PE 2001
Sport Ethics & Society On-line Course
3 Semester Credits

This course explores issues in sport to develop moral reasoning skills for a successful life.

Would you drop out of college for a million dollars to play professional sports? Would you use performance enhancing drugs if you knew they would shorten your lifespan to win a gold medal in the olympics? Never before has sport presented such ethical challenges to society. The right choices are seldom clear-cut. Yet, decisions made by individuals have the potential to powerfully affect their lives and the lives of others far into the future. This course will help you learn appropriate ways to deal with ethical issues now, while the issues facing you are still relatively inconsequential.

The professor is under the basic assumption that every student in this course can: 1) read and study the assigned chapters, and 2) use the computer via the web to complete the requirement of this course.

Class participation is a major activity to discuss ethical issues covered in this course. Each student will be responsible for reading the assigned chapters and materials before participating in the online discussions. The students will complete assignments associated with each learning module. At the end of every learning module, the student will complete a written test over the assigned readings.

This course is not an independent nor individualized study course. The learning modules represent selected topics which will be studied sequentially or in an exact order through out the term just as if it would be delivered in a regular face-to-face class. The student is not afforded the opportunity to retake tests, submit assignments, or engage in discussion after the learning module has ended. Each learning module topic is studied for a 2 week period. The following 8 learning modules that will be covered in this course are:

Learning Module 1: Is sports today, better or worse off than in the past?
Learning Module 2: Violence & Aggression in Sport
Learning Module 3: Does sports contribute to education?
Learning Module 4: Race, Social Class & Sport
Learning Module 5: Commercialized Sport
Learning Module 6: Gender and Sport
Learning Module 7: Erogogenic Aids in Sport & Deviance in Sport
Learning Module 8: Technology and Sport Science in Sport

Each learning module begins with a historical background of the topic. Following the historical background of the topic, current views, facts, and philosophical issues regarding the topic will be covered. The student will gain valuable insight and knowledge about the topic from studying the past and present issues of the topic. Hopefully, you will use this knowledge in about ethical issues possed by the instructor and in this course to solve future ethical dilemas you may face in future situations.

The professor's roles are as a facilitator and moderator who attempts to engage the student in the discussions, evaluate your assignments and online quizzes, provide feedback, engage in the discussions, interject new views and knowledge related to the topics, etc. The professor encourages the student to share their opinions and become involved in the discussions.

This course fullfills Category 7, Historical and Philosophical, requirement of the Liberal Education Program at the University of Minnesota Duluth. No prerequisite course requirements are established for this course.

Specific Information About This Course