“When the Personal Becomes Problematic: The Ethics of Using Experiential Teaching Methods”

Experiential methods--that is, methods that rely on students' own life experiences and often involve a high degree of self-disclosure--are becoming increasingly common in sociology courses that deal with difficult and controversial subjects such as gender, race, and sexuality. Yet these methods may be inappropriate and unethical, especially when students are expected to revel very personal, even painful, information about themselves. The benefits and risks involved in using such methods are presented in this paper in a dialogue between an instructor and a student.