ETHICAL ISSUES Ethical considerations of elearning relate to

ETHICAL ISSUES

Ethical considerations of e-learning relate to social and political influence, cultural diversity, bias, geographical diversity, learner diversity, digital divide, etiquette, and the legal issues.

Social and political influence E-learning designers should pay attention to various cultural, social and political influences that might affect their e-learning projects In some countries, changes in government may influence the e-learning initiatives.

Cultural diversity E-learning courses can be accessible to anyone in any part of the world One of the most critical issues in e-learning is cross-cultural communication. E-learning designers should try their best to be sensitive to various cross-cultural communication issues.

Bias In e-learning, content author's bias based on his or her position on issues should be carefully reviewed E-learning designers should work with content expert to eliminate any bias in the content.

Geographical diversity National and religious holidays may affect elearning activities for geographically dispersed learners. Scheduled chat discussions may not work for learners coming from different time zones. Economic constraints may also prevent learners in some regions of the world from doing certain e-learning activities completely online

Learner Diversity E-learning system should be designed to accommodate different learning styles and the needs of individuals with disabilities The diversity of student population in online courses poses a challenge to the instructor to develop a lecture In designing online courses, multiple instructional strategies and activities that cater to various learning styles should be used.

Digital Divide Digital divide refers to the gap between those who have access to the Internet and other information technology and those who do not. To minimize digital divide, e-learning designers should use multimedia elements that are essential to content. � the use of alternate text for all non-text elements �

Etiquette E-learning environment should have the guidelines for netiquette (network or Internet etiquette) The etiquette promotes mutually respectful behavior in an online learning community. E-learning courses should set up orientation sessions for netiquette.

Netiquette Remember the Human Adhere to the same standards of behavior online that you follow in real life Know where you are in cyberspace Respect other people's time and bandwidth Make yourself look good online Share expert knowledge Help keep flame wars under control Respect other people's privacy Don't abuse your power Be forgiving of other people's mistakes

Legal Issues 1. 2. 3. Institutions should develop e-learning policies and guidelines for legal matters such as: Privacy: The institution should clearly indicate to the students whether or not it will share their personal information and text dialogs to others Plagiarism: E-learning courses should provide clear information regarding institution’s plagiarism policies. Copyright: Content authors, instructors and students should be knowledgeable about copyright issues pertaining to e-learning and obtain copyright permissions wherever appropriate