Dioptra for Teaching
Dioptra can help in university teaching and corporate training. Here are some common educational practices.
Teaching ethical decision frameworks
Dioptra helps students structure problems, but does not force a particular decision framework. They can build their own, combining principles such as justice or caring, with utilitarian analysis, virtues, heuristics (e.g., the newspaper test), and divine commands.
Alternatively, instructors can ask students to use specific decision frameworks. For example, they might ask them to use justice for one case and utilitarianism for another.
Self-reflection
Dioptra can force students to be explicit about their own decision practices. This can encourage self-reflection.
Dioptra stores ethical analyses over time. Students can see how their decision practices change as they learn more about ethics.
Using cases
Dioptra is case oriented. Every decision project is a decision about a particular problem. Cases are widely used in ethics instruction.
Using groups
Dioptra supports group interaction. For example, the discussion tool (1) helps students communicate in real time (like chat) or at different times (like a discussion forum), (2) lets students send anonymous messages, so they can say things they might think are unpopular, and (3) records interaction for debriefing. The brainstormer also help groups make decisions.
Dioptra can link students in remote locations. For example, students in New York, London, Sydney, and Hong Kong could work together.
Comparing decisions
Instructors can compare analyses. For instance, an instructor might give the same problem to different groups. After they have completed their work, an instructor can compare different decisions, and the processes that led to them.
Making presentations
Dioptra helps students make presentations. It takes the information students have entered, and automatically creates Powerpoint-like presentations.
Reference material
Dioptra has a resource tree, a collection of reference material on ethics, decision making, and other issues.
Recommended links:
- The idea (an overview of Dioptra)
- Usage scenarios (Samples of problem solving with Dioptra)
