Voting is Open for the Competition Of Decision-making with Ethics

(TAMPA) – April 16, 2012 – The Florida Council on Economic Education (FCEE) is pleased to announce that voting is open for the first Competition Of Decision-making with Ethics (C.O.D.E.). Field testing for this new state-wide program to introduce business ethics education in Florida classrooms has just been completed and the top nine student videos can be viewed and voted on at: http://www.youtube.com/user/OwnYourCODE?feature=mhee. Voting will remain open until April 27^th at 5:00 PM.

The FCEE is on the cutting edge of new ways to bring engaging lessons into the classroom. Together, with leading educators, ethicists, and business leaders, the FCEE has developed a unique interactive program that puts high school students on the front lines of a hypothetical business, where they have to make critical ethical and competitive business decisions. C.O.D.E. is a cross between Harvard Business School case studies, ‘Jeopardy’, and ‘YouTube’.

After a series of lessons and classroom instruction, students were presented with a business case study, a dilemma, in which they made a series of key business and ethical decisions. Students learned from a breaking news story that a rocket crashed in a small Florida town and the destruction was economically devastating to the community. The dilemma was presented using Transmedia Storytelling, a technique of telling stories across multiple platforms and formats, which allows participants to become immersed in the story. Following the initial video, students received press releases, Facebook posts and Tweets from two characters, and ongoing news coverage as the story developed. This cloud-based story engine manages all the characters and content, including plot developments, at pre-determined times or through specific keyword triggers by participants.

As in real life, the decisions the students made will have consequences for their business, themselves and their community. Students actually ‘role played’ through the process of resolving their companies’ ethical and business decisions on video. Out of 56 videos submitted from three Florida School Districts, our distinguished panel of judges has chosen three finalists in each of their three respective regions. Those videos were judged by a panel of experts, and now, the top videos are on YouTube for students, teachers, schools, parents, and the entire community to vote for a statewide winner. Included on the YouTube page is the ‘Breaking News’ video that recaps the ethical dilemma that students were faced with. http://www.youtube.com/user/OwnYourCODE?feature=mhee

Initial funding was provided by John Sykes, founder of JHS Capital Advisors, a wealth management firm. “I’m very enthusiastic about this ‘hands-on’ approach to teaching business ethics. Kids learn best through doing”, said John Sykes. “If we don’t instill ethical behavior in them when they’re young, we run the risk of a wave of unethical behavior once they reach the workforce. The Florida Council on Economic Education is the best group I know to effectively reach students throughout the state”, Sykes added.

The mission of the Florida Council on Economic Education is to prepare Florida’s young people for personal and financial success through educational programs in economics, the free enterprise system and personal financial literacy so that they become productive members of the workforce, responsible consumers and wise investors. The Florida Council on Economic Education is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that is funded by leading corporations and individuals throughout the state. The Florida Council is an affiliate of the Council for Economic Education.

For more information please call Monica Pettiette, Director of Marketing and Outreach, at 813-289-8489.