This section comprises information, links, references and activities related to Ethics in Online Learning. Questions or feedback should be directed to Sonya Kimlin

• What is ethical behaviour?
• What Issues involve ethics and technology use?
• Johnson's 3P's of Technology Ethics
• Why teach ethics?
• Teaching Ethics
• Privacy Issues
• Property
• Appropriate Use
• Information Literacy

Me as an Educator: How do I know my behaviour is ethical?

Does my behaviour:
· Promote the general health of society?
· Maintain or increase the rights and freedoms of the individual?
· Protect individuals from harm?
· Treat all humans as having an inherent value and accord respect to them?
· Uphold religious, social, cultural, and government laws?
(Questions taken from Johnson, 1998.)

Me as an Educator (2): Why teach ethics?
Traditionally moral issues were taught in the home and schools reinforced these issues. In today's society values are not always taught at home and schools may be restricted in their teaching of social issues. Ethics need to be taught in order to help students judge right from wrong in the virtual world. Usually these students can judge right from wrong in a normal environment, however as the technologies give access to information and property which could be deemed 'free' to all users, students perception of right and wrong shifts.

Me as an Ethical User of Technology: What Issues involve ethics and technology use?
· Spamming, as the financial burden of unsolicited mail now falls on the recipient rather than the sender, does this create the need for new rules?
· Digital photography has made the manipulation of images undetectable. What obligations do communicators have?
· What safeguards do schools, libraries, and parents need to take to keep children from accessing inappropriate material?
· Intellectual property in digital format can be duplicated with increasing ease. D we need clearer definitions of property. (Johnson, 1998)

Me as a Learner: Which theories should I understand? Johnson's 3P's of Technology Ethics (Johnson, 1998)
1. Privacy - I will protect my privacy and respect the privacy of others.
2. Property - I will protect my property and respect the property of others.
3. a(P)propriate Use - I will use technology in constructive ways and in ways which do not break the rules of family, church, school or government.

Me and My Practice: Teaching Ethics
· Articulate values. Reinforce Ethical behaviour, react to non-ethical behaviour. Clearly display codes of conduct.
· Model Ethical behaviour.
· Create environments which help users avoid temptations. Arranging computer screens so that they can be easily monitored.
· Encourage discussion of ethical issues. Case studies either hypothetical or real should be discussed and integrated into the technology lessons as the students' progress. Teaching ethics as a stand alone unit is not recommended as students can develop inappropriate behaviour early in their development with technology.
· Stress the consideration of principles rather than relying on a detailed set of rules. Students will engage in higher order thinking skills and learn behaviours which they can carry out of the classroom when they apply guidelines rather than learn rules. (Johnson, 1998)

Implications for my Practice: Privacy Issues
· Students need to be aware the information they give to one business may be sold to another business or organisation and can lead to unsolicited mail.
· Users should be aware that a stranger is a stranger whether it is in the playground or the internet.
· Schools and businesses have the right to search student and employee files that are created and stored on their computer hardware.
· Users need to realise that information on a computer screen is just as private as that written on a paper journal and should be treated accordingly.
· Information inadvertently left accessible does not mean that it is appropriate to access it. For example student files left open on a teacher's desk/computer. (Johnson, 1998)

My Background about Property
· Copyright law applies to computer software and shareware. When purchasing software you are purchasing the right to use the software not duplicate it.
· Students need to learn intellectual property is the same as physical property and deleting a file or erasing a disk is destroying property.
· Students need to know the unethical behaviours of others and how to avoid them. They also need to know how virus protection devices work and how to run them.
· Citizens have the ethical responsibility to report wrong doing, including the destruction of property. (Johnson, 1998)

My Information about Appropriate Use
· Students need to understand their rights as well as their responsibilities.
· We are obligated to teach students they have a right to due process if they are charged with a violation of the rules or law.
· Students need to know the ability of officials to track and catch individuals who break the law is increasing with new technology. Electronic fingerprints, virtual footprints and broken digital locks are growing more visible each day.
· Students need to know the rules and laws pertinent to information technology use including: privacy, property and appropriateness. They need to know the consequences for them and society; both immediate and long-term should they choose to act against the rules and laws. (Johnson, 1998)

What I need to know about Information Literacy

Information literacy has been defined as the ability to access, evaluate, and use information from a variety of sources. (Langford in Henri and Bonanno,1999)

An information literate person accesses information.

· Recognises the need for information.
· Recognises that accurate and complete information is the basis for intelligent decision making.
· Formulates questions based on the information needs.
· Identifies potential sources.
· Develops successful search strategies.
· Accesses print and technology-based sources of information.
· Is a competent reader.

An Information literate person evaluates information

· Establishes authority.
· Determines accuracy and relevance.
· Recognises point of view and opinion versus factual knowledge.
· Rejects inaccurate and misleading information.
· Creates new information to replace inaccurate or missing information

An information Literate person uses information

· Organises information for practical application.
· Integrates new information into an existing body of knowledge.
· Applies information in critical thinking and problem solving.
(Langford in Henri and Bonanno, 1999)

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