page of this website. Once on the Blackboard site, you'll need your ECU mail ID and Password to log in. You should immediately see a link to this course under "My Courses." Once in Blackboard, you will be able to access course materials on Blackboard as well as this website--just click the link for this website in the first course announcement and the site will load within Blackboard.
E-mail. Our secondary contact is through email. Some procedures for corresponding via email include the following:
- In the subject line, please include "ENGL 7705:" followed by the subject of the e-mail. (I use e-mail filters to send mail to specific folders so that I can respond as quickly as possible which is why I ask for the course number in the subject line.)
- Include your name and e-mail address in all e-mail.
- When submitting a document via e-mail, attach the file to an e-mail message; do not paste the content into the message.