[ED-TECH] Ethical preparation of our students

Ed-Tech List Members,

It was exciting to see the $1,000,000 gift given to UM's excellent Ethics Program recently. I know nothing about how the money will be used, other than announcements such as that provided below. The ethical preparation of our outstanding students is one of those tasks that cannot be relegated to a single course, program, or instructor. Like critical thinking and communication skills, ethics develops slowly. It requires integration into every learning activity. We all serve as role models and mentors. Each topic that we cover and assignment that we give is an opportunity to touch on this thought-provoking concept and allow our wonderful students to grapple with the challenging and personal issues related to it.

If you have already integrated the ethical development of our students into your teaching, please participate in the planning activity below. Bring your valuable experience to the table so that the planned debate program, speaker series, and research projects will build upon the exciting successes we have already achieved. If ethical development of the students has not been part of your responsibility in the past, please attend as an observer in order to think about how you might integrate these vital activities into your classes and become more involved in this overarching learning outcome, the awesome responsibility for which we all share.

RSVP to ethics@miami.edu by noon on Tuesday if you can attend...

• Coral Gables campus - 9 a.m., Wednesday, May 10, Whitten Center, Flamingo Ballroom A (continental breakfast provided)
• Medical campus - 1:15 p.m., Wednesday, May 10, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, Room 1301 (lunch provided)
• Marine campus - TBD

Bill Vilberg

Assoc. Dir. of Instructional Advancement

305-284-3944

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From: Dunbar, Gary [mailto:GDunbar@med.miami.edu]
Sent: Friday, May 05, 2006 2:42 PM
To: ethics@miami.edu
Subject:

Dear Colleagues,

UM's Ethics Programs have a 15-year history of contributing to education, research and community service on all three campuses. As perhaps you've heard, we've just received an extraordinary gift of $1 million from Adrienne Arsht, a community leader and philanthropist.

The gift is dedicated to three efforts: an undergraduate ethics debate program, a distinguished speaker series and faculty-student research projects.

To make the most of these, we're holding a series of meetings to introduce faculty to the projects and to solicit advice and recommendations. Faculty with a serious interest in contributing to ethics education and research will be invited to be Ethics Program Associates. All faculty will be eligible to apply for research support under the terms of the gift.

The first meetings have been set as follows. Any faculty member may attend any session on any campus. More meetings will be scheduled in the fall.

(These meetings will take the place of the regular monthly faculty meeting.)

+ Coral Gables campus - 9 a.m., Wednesday, May 10, Whitten Center,

Flamingo Ballroom A (continental breakfast provided)

+ Medical campus - 1:15 p.m., Wednesday, May 10,

Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, Room 1301 (lunch provided)

+ Marine campus - TBD

If you are interested in attending one of these sessions and thus participating in this exciting initiative, please send email to ethics@miami.edu by noon on Tuesday the 9th. Please email either of us with questions. We look forward to working with you!

Anita Cava Ken Goodman

acava@miami.edu kgoodman@miami.edu

(Aplogizies for any cross postings.)

University of Miami Ethics Programs

P.O. Box 016960 (M-825)

Miami, FL 33101

Voice: 305 243 5723

Fax: 305 243 6416

Email: ethics@miami.edu

WWW: http://www.miami.edu/ethics/

[ED-TECH] Big Ideas

Ed-Tech List Members,

[I know you may be terribly busy at the moment. If so, hold onto this until your grades are turned in and your semester is completed. Then come back and check it out.]

I have been listening to the most incredible lectures on a wide-range of subjects lately. These lectures are an a variety of subjects and, to my surprise, I am completely captivated by well more than half of them.

- I listed to an incredibly interesting presentation on the historical connection between the Cuban people and America. It was ironic to be walking my dog in Miami, listening to a professor from Univ. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, giving a lecture in Toronto, Ontario, about a subject so relevant to me in Miami.

- I listened to a number of speakers talk about Venezuela under Hugo Chavez: how it came to be, what it means, and what is happening: an absolutely fascinating discussion about a topic in which I thought I had no interest, and certainly had no previous knowledge.

- I listened to two talks about the Muslim religion, including one that was a dialog with Daniel Pearl's father and a professor of Islamic studies. How wonderful to be able to hear about this religion, what it values, and how most Muslims view the acts of the more radical fringe.

- Last night I heard the most amazing presentation on creating the "God experience" in the laboratory: the ability to generate a sense of an "other" through electro-magnetic stimulation. This was a brilliant presentation on belief and science, and how they are coming together.

You may know all of this and find it boring, or even sad that I am just learning about it these topics. You may even be an expert in one of these fields, disagree with the presenter's viewpoint, and wish I wasn't being influenced by these people. For me, these recordings are opening my understanding of a wide-range of subjects. I listen to these exciting lectures as I walk our dog or ride to/from work on the Bus/Rail each day. Each week I look forward to the two new lectures that get downloaded to my iPod.

The series of produced by TVO, the TV Ontario educational television station, located in Toronto. Here is their description of the series:

Big Ideas offers lectures on a variety of thought-provoking topics which range across politics, culture, economics, art history, science.... By nature of its lecture format, pacing and inquisitive approach, it is the antithesis of the prevailing sound-bite television norm. Engaging, articulate speakers stand behind lecterns across Ontario addressing audiences - a stark, on-air aesthetic running counter to fast edits and whizzy sound effects.

I would think that many of you might be able to find material here that could be incorporated into your courses. The students could all listen to the lecture before class and then they could discuss it and apply what you are teaching to it during class, or something like that. What do you think?

The web site for the show is http://www.tvo.org/bigideas and the easiest way to listen to the shows is to use iTunes. There is a button on the TVO home page that you can use to access the Big Ideas page in iTunes. Then you can click on any episode to select it and click on the Play button to listen to it. No need to even download the files or subscribe to the feed, if you don't want to. If you want to try this and run into problems, let me know and I will try to help, OK?

Bill Vilberg

[ED-TECH] Excellence in Teaching celebration - Today, 3 PM, Lowe Art Museum

Ed-tech list members,

If you happen to be on campus and available at 3:00 PM today, Tuesday, May 2, I hope that you can come by the Excellence in Teaching celebration at the Lowe Art Museum. The Provost will make some comments at 3:00 PM, followed by the presentation of this year's Excellence in Teaching awards. The reception should begin by 3:45 PM. No reservation is necessary, just come and bring your colleagues.

We understand that many of you have other commitments during this busy time at the end of the school year. But if you are free, please stop by and help us celebrate the excellent teaching that is done by you and others each and every day. This event is a celebration of faculty teaching. Commencement is a celebration of student learning. We have a lot to celebrate, thanks to what you do.

Bill Vilberg

Assoc. Dir. of Instructional Advancement

305-284-3944