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ICDE Dusseldorf 2001 Special Presidential Session on

Ethics in Distance Education and Open Learning

 
 

We live in a time of crucial change. Education is no longer the sole responsibility of educators. Professionals from many different disciplines and fields of activity contribute to how people learn and how their learning is being facilitated. Together they bear great responsibility for what the learning landscape of tomorrow will look like. Will education remain what many critics have claimed it is: the field most resistant to change humanity has ever created; or will it, thanks to the revolutionary spirit that drove the pioneers in distance education and open learning, become critical of itself and willing to learn not only from its successes, but also from what it did not achieve?

Ethical issues are at the root of the above question. The Learning Development Institute organized, in collaboration with the International Council for Open and Distance Education, a Special Presidential Session on these issues on the concluding day (5 April 2001) of the 20th World Conference on Open Learning and Distance Education.

 
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The following persons, presented here in alphabetical order, contributed graciously with their thoughts to this session, one of them, Noah Samara, being unable to join the panel at the last minute:

Aiming at spawning ongoing debate on these matters, the panelists shed their light on the theme of discussion from their diverse perspectives. Half of the time available for the session was used for a dialogue engaging the audience as much as the panelists. Jan Visser, President of the Learning Development Institute and former UNESCO Director for Learning Without Frontiers, animated and moderated the dialogue.

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Following is the text of the concept paper for this Special Presidential Session.

 

SHORT DESCRIPTION
 
Ethics is an important aspect of decision-making. So important is this aspect that various professions are guided by explicitly stated moral principles. Ethical discussion has been largely lacking in the history of the development of the field of distance education and open learning. A panel discussion - with active involvement of the audience - on "Ethics in Distance Education and Open Learning" aims at correcting this situation.
 
FULL ABSTRACT
 
RATIONALE: Ethics, according to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, is "the discipline concerned with what is morally good and bad, right and wrong." Notwithstanding its grounding in the traditions of philosophical inquiry (ethics is also called 'moral philosophy,' a term that may suggest theoretical rather than practical concerns), ethical considerations are of great practical import. They relate essentially to the process of decision-making. In various professions, such as the legal and medical ones, the process of decision-making is guided by explicitly formulated ethical principles. An example is the caveat given to medical practitioners, "At least do no harm." While in other disciplines the codes of moral conduct may be less explicitly stated, the debate about them need not be less serious or profound. In the middle of the twentieth century, for instance, ethical debate was prominent among physicists, particularly those involved in or concerned with the exploration of the atom and the horrendous amounts of energy that could be released through the fission of nuclei. Nowadays, similarly important ethical questions come up in relation to developments in biology. Generally, ethical issues become particularly acute - but should not be seen as restricted to such cases - when questions of life and death of individuals are involved, human freedom is at stake, severe consequences for the sustained existence of life on earth are feared, or the quality of life - at least from the perspective of the human species - appears at risk to be seriously threatened.
 
It can be argued that ethical considerations, as referred to above, are relevant in connection with human learning. To see the point, it must first be clarified what learning actually is. While the term is part of every day language, few people take the trouble to define it. For the purpose of the present proposal, reference is made to the following two levels of definition of the concept 'learning.' Learning can be defined narrowly, such as when reference is made to particular desired changes in human performance capability. It can also be defined broadly, such as when one looks at learning as the unending dialogue of human beings with themselves, with their fellow human beings, and with their environment at large, allowing them to participate constructively in processes of ongoing change. In the latter sense, one does not overstate the value of human learning by asserting that it is of life and death importance for dealing with the fundamental issues of our time.
 
Moral questions can thus be asked at both levels of definition referred to in the previous paragraph. At the former level, ethical issues come up, for instance, in regard of the choice of what is - and what is not - to be learned; who is - and who is not - given access to specific learning opportunities and at what cost (financial and in terms of lost opportunity); the efficiency and effectiveness of the learning process, i.e. the issue of quality; and the possible positive and negative side effects of becoming part of specific learning experiences. At the latter level, the moral issue intersects with questions that relate to the learning environment at large and the conditions that society puts in place to promote and facilitate learning and to ensure the organic integration of different portions of the learning environment. In addition, there is an important moral dimension to the question of how learning in its broader sense relates to such important issues as the development of democratic and peaceful societies; sustainable development of human use of the earth's resources; harmonious scientific and technological development; and the self-management of sustainable demographic growth.
 
Distance education and open learning have everything to do with the above questions. To understand what kind of ethical questions can be raised, it will be helpful to make a distinction between two levels at which the practice of distance education and open learning can play a role. The first level of practice is exemplified by the work undertaken by the growing variety of institutions that provide opportunities to learn through the distance education mode, thereby helping their audiences to attain specified learning goals. The second level at which that same practice plays a role is less well visible, unless one broadens one's perspective to the learning environment at large, which is made up of different segments, such as the formal school system, the family, distance education institutions, libraries, the broadcast media, and the Internet. Often, what one learns in one segment cannot be easily brought to bear on what one can learn in another segment. The learning environment at large lacks integrity. The flexibility inherent in distance education and open learning is therefore a most welcome feature that can help bridge the gaps between the different segments and can forge them into an organic whole.
 
Ethical questions come into play at each of the two levels referred to in the previous paragraph. At the latter level, that of the learning environment at large, such questions relate to the important role distance education and open learning can play to change the learning landscape forever. For that role to be played, the field must seriously fight the temptation to become self-satisfied with its early successes, replicating them over and over again, rather than following its original revolutionary spirit to constantly challenge existing wisdom and search for alternatives. This poses questions to the profession as such, about how it sees itself, and to the role research is to play in either sustaining existing discourse and action or in helping it to break through its own barriers. At the former level, at which distance education and open learning serves specific learning goals, moral questions range from the institutional ethics of facilitating institutions down to the ethical principles that guide different actors within the institutional context, such as the developers of the instruction, administrators, evaluators and researchers, and individual human facilitators as well as the learners themselves.
 
A search of the literature, including documentation available on the World Wide Web, reveals little explicit concern with ethical questions among the community of professionals active in the area of distance education and open learning. The proposed session aims at correcting this situation by providing a start for a debate around these questions. Considering the role played by ICDE in shaping distance education and open learning as a field, it is believed that the 20th World Conference on Open Learning and Distance Education is an excellent opportunity for doing so, particularly in view of the overall theme set for the conference, The Future of Learning - Learning for the Future: Shaping the Transition. We live in a time of crucial change. The current generation of educators, as well as professionals from multiple disciplines whose interests and actions intersect with how people learn and how their learning is being facilitated, bears great responsibility for what the learning landscape of the future is going to look like. Will education remain what many critics have claimed it is: the field most resistant to change humanity has ever created; or will it, thanks to the revolutionary spirit that drove the pioneers in distance education and open learning, finally become critical of itself and willing to learn not only from its own successes, but also from its failures?
 
SELECTION OF PANELISTS: Panelists (approximately six) will be identified on the basis of their record of having been asking themselves ethical questions, relevant to the issue of how human learning can be promoted and facilitated, while making personal and professional decisions for themselves or for the human environment they were responsible for. A balance will be sought between those who have been dealing with these questions at the supra-institutional, institutional, and process levels. Panelists will not necessarily be distance education/open learning professionals in the strict sense of the word. However, they will all have a profound interest in the development of the field.
 
SESSION FORMAT AND PROCEDURES: The session will start with a short introduction by the chair, explaining the underlying rationale and highlighting key issues and questions. A paper based on the current proposal will support the introduction.
 
Panelists will have been asked, well ahead of the World Conference, to each formulate five brief substantive statements or questions that are conducive to generating discussion. In addition, they may have chosen to support their short theses by a more lengthy paper. Both the short theses and, if provided, supporting papers, will be made available on the World Wide Web. Following the above-mentioned introduction, each of the panelists will be given the opportunity to speak for five to seven minutes. During these interventions, panelists will highlight their key concerns and persistent questions with a view to stimulating the debate.
 
Following the statements by the panelists, the chair will moderate a discussion on a selection of the key questions raised by the panelists. The session will be conducted interactively, assuming the energetic participation of the audience. Rather than promoting the idea that the panelists are authorities in this particular field, leaving it to the audience to ask questions to be responded to by the panelists, every attempt will be made to, right from the start, generate a dialogue that involves the audience as much as the panelists.
 
The session will be promoted, and pre-conference inputs to the debate will be solicited, through the website of the Learning Development Institute (www.learndev.org).
 
LONGER-TERM ISSUE: The proposed session does not stand on its own. It is intended to serve as a trigger for ongoing debate in this area. The Learning Development Institute will seek to develop its collaboration with the International Council for Open and Distance Education beyond the proposed session with a view to furthering the debate through face-to-face contact, electronic means of professional exchange, and scholarly publications.
 
 
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The following statements/questions were submitted by panelists and served as a basis for discussion during the interactive session. They are presented here in the order in which they came in:
 
Lya Visser (submitted March 18, 2001)
Federico Mayor (submitted March 29, 2001)
Fredric M. Litto (submitted April 3, 2001)
 
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Two slide presentations were used during the session.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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