Southern Utah University

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Southern Utah University
Southern Utah University
Summer Semester 2026

Ethics and Philosophical Foundations of Education (Online)

EDUC 6920-71I

Course: EDUC 6920-71I
Credits: 3
Term: Summer Semester 2026
Department: TED
CRN: 20305

Course Description

This course provides a study of the ethical and philosophical foundations of American education as well as a theoretical and practical base from which educational leaders can make informed and ethical decisions in K-12 school settings. Multiple philosophical and ethical models will be examined and applied to current educational issues.

Required Texts

  • Shapiro, J.P., and Stefkovich, J.A. (2021). Ethical leadership and decision making in education (5th edition). New York, NY: Routledge.
  • Eberhardt, J. L. (2019). Biased: Uncovering the hidden prejudice that shapes what we see, think, and do. New York, NY: Penguin Books.

Learning Outcomes

  • Analyze how implicit bias influences perceptions, interactions, disciplinary practices, and decision making within educational settings.
  • Apply ethical leadership frameworks and professional codes to complex educational dilemmas involving students, families, schools, and communities.
  • Examine the relationship between ethics, equity, race, ethnicity, religion, and culture in educational systems and practices.
  • Evaluate how personal beliefs, societal influences, and institutional structures impact educational opportunities and outcomes for diverse learners.
  • Demonstrate understanding of professional responsibilities related to accountability, privacy, safety, and equitable treatment of students.
  • Critically reflect on personal biases and professional dispositions and their influence on teaching, leadership, and advocacy.
  • Analyze curriculum, pedagogy, and school practices through ethical and culturally responsive lenses.
  • Use research, discussion, and reflective writing to communicate informed perspectives on ethical issues in education.
  • Develop ethical decision making skills grounded in fairness, professionalism, advocacy, and respect for diverse learners and communities.
  • Synthesize concepts from ethical leadership and implicit bias research to propose equitable and ethical solutions to contemporary educational issues.

Course Requirements

Student Evaluation and Assignment Outline

Student grades will be based on a total of 600 points that can be earned during the course.

AssignmentDescriptionTotal Points
Discussion BoardsWeekly opportunities to engage in dialogue with colleagues (10 points each)70 points
Weekly PapersPapers and other application activities related to each week's content (50 points each)300 points
Zoom SessionsA total of 2 sessions will be held. Graded based on participation or submission of a reflection (25 pointes each)50 points
Ethical Issues PaperFinal research project100 points

Grade Scheme

A100 % to 94.0%
A-< 94.0 % to 90.0%
B+< 90.0 % to 87.0%
B< 87.0 % to 84.0%
B-< 84.0 % to 80.0%
C+< 80.0 % to 77.0%
C< 77.0 % to 74.0%
C-< 74.0 % to 70.0%
D+< 70.0 % to 67.0%
D< 67.0 % to 64.0%
D-< 64.0 % to 61.0%
F< 61.0 % to 0.0%

Discussion Boards (10 points each) This will be in a traditional discussion board format. You should post each week by Thursday and then reply to at least 2 colleagues by Sunday. Detailed instructions are provided with each discussion.

Weekly Assignments (50 points each) You will complete assignments each week focusing on various applications of ethics as they relate to the decision making responsibilities of Educational Leaders. More information is detailed in each separate assignment on Canvas.

Ethical Issues Paper (Final Paper--100 points) Our largest and final assignment is a research project focusing on an ethical issue. Please see the Canvas assignment for more specific details.

Zoom Sessions (25 points each) There will two live class sessions held on Zoom. It is important to look at the assignment for each Zoom session ahead of the session, as I will often ask you to prepare something to share. If you cannot attend the live session, there will be a reflection assignment for you to complete after viewing the recording.

Course Outline

Course Content and Schedule

Our course consists of 7 Modules.

Week/ModuleContentAssignments
1Thinking About BiasDiscussion: Video Introductions Week 1 Discussion Weekly Paper Assignment 1
2Introduction to Ethics and Implicit Bias at WorkWeek 2 Discussion Weekly Paper Assignment 2
3Rights, Standards, and CurriculumWeek 3 Discussion Weekly Paper Assignment 3
4Personal and Professional Codes Race and EthnicityZoom Session (Optional) Week 4 Discussion Weekly Paper Assignment 4
5Religion, Culture, and EquityWeek 5 Discussion Weekly Paper Assignment 5
6Accountability, Responsibility, Privacy, and SafetyZoom Session (Optional) Week 6 Discussion Weekly Paper Assignment 6
7Pedagogy, Morality, and EthicsWeek 7 Discussion Ethical Issues Final Paper

Instructor's policies on late assignments and/or makeup work

Instructor's Response Time & Feedback

Online classes provide unique challenges for interaction. For messages sent to me, I will respond in 1-2 business days. Feedback is an important part of learning please look for feedback on your assignments that I provided on assignments, to find feedback look at this tutorial:

It is my goal to:

  • Respond to student messages within 1-2 business days
  • Provide grades and feedback within 7-10 days from the due date

Late Policy

Late Policy: Students are expected to meet the outlined deadlines within the course. Keeping up with weekly assignments (due each Sunday by midnight) will help you be successful in the course. However, this is an online course and I understand and allow for flexibility with deadlines. I rarely close assignments, so you can always go back and complete missing work. I will accept late with with no penalties up to one week past the deadline. After one week, I will deduct points for lateness. There are a few exceptions:

  • Discussions are an important way to interact and build a sense of community. Please complete in a timely manner so others are able to benefit from your insights. If you don't show up to the "party" on time, there is no one to have a conversation with... so I would recommend starting the discussion FIRST, early in the week before other work in class. Your interactions with classmates should broaden your thinking and add to your responses on your assignments. Discussion Boards will be closed 1 week after the deadline, so please complete these on time.
  • I cannot accept late work after the end of the course. All assignments are due by the end of the day, Sunday, August 17, 11:59 pm.
  • If you are struggling to turn in assignments, please communicate with me so that we can work out a plan to get you on track.

Working Ahead

You may work ahead in this course as Modules are published.

Attendance Policy

Attendance: Attendance at Zoom sessions is encouraged, but not required.

Course Fees

Program and Course Fees

Additional Course Policies

Course Workload Expectation

In addition, a 3 credit hour online course requires approximately 9 hours of work per week, as laid out in the Federal definition of a credit hour (U.S. Department of Education, section CH-A3 https://www2.ed.gov/policy/highered/reg/hearulemaking/2009/credit.html#credit) (Links to an external site.) (https://www2.ed.gov/policy/highered/reg/hearulemaking/2009/credit.html#credit)) . The instructor has planned this course according to this guideline. Please note: some weeks may require more work, while others require less, depending on the assignments due and students’ individual pace of study/work.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools

AI tools (such as ChatGPT, Grammarly, or similar programs) may be used as part of the learning process in this course. All submitted work must follow a “human in, human out” standard. This means you may use AI for brainstorming, idea refinement, organization, grammar support, or drafting assistance, but you must critically engage with, edit, and meaningfully transform the output into your own original work. Direct copy-paste from AI without significant human revision is not permitted and will be considered a violation of academic integrity.

Students are responsible for the accuracy, originality, and citation of all submitted work, regardless of the tools used in its creation. The thinking, analysis, reflection, and decision making within assignments must remain student driven.

As your professor, I may also use AI tools in limited and ethical ways to support instruction, communication, or editing for clarity and readability. However, all grading, feedback, instructional decisions, and evaluation of student learning are completed personally by me. Similar expectations apply to both students and instructors: AI may support the process, but it should never replace authentic human thinking, engagement, or professional judgment.

Please let me know if you have any questions about appropriate or inappropriate uses of AI in this course.

ADA Statement

Students with medical, psychological, learning, or other disabilities desiring academic adjustments, accommodations, or auxiliary aids will need to contact the Disability Resource Center, located in Room 206F of the Sharwan Smith Center or by phone at (435) 865-8042. The Disability Resource Center determines eligibility for and authorizes the provision of services.

If your instructor requires attendance, you may need to seek an ADA accommodation to request an exception to this attendance policy. Please contact the Disability Resource Center to determine what, if any, ADA accommodations are reasonable and appropriate.

Academic Credit

According to the federal definition of a Carnegie credit hour: A credit hour of work is the equivalent of approximately 60 minutes of class time or independent study work. A minimum of 45 hours of work by each student is required for each unit of credit. Credit is earned only when course requirements are met. One (1) credit hour is equivalent to 15 contact hours of lecture, discussion, testing, evaluation, or seminar, as well as 30 hours of student homework. An equivalent amount of work is expected for laboratory work, internships, practica, studio, and other academic work leading to the awarding of credit hours. Credit granted for individual courses, labs, or studio classes ranges from 0.5 to 15 credit hours per semester.

Academic Freedom

SUU is operated for the common good of the greater community it serves. The common good depends upon the free search for truth and its free exposition. Academic Freedom is the right of faculty to study, discuss, investigate, teach, and publish. Academic Freedom is essential to these purposes and applies to both teaching and research.

Academic Freedom in the realm of teaching is fundamental for the protection of the rights of the faculty member and of you, the student, with respect to the free pursuit of learning and discovery. Faculty members possess the right to full freedom in the classroom in discussing their subjects. They may present any controversial material relevant to their courses and their intended learning outcomes, but they shall take care not to introduce into their teaching controversial materials which have no relation to the subject being taught or the intended learning outcomes for the course.

As such, students enrolled in any course at SUU may encounter topics, perspectives, and ideas that are unfamiliar or controversial, with the educational intent of providing a meaningful learning environment that fosters your growth and development. These parameters related to Academic Freedom are included in SUU Policy 6.6.

Academic Misconduct

Scholastic honesty is expected of all students. Dishonesty will not be tolerated and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent (see SUU Policy 6.33). You are expected to have read and understood the current SUU student conduct code (SUU Policy 11.2) regarding student responsibilities and rights, the intellectual property policy (SUU Policy 5.52), information about procedures, and what constitutes acceptable behavior.

Please Note: The use of websites or services that sell essays is a violation of these policies; likewise, the use of websites or services that provide answers to assignments, quizzes, or tests is also a violation of these policies. Regarding the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), you should check with your individual course instructor.

Emergency Management Statement

In case of an emergency, the University's Emergency Notification System (ENS) will be activated. Students are encouraged to maintain updated contact information using the link on the homepage of the mySUU portal. In addition, students are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the Emergency Response Protocols posted in each classroom. Detailed information about the University's emergency management plan can be found at https://www.suu.edu/emergency.

HEOA Compliance Statement

For a full set of Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) compliance statements, please visit https://www.suu.edu/heoa. The sharing of copyrighted material through peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing, except as provided under U.S. copyright law, is prohibited by law; additional information can be found at https://my.suu.edu/help/article/1096/heoa-compliance-plan.

You are also expected to comply with policies regarding intellectual property (SUU Policy 5.52) and copyright (SUU Policy 5.54).

Mandatory Reporting

University policy (SUU Policy 5.60) requires instructors to report disclosures received from students that indicate they have been subjected to sexual misconduct/harassment. The University defines sexual harassment consistent with Federal Regulations (34 C.F.R. Part 106, Subpart D) to include quid pro quo, hostile environment harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking. When students communicate this information to an instructor in-person, by email, or within writing assignments, the instructor will report that to the Title IX Coordinator to ensure students receive support from the Title IX Office. A reporting form is available at https://cm.maxient.com/reportingform.php?SouthernUtahUniv

Non-Discrimination Statement

SUU is committed to fostering an inclusive community of lifelong learners and believes our university's encompassing of different views, beliefs, and identities makes us stronger, more innovative, and better prepared for the global society.

SUU does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, citizenship, sex (including sex discrimination and sexual harassment), sexual orientation, gender identity, age, ancestry, disability status, pregnancy, pregnancy-related conditions, genetic information, military status, veteran status, or other bases protected by applicable law in employment, treatment, admission, access to educational programs and activities, or other University benefits or services.

SUU strives to cultivate a campus environment that encourages freedom of expression from diverse viewpoints. We encourage all to dialogue within a spirit of respect, civility, and decency.

For additional information on non-discrimination, please see SUU Policy 5.27 and/or visit https://www.suu.edu/nondiscrimination.

Pregnancy

Students who are or become pregnant during this course may receive reasonable modifications to facilitate continued access and participation in the course. Pregnancy and related conditions are broadly defined to include pregnancy, childbirth, termination of pregnancy, lactation, related medical conditions, and recovery. To obtain reasonable modifications, please make a request to title9@suu.edu. To learn more visit: https://www.suu.edu/titleix/pregnancy.html.

Disclaimer Statement

Information contained in this syllabus, other than the grading, late assignments, makeup work, and attendance policies, may be subject to change with advance notice, as deemed appropriate by the instructor.