Thursday, August 1, 2013

A634.9.5.RB - Shuck, Allison

A Reflection

Three new facts that I learned throughout this course!   
1.      Affirmative Action
“Affirmative Action is the practice of giving special consideration to minorities and women in hiring and school placement” (LaFollette, 2010, Pg. 87). Before taking this class, I was not fully aware of this concept; I only had a very vague view of what affirmative action was.  It wasn’t until after learning the concept and witnessing a case in which someone was a victim of discrimination, that I fully understood the realities of affirmative action. By learning and understand concepts such as this, I can gain a better understanding of ethics and the many ethical dilemmas that take place in the world around me.  

2.      Consequentialism & Deontology
I found both the theory of consequentialism and deontology to be very interesting. Before taking this class, I never really rationalize the theory behind why we do the things we do. The theory of consequentialism claims that we are morally obligated to act in ways the produce the best consequence” (LaFollette, 2010, Pg. 23). And, the theory of Deontology claims that one must act in ways that circumscribe to moral rules and rights. Meaning that we should not base our decisions on what consequence is best; we should base our decisions on what is morally right. Of the two theories, the theory of consequentialism is more relative to how I analyze my thoughts; however, the theory of deontology provides a different view of how I can frame my actions in the future.  

3.      Slippery Slope Arguments
Of all the different concepts I learned throughout this course, I really liked learning about slippery slope arguments. Why, because it was interesting to learn how we frame our arguments; and, how plausible and implausible they might be. Slippery Slope Arguments claim that, if A then B, if B then C, if C then D, not-D; therefore, not-A. For example, my plausible slippery slope argument that I used in discussion 5.2 stated that “I am an enabler because I constantly give my sister money, even when she neglects her responsibilities. For example, my sister will ask me if she can mow the lawn for $20. And, because I am a nice person, I say yes, but when it actually comes time to mow the lawn, she is nowhere to be found. As a result of my sister’s actions, I have been diligently trying to refrain from giving her money. Therefore, it can be concluded that if I continue to give her money, she will continue to abuse me and think that she does not have to get a real job”. 

Personal Perspective and Ways to Improve
One way in which I can improve my learning experience is to fully commit to the course. I often find myself distracted, like I would rather be doing anything else in the world, which is not helping me what so ever. I guess my distraction is in part due to my struggle with online classes. I find it really hard to discipline myself and my time. In addition, I also find it is hard to collect my thoughts; and, having multiple writing assignments about the same thing each week is also a deterrent. Thus, I end up turning some if not all of my assignments in late.

That being said, my goals are: 
·         To better manage my time
·         Participate fully
·         Do the research and gather my thoughts
·         Stop procrastinating

Additional Support
One way in which an online instructor could provide additional support would be through the use video. For example, if everyone in the class is having trouble with an assignment, the instructor could make a short video explaining how the assignment is to be conducted and post it to announcements. Some people including myself are visual learners; thus, it can be difficult for us to grasp an idea fully without first visualizing it.

Relevant and Irrelevant Topics
I felt that all of the topics discussed within the class were relevant; however, I felt that some of them were repetitive. It is very difficult to write about ethics in society, in organizations and in law when they are all relatively similar topics. 

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