More ethical issuess

In reviewing articles from previous lessons, ethical issues in higher education can also evolve around underclassman and online courses.  Do institutions of higher education have the ethical or moral obligations to "watch" for those students that are not progressing in a class. Underclassman, especially freshman who are attending classes for the first time, may have time-management issues and if programs have on-line courses without some structure, students can easily fall through the "cracks."  Would one argue that this is a way of weeding out students? or Are educational institutions responsible to provide guidance and support for students taking an online course during their course work?  In relation to online courses and institutions of higher education, is it an ethical issue that these institutions provide professional development for staff, especially staff that have not taught an online course before?  

A few thoughts concerning higher education - education in general - and ethical questions.

ethical issues within online education

Another objective for this week involved ethical issues and online courses.  I found this website and it characterized four issues with online learning and curriculum development:

http://www.idolresources.com/four-ethical-issues-within-online-education.html

The four issues that were discussed involved the following four categories:

1.  Intellectual property rights (probably why employees, who pay for advance course work has a waiver that if an employee leaves within a specified time period has to pay back the tuition)

        2.  Educational fairness which is interrelated into copyright laws 

        3.  Privacy laws and the notion that once something is on the internet - is it every really "private?"

        4.  Universal design and the need to ensure that content is in a form or can be modified for all learners.

I really liked the inclusiveness of ethical issues in the article. 

 

      

More on "interventions'

      After reading a few of my fellow classmates blogs and watching the morning - the University of Phoenix's add came on with the program quote of "Thinking ahead - Where your are today and where you want to go tomorrow."  The realization became apparent that my first impression of a higher education program was the University of Phoenix.   The closest branch of this University is approximately 60 miles away - but  marketing and advertising brought residents of my town the understanding of the possibilities of online learning in higher education.  With all of my educational experiences, on-line learning was not incorporated into any of my programs.   Prior to beginning my administration graduate work, I actually checked out the program and I was impressed with the curriculum offered and the professional staff credentials.  I had the opportunity to speak to a student who shared her thoughts concerning the rigor of the program. 

     Just with these few thoughts, I have described  "innovative" characteristics of online programs including professional staff, rigorous curriculum and a program that entices a group of learners who will challenge and enhance the learning environment.  

Innovations in Distance Learning

 To begin this blog entry, I googled "Innovations in Distance Learning" and the first  article focused on the University of Houston and Texas A & M.  The article defined innovation as "as idea, practice, or object that is perceived as new by an individual or other unit of adoption"  (Rogers, 1995, p.11).  This article described the two universities and their "innovations" in distance learning.  The University of Houston's model described by Scott and Chernish, a data-based model focusing on course design and delivery that facilitated the creation of higher-quality teaching and learning environments through collaborative efforts among faculty content experts in various disciplines.   Dooley and Linder detailed how Texas A & M University and Texas Tech University developed and delivered the first doctoral degree in agricultural education offered entirely at a distance.  

This article was located in the University of Georgia's Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration. Winter 2007 - Volume 10 Issue 4.