Roundtable: Evaluating the Teaching of Criminal Justice Ethics (From Teaching Criminal Justice Ethics: Strategic Issues, P 189-200, 1996, John Kleinig and Margaret Leland Smith, eds.)

• NCJ Number: 170185
• Editor(s): J Kleinig, M L Smith
• Date Published: 1996
• Length: 12 pages
• Sale Source: Anderson Publishing Co
• Publication Type: Conference Material
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Roundtable at a workshop on criminal justice ethics education held June 6-8, 1996, at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York.

Annotation

This roundtable discussion involving 15 experts in the field of ethics education reviews some of the evaluation techniques used by the participants and the relationship between evaluation techniques and the objectives of a specific course.

Abstract

Some of the evaluation techniques mentioned are pretest and posttest approaches that assess changes in student knowledge and attitudes due to the course. Another evaluation technique is to conduct follow-up surveys of students who have graduated and are involved in professional practice. Such surveys explore respondents' perceptions of the value and application of the ethics course. A similar technique involves surveying employers and intern supervisors about the ethical reasoning and behaviors of graduates who participated in ethics courses. Some members of the roundtable caution that ethics courses should not be designed to conform to measurable objectives, since ethical behavior involves attitudes, motivations, and behavioral modifications that may not be readily measured. This trend in the discussion led to debate and disagreement among roundtable participants about the goals of criminal justice ethics instruction. 12 notes