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Abstract

Issue

Interior designers require an understanding of societal, professional, and personal ethical codes to successfully respond to complex moral decisions in the workplace. Course activities that involve ethical decision making help prompt students to identify and clarify their personal values by responding to moral issues they will encounter in design practice.

Goal

Practice with ethical decision making allows students to learn more about their own values and how these values, in turn, impact their daily decisions. The goal was to prepare senior–level interior design students for decision making that maintains the high ethical standards of the interior design profession and their own personal ethics code.

Application

Debates and case studies, as instructional techniques, allow students to see ethical situations from various perspectives and encourage students to voice individual ideas.

Description

Students participated in a structured debate focused on design practice issues. They also reviewed and developed case studies representative of ethical issues that could arise in a business setting.

Conclusion

Providing interior design students the opportunity to explore ethical dilemmas in an academic setting is an effective preparatory method toward positive decision making as a design professional. Debates and case studies,. focused on ethics, provide students with an interactive learning experience that encourages the development of a personal framework for addressing moral issues. Students become confident about identifying and evaluating potential ethical dilemmas and drawing conclusions about situations they will confront in their professional careers.

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References

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American Society of Interior Designers. (1995, SeptemberOctober). You be the judge—how ethical are you The ASID Report, 18–19.

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11.

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