Ethics Bound: Embedding Ethics into the City College General Core Curriculum

FAIN: AE-269233-20

City College (Billings, MT 59101-0245)
Austin Bennett (Project Director: July 2019 to July 2023)
Roger MadPlume (Co Project Director: November 2019 to July 2023)

A professional and curriculum development program that would embed ethics into the college’s general education curriculum.

Montana State University Billings City College general education faculty seeks to utilize a humanities initiative to embed applied ethics across the core curriculum through four themes: environmental, intercultural, medical, and technological. This solution will grow inter-disciplinary study among faculty, generate humanities-based resources, unify the general education curriculum, and expand ethical reasoning for 77% of Associate’s seeking students. To reach an institutionalized goal, a two-and-a-half year program of activities with at least 40 faculty contact hours, for nine full-time faculty, has been created with three phases: faculty development, curriculum development, and implementation and assessment. After establishing a working knowledge of applied ethics, faculty will create and implement an embedded curriculum, and produce a sustainable process for continual improvement.

Associated Products

Ethics across the Disciplines: An Embedded Curriculum for General Education (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Ethics across the Disciplines: An Embedded Curriculum for General Education
Author: Roger MadPlume
Author: Austin Grant Bennett
Abstract: Proposal Abstract: 77% of our student body will never take an ethics course at Montana State University Billings City College. These students enter the workforce and civic society ill-equipped especially in a time of climate change, persistent inequalities, and pandemic. Even so, our institution, like many others, is facing a financial crisis where the humanities have felt the most immediate impact. How then can we meet this need in a time of scarce resources? A mathematician and a writer have joined forces to create a cross-disciplinary, embedded curriculum that is both cost effective and impactful. During our interactive panel, we will present our National Endowment for the Humanities funded model. Instead of adding credits to our general education core, our department is in the process of binding our disciplines together through embedding ethics education into our core courses: writing, communications, and math. By doing so, we will unify our curriculum, increase our students’ ethical reasoning, and create a way to better assess our general education program through eportfolios. We will present an adaptive framework that addresses two fundamental questions: What is an embedded curriculum? How can it be achieved? After briefly situating our institution and our unique goals, we will define what an embedded curriculum is including reasons for its effectiveness and how it differs from a theme-based model. From there, we will describe our process to embed ethics education by engaging the audience through a series of reflective questions within four identifiable challenge categories: faculty insecurities, discipline specific issues, assessment, and institutional challenges. These challenge categories will help audience members consider their own unique challenges as well as provide us a framework to discuss our own creative solution rooted in a community of practice. With such wide ranging disciplines (i.e. math, English) and the need for unity, we implemented a shar
Date: 01/22/2021
Primary URL: https://www.eventscribe.com/2021/aacu-am21/agenda.asp?startdate=1/22/2021&enddate=1/22/2021&BCFO=EPORT&pfp=EPORT&fa=&fb=&fc=&fd=
Primary URL Description: Conference schedule; presentation description: The pandemic, global warming, and persistent inequalities highlight the need for a strong general education program. However, higher education’s financial crisis has felt its most immediate impact within the humanities. How can we meet this need in a time of scarce resources? A mathematician and a writer at City College at Montana State University have teamed up to create a cross-disciplinary, embedded ethics curriculum to meet this challenge. During our panel, we will define what an embedded curriculum looks like, including its effectiveness, and help audience members identify challenges and solutions to help achieve this end. In particular, we will emphasize the role of “community of practice” as a process that can unify general education faculty and strengthen core courses through a shared approach. The result: students are better equipped to positively affect society.
Conference Name: AAC&U 2021 Forum on Digital Learning and ePortfolios

Ethics Across the Disciplines: An Embedded Curriculum for General Education. In AAC&U 2020-2021 Forum on Digital Learning & ePortfolios: Graphical Takeaways. Association of American Colleges and Associations. (Database/Archive/Digital Edition)
Title: Ethics Across the Disciplines: An Embedded Curriculum for General Education. In AAC&U 2020-2021 Forum on Digital Learning & ePortfolios: Graphical Takeaways. Association of American Colleges and Associations.
Author: Roger MadPlume
Author: Austin Grant Bennett
Abstract: Graphical Takeaway of our embedded curricular model
Year: 2021
Primary URL: https://aacu.app.box.com/s/9rsnw7s2lci4jx071dx1nhsrbyfxn5ay
Primary URL Description: AAC&U Box slide deck
Access Model: Open Access

Doing More with Less: Embedding Cross-Disciplinary Outcomes into the English Major (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Doing More with Less: Embedding Cross-Disciplinary Outcomes into the English Major
Author: Austin Grant Bennett
Abstract: Proposal abstract: Many English departments continue to face a decline in student enrollment, institutional funding, and public support. Hence, there has been a push to reimagine the English major. However, any significant curricular revision is time intensive, costly, and fraught with systemic red tape. Furthermore, adding a new set of courses or a new degree track often is dependent on expertise and faculty lines. At Montana State University Billings, we’ve had a near 50% decline in English majors in recent years (2014-2019) and a similar decrease in tenure/tenure-track lines within our English, Philosophy, and Modern Languages department with no guarantee of adding any new lines. Yet, the need for critical thinking, cultural criticism, and ethical reasoning is at an all-time high considering the pandemic, global warming, and persistent inequalities. How then can we meet this need in a time of scarce resources? I propose an alternative approach by embedding cross-disciplinary outcomes into the English major curriculum. In the last two years, a colleague and I have created a National Endowment for the Humanities funded cross-curricular model initially focused on embedding ethics education into three core general education courses--writing, communication, and math--as a way of unifying our disciplines, increasing our students’ ethical reasoning, and creating a better way to assess our general education program through ePortfolios. However, this adaptive framework does not need to be limited to general education. In fact, it could allow English departments greater curricular flexibility while increasing student learning. Faculty can embed a cross-disciplinary outcome within a series of existing courses (i.e., ethics within a series of writing courses, digital humanities within a series of literature courses, or a combination of both) often at the department level without going through the university or system curriculum process. My interactive presentation...
Date: 03/31/2022
Conference Name: College English Association 2022 Conference

Hard to Change: Overcoming Curricular Challenges through Community of Practice (Forthcoming) (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Hard to Change: Overcoming Curricular Challenges through Community of Practice (Forthcoming)
Author: Roger MadPlume
Author: Austin Grant Bennett
Abstract: Proposal Abstract: Higher education is rapidly changing. Change is hard. Our interactive session will focus on the challenges of curricular change and how a community of practice can overcome these challenges. Two MSUB faculty will draw from our recent NEH funded program of embedding ethics education into our general education core classes.
Date: 10/08/2022

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