Signing Out of My Last Semester

It feels weird to be writing my last blog entry for this class, my last assignment before I get that diploma in my hands. It's nice to have a free-for-all blog entry for the last assignment. I'll try my best to summarize all that I've learned this semester.

I really enjoyed studying case studies, in class and out.

The Sandusky case broke just in time for a mid-semester chit-chat about ethical behavior. At heartbreaking as the story was, it brought on some great class discussion and tied directly into our course. No matter how different the ethical theories are, I think they all might agree that the Sandusky case was unethical to the highest degree...all except Egoism. I never really understood how looking out for only one person could be considered ethical in any format. I guess some philosopher had a few valid points to back up Egoism, but I just can't accept it as ethical.

I really liked discussing and hearing about past advertising ethical cases the most. A few I had heard of before, like Tylenol, but for the most part they were new to me. I think it has been good for all of us to have taken this course and heard these cases, so none of us go out into the real world and make the same mistake, big or small.

Using our group Twitter hash tag helped us all dive into live ethical cases instantly. I checked out #untj4470 every morning this semester and my classmates usually had an interesting new article for me to read. When the news dropped a story, it is assured that one of us immediately tweeted it for the rest of the class to see. I think this helped us to do “classwork” outside of class, without it being a pain. Current events interest us all and making that a part of our class was rewarding.

The last way we worked on case studies were through our papers with our groups. I had a group of people that I had never had any classes with. I'm not sorry about that at all. I know in my future, I will be thrown into groups of people that I have no prior relationship with. It was a great practice in teamwork. We formed our new relationships and worked diligently to make our case studies to the best of our abilities. My poor group of PR majors had to help me out with proofreading my parts the most, (Ad people!) but I think I got better over time. Well, all except that major “their” misspelling on my last blog entry...oops! Having these case study papers and blogs graded so harshly made me read and reread my work much more than I ever have before. I just knew that with each paper I turned in, I wanted to see less green ink than the last. I appreciate the tough grading. It really kept us on our feet and more aware about what we were writing.

Overall, I really enjoyed having Ethics as one of my last courses in my educational career. It has made me aware of poor ethical behavior and how to avoid these kinds of situations. I've also been able to become a more professional tweeter. Between following news stations, instead of just my crazy college friends, and keeping up with our class hash tag on Twitter, I feel like a more informed citizen and more like the “adult” I'm supposed to be.