EthiCola is a program to help you learn about moral philosophy. EthiCola generates multiple-choice questions, gives feedback on answers, and records your progress. EthiCola runs in Windows, Macintosh, or Linux. It goes with Harry J. Gensler's Formal Ethics (Routledge 1996) and Ethics: A Contemporary Introduction (Routledge 2018, 2011, and 1998). EthiCola (including this help file) is copyrighted © 2018+ by Harry J. Gensler.

You start EthiCola by clicking the cola-can icon; depending on how you installed EthiCola, this icon may be on your desktop, start menu, or flash drive. The first time you use EthiCola, it asks about your name and sound effects. Since scores record under your name, use your real last name and always keep your first and last name the same. The sound effects are entertaining but may disturb others if you have them too loud.

You bring up an exercise set by using the LOAD NEW EXERCISE SET option on the FILE Menu. You pick the book and chapter that you want. An exercise set contains short readings and multiple-choice questions. To answer the multiple-choice questions, (1) point to the answer with your mouse and click the left mouse button, (2) glide your finger across the touchscreen and release it when the answer is highlighted; (3) type the number of the answer, or (4) highlight the answer (using the spacebar or up/down arrow keys) and then hit the ENTER key. After getting the right answer, you can try some wrong ones and see what feedback you get; you won't be penalized for this. When you finish an exercise, your score (given as a percentage) records to the disk. If you're still unsure of the material, you can do the exercise again; you get credit for the highest score at which you complete a given exercise.

1. Menu Commands

EthiCola's menu bar has five items:

•  FILE: Use the file menu to load a new exercise set, print out a problem on a sheet of paper (so you can bring it to your teacher if you have a question), capture the screen (so you can paste the problem into a word processor or e-mail), or exit the program.

•  OPTIONS: Use the options menu to change your name, screen color, font, sound effects, toolbar items, and help balloons. You can also use it to set up Cloud Sync, which syncs scoring data and other information between multiple computers.

•  TOOLS: Use the tools menu to view your scores (or print them or send them by e-mail), copy the scores or program to a flash drive, or update the program. If you installed EthiSkor (for processing student scores), you'll also have an option for starting this program. If you're running EthiCola for Macintosh, you'll also have an option for running other Windows programs on your Mac.

•  HELP: Use the help menu to read this help file, view supplementary materials (like class slides or the teacher manual), read the latest news about EthiCola, and view the "about box" (which tells what version of EthiCola you are using, where EthiCola files are located, and where on the Web you can download EthiCola).

•  READINGS: Use the readings menu to move between the readings of an exercise set.

There are toolbar icons for some common commands; use the OPTIONS menu to pick which icons you want displayed. You also can access menu commands by right-clicking the EthiCola window.

2. Suggestions for Teachers

I assign EthiCola homework to supplement classroom activity. If you do this, you'll need to tell your students to install EthiCola from the Web to a flash drive or computer. You'll want to assign specific exercises. You can use the EthiSkor program (which you can install when you install EthiCola) to record and process scores. Students can send you their scores by e-mail or bring them on a USB flash drive.

I say something like this in my syllabus: "You're required to get at least 90 on each assigned exercise (if you don't get 90 the first time, you can do it again until you get 90); for each exercise not done at this level, your corresponding exam score is lowered by 2 points." An alternative policy might say: "You're required to get at least 85 on each assigned exercise (if you don't get 85 the first time, you can do it again until you get 85); for each exercise not done at this level, your corresponding exam score is lowered by 2 points; and if your overall average on assigned exercises is 97 or above, then you get a 2 point bonus added to your exam score."

3. Techie Details

The "EthiCola.exe" file contains the whole program and runs under Windows. EthiCola.exe produces various other files and puts these into an "EC" folder (and the ABOUT box will tell you where this folder is). The "EC" folder can have various items, such as "Score.ec" (with scores) and "EC.ini" (with preferences about name, sound effects, font, and so forth). Subfolder "EC\Docs" has supplementary materials, like the teacher manual or class slides. Alongside "EthiCola.exe" you may find the "EthiSkor.exe" score processing program for teachers (if you installed it).

I wrote EthiCola in 32-bit Pascal (CodeGear Delphi without VCL). EthiCola can also, using a free WINE program, run in Macintosh or Linux. There are two EthiCola download pages (if one isn't working, the try the other one):

	http://www.harryhiker.com/ec
	http://www.harrycola.com/ec


Harry J. Gensler
Philosophy Department
Loyola University
Chicago, IL 60660 USA

E-mail: harrygensler@gmail.com
Web: http://www.harryhiker.com
 or http://www.harrycola.com