Imagine you’re a manager told to focus on making money for your company. Would you allow a small amount of waste to enter the waterways because the financial penalties are small? Or would you spend more money on safe disposal methods to spare the environmental damage?

These are the types of questions first-year MBA students at the USC Marshall School of Business recently faced as part of an interactive seminar to get them thinking – and talking – about how they would act as future business leaders and corporate citizens.

The video and Web-based lesson, a collaboration between USC’s Institute for Creative Technologies and the Marshall School, leveraged an existing institute application originally developed to provide leadership and ethics training for U.S. Army officers.

Called AXL – for Army Excellence in Leadership – the adaptable program uses filmed scenarios and Internet-based exercises to foster critical thinking, team building and group participation.

“We really had to put ourselves in the shoes of the decision-makers,” said Marshall student Ryan Wilson, who took part in the one-day course. “The issues raised led to some thought-provoking discussions.”

The Marshall School project drew on documentary materials about two metal foundry corporations with vastly different approaches to doing business. The MBA students were divided into small groups that went through a reflection and analysis exercise guided by questions in the online system.

From a remote location, professors were able to monitor the interactions and gather data in real time. The software also saves this information, which can be used to shape discussions, see how groups differed and analyze the training’s impact.

“We are expanding the possibilities of case method instruction,” said Julia Kim, the institute’s project director who worked with Marshall school faculty and staff to design the program for all first-year MBA students. “We use media and technology to get students to grapple with real-world issues like ethics – and we get them to actively engage instead of hiding in the back of the room.”

Issues of ethics and social responsibility are critical components of business education. After the Enron scandal in 2001, many schools added ethics courses to their curricula.

“Collaborating with the institute and using its AXL application allowed us to frame the difficult issues in a way that allowed students to grapple with personal decision-making values, ethics and corporate responsibility in a powerful and dynamic environment,” said Cherie Scricca, associate dean of graduate programs at USC Marshall.

The desire for an engaging approach dovetailed with the school’s ongoing commitment to bringing the latest tools and technologies into its courses. In this case, the Marshall School found a perfect partner within the university.

USC’s Institute for Creative Technologies focuses on studying and developing effective ways to teach and train critical life skills such as leadership, decision-making and cultural awareness.

“This was the first time we were trying to use an interactive simulation, since most of our activities are face-to-face and do not require the use of a computer,” said Gita Govahi, director of the USC Marshall School’s Experiential Learning Center, where the exercise was conducted. “Students were motivated, challenged and interested. I can see us using AXL to develop many more scenarios to support the teaching mission of Marshall.”

The project is just one of several collaborations between the nine-year-old institute and the larger USC community, including the Rossier School of Education, the Viterbi School of Engineering, the School of Cinematic Arts and the Keck School of Medicine.

“None of these projects would be possible without interest and intense work from our colleagues across campus,” said Randal W. Hill, the institute’s executive director. “The Marshall School saw the wider applicability of what we are doing and has become a valuable partner for us. The school’s efforts are a testament to the interdisciplinary and innovative nature of USC.”