Loyalty, harm and duty: PBL in a media ethics course

Abstract

Upper division public relations students, like their colleagues in other fields of communication, often prefer an in-depth study of moral issues related to their own area of interest rather than the more broadly-based survey of problems that is generally offered in mass media ethics courses. That preference poses a pedagogical question for the course instructor: How does one teach to the various areas of mass media in sufficient depth, without sacrificing breadth? This essay discusses a variation of problem-based learning (PBL) as one possible solution to that educational conundrum. A project developed by a group of public relations students using the PBL method provides the focus of the discussion.