INSTRUCTIONS
Search the literature related to ethical behavior, diversity, and civil discourse in the context of your particular focus and specialization and choose one main concern for each of these domains to analyze in the literature review section of your assessment. You will apply the scholarly research skills you began building in the Literature Review to focus on challenges relevant to these domains and inherent in your specialization. Going one step further, you will then choose and explain the main challenges in your specialization, as suggested by your review. Note that you are writing a condensed literature review for this assessment.
Ethical behavior, diversity, and civil discourse are subjects not easily defined for study; for additional information on these concepts and how they inform the assessment, read:
Library Research
The literature that you will select and discuss in this assessment is totally distinct from those sources that you located and discussed in Assessment 2, meaning that you will need to find additional scholarly sources for this assessment. However, the skills you employed in that assessment will apply here. You will need to find at least five scholarly sources. Up to two of these can be seminal works and the remaining must be peer-reviewed articles no older than seven years.
- Refer to the EdD Program Library Research Guide.
- If you have questions about gathering articles or other materials, refer to the Library Help page for personal assistance through chat, e-mail, or phone.
Exemplar
You may use the following to give you an idea of what a Proficient or higher rating on the scoring guide would look like: Assessment 3 Exemplar [PDF].
When writing this literature review, be sure to:
- Incorporate at least five scholarly sources. Up to two of these can be seminal works and the remaining must be peer-reviewed articles no older than seven years.
- Use the Sample Course Paper Template [DOCX] as a guide for formatting and organizing your paper.
- Write in third person.
Paper Organization
Organize your paper with the following sections:
Title page
- Include a title page with the following title: Ethical Behavior, Diversity, Civil Discourse, and [Name of Your Specialization]: A Literature Review.
Introduction
- Your introduction needs to tell the reader the focus of your paper. Summarize the issues you selected from the literature and provide a summary or road map for the content included in your paper. The introduction should alert the reader to background or the context of your paper’s main idea. An in-text citation is often added to further support your paper’s focus. The length of an introductory paragraph should be up to one-half page.
Overview of Issues
- Describe connections among issues of ethical behavior, diversity, and civil discourse and a given educational specialization.
- Subsection: Diversity issue related to specialization.
- Provide detailed descriptions and examples of how the issues you chose to review specifically relate to your specialization.
- Subsection: Ethical behavior issue related to specialization.
- Provide detailed descriptions and examples of how the issue you chose to review specifically relates to your specialization.
- Subsection: Civil discourse issue related to specialization.
- Provide detailed descriptions and examples of how the issue you chose to review specifically relates to your specialization.
- Subsection: Diversity issue related to specialization.
Review of the Literature
- Analyze this scholarly literature, focusing on the connections between your educational specialization and the issues of ethical behavior, diversity, and civil discourse you chose to research.
- Evaluate challenges posed by issues of ethical behavior, diversity, and civil discourse in a professional educational setting.
Conclusion
- Your conclusion should emphasize the main themes in your paper and synthesize the literature reviewed, with special attention to the connections and relationships among the issues you chose to research and your educational specialization.
References
- Incorporate least five peer-reviewed articles on the chosen topic no older than seven years. Your must cite references in text, format your citations according to APA style and format, and include a properly formatted reference page.
In addition to the requirements outlined above, your assessment should meet the following:
- Assessment template: Use the supplied Sample Course Paper Template for the assessment.
- Written communication: Ensure that written communication is free of errors that detract from the overall message. Visit Writing Support for assistance.
- Sources: Incorporate at least five scholarly sources. Up to two of these may be seminal works and the remaining must be peer-reviewed articles no older than five years.
- APA formatting: Use appropriate APA style and formatting for citations and references. Refer to Academic Writer or Evidence and APA in the Capella Writing Center.
- Length: The paper should be 5–7 pages, not including the title page and references page.
Ethical behavior, diversity, and civil discourse are subjects not easily defined for study. We can point to perceived differences between people and cultures; however, that is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg, ignoring the effects of those differences in a given context. Additionally, focus on ethical behavior, diversity, and civil discourse usually requires value comparisons and judgments, rather than a “one side versus the other” approach.
In the context of the field of education, the effects of ethical behavior, diversity, and civil discourse on individuals and organizations cannot be ignored. The challenges of adopting a broad view of difference and creating an equitable learning experience for all whom we lead are many, and they are not easily met. However, the professional literature of the field is a rich resource of tools, research, and practical experience and application.
At first glance, ethical practice might seem to be a very simple concept—just do the right thing! Upon closer examination, however, the student of ethical practice discovers that commitment to this precept challenges educators upon their encounters with ethical dilemmas. Shapiro and Stefkovich (1996) ask a defining question:
According to John Dewey (1908), ethics is the science that deals with conduct insofar as this is considered to be right or wrong, good or bad….Looking at this definition from a critical perspective, one might ask: Ethics approved by whom? Right or wrong according to whom? (p. 2)
Ethical behavior is relatively easy when faced with right versus wrong; one simply does the right thing. Ethical dilemmas surface, though, when facing more complex decisions that involve right versus right.
Diversity in all organization settings can take many forms. We may consider differences across many criteria, including the following:
- Ethnicity.
- Ethnic identity.
- Gender.
- Gender identity.
- Culture.
- Ability and disability.
- Developmental criteria.
- Age and generation.
- Other exceptionalities.
When taking account of this diversity, the principles of multicultural education encourage us to acknowledge differences, addressing the reality of each person’s experience and seeking the best possible outcomes for all. Diversity and multicultural education theories indicate that an important role of educators is to plan for and implement educational practices that recognize the diverse needs of the people they serve.
Reference
Shapiro, J. P., & Stefkovich, J. A. (1996). Dealing with dilemmas in a morally polarized era: The conflicting ethical codes of educational leaders. http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED402675.pdf