The speed at which ICTs have penetrated into most aspects of contemporary society necessitates us to be more reflective as well as vigilant and to think more critically about many of the issues relating to ethical dilemmas and challenges that these new technologies both fire and fuel, rather than just focusing on achieving ends. In the third millennium electronic or online classrooms are becoming growingly more widespread, and “open and distance learning” (ODL) and distance education have opened new learning windows for millions of people
This ten-chapter book tries to explain what it means to be ethical in online higher education. According to the author, the message of the book is to help those working at a distance to be successful and understand online protocol. Intending to sharpen our ethical awareness, it begins with three basic discussions:
ethics definition;
the meaning of “good behaviour”; and
the relation between ethics and e-classes.
In Chapter 1 Smith emphasises the need for interaction between self-assessment and ethics in order for one to become a self-directed learner. To enrich readers' insight in line with moral character in the context of e-learning and e-settings, some fundamental theoretical issues concerning ethical theories (subjectivism, cultural relativism, utilitarianism, and Kantian ethics), critical thinking and plagiarism are examined (Chapters 2-4). In Chapters 5-7 the book deals mainly with such problems and dilemmas as students' unpreparedness, online excuses, increased changes and multiculturalism in communication and the emergence of discussion forums that intensify and facilitate deceptive actions, including plagiarism. To cope with unethical behaviours in e-classrooms and similar environments, Chapters 8 and 9 provide us with two solutions. The first emphasises adhering to the principles of academic research from researching to writing, and the second highlights the roles that critical thinking can play in alleviating unethical decisions and realising much more ethical behaviours. Finally, Chapter 10 expresses some ethical expectations every online learner needs to know in theory and meet in practice.
As a strong point, the inclusion of discussion questions, activities, student cases, students' perspectives, self-reflection figures, and examples of real-life ethical and unethical choices students have made in the online classroom contributes to better understanding and internalising what the online student needs to know as well as follow. Armed with this content, any online learner will gain a strong foundation for behaving ethically. This educational and instructive work will help us move on morally in e-classroom and other emerging learning environments.
