Personal and professional ethics; Ethical issues and legal issues in the digital age; and Tools for ethical decision making

Step 1 (What): 

An ethical dilemma that I have faced in my practice, related to digital or online activity is plagiarism and intellectual-property violation.

As Cranston, Ehrich & Kimber (2004) discuss the definition of ethics is so varied. Ethics is often defined as what it is not like "misconduct, corruption, fraud and other types of illegal behaviour" but is also "drawn on notions of integrity, honesty, Personal values and professional codes". All in all, "ethics is about relationships" and what people see as right and wrong/ the good and bad.

A digital activity that I have incorporated into my classroom is the use of Blogger as a 'Response to Text". In this activity students were able to get on to an online Blog as Editors to the page so they could post, comment, discuss and collaborate on activities online. Being Editors to the Blog made it possible for the some students to get online and abuse this opportunity by using other students' ideas as their own.

Before: Everything was done on books and feedback was between teacher and students concerned.

The change: Work and Feedback will now be online; peer to peer with teacher feedback also. Everyone will have instant access to everyone else's work and comments.

Target group: Year 9, mix ability students, mixed gender, aimed to lift engagement in writing 

Problem arising: This could lead to plagiarism.

Ethics dilemma: Is it plagiarism if one student 'borrows' from another in an online discussion? And if it is, then what do I do about it?

Step 2 (So What): 

Decision Making Framework Chosen: Ehrich (2011)

The critical incident, which triggered the ethical dilemma

While reading the response to film, it was discovered that some students had taken ideas/ words/ pictures off other students' work and pretended it was theirs. Is it ethical to be tolerant of submissions that are not completely plagiarised but are "borrowed" from others?

Various sometimes competing forces, each of which impacts on decision-making from its own particular bias

According to the current NZ Teacher Code of Ethics (2017), we need to display a "commitment to Learners: Ko te ngākau nui ki ngā Ākonga" which includes "creating learning environments (including online spaces) that are safe and inclusive, and that promote the dignity and emotional wellbeing of all learners". As such, students need to know what plagiarism is and what its consequences are so that our digital learning environment can be safe and inclusive where no one has fear of sharing.

MHJC organisation culture talks about 'growing greatness' and as such the expectation is that students do not plagiarise and stick to student non-cheating policies. As such, students have to tick off an authenticity statement:

Institutional practice is that every student is educated about the consequences of plagiarism when they start at MHJC. The consequences of when a student plagiarises are:
First offence: discussion, 
     Identifying the issue - depending on how much plagiarism - assessment is re-done or           plagiarised parts not marked, and grade awarded accordingly. 
Second offence: Whanau is notified and grade affected
Third offence: Assessment is graded Working Towards (Fail) regardless. Whanau is informed of reason.

The individual’s values, beliefs, and ethical orientations in relation to the dilemma

My students know that I personally check every piece of work closely and cannot stand "borrowing" without citing first. It does not matter what class I teach I always teach them the basics of referencing also as I believe that education should be all encompassing.  

The choice, which could be no action or the action taken formally or informally, internally or externally

Action taken informally and internally: Talked to the class about plagiarism and. Discussed consequences and delivered it as the final warning with 2 days given for anyone who needed to change things before they got penalised for it. Between me and the students as they are in year 9 and they are still learning at the moment; this should enable them rather than suffocate them. I was hoping that this would lead to higher engagement by students also.

Formally, I am in the process of trying to source the formal anti-plagiarism document for the school so I can have the discussion in the whanau assembly. I have contacted my head of whanau and the Director of Learning at my organisation for this.

Step 3 (Now What): 

Literacy used to mean teaching learners how to answer questions to unfamiliar texts, reading, writing and speaking. But, "as modern forms of communication, collaboration and research shift increasingly to digital formats, digital literacy has become an important facet of overall literacy education" (Arkansas State University Academic Partnerships, 2017). As such, teachers need to be able to teach in such demanding situations with a strong moral compass, all the while attempting to emit such values onto the learners.

According to the current NZ Teacher Code of Ethics (2017), we need to display a "commitment to Learners: Ko te ngākau nui ki ngā Ākonga" which includes "creating learning environments (including online spaces) that are safe and inclusive, and that promote the dignity and emotional wellbeing of all learners". This can be interpreted to mean that our learning environment includes online areas too and if plagiarism leads to cheating or penalising of students who may not have been involved in such work etc., it is not a safe or nurturing learning environment. Hence, the need to educate students on such important life lessons should also be part of the curriculum. 

Sometimes, the issue is more of deciding what to let go off and where to draw the line? And how do we make such important decisions? 

References:

Cranston, N., Ehrich, L. C. & Kimber, M. P. (2004). Towards an understanding of Ethical Dilemmas Faced by School Leaders. Principia, Journal of the Queensland Secondary Principals' Association, 1, pp. 1-3. Retrieved from:http://eprints.qut.edu.au/732/2/Ethical_Dilemmas.pdf

Education Council. (2017). The Code of Professional Responsibility Examples in Practice. Retrieved from: https://educationcouncil.org.nz/sites/default/files/Code%20Guidance%20FINAL.pdf 

Arkansas State University Academic Partnerships. (2017). Adding Digital Literacy to Literacy Learning. Retrieved from: https://degree.astate.edu/articles/k-12-education/digital-literacy-literacy-learning.aspx