These materials provide an overview of EthAssist -- an online teaching and learning tool designed to help users (1) identify the ethical dimension of their choices and (2) deliberate more effectively about how to resolve ethical conflicts. The session will be a live demonstration of the tool.

1.
Presentation materials for:
Eth-Assist: A Tool for Ethics Teaching and Learning Online
Presented as part of the panel on Enhancing the Human Potential:
Innovative Tools for Teaching in the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences
Western Consortium for Educational Technology (WCET) 21st Annual Conference
Presenter contact info: Nancy J. Matchett, PhD
Director, Institute of Professional Ethics
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
University of Northern Colorado
Greeley, CO 80639
nancy.matchett@unco; 970-351-1567
Abstract: EthAssist is an online teaching and learning tool designed to help users (1)
identify the ethical dimension of their choices and (2) deliberate more effectively about
how to resolve ethical conflicts. It is informed by ethical theory, but rather than teaching
the theory didactically the tool engages users in the process of applying theoretical
insights to concrete issues. This session is designed to provide participants with a
hands-on demonstration and discuss ways the tool can be used to facilitate ethical
inquiry about any subject and within any discipline.
EthAssist is still under development, but the prototype is the guided deliberation process
of the online Center for Ethical Deliberation. The pages below contain screen-shots
from the existing guided deliberation process along with notes about how it is being
improved and transformed into EthAssist.
Please note
• The online Center for Ethical Deliberation (CED) is currently hosted at
http://www.mcb.unco.edu/ced/index.cfm, though it is undergoing a design overhaul
and will move at some point in the next 6 months.
• The CED is a project of the University of Northern Colorado’s Institute of
Professional Ethics. More information about how the CED can be incorporated into
ethics teaching and learning can be found here:
http://www.unco.edu/ethics/our_activities.html#B
• The “three frameworks” approach to ethical deliberation has also served as the basis
for the online Responsible Conduct of Research training modules found here:
http://www.democmesite.cme.uab.edu/ORI/Case_Study/default.html and here:
http://www.uab.edu/graduate/rcr/index.html
The Institute of Professional Ethics is always looking for collaborators. If you are
interested in helping to develop additional content for the CED website, or if you would
like more information about how to incorporate the EthAssist tool in your own teaching
or professional development work, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

2.
THREE ETHICAL FRAMEWORKS
(The central architecture of the Eth-Assist Tool)
CONSEQUENCES DUTIES VIRTUES
Each framework What kind of outcomes What are my What kind of person
focuses on a central should I produce (or try obligations in this should I be, and
question → to produce)? situation, and what what will my actions
are the things I show about my
which guides should never do? character?
deliberation through
all three stages
↓
S Perception: specific Directs attention to the Always keeps an Attempts to discern
T features to which future effects of all eye on the duties character traits
A attention is primarily possible courses of that exist prior to (virtues and vices)
G directed action, for all people the current situation that are, or could be,
E who will be directly or and determine motivating the
S indirectly affected by peopleʼs people involved in
the action. obligations within the current situation.
O the situation.
F
E Judgment: Ethical conduct is Ethical conduct Ethical conduct is
T conception of value whatever will likely involves acting on whatever a fully
H used to anchor ethical achieve the best established moral virtuous person
I judgments consequences (a principles or rules would do in the
C consequentialist thinker (a duty thinker circumstances (a
A needs to explain why needs to explain virtue thinker needs
L certain outcomes are why certain to explain why
especially desirable or principles or rules specific character
D important to produce). are obligatory). traits are important
E for human beings to
L develop).
I
B
E Motivation: reasons Aim is to produce the Aim is to live up to Aim is to develop
R for living an ethical life most good in the world. oneʼs obligations – truly excellent
A Everyone benefits, obeying constraints character, making
T including the self. on behavior that all the most of oneʼs
I people have good individual nature in a
O reason to accept wider social context.
N

3.
Overview of the EthAssist Tool
EthAssist will guide users through four stages of ethical deliberation. While novice users are
encouraged to go through all stages in order, any user will have the option to visit single stages
in isolation. The tool can be used to analyze an already existing resolution to a theoretical or
practical issue, or to deliberate about issues users wish to resolve on their own. (Note: Screen
shots are taken from the existing Guided Deliberation Process, which serves as a prototype but
will be completely replaced by EthAssist)
STAGE 1 – Describing the Situation: users describe their present concern and are given the
opportunity to tailor the site resources to their specific interests or needs.
Any text
inside
boxes is
added by
users.
Subsequent steps within the re‐designed version of this stage will include:
 Advice on how to select the most appropriate framework given the user’s stated
interests and concerns.
 The ability to review and draw from any existing site content on a particular topic (e.g.
‘Aristotle’ or ‘whistle‐blowing’ or ‘integrity’).
 The ability to select issue‐specific, discipline‐specific, or profession‐specific modules as
they become available (e.g., “ethics in Public Relations). Such modules will cause
subsequent stages to be focused on appropriate subsets of site content.

4.
 The option to provide demographic data that may be of interest to scholars relying on
data from the site.
STAGE 2 – Honing Perception: users are prompted to identify additional features of the
situation that are ethically significant, but which the user may not have noticed.
N.B.: user text
entered in boxes
here becomes fixed
text for further
reflection in sub‐
sequent stages (see
next page). This
occurs throughout
the process.
Prompts during this stage vary depending on the ethical framework and/or module selected in
Stage 1.
 The Consequences Framework (shown in the sample above) focuses user attention on the
likely outcomes of the various courses of action available in the situation.
 The Duties Framework focuses attention on the obligations that are likely to exist in the
situation.
 The Virtues Framework focuses attention on the character traits that are likely to motivate
people in the situation.
Subsequent prompts during Stage (2) give users the opportunity to reflect on and add detail to
their previous inputs (see the screen shot on the next page for a sample).

5.
Additional Detail of Stage 2
Links enable users to see how others
have completed this stage and access
New links will facilitate other site content.
informal, social‐networking
as well as coaching by
dedicated teacher/trainers.
Bold face text shown here
created from the user’s
own previous inputs.
Additional text input here
becomes fixed text in
subsequent steps/stages.
Clicking the Proceed button
takes user to the next step
The Deliberation Map enables users to
within the currently
customize their own path through the
selected framework.
site (moving between frameworks
and/or skipping stages as appropriate).

6.
STAGE 3 ‐ Clarifying Judgment: users are prompted to identify the specific values, principles or
ideals that anchor their final judgments (or ground the analysis found in another text).
Hyperlinks
encourage users to
review content
elsewhere on the
CED website. (Detail
of the “Perspectives”
area is provided on
the last page of this
attachment.)
This stage encourages users to review a variety of ethical perspectives. The architecture of the
site treats each perspective is as a specific way of looking through one or more of the three
frameworks.
 Each perspective articulates and defends a specific (set of) ethical value(s), principle(s) or
ideal(s).
 As scholars to analyze existing works use the site, additional perspectives will become
available for other users to review and consider (required database modifications).
 Perspectives that simply cannot be made to fit within any of the three frameworks will be
tagged as outliers (another database modification). Scholars can access this database to
open up new lines of inquiry into how theoretical constructs relate to the ethical life.
 Again, subsequent steps within this stage give users the opportunity to reflect further on
any content they input to the site.

7.
STAGE 4 ‐ Cultivating Motivation: users are prompted to consider whether they will in fact do
the action they have judged to be ethically appropriate, and more broadly, to reflect on the
nature and scope of the human desire to life ethically.
User response determines
subsequent prompts. N.B.:
here and elsewhere, text
will be revised to be more
compatible with scholarly
analysis as well as novice
deliberation.
Subsequent steps within this will stage enable the user to:
 Identify the main obstacles to ethical motivation, along with strategies to overcome them.
 Reflect on the question, “Why be ethical?”
 Search the database for techniques and suggestions provided by other users and/or based
on specific scholarly perspectives.
Finally, the option to “submit for analysis” will be completely revised to enable users to request
feedback from and/or provide feedback to other users.
 The submission link will be separated from the deliberation map since it is largely
independent of the deliberative structure built into the site architecture.
 Search functions will enable users to browse the most recent submissions or to review
submissions based on specific criteria (framework, module, user demographic, etc.).

8.
Sample of additional CED website content: EthAssist will interact with this content in two ways
1) Links within the EthAssist tool encourage users (especially novices) to review and reflect on
various responses to the broad ethical question of how one should live.
2) Scholars who use the site to analyze important texts will be encouraged to post their results
additional perspectives, issue analyses, etc.
Each link allows
the user to
access deeper
layers of the site
content. Page
layouts provide a
visual represen‐
tation of key
conceptual
relationships.
Sample of additional detail found under
perspective links.
Deepest links will go to open
source full text scholarly works
(whenever possible).