Ethics in online education system

During online courses, like in the face-to-face classes; students have to show respect to their
instructors and course mates. Taking ethical principles into consideration in online education leads
to
(1) respect and tolerance among participants,
(2) civil relations and interaction based on pre-determined rules.
It has to be admitted that both traditional and online student are expected to follow certain ethics.
One perception is that the traditional student may be more inclined towards following fair and
ethical behavior. It could be because he doesn’t have the access to technology that can help him
with illegal yet assured success.
An e-learner, on the other hand, has technology at his disposal which can be used for cutting the
corners and achieving results in an unethical way. The flaw in this kind of thinking is that it leads
to a dangerous notion that all online learners are or can be unethical. To be fair to both the
traditional and digital learners, let’s bear in mind that value system can be equally followed or
flouted by both. It’s just a matter of access and opportunity.
Students are more technologically wired today than ever before. It’s no surprise then, that
technological connections can influence a student’s behavior, his value system and code of
conduct.
Prosecution and execution:
1. Focus on prevention by intensifying student-teacher communication in the forums,
especially using multimedia communication means. Establish Scholastic Honesty
Committee at the university. Arrange for a solid academic plagiarism checker technology.
2. Support the government action to abolish the businesses that write papers on the behalf of
students. Examine the student work carefully and pay attention to the student's writing
style. Check the date of creation of document as a listed by MS Office. Ask student to
present the paper in a webinar.
3. Pose similar questions from discussion forums on the test. Pay attention to the student's
writing style.
4. We generally do not recommend the online tests and suggest imposing the requirement of
taking 1-2 on-campus proctored exams or using the professional proctor if a student is at a
distant location. However, if online test is the only way, block the possibilities of opening
another window on student's computer. Have a large test bank of questions so that the
students' questions are unique. Ask open ended questions. Ask student to arrange a 360-
web camera.
5. Check the student's ID at each exam. Pose similar questions from discussion boards on the
test.
6. Ask the proctor to provide the verifiable credentials (e.g., the school's email address,
confirmation from the school manager on a letterhead, business card, etc.). Verify the
proctor by calling the university or check the name and the position on the Internet (e.g. on
LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.).
Unethical Issues:
1. Plagiarism
This is one of the biggest problems facing online education system. Millions of students have fallen
prey to the temptation called ‘Copy-paste’. It’s easy, it’s quick and it gets you grades – so why
not? This is the attitude of most of those Ctrl+C –Ctrl+V fans. They do not hesitate from illicitly
using material without proper referencing. To such students, plagiarism is an adventure that is
exciting but the truth is it could be fatal to their academic career. To cite an example, in March
1996, two students at Ohio State University were found guilty of plagiarizing intellectual material
belonging to others and using it in their dissertations. The school’s plagiarism committee
demanded that the department chair be dismissed after discovering that other acts of plagiarism
took place for over two decades.
2. Student Substitution
Some students use a proxy or a substitute who is more proficient in a task to complete an
assignment. In online learning, this could be a major issue because the online instructor or teacher
cannot be physically present to check who has completed the assignment. Making sure that the
student has to read course material to complete the assignment and asking random questions from
his submission could be a way to deal with the problem.
 3. Teaching Online Ethics
It’s important that students begin to learn online ethics in classroom. It might not be easy
considering the limitations of e-learning wherein a teacher does not meet his students. For online
educators it is difficult to make an impression upon the minds of their student because they are not
face-to-face. However, with due care and some preventive measures, online ethics can be taught
and followed.
Online education in Bangladesh:
COVID-19 pandemic is a global reality of the year 2020 that had ceased the educational activities
during the beginning of the lock down phase worldwide. However, most of the educational
institutions all over the world already broke the spell of the initial perception and inertia due to the
pandemic and resumed their academic activities through online platforms. Although, most
universities including world ranking institutions are struggling with finances, nevertheless, the
effectiveness of online teaching and learning is gaining its prominence from the perspective of
revitalizing the aggravating mental and spiritual states among the students along with the
pandemic. The students are all the more joining eagerly in online semesters with higher retention
rates, finding the e-learning process as a greener option with learning and assessment progressing
with reduced distractions and with less of a time investment as commuting is not a requirement.
Furthermore, online platforms provide quite a flexible and all-inclusive opportunity with
additional guidance and tutoring support from the instructors. Studies have already demonstrated
that online mode of teaching will enable the universities to teach 15-18% additional students at the
same cost.
Bangladesh situation was no different than facing the reality and then moving on with it. Most of
the Private Universities in Bangladesh operates in trimester schedule which offers lesser leeway
and flexibility to transit over to a new mode of teaching or system in a wider
timescale. Accordingly, being in midway between the semesters, most had to switch to online
platform immediately for completing the semester and faced huge difficulty due to lack of
experience in it.
Online education and reality in Bangladesh
Online education gets its moment due to COVID-19 epidemic. Recently some public and private
university teachers have started taking online classes and some faculties have announced the
presentation of online assignments and homework. In addition to that some classes in primary and
secondary level are going ahead by the teachers in TV. But question is that how much it is effective
for the students.
1. Online classes are not more effective than the direct classes in the classroom. Through
online classes, teachers may not run the classes according to a specific plan. At university
level, most of the students of public universities come from poor and middle class family;
they may not have internet access due to their financial crisis. On the other hand, the
scenery of private universities is different as most of the students there are from
economically solvent families. So, they can avail internet access easily.
2. Universities and other educational institutions of Bangladesh haven't faced such disruption
in past also. Some countries, those belong to developed nations are running their e-learning
systems for the students like USA, UK and China. The main condition of online education
is to ensure the internet facility and access to online course content for all students.
Teachers should make course content more accessible and vibrant for the student at the
danger time of COVID-19.
3. Amid the coronavirus pandemic, we are facing first-time unexpected experience. We are
unable to deliver lectures in the classrooms and assign the team works for students. That's
why we have to adapt with uncertain circumstances and develop strategies to continue
learning such as online education. If authority of educational institutions gives the direction
to start online teaching, many poor students won't have the ability to sustainably access
them because they lack laptops & internet connection. Moreover, in rural and hill tracking
areas modern infrastructure facilities are not available. It is a big challenge for online
education in Bangladesh. However, if the ministry of education can give free internet
facilities to all the students; online leaning may be effective in that case. Otherwise, some
students will be deprived from online education and teaching.
4. Though online education is a new platform of learning for both students and teachers, face
to face interaction is very important for a successful class. Because, in a real classroom a
teacher can easily control the whole class and monitor all the students at the same time.
The teacher can identify less attentive students in classroom and can attract them to the
class in his own way by taking instant measures. Moreover, during the lecture time,
students may have queries that can be easily answered shortly without any hamper in the
flow of lecture in the real class. But due to the absence of real face-to-face communication
between teacher and the students in online classes, it is very difficult to make online class
successful.
5. Interrupted supply of electricity is another vital obstacle for online education. Still now,
mass people have zero access to electricity. Unstable power supply and poor power quality
hamper online education. For example, a teacher may live in an area where electricity is
available but students may live in a remote area where there is no electricity. So, it is a
common challenge in Bangladesh.
6. In Bangladesh, students are not used to such a pattern of learning. Not only students but
also many teachers of primary and secondary levels of education prefer the practice of
traditional teaching methodology. In my observation, even many university teachers are
reluctant to use Power Point Presentation (PPT) and multimedia for teaching.
7. Online education is expensive for the students compare to traditional learning. To do so,
students need to have the access to the smartphone or laptop. They also require buying
enough data. Smartphone technology may be more ubiquitous than the past, but the ability
for poor students is yet to purchase a smartphone and achieve its potential outcome. So, it's
another challenge of online education.
Beside challenges, online education has many opportunities also;
First opportunity is course contents rethinking to adapt online by the teachers. Teaching online is
different from conventional practices, which suggest they need to think critically about what
contents are included and excluded when giving online teaching. A teacher can easily redesign a
course's outline to suit online teaching platforms that offers him an opportunity to update the
teaching outcomes of his lectures and review whether all the contents arrange in a line or not.
Secondly, online education is a platform where teachers do not need to learn exclusively through
lectures. They can record videos of their lectures and making PPT, so students can access course
content more than once. Moreover, they can form team to promote peer-to-peer learning in online.
This opportunity also has noteworthy potential for expanding how students learn in a technology-
driven world, both online and especially in the classroom.
At last, as all educational institutions have been closed for a long time at the current calendar year,
University and other educational Institutions should explore the alternative like a double shift in
every day, four months semester, and limit discretionary leave and weekly leave to make up losses
for the students. So, respective authority should sincerely consider the matter and take the
appropriate initiatives for the education sector.