Selected Ethical Issues

in Online Education
2016
 Educator Ethics/Values
The worth and dignity of every person

The pursuit of truth

Devotion to excellence

Acquisition of knowledge

The nurturing of democratic citizenship

 Background
The field of ethics (or moral philosophy) involves systematizing,
defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior.
Philosophers usually divide ethical theories into 3 areas:
1. Meta-ethics
2. Normative Ethics
3. Applied Ethics
 Meta Ethics
Investigates where our ethical principles come from, and what they
mean:
Are they merely social inventions?
Do they involve more individual emotions?
Meta ethical answers focus on universal truths, the role of reason in
ethical judgments, and the meaning of ethical terms themselves.
 Normative Ethics
Practical focus, seeking to arrive at moral standards that regulate right
and wrong conduct.
Articulating good habits that we should acquire, the duties that we
should follow, or the consequences of our behavior on others.
 Applied Ethics
Involves specific controversial issues, such as animal
rights, environmental concerns, capital punishment, war, etc.
Controversial in the sense that there people both for and against the issue at hand.
Using meta ethics and normative ethics, applied ethics try to resolve
controversial issues
The lines between are often blurry
 So, back to Normative Ethics
Normative ethics involve arriving at standards that regulate right and
wrong conduct.
Golden Rule is a classic example of a normative principle: We should do
to others what we would want others to do to us
Since I do not want my neighbor to steal my car, then it is wrong for me to steal her
car.
 Virtue Ethics Part of Normative
Plato emphasized four cardinal
virtues: wisdom, courage,
temperance, and justice.
More recent variations: fortitude,
generosity, self-respect, good
temper, and sincerity.
Virtue ethics places less emphasis on
learning rules, and instead stresses
the importance of developing good
habits of character, such as
benevolence
Once I've acquired benevolence, I will
then habitually act in a benevolent
manner.
In addition to good traits, we should
avoid bad traits, such as insensitivity,
injustice, and dishonesty.
 Duty Theories

Clear obligations we have as Two types of duties towards

human beings, such as to care for
our children, and to not commit
murder.
Duty theories are based on
foundational principles of
obligation.
others: absolute duties, which are
universally binding on all people,
and conditional duties, which are
agreements between people.
 Duty Theories
Absolute duties are of three sorts: Conditional duties involve
Avoid wronging others agreements, the principal one is
duty is to keep one's promises.
Treat people as equals
Other common conditional
Promote the good of others duties: repay others for past
favors, make up for past wrong
acts,
 Prima Facie Duties
W. D. Ross (1930)
A duty that is binding
(obligatory) other things
equal, that is, unless it is
overridden or trumped by
another duty or duties.
Fidelity: the duty to keep promises
Reparation: the duty to compensate others when we
harm them
Gratitude: the duty to thank those who help us
Justice: the duty to recognize merit
Beneficence: the duty to improve the conditions of
others
Self-improvement: the duty to improve our virtue and
intelligence
Nonmaleficence: the duty to not injure others
 Normative Principles in Applied Ethics
Normative ethical principles commonly occur in applied
ethical discussions:
Consequentialist:
Personal benefit: acknowledge the extent to which an
action produces beneficial consequences for the
individual in question.
Social benefit: acknowledge the extent to which an
action produces beneficial consequences for society.
Duty Based:
Principle of benevolence: help those in need.
Principle of paternalism: assist others in pursuing their
best interests when they cannot do so themselves.
Principle of harm: do not harm others.
Principle of honesty: do not deceive others.
Principle of lawfulness: do not violate the law.
Principle of autonomy: acknowledge a person's
freedom over his/her actions or physical body.
Principle of justice: acknowledge a person's right to
due process, fair compensation for harm done, and
fair distribution of benefits.
Rights: acknowledge a person's rights to life,
information, privacy, free expression, and safety.
 Ethical Questions in Distance Education

Most specific questions hinge on concerns of

Preparedness, accessibility, financial challenges, technical readiness,
quality control, and class size
 What Questions Might be
Raised in Distance Education?
Consequentialist:
Personal benefit: acknowledge the
extent to which an action produces
beneficial consequences for the
individual in question.
Social benefit: acknowledge the extent
to which an action produces beneficial
consequences for society.
Examples:
Should faculty disclose to students extra
pay or other benefits, such as time off?
Should they reveal that it lets them live far
away or take vacation?
Should faculty disclosure profitable tuition
differentials, or should the institution?
Should departments/universities disclose
profit models or business models?
 What Questions Might be
Raised in Distance Education?
Principle of benevolence: help those in need.
Principle of paternalism: assist others in pursuing their best
interests when they cannot do so themselves.
Principle of harm: do not harm others.
Principle of honesty: do not deceive others.
Principle of lawfulness: do not violate the law.
Principle of autonomy: acknowledge a person's freedom over
his/her actions or physical body.
Principle of justice: acknowledge a person's right to due
process, fair compensation, and fair distribution of benefits.
Rights: acknowledge a person's rights to life, information,
privacy, free expression, and safety.
 Rights Theory:
Correlativity of Rights and Duties
A "right" is a justified claim against another person's behavior - such as
my right to not be harmed by you
Rights and duties are related
Rights of one person implies the duties of another person.
For example, if I have a right to payment of $10 by Smith, then Smith has a duty to
pay me $10.
Called the correlativity of rights and duties.
 Right to Education, Duty to Educate
United Nations: Results in:
Education is a fundamental Parental duties
human right and essential for School duties
the exercise of all other human
rights. Societal duties
Promotes individual freedom and Educator duty to care
empowerment and yields
important development benefits.
 Educator Duty to Care
Individuals and Some common care duties:
organizations have
obligations to act toward
Provision of suitable and safe premises
others and the public in a Provision of an adequate system of supervision
prudent manner to avoid
acts or omissions that
Implementation of strategies to prevent bullying
increase the risk of Ensuring that assistance is provided to students
reasonable foreseeable
harm.
Design and implement appropriate programs
Managing employee recruitment, conduct and
performance
 Distance/Online Education
DE is a specialized version of education: through the media, the pupil is
guided remotely by the master.
DE triggers many ethical questions: what is distance education
deontology or internal rules and values of the profession? Which of the
professional practices are moral in tune with society? What is the social
and societal role of the DE educator?
 Ethical Questions Related to Media
Media itself raises ethical issues:
Is media ever neutral? Is media ever equal?
 Media Neutrality
Does media have local or specific
bias?
How can diversity of culture and
language be (raised) in an emerging
market dominated by Anglo-
American content, supply, and
technology investment?
Most content development tools and
apps linked to North-American
content/culture
Media homogeneity works for one,
works for all? Consider MOOCs
Mass American pedagogy where
knowledge is recorded and
broadcasted by the media and is no
longer attached to any particular
teacher
Homogenizes the mind of learners
around globe
 Equality in Media
Questions about accessibility and Was is appropriately selected to
equality: benefit greatest numbers?
Simply having access Was is appropriately selected as
Having the knowledge to use best for most programs?

Having the cultural habit of using It is accessible?

to be educated Is access equally distributed?
 And also:
Unequally distributed
participation for one group
over another?
Greater participation for some
learners but exclusion of
others?
Perpetuation of preexisting
power differentials
Questions about roles,
meaning, influence:
Cumulative meaning making?
Interchangeable roles?
Reciprocal influence?
Mutual interruptibility?
 Transmission of Values and Design of
Organizational Culture
Richard Smith, in Education Elite and/or Anglo determination of right
Policy: Philosophical Critique culture (norms, values, rules, codes of
12, defines the education honor)?
establishment (p.2) elites
who decide educational policies
Industrialization and commodification of
education?
and authorize debates about
the future of universities Are in conflict with openness/freedom of
the Internet?

Who organizes the policies? Are in conflict with the level field
democratic promise of DE?
 Transmission of Values and Design of
Organizational Culture in RCE?
How to transmit our specific cultural
values-
Can we do so effectively, never
meeting our students?
What if its not even who we think it is
on the other side?
Duty owed to future consumers-
Can we effectively assess our
students?
Does course design reflect our
professional culture/values?
Is our professional culture (our
course culture) sensitive and open to
our students?
Do pedagogical tools and non-
pedagogical tools reflect values?
Do we have obligations about social
usefulness and usability of
knowledge?
 Additional Ethical Issues
Privacy and Surveillance Fabrication of information
Unauthorized collection of Anonymity
information
Reproducibility
Piracy
Online plagiarism
Downloading
Copyright and fair use
Fraudulent practices
 Ethical Concerns: Anonymity
Individuals can communicate:
Without identity
Using pseudonyms
Using different personas
Using someone elses identity
and words
Can lead to problems of
Integrity:
Disconnect of words from person
Trust:
Difficult to develop in an
environment in which one cannot be
sure of identities
Difficult to develop a reliable history
of experiences with specific people
 Ethical Concerns: Reproducibility
Information can be Facilitates Surveillance
reproduced online without Recordable and Observable)
loss of value and in such a
way that the originator or Endurance or permanence
holder of the information Increased Scope
would not notice. Integrity of information
Property
An owner can control the use of her property.
Borrowing a Model from Medical Practice