No abstract

Professors are often the first to introduce students to career-specific ethical dilemmas. Standard teaching methods for ethical classwork are mundane, typically involving lectures and case studies; however, research concludes that students have the best results from educational experiences when able to influence course composition. The authors examine career-specific teaching methodologies as recommended by students. Through a qualitative design, students were asked how professors could help them recognize and respond to ethical dilemmas. The authors explore what new behavioral approaches hold the most promise in helping students engage in ethical training so that ethical tendencies carry beyond graduation. In a survey of 59 students, participants preferred to practice facing ethical dilemmas in a safe classroom setting to learn how to respond to challenges in professional environments. Most respondents felt that instruction was most effective when field-specific (e.g. auditing courses for accounting majors) rather than approaching ethics broadly in a general business context.