Seth Godin, one of my favorite bloggers, has a good article about education called Education at the Crossroads.  It seems like everything is at the crossroads these days.  He points out that education is going from scarce (think about the whole admission process) to abundant.  In the past you had to be admitted to Stanford or MIT to attend their classes.  Now the classes are online.  In the past education was expensive.  Now for $25 a month you can go to Lynda.com and watch an unlimited amount of software training courses.  Finally, Seth points out that in the past schooling was about tests and credits.  Now about learning.

How does this apply to ethics training?  The current state of ethis training seems to involve a few companies that create training modules who then sell access to those modules.  It also involves seminars and a few good books on the subject.  In Seth’s opinion all education (this would include ethics training) is moving towards abundant, free learning.  I think there’s something to this.  I’ve always wondered why ethics training needs to be canned?  Why does it need to be formal and certified?  I see a lot of opportunities out there to change the way ethics training is done.

For example, there is a great YouTube video called The Fifth Down Game about the famous game between Dartmouth and Cornell.  If you get a chance, check it out.  It presents a great scenario for a discussion about ethics.  I think these sorts of videos are the best ones to teach and inspire ethical behavior.  I’m always on the lookout for these sorts of stories.  They’re free (on YouTube).  They’re abundant.  The most important part is that it’s about learning rather than marking off a checkbox stating “trained.”