Using merit/demerit for developing and assessing the affective domain

Planning is the first activity in the continuous improvement cycle. Thus, in this paper, a plan for producing graduates with higher ethical standard is presented. It is believed that a carrot and a stick system could change human behaviors. Thus, the presented framework uses rewards (carrots) and counseling (sticks) to enforce ethical behaviors among students during their first two years of study. Three ethical behaviors namely, regular attendance of learning activities, submitting of tasks on time, and not plagiarizing will be monitored. Merit or demerit points will be given for observing or not observing these behaviors. At the end of the training period, four types of merit certificates will be given to students with a specific amount of merit points. Those students who accumulate demerit points will be given counseling. The same merit/demerit point collected during the last two years will be used to assess the ethical behavior of students.