Samuel Khan, School of Liberal Arts
Principal Investigator: Samuel Khan, assistant professor, Department of Philosophy, School of Liberal Arts
Project Title: Online Version of Phil-P393 Biomedical Ethics/Phil-P547 Foundations of Bioethics
Funding Level: $5,000
Abstract:
An online version of P393/P547 (Biomedical Ethics/Foundations of Bioethics) is proposed. The purpose of this course is threefold: (1) to extend existing online philosophy course offerings (built up largely by Victoria Rogers, who is retiring soon but who generously has agreed to serve as mentor for this project); (2) to bolster the philosophy department MA bioethics concentration (weakened recently by the loss of two faculty members); and (3) to cater to the needs of IUPUI’s significant population of students seeking professional degrees, especially in health care related fields (students who often find it difficult to take courses on campus outside their programs given their other responsibilities). The course will be organized into a series of modules with associated audiovisual material (with synchronous organizers to ensure timely completion according to a specific schedule) and accompanying reading selections (asynchronous organizers to be completed at the student’s own pace). Each module will begin with linear elements to provide guidance before moving to a more nonlinear approach, with open learning environments to foster engagement and to enable students to apply learned material in interactive and complex situations. In this way, the course will cultivate students’ ability to “understand ethical principles within diverse cultural, social, environmental and personal settings” and also their ability to “make informed and principled choices and to foresee consequences of these choices,” thereby satisfying the learning outcomes associated with the PULs and, in particular, PUL 6: Values and Ethics.
