What do we expect students to learn or do?

The Ethical Reasoning in Action (ERiA) program provides a robust ethical reasoning process guided by the 8 Key Questions (8KQs) strategy. ERiA programming is rooted in evidence-based theory about decision-making enabling students to meet five cognitive and two attitudinal learning outcomes:

1. Students will be able to state, from memory, all eight Key Questions (8KQs).
2. When given a specific decision and rationale on an ethical issue or dilemma, students will correctly identify the Key Question most consistent with the decision and rationale.
3. Given a specific scenario, students will identify appropriate considerations for each of the eight Key Questions (8KQs).
4. For a specific ethical situation or dilemma, students will evaluate courses of action by applying (weighing and, if necessary, balancing) the considerations raised by Key Questions.
5. Students will apply SLO 4 to their own personal, professional, and civic ethical cases.
6. Students will report that they view ethical reasoning skills as important.
7. Students will report increased confidence in their ability to use the ethical reasoning process.

The following video offers a thorough explanation of the 8KQ for those who are interested:

What experiences lead to student learning?

First-year students engage in two interventions: One Book and It’s Complicated. Prior to coming to campus, first-year students receive the One Book, which introduces incoming students to Ethical Reasoning in Action, It’s Complicated, and asks students to watch a video-recorded scenario. The One Book content links indirectly to SLO 6, the importance of ethical reasoning, as it emphasizes the overall program and its relevance to student learning.

It’s Complicated is the primary learning experience that scaffolds students’ 8KQs ethical reasoning skills. It’s Complicated involves a structured small-group process, facilitated by more than 150 trained faculty and staff volunteers during first-year orientation. All incoming first-year students (over 4,000 per year) grapple with and apply the 8KQ to a fictional ethical dilemma. The student affairs division in JMU supports and promotes the 8KQ strategy in residence halls, the health center, and recreation facilities. On a volunteer basis, many faculty embed the 8KQ in their courses as a way to elicit informed and robust discussion about the ethical dimension of subject material.

How do faculty and staff know whether students have learned?

Student achievement of program learning outcomes has been measured consistently for eight years. Data are collected during low-stakes Assessment Days that take place at first year orientation, and again in spring after earning 45-70 credit hours. Assessments were designed by content experts and psychometricians to align with learning outcomes. A full technical report may be found online.

On the Ethical Reasoning Recall Test (ERRT) students are asked to recall and explain the 8KQ from rote memory (SLO #1).

Can students identify the appropriate 8KQ when provided with scenarios?

On the 50-item Ethical Reasoning Identification Test (ERIT) students are asked to consider a scenario and choose the key question most applicable to the decision or rationale presented in the scenario. The ERIT aligns with SLO #2 and #3.

The first cohort (2013-2014) to receive the It’s Complicated program scored statistically and meaningfully higher than a baseline cohort (2012-2013) with no exposure to the 8KQ. The trend has continued across all years of ERIT administration.

Can students evaluate courses of action by applying (weighing and balancing) considerations raised by 8KQ?

The Ethical Reasoning Writing Rubric (ERWR) is used to rate students’ essays asking them to apply, analyze, and weigh the 8KQ while reasoning through an ethical dilemma (SLO #4 and SLO #5).

Institutional performance benchmarks were that students would score 2 (“Good”) on the ERWR. Although scores are consistently higher than baseline pre-program scores, on average, students tended to score between 1 (“Marginal”) and 2 (“Good”).

Students also self-report importance for and confidence in their ability to ethically reason, which is evaluated by the Survey of Ethical Reasoning (SER; SLO #6 and SLO #7). On a scale of 1 to 5, on average, 2019 first-year students' self-reported importance of ethical reasoning was 4.53 (“important”) and their confidence in their ability to ethically reason was 4.01 (“agree”). Students' importance and confidence tends not to increase from first-year to when they have between 45-70 credits.

In addition to university-level assessment, the 8KQ strategy has prompted scholarship in the form of articles, book chapters, and dissertation projects. Of note, a dissertation by Kristen Smith demonstrated that with adequate instruction, students can learn to ethically reason at a high level using the 8KQ.