Can Happiness Be Taught? Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar has taught Harvard University’s most popular course: a course on Positive Psychology; that is, he taught his students how to be happy. The course, called PSY 1504 – Positive Psychology,is described as follows: “The course focuses on the psychological aspects of a fulfilling... Read more →

Boise State's Experiences Last month it was announced that Boise State University was suspending a course following allegations that the in-class instruction had humiliated and degraded some students over their beliefs and values. The suspension affected roughly 1,300 students in 52 sections of UF 200: Foundations of Ethics and Diversity,... Read more →

The Good and the Bad I recently read a study by the Vanderbilt Center for Teaching that provides a useful perspective on the usefulness of teacher evaluations. Students have been evaluating teaching performance for many years so the time is right to reflect on the findings. As a professor emeritus... Read more →

The Key to Saving Society From Itself Most educators are aware of the importance of technical skills in fields like accounting, computer technology, engineering, finance, and the sciences but do not necessarily recognize the importance of “soft skills” to carry out technical skills in a way that communicates personal values... Read more →

Engaging Students With Online Instruction My “Ethics Sage” blog this past Tuesday addressed some of the questions for instructors in preparing to create e-Learning experiences using Zoom. Here are those questions. What techniques are available for E-Learning? What are the limitations of E-Learning? How can we develop and nurture an... Read more →

Why Ethics Education is So Important Today! Earlier this week I blogged about “What Should Be the Goals of Ethics Education”? In today’s blog I expand on those thoughts to address tips for teaching ethics. First, let’s look at whether the way ethics is traditionally taught is the best approach.... Read more →

LSU Football Program Under a Microscope Recent allegations that the Louisiana State University (LSU) dismissed charges of sexual harassment by one of its star football players brings into question the culture of the athletic department and university. It seems quite evident it is a culture that tolerates misbehavior. The LSU... Read more →

Do the Ends Justify the Means? It’s no surprise to me that many college students are finding ways to cheat during online testing in our COVID-19 environment. According to a survey by Wiley, 93 percent of instructors think students are more likely to cheat online than in person. One-third said... Read more →

A Note About Moral Responsibility I have been wondering whether professors like myself, who are known as ethicists, behave any differently than non-ethicists. After all, if we do not then perhaps we’re not the experts in ethics that we pretend to be. If this is true, what might be the... Read more →

A Cost-Benefit Analysis I recently read an article in the Harvard Business Review about a study of the relationship between the university rank and performance of graduates. The students came from 294 universities that ranked from Top 10 to about top 20,000 in the Webometrics global university rankings that rank... Read more →