{"id":92,"date":"2016-01-25T07:43:23","date_gmt":"2016-01-25T07:43:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ursmueller.de\/?p=92"},"modified":"2018-03-19T12:51:51","modified_gmt":"2018-03-19T12:51:51","slug":"the-open-syllabus-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/de\/the-open-syllabus-project","title":{"rendered":"The Open Syllabus Project"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week a database of open access syllabi from many educational institutions around the globe, the Open Syllabus Project (http:\/\/explorer.opensyllabusproject.org<\/a>), was published. This is a truly fascinating database (see also this article https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2016\/01\/24\/opinion\/sunday\/what-a-million-syllabuses-can-teach-us.html<\/a>). Even though it lacks representativeness, it does include references to a total of almost 1 million different readings from many syllabi from different fields of subject and 5 countries (all English speaking: US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand). Given this number, it does allow for some conclusions about the current state of educational affairs at colleges and universities.<\/p>\n

A few observations and ideas from my side after a first short glance at the list:<\/p>\n

1) The top items on the list are quite often philosophical in nature \u2013 and make you wonder, why in reality Philosophy is such a marginal subject (at least when counting number of professors and students). (In reality the explanation is, that many of these texts are being used in multiple disciplines, but given the importance that other fields seem to put on philosophy it still makes you wonder why philosophy has such a limited voice in many contemporary debates.)<\/p>\n

2) When selecting only syllabi from the discipline area \u201cBusiness\u201d \u2013 only 2 out of the top 15 readings in the syllabi are not<\/strong>\u00a0finance, accounting or marketing; 10 out the top 15 are in fact finance or accounting! Three\u00a0possible explanations come to my mind: Either there are just more finance, accounting and marketing syllabi in the data base, which in turn could be (a) explained by the fact that there are just more finance, accounting and marketing courses than\u00a0other disciplines, or (b) other disciplines are more secretive about the syllabi which is why they don\u2019t end up in the database. Alternatively (c) the dominance of finance, accounting and marketing texts at the top of the list could be explained by a higher level of agreement between teachers about what are the most relevant texts in the discipline. \u2013 Maybe there are even more explanations, but all of the three listed above somehow disappoint me:<\/p>\n

(re a) That just shouldn\u2019t be the case, because business is so much more than just finance, accounting and marketing!<\/p>\n

(re b) Why should educators from other disciplines\u00a0be so much more secretive about their syllabi? Wouldn\u2019t it be much more important \u00a0to be public and transparent about the content of courses\u00a0in fields that deal with the business in its larger context (CSR, business ethics, business and law, business and government et.)?<\/p>\n

(re c) That would just be an expression that the underlying believes and assumptions of finance, accounting and marketing are more shared \/ \u00a0more common than those in other fields \u2013 and I don\u2019t see any good explanation for that. In fact: maybe it should be the obligation of educators and researchers in other domains to challenge some of these assumptions\u2026 (And just by the way: even when only looking at accounting, shouldn\u2019t it be expected that at least one text on integrated reporting, triple bottom line or the like makes it pretty far up in the list?)<\/p>\n

3) There is only a truly disappointing list of texts in the domain of business ethics. Yes, there are some\u00a0texts from syllabi in the field of business education with the keyword \u201cethics\u201d \u2013 but in the top 1,000 texts this is only true for 13 plus 2 with the keyword \u201cmoral\u201d. In total\u00a0 only 1.5% of the total text body is directly related to ethics\/moral. And out of these 15 only 6 are in the top 500, whereas 9 titles are found between 501 and 1,000. There is not a single text with \u201cmoral\u201d or \u201cethics\u201d in the top 100!<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t get much better if you include more search terms: There is no text with \u201cCSR\u201d or \u201cresponsibility\u201d in the title, only one with \u201cstakeholder\u201d (but this is already in the 13 with \u201cethics\u201d) \u2013 and the picture doesn\u2019t get substantially better with any other keyword that came to my mind in the larger context of business \u2013 \u201cenvironment\u201d, \u201csocial\u201d, \u201cecology\u201d\u2026 All together a look at what is missing in the top 1,000 titles is truly disappointing and seemingly only supporting highly cynical views on business overall.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Full list of the 13 texts with keyword \u201cethics\u201d plus 2 with the keyword \u201cmoral\u201d in the top 1,000 texts of the database:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \n
      \n
    1. 179 Ethics by Aristotle<\/li>\n
    2. 340 Business Ethics : A Stakeholder and Issues Management Approach by Weiss, Joseph W.<\/li>\n
    3. 414 Business : Its Legal, Ethical, and Global Environment by Jennings, Marianne<\/li>\n
    4. 418 Business Ethics : Concepts and Cases by\u00a0Velasquez, Manuel G.<\/li>\n
    5. 485 Computer Ethics by\u00a0Johnson, Deborah G., 1945<\/li>\n
    6. 491\u00a0Case Studies in Business, Society, and Ethics by\u00a0Beauchamp, Tom L.<\/li>\n
    7. 553 Business and Professional Ethics for Accountants by\u00a0Brooks, Leonard J.<\/li>\n
    8. 604\u00a0Nicomachean Ethics by\u00a0Aristotle<\/li>\n
    9. 641\u00a0Ethics and the Conduct of Business by\u00a0Boatright, John Raymond, 1941<\/li>\n
    10. 665 Moral Issues in Business by Shaw, William H., 1948<\/li>\n
    11. 819\u00a0Regulation of Lawyers : Problems of Law and Ethics by\u00a0Gillers, Stephen, 1943<\/li>\n
    12. 821 Moral Issues in Business by Barry, Vincent E.<\/li>\n
    13. 831\u00a0Sex and Virtue : An Introduction to Sexual Ethics by\u00a0Grabowski, John S.<\/li>\n
    14. 866\u00a0Perspectives in Business Ethics by\u00a0Hartman, Laura Pincus<\/li>\n
    15. 886\u00a0Business Ethics : Ethical Decision Making and Cases by\u00a0Ferrell, O. C.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Last week a database of open access syllabi from many educational institutions around the globe, the Open Syllabus Project (http:\/\/explorer.opensyllabusproject.org), was published. This is a truly fascinating database (see also this article https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2016\/01\/24\/opinion\/sunday\/what-a-million-syllabuses-can-teach-us.html). Even though it lacks representativeness, it does include references to a total of almost 1 million different readings from many syllabi from … <\/p>\n

      \u201eThe Open Syllabus Project\u201c<\/span> weiterlesen<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,18,19,20,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-92","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business-ethics","category-ethics","category-philosophy","category-teaching","category-teaching-business-ethics"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.0","language":"de","enabled_languages":["en","de"],"languages":{"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"de":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false}}},"yoast_head":"\nThe Open Syllabus Project - Urs M\u00fcller<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/the-open-syllabus-project\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"de_DE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Open Syllabus Project - Urs M\u00fcller\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/the-open-syllabus-project\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Urs M\u00fcller\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/umuelle\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/umuelle\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-01-25T07:43:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-03-19T12:51:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Urs Mueller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ursmueller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ursmueller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Verfasst von\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Urs Mueller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Gesch\u00e4tzte Lesezeit\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4\u00a0Minuten\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/the-open-syllabus-project#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/the-open-syllabus-project\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Urs Mueller\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/#\/schema\/person\/28a089c2d1a9e0e01409822488b62fd1\"},\"headline\":\"The Open Syllabus Project\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-01-25T07:43:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-03-19T12:51:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/the-open-syllabus-project\"},\"wordCount\":850,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/#\/schema\/person\/28a089c2d1a9e0e01409822488b62fd1\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Business ethics\",\"Ethics\",\"Philosophy\",\"Teaching\",\"Teaching Business Ethics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"de\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/the-open-syllabus-project#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/the-open-syllabus-project\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/the-open-syllabus-project\",\"name\":\"The Open Syllabus Project - Urs M\u00fcller\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-01-25T07:43:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-03-19T12:51:51+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/the-open-syllabus-project#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"de\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/the-open-syllabus-project\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/the-open-syllabus-project#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Open Syllabus Project\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/\",\"name\":\"Urs Mueller\",\"description\":\"Wirtschaftsethik - Ver\u00e4nderungsmanagement - Strategie\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/#\/schema\/person\/28a089c2d1a9e0e01409822488b62fd1\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"de\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/#\/schema\/person\/28a089c2d1a9e0e01409822488b62fd1\",\"name\":\"Urs Mueller\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"de\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d97b7cf0d47bff7b3f8a7620e1495703?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d97b7cf0d47bff7b3f8a7620e1495703?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Urs Mueller\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\"},\"description\":\"Urs Mueller is an experienced (executive education) educator and author in the areas of Business ethics, Strategy and Change management.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.urs-mueller.com\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/umuelle\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/ursmueller\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Open Syllabus Project - Urs M\u00fcller","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/the-open-syllabus-project","og_locale":"de_DE","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Open Syllabus Project - Urs M\u00fcller","og_url":"https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/the-open-syllabus-project","og_site_name":"Urs M\u00fcller","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/umuelle","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/umuelle","article_published_time":"2016-01-25T07:43:23+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-03-19T12:51:51+00:00","author":"Urs Mueller","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ursmueller","twitter_site":"@ursmueller","twitter_misc":{"Verfasst von":"Urs Mueller","Gesch\u00e4tzte Lesezeit":"4\u00a0Minuten"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/the-open-syllabus-project#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/the-open-syllabus-project"},"author":{"name":"Urs Mueller","@id":"https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/#\/schema\/person\/28a089c2d1a9e0e01409822488b62fd1"},"headline":"The Open Syllabus Project","datePublished":"2016-01-25T07:43:23+00:00","dateModified":"2018-03-19T12:51:51+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/the-open-syllabus-project"},"wordCount":850,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/#\/schema\/person\/28a089c2d1a9e0e01409822488b62fd1"},"articleSection":["Business ethics","Ethics","Philosophy","Teaching","Teaching Business Ethics"],"inLanguage":"de","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/the-open-syllabus-project#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/the-open-syllabus-project","url":"https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/the-open-syllabus-project","name":"The Open Syllabus Project - Urs M\u00fcller","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-01-25T07:43:23+00:00","dateModified":"2018-03-19T12:51:51+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/the-open-syllabus-project#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"de","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/the-open-syllabus-project"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/the-open-syllabus-project#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Open Syllabus Project"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/","name":"Urs Mueller","description":"Wirtschaftsethik - Ver\u00e4nderungsmanagement - Strategie","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/#\/schema\/person\/28a089c2d1a9e0e01409822488b62fd1"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"de"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/#\/schema\/person\/28a089c2d1a9e0e01409822488b62fd1","name":"Urs Mueller","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"de","@id":"https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d97b7cf0d47bff7b3f8a7620e1495703?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d97b7cf0d47bff7b3f8a7620e1495703?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Urs Mueller"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/"},"description":"Urs Mueller is an experienced (executive education) educator and author in the areas of Business ethics, Strategy and Change management.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.urs-mueller.com","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/umuelle","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/ursmueller\/"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":127,"href":"https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92\/revisions\/127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urs-mueller.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}