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New Ways of Teaching: Using Technology and Mobile Apps to Educate on Societal Grand Challenges

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Abstract

We use this editorial essay as a call for a more effective use of new technologies, such as mobile apps and Web 2.0 tools, to educate students and other relevant stakeholders on business ethics, corporate social responsibility, and sustainability topics. We identify three overarching reasons that justify the need for new ways of teaching that further incorporate technology to foster the innovative thinking needed to tackle imminent societal grand challenges such as climate change and increasing inequality. First, we are facing a new generation of millennials and Generation Z students who are digital natives and more likely to search for educational content on their electronic devices. Second, new technologies offer opportunities to reach students globally, helping to democratize education. Third, we posit that the intrinsic characteristics of societal grand challenges, which are complex, uncertain, and evaluative, can benefit from technology as an effective translator of multilayered concepts into more digestible action items. Our essay ends with a brief summary of the four essays included in the thematic symposium: “There is an App for that! The Use of New Technologies and Apps in Ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability Education.”

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the JBE Special Issues Editor Rob Phillips for his excellence guidance. We also thank Kelley Crites for her insightful feedback. We acknowledge the financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (R&D Projects ECO2015-66504-P, ECO2016-75909-P, and ECO2017-88222-P), and the European Regional Development Fund-ERDF/FEDER-UE.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Baruch College, New York, USA

    Ivan Montiel

  2. University of Granada, Granada, Spain

    Javier Delgado-Ceballos & Natalia Ortiz-de-Mandojana

  3. University of Almeria, Almeria, Spain

    Raquel Antolin-Lopez

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  1. Ivan Montiel
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  2. Javier Delgado-Ceballos
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  3. Natalia Ortiz-de-Mandojana
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Correspondence to Ivan Montiel.

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Journal of Business Ethics Thematic Symposium “There is an App for that! The Use of New Technologies in Ethics, CSR and Corporate Sustainability Education.”

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Montiel, I., Delgado-Ceballos, J., Ortiz-de-Mandojana, N. et al. New Ways of Teaching: Using Technology and Mobile Apps to Educate on Societal Grand Challenges. J Bus Ethics 161, 243–251 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-019-04184-x

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