(2) Intellectual property. In the documentary I mention above and in just about all of the other work in my class, we discuss IP issues--and then claim fair use for the materials we borrow from within the class. We talk about Creative Commons and other forms of share-alike licensing. But then we often disregard those rules in the creation of the class student-produced materials. By that I mean, there are images and audio that are attributed, of course, to those who created them but nonetheless used in the production intended for our class and for pedagogical purposes only that would require fees and legal agreements were they distributed beyond the walled off class project. We are at such a strange moment in the history of intellectual property, with everything changing and no one quite knowing what they want or why since the business model of so much online property remains in flux. I want my students to understand the IP issues--but I don't want their intellect and imagination fettered by it.
Randolph Hollingsworth on 24 Feb 11A study published recently in Business Education Digest (Keith, Perreault, and Chin 2009) explores students' perceptions of how prevalent and consequential ethical questions are in the business world. Surveys of business students at a midwestern university revealed that while 83 percent of students either "agree" or "strongly agree" that "situations where ethics may be called into question are frequently encountered in business," students underrate the ethical consequence of several potential conflicts....they found that women were more likely than men to believe that personal ethics and corporate behaviors should align and that ethics are essential to success.... women and men shared similar and relatively lax beliefs about what kinds of disciplinary action are appropriate, reinforcing the researchers' beliefs that more ethics education is necessary for business students.
