This final project of the semester is designed to simulate workplace demands for productive group processes as well as to address issues of ethical importance to the next century. Further, it exposes students to the standards for preparing a poster session at a professional social sciences conference following APA standards. It is the responsibility of the group members to communicate, whether electronically, by telephone, or in person, to coordinate this presentation.

GOALS

This project serves several purposes:

• to enable students divided by distance to work closely together
• to promote creativity and cyber communication skills in coordinating group efforts
• to involve students in serious ethical issues which may confront them already within their majors or affect them in their future careers
• to provide the opportunity to exercise oral communication skills
• to create a shared awareness of the impact of ethical dilemmas on other professional groups
• to provide a forum for poster presentations which follow professionally acceptable guidelines
• to promote audience awareness within and outside of one's major field

SUBJECT

Each group, usually divided by major, will identify and agree upon an ethical issue within the major or related field, which is now or will be in the future an unresolved issue for a significant section of the professional population. The task of the work group is to present to the class as a whole:

• the background of history which led up to this dilemma
• the nature of the problem at present and in the future
• the existing controls or lack thereof which impact the issue
• the impact of the issue on professionals and on students or trainees
• (most important) concrete and practicable proposal(s) for ethical codes, industry standards, or other approaches to control/correct this difficulty. This should be the focus of the poster.

PRESENTATION

The group will present its materials to the class in a manner which includes the following elements:

• visible participation by every group member; one member should remain by the poster on presentation day to answer questions from and discuss results with class members and the instructor, all of whom will be viewing and critiquing the posters
• 25 copies of a handout for class members, with summary of the presentation on the front and works cited for the presentation on the back
• a trifold (or equivalent) poster for each group, following APA and Psi Chi guidelines distributed in class
• a bibliography of ten or more sources consulted for this presentation. Expert human sources are encouraged. It should appear both on the poster and in the handout

GRADING

Each group will submit the following on paper. These items with be due to the instructor on presentation night

• a sheet listing members' names and individual responsibilities
• a copy of the handout distributed to the class
• a brief diary of the group's approach, work processes, problems, triumphs, and final results
• an evaluation by each group member of the other members' participation. This last can only be completed in class on presentation night.

In addition, the presentation itself will be evaluated on these criteria:

• choice of an appropriate and important ethical concern by each group
• clear identification of the ethical questions presented
• thorough presentation of the implications and practical problems posed by the topic
• quality of solutions to the ethical dilemma selected
• quality of the poster as evaluated by class members and instructors on evaluation sheets provided by the instructor
• relevance and conciseness of the handout
• ability of each group's representative to respond to questions and concerns about the group's findings
• adherence to formal requirements for poster preparation

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