Advice to Future Students

I really enjoyed this class! You will learn lots of skills that will help you when you are applying for jobs, and when you are actually in the real world. A lot of the assignments were really interesting, but not too difficult. And the assignments helped me in other classes as well (like how to write a cover letter, and guidelines on effective power points).

I just have a few words of advice:

• Make the teaching site one of your favorites on your computer. If you check that page often then there is no way to fall behind. If you do the work, you'll get credit.
  
• Don't forget to do your blog!
• Make sure you pick your group members wisely, because you will be working with them for the rest of the semester.
  

Good luck this semester!

Ethics Research

Michael and I had a difficult time finding an example of ethical lapses and dehumanizing langauge. I had heard something awhile ago about an experiment with shock therapy but I wasn't able to find it. We eventually found an article about testing prisoners in Canada.

The link is here

The article discusses prisoners being used for medical testing. At one point in the article says:

"On March 24, 1949, an electroshock machine arrived at Kingston
Penitentiary, ushering in a new era in the treatment of ``nervous and
mental disorders.'' During an initial session, a monthly report says, ``a
good seizure was obtained'' when 225 volts of electricity surged through
one inmate."

I was shocked by this article, but somewhat surprised that it was so difficult to find a good example of an ethical lapse that included the language. We also kept coming across the same article about a prison experiment at Stanford that was very disturbing. To be completely honest, I didn't really enjoy this assignment because of the disturbing things that we found.

Ethical Lapses

I thought that the article was interesting, but not very shocking. While I was reading the article I found myself wondering how they defined "ethical lapses." Ethical lapses obviously means different things to different people, but the definition (in this study) would be important. The data seemed as if it needed to be taken with a grain of salt, considering there are probably a lot of workers who feel as if they or someone else has been wronged in the workplace. I also feel that there is a tendency for workers to gossip in the workplace, and consider something a problem whereas an outsider would not consider the issue an "ethical lapse."

Having said this, the survey was interesting. It does show that ethics will always be a controversial issue-- and an issue that needs to be dealt with in the workplace.

Writing on the Web

I think that the most important difference between writing on the web and writing on paper is the length. You need to get to your point quickly when you are writing on the web because people typically don't spend a lot of time reading websites. Your writing needs to be concise and it needs to be easy to navigate. I can't stand websites where you have to read a lot of information to find out one small fact. Headings are extremely useful because people are usually seeking out very specific information on the internet.

When you're writing on paper you still need to be aware of how the writing appears, but writing for the internet gives you more options for color and style. When it's on paper it's typically black type on white paper with maybe a colored logo... but on the internet you're able to make your writing stand out by adding more personality.

When you are transforming a document on paper to something on the web it would be helpful to add more headings and make it navigable.