iPads, iPhones, and Implications
on
Students’ Critical Thinking
Donna
M. Schaeffer, PhD
Associate
Professor, School of Business Administration,
Marymount
University, 2807 North Glebe Road, Arlington, VA 22207
|
According to recent
data from the National
Center for Educational Statistics, 21%
of all undergraduate degrees are awarded in the discipline of business. By the way, half of those are to
women. |
Marymount grads entering the hall, 2010. |
|
|
·
The Department of
Labor
identified critical thinking as the raw material that underlies fundamental
workplace competencies, such as problem solving, decision making, planning,
and risk management. ·
Critical thinking is rated the #1 skill of increasing
importance over the next five years based on a 2009 national survey of
employers. |
|
“Whatever the
answer to essential questions of society and individual human beings may be,
education is surely its major component. But what would education be without
its ethical dimension? Many of us believe them to be inseparable.” |
|
|
(Source: Business Week) |
"A billion hours ago, human life appeared on
earth. |
|
·
20% of college studentswill own an iPad or
tablet computer by
the fall of 2012. |
|
iPads and
iPhones in the news
|
One Million
Workers, 90 Million iPhones, and 17 Suicides Wired, February 2011 |
|
New York Times, February 2012 |
|
Can Apple make a
More Ethical iPhone Washington Post, March 30, 2012 |
Reading
Assignment:
Beyond
Compliance: Globalization Demands More Effective Programs by
Kirk Hanson, Director, Markkhula
center for Applied Ethics, Santa Clara University. October, 2011.
Podcast:
This American Life
|
454: Mr. Daisy and
the Apple Factory Aired January 6, 2012 |
|
|
|
Aired 16 March, 2012 |
Group
Activity:
Learners, working in small groups, select a tablet or smartphone product from a well-known company.
They access the current Greenpeace Guide to Consumer
Electronics and read the report for the company they selected.
Groups report back to class on well their selected
company performs in terms of products and sustainable operations and learners
advise friends who want to purchase a product from that company.
Reflective
Assignment:
· January,
2012: Learners wrote letters to Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO in which they reflected
on what they had learned from Mr. Daisy’s visit to an Apple factory.
· April,
2012: Learners revise their letters based on what they have learned in the
retraction.
Outcomes:
· Expected:
Learners are more aware about what it is like to work in the factory that
produces many of the gadgets they use every day.
· Unexpected:
Real word application of ethics in journalism