Ethics are a set of standards that each of us follow, guiding our behavior and interactions with others. For example, your school has a set of behavioral standards that students are to adhere to while interacting with others, which allows you to make ethical decisions. You will decide to either act ethically or unethically, which means you will follow the standards or disregard them. In contrast, morals are what we use to make a determination of right and wrong. You will decide that an issue is morally right or wrong, based upon your belief system and what you have been taught by society, religious affiliations, and your upbringing.
Your actions in the classroom can be evaluated as ethical or unethical, based upon the school’s code of conduct; whereas, morals are personal in nature. In an online classroom you will find students with diverse backgrounds and differing opinions of what is right or wrong. While you may not be able to reach a consensus on what is morally right or wrong, you can agree upon what constitutes ethical or unethical actions. Let’s consider the ethical choices you may have to make as an online student.
Classroom Behaviour
Your behaviour in class, or the manner in which you conduct yourself, is also an ethical choice. One of the most common set of rules for interactions within a technologically-enabled environment is called Netiquette, which is important because “the distance imposed by computer networks disrupts our interactions so that people may become more vocal (mostly a good thing), but also more careless.” What I’ve noticed during class discussions is that students may forget that their classmates are people and can read, interpret, and misinterpret what has been posted. That’s why I remind students to read their messages aloud before posting them and consider both the content and possible tone of the messages. I also encourage students to find specific elements of their peers’ responses to focus on when they are posting messages – in other words, keep it academic, not personal.
Another ethical choice to make, concerning your classroom behaviour, is related to the issue of cyber safety, which involves how you behave or act towards others online. Cyber safety for students “includes the language they use and the things they say, how they treat others, respecting people's property (e.g. copyright) and visiting appropriate websites.” Also related to cyber safety is cyber bullying. Forms of cyber bullying can include:
• Insulting: Posting or spreading false information about a person that will cause harm to that person or that person’s reputation.
• Targeting: Singling someone out and inviting others to attack or make fun of her or him.
• Excluding: Pressuring others to exclude someone from a community (either online or offline).
• Harassment: Repeatedly sending someone nasty, mean and insulting messages.”
It is your responsibility as a student to act ethically in your class. Instructors know the importance of monitoring online interactions to ensure that students have a safe classroom environment to work in. For example, if I observe a message within the discussion board that may be perceived as threatening or hostile, I’ll address it right away with that student and should the problem continue I can file a Student Code of Conduct violation with the school.
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