Developing Moral Maturity

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to add to the limited body of knowledge on the effect of the media ethics course, specifically to investigate the effect of the course on the growth in moral judgment reasoning of students through a quasi-experimental pre-test, post-test analysis using the Defining Issues Test 2 (DIT-2). Results demonstrated significant advances in such reasoning among students in one section of the media ethics course but not in the other. It is difficult to determine the exact cause that led to significant increases in moral judgment reasoning in one section of a course and not the other, but the effect of different educational interventions seems clear. Although we cannot know which techniques or combination of techniques were successful, it would seem that interactive and experiential activities that require demonstrated application of principles in the classroom are more successful than traditional Socratic lecture and reflection essay methods.