MEDEV

School of Medical Sciences Education Development

Introduction

At the Inter-Disciplinary Ethics Applied CETL,we believe that in order to teach ethics effectively, it is best for it to be properly integrated into programmes of study as this allows students to understand the relevance of ethical issues within the context of their discipline.

Our teaching materials have been developed with this in mind – they are easy to customise to suit different teaching needs, can provide the basis for short teaching sessions and can be easily assimilated into existing curricula. They can be used either by tutors who are new to teaching ethics, or by those who have more experience but want some further ideas and inspiration.

Launching in July 2008, this new section of our website comprises:

• An introduction to ethical thinking: our web based customisable teaching package designed to help colleagues from a range of disciplines to integrate ethics into their programmes of study.
• Online database of resources: contains teaching materials spanning a range of disciplines including business, medicine, engineering, biomedical sciences and sport.

Many of our resources provide the basis for short teaching sessions which can be easily assimilated into existing curricula. With an emphasis on discussion and independent thought, they will teach students the important skills of analysis, critical reasoning, argument and clarity of expression; skills which enable them to respond effectively to ethical issues and which can also be transferred to other areas of their work.

Within our resources database you will find:

• Case studies.
• Case scenarios and vignettes.
• Lesson plans.
• Reading lists and bibliographies.
• Lecture slides.
• Module outlines.
• Guides to teaching ethics.

They mostly provide the user with a ready to use resource that can be taken from the database and used with little or no further fine-tuning required. Other materials, such as the lecture slides and reading lists are intended to play a more inspirational role: rather than providing users with a complete ready to use lesson plan, the intention is to provide a resource to inform the user, helping them to develop their own classes and/or courses, and to spark ideas.