About this BLOG - Rationale

TEACHING BIOETHICS

The teaching - learning process of bioethics has been characterized by numerous conceptualizations and initiatives. Some proposals have been developed for undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate students as well as in the face to face, virtual context or blending formats. 

The general objective of this project - that corresponds to the final work of the Children´s Mercy Bioethics Certificate and that has the valuable support and advice of Dr John Lantos -  is to develop an in-depth analysis of certain topics related to the teaching of bioethics with a special focus on online developments and at the same time to describe the benefits of the forum - as an environment to acquire and strengthen argumentation skills along with methods such as narrative and case studies.

As an additional purpose it is also expected that the project addresses the importance of feedback and its effectiveness in line with the challenge of implementing best evaluation practices.

It is also desirable that the contributions and results constitute a reliable source for the development and implementation of educational projects in the field of bioethics - mainly in online initiatives - with emphasis on respect for local perspectives while considering the strengths provided by the global context.  

QUESTIONS THAT THE PROJECT WILL TRY TO ANSWER  

• What are the differences - if any - between teaching bioethics and other disciplines? 

• In addition to the benefits that many professionals away from academic centers can receive training in online educational initiatives, what other strengths does online education offer? 

• Is teaching professionalism a matter of bioethics?

• Role of intuitions in the teaching of the bioethics. Should be considered as soft skills?

THE FORUM AS A USEFUL TOOL 

• In relation to the difficulties that the argumentation process sometimes entails, especially in non-philosopher professionals, to what extent the forum - as a teaching-learning tool - may be of interest to acquire argumentation competences?

• How to move the reflection in a forum from the simple statement to a genuine dialogue? How the use of narrative and case studies can facilitate the acquisition of these competences? 

THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

• Outside the formal educational contexts such as lectures there are other informal spaces - for example the exchange that takes place in social networks, a conversation or in a blog post - in which the teaching-learning processes can be generated. Can they be considered effective? 

MENTORS AS FACILITATORS

• What role do mentors play and how can the mentoring process be improved and professionalized? 

FEEDBACK  

• What is the main purpose of feedback? 

• Is peer-feedback an effective strategy to increase student involvement and greater autonomy in order to build knowledge? Which is the best timing for feedback?

• How to align the feedback with the evaluation and how to develop a more integrated feedback that allows students to identify their learning progressions over time?

EVALUATION PROCESS

• How to build an assessment “for learning, of learning and as learning”