‘You be the judge – ethical dilemmas in open and distance learning’ Gwyneth Hughes Ormond Simpson
You be the judge - some ethical dilemmas in distance education
Nov 01, 2014
Presentation from ethics workshop at the CDE’s Research and Innovation in Distance Education and eLearning conference, held at Senate House London on 19 October 2012. Conducted by Ormond Simpson and Gwyneth Hughes.
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Transcript
‘You be the judge – ethical dilemmas
in open and distance learning’
Gwyneth Hughes
Ormond Simpson
Increasing interest in ethical issues in UK?
Recent issues in UK TV broadcasting
News International phone hacking saga The global banking crisis
Ethical issues in Distance Education
‘…search of the literature reveals little concern with ethical questions among the community of professionals in distance education and open learning’ (Visser, 2001)
Increasing use of IT in DE may actually enhance unethical behaviours because of ‘psychological distance’ (Gearhart 2001)
Commitments and ethical reasoning(Pratt 1998)
Two types of commitment to guide ethical reasoning:
1. commitment to justice2. commitment to caring
Ethical issues in distance learning Example 1
Moving into E-learning
care
UK household internet access
Social classes A-B twice the access of classes D-E
Ethical issues in distance learning Example 1
Moving into E-learning
care
justice ?
Ethical dilemma 1
Is it right to insist that distance students study by e-learning and must have access to the
internet to study?
Ethical issues in open learning
Example 2 Using the ‘predicted probability
of success’ (pps) model
‘Binary regression statistics’ based on results of previous students, attaches a ‘predicted probability of success’ (pps) to new UKOU students.
Predictions are accurate to 1-2% for any reasonable sized group of students
The ‘’predicted probability of success’ (pps) model - new UKOU students entering in 2004
0-10 11-20 21-30 31-40 41-50 51-60 61-70 71-80 81-90 91-1000
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9000
Predicted probability of success (pps) band %
nu
mb
er o
f st
ud
ents
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The ‘’predicted probability of success’ (pps) model - predicted success vs. actual
0
20
40
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100
0 to10
10 to20
20 to30
30 to40
40 to50
50 to60
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70 to80
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predicted probability of success actual success rate
Pps model – the ethical issues
1. targeting support?
2. disclosure?
Pps model – the ethical issues
2. Disclosure
Commitment to justice? - student entitled to know to avoid wasting his time and money [UK Data Protection Law]
Commitment to care? - but what would be the effect of being told your prediction?
Ethical dilemma 2
Should we tell someone they have a low chance of success or not?
0
2000
4000
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0-10 11-20 21-30 31-40 41-50 51-60 61-70 71-80 81-90 91-100
pps band
num
ber o
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s in
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My Ethical Dilemmas
1. Should we insist on e-learning?2. Should we tell students their chances of
success?
The beehive metaphor
The hive as learning environment
• Queen Bees- Fed by workers. Purpose is reproduction
• Worker Bees – collect pollen and make wax
• Drones – Fed by workers and cannot survive outside the hive. One will fertilise the Queen.
• Hughes, G. (2011) Queen bees, workers and drones: gender performance in virtual learning
groups. In Kirkup, G. (Ed) Gender issues in learning and working with IT IGI Global, Pennsylvania.
The hive as learning environment
• Queens-leaders of an online discussion who produce a product or joint assignment
• Workers – gather and contribute knowledge to the discussion
• Drones – are largely absent from the discussion although occasionally provide a new idea often late in the day
• Is this just and fair? Hughes, G. (2011) Queen bees, workers and drones: gender performance in virtual learning
groups. In Kirkup, G. (Ed) Gender issues in learning and working with IT IGI Global, Pennsylvania.
To modify the hive behaviour
• Compulsory contribution-all are workers or queens
However from a care perspective:• Students may have good reasons not to
participate: busy lives, illness, feel excluded by others, arrived late to the discussion, do not know what is going on etc.
• “There was a ‘sell by date’ to the contributions … As much as I appreciated I could go to the discussion board at any time, it appeared late entrants rarely got any feedback…”
Ethical dilemmas
1. Should we insist on e-learning?2. Tell students their chances of success - or
not?3. Is compulsory participation in online
discussions necessary to prevent some learners depending on others to do all the work, or is it unfair on those who cannot easily take part?
Members of the jury - you decide….
HOW GOOD ARE YOUR CHANCES OF PASSING?
Initial Score : 60points
1.Are you male or female?Male : Subtract 5 Female: No change
Revised Score: points
2. How old are you?Under 30 : Subtract 13 Age 30 or above : No change
Revised Score: points
3. What level is this course?Level 1: Add 23 Level 2 : Add 11Other: No change
Revised Score: points
4. What Faculty is this course? A : Add 16 D or L: Add 8 E or K: Add 7 M : Add 6 S : Subtract 3 T : Add 1 Other: No change
Revised Score: points
5. What is the credit rating of this course?15pts : Subtract 23 30pts : Subtract 9 60pts : No change
Revised Score: points
6. How many courses are you taking in total this year?1 course : Add 5 2 or more : No change
Revised Score: points
7. What are your current highest educational qualifications?Degree or equivalent : Add 17A-level or equivalent : Add 12O level, GCSE or equivalent : No changeNone to CSE : Subtract 2 Other : No change
Revised Score: points
8. How would you classify your occupation? Working- professional occupation : Add 10Working- other occupation : Add 5Not working or other: No change
Revised Score: points
FINAL SCORE pts
How did you score?
• 100 or above: (70%+ chance of success) The outlook is very bright for you. You’ll undoubtedly have your share of challenges but you should be able to get things off to a good start.
• 75 to 99: (50-60% chance of success) This will be a challenge you’ve taken on and it will be useful to see if you can increase your point score in some way. For example do think about changing to a lower level course just for the first year – you can step up the pace later on. If you are taking more than one course then again do think of switching to just one.
• Under 75: (50% or lower chance of success) You’ll still be able succeed but if you can increase your score that would really improve your chances. You may not want to change sex (!) but you could change your course, increase your current educational qualifications by taking a short course of some kind – the ‘Openings’ courses are ideal – and so on.
Ethical issues in distance education
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