ASSIGNMENT 4

Assignment 4



Assignment 4

Introduction

The term ethics is generally used in unusual ways, including to express a way of being, synonymous with morals; to identify rules or a moral code, often associated with a professional organization (e.g., legal ethics and the American Bar Association's Code of Professional Responsibility); to denote the philosophical study of morality; and to identify a particular philosopher's moral theory (e.g., Kantian ethics). All of these uses are relevant to educational institutions and to the professionals who work there. Some ethical problems in educational settings, such as academic integrity issues, are relevant to both institutional ethics and professional ethics. Because technology influences the pattern of ethical issues, distributed learning environments face special ethical challenges. A general understanding of academic ethics and professional ethics provides a foundation for considering ethical issues in distributed learning environments. The nature of the institution and the educational technology used influence ethical decisions and methods of teaching.(Weingartner,1999)

Institutional Ethics And Academic Administration

As corporate entities, educational institutions have obligations of general business ethics. Corporate or business ethics broadly includes stakeholder relations (e.g., employment agreements and workplace environment issues), legal and regulatory compliance (e.g., environmental and nondiscrimination regulations), and external relations (e.g., philanthropic activities and neighbor relationships). Academic institutions have additional commitments to core academic values, which changes the ethical considerations and raises the ethical bar.

Educational institutions are corporate entities created for a variety of stated purposes. For example, the mission of an independent secondary school may include character formation enhanced by a boarding component or open access through entirely online classes offered to students unable to attend a traditional school for fiscal, physical, or social reasons. The mission of a public K-12 school may be to serve all members of the district equally or to serve all students in a state through charter Internet schooling.(Callahan,1980) The mission of a private college may be to develop students of faith, to further the education of women, to facilitate the study of any field by any person, or to serve the educational needs of working professionals entirely through online delivery. (Weingartner,1999) Many public colleges and universities have extended their mission to include service to those beyond state boundaries, or at least to those residents unable to travel to the campus. These educational institutions have obligations to fulfill their varied educational missions and uphold core academic values in addition to the common corporate obligations and responsibilities. These combined obligations make up academic ethics.

One significant difference between the corporate setting and the educational setting is in the area of conflicts of interest. Distributed learning further complicates this issue. Many businesses require employees to sign conflict of interest agreements limiting employees from engaging in work-related activities outside of the supervision of the employer. In contrast, educational institutions have historically allowed faculty to consult, teach, and conduct research outside of the institution as long as the faculty member limits that work to a predetermined percentage of time. In making this decision, educational institutions value the benefits of these activities over the potential ...