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| Vol. XII, No.1 | A newsletter devoted to the support of teaching and learning at the University of Pittsburgh |
Sept. 2006
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U N I V E R S I T Y O F P I T T S B U R G H |
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| Vol. XII, No.1 | A newsletter devoted to the support of teaching and learning at the University of Pittsburgh |
Sept. 2006
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Teaching Ethics in the Era of GlobalizationValerie Swigart’s 2006 ACIE grant award for Teaching Ethics in the Era of Globalization will support an international collaboration between Capitol University of Medical Sciences in Beijing, China, and the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Nursing to develop a Global Ethics instructional unit augmenting a current Web-based ethics course and expanding students’ global professional perspective. The current course, designed and implemented by Swigart, provides a local, didactic perspective on nursing ethics but has not previously provided political and international perspectives for the 200 students who take it each year. Swigart and Helen (Ying) Wu from Capitol University will collaborate to revise and expand the existing course to explore and accommodate ethical pluralism and the interface of ethics and culture. As planned, the Global Ethics instructional unit will teach students in China and the United States about emerging issues relating to multiculturalism, cross-cultural communication, and ethical implications relating to poverty, war, and the threat of pandemic communicable diseases. The unit will focus on ethical principles of justice, equity, and responsibility to provide assistance. It will also encourage students to be introspective concerning cultural competence. Katherine Carlitz, who teaches Chinese literature courses and serves as assistant director for academic affairs in Pitt’s Asian Studies Center, will assist with translation of the Web-based ethics course with the Global Ethics unit into the Mandarin language to be simultaneously offered through Blackboard to Beijing students. By the spring of 2007, the course with the Global Ethics instructional unit will be made available to 120 nursing students at Pitt and 24 students at Capitol University. Additionally, the unit will be incorporated into the School of Nursing Global Health course and the Study in China Program, ultimately affecting about 250 students a year. In addition, it will potentially be offered as a freestanding continuing education course to benefit faculty and health practitioners nationwide. In collaboration with Wu, Swigart will also establish an International Ethics Link to encourage ongoing collegial dialogue among nursing students in Pittsburgh and Beijing on cross-cultural concepts of ethics, shared professional nursing perspectives, and international health care. With Swigart, Carlitz and Wu’s guidance in spring 2008, 15-20 University of Pittsburgh nursing students and 10-15 Capitol University nursing students will pilot test the International Ethics Link using the discussion board on Blackboard . Swigart intends to continue to expand the International Ethics Link concept, using Blackboard and the Internet to enhance international and cross-cultural understanding of ethics in health care.
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A newsletter devoted to the support of teaching and learning at the University of Pittsburgh |
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for Instructional Development & Distance Education |
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