By Alexa Emerson, Class of 2017
CUEthos is an interactive solution designed to help Clemson students, faculty and organizations identify and reinforce the ethical values that make Clemson unique. Through structured discussion of ethical dilemmas and related activities, this initiative gets students thinking from a practical and ethical standpoint about what makes the Clemson experience so special. The result of a partnership between the Rutland Institute for Ethics and interactive software provider Novareté, the platform was rolled out across campus on the first day of classes and is available to everyone at Clemson. Incoming students will become familiar with the system with a required assignment involving CUEthos.
While it is new to Clemson, CUEthos has already proved its worth in becoming a practical classroom tool.
How faculty can benefit
Campus CUEthos administrator Kelly Smith is working with members of the faculty to tailor the system to their instructional needs. For example, Janice Latham in Nursing will ask her nursing students to write discussion prompts for issues in nursing ethics, then compare the class discussion to what others at Clemson have to say about them.
CUEthos also has discussion features that can help student groups have ongoing conversations with their members. With this flexibility, the Rutland Institute hopes one day to see CUEthos used extensively for everything from event planning to training in responsible conduct of research.
Clemson students have been actively involved in the design and implementation of the system from the very beginning and faculty are invited to come up with new ideas about how they can use it for their own purposes. The Rutland Institute can provide support to start promising new initiatives. Those interested in learning more about CUEthos should contact Kelly Smith at kcs@clemson.edu.
