Ethical Use of Technology in Digital Learning Environments : Graduate Student Perspectives, Volume 2

Abstract

This book is the result of a co-design project in a class in the Masters of Education program at the University of Calgary. The course, and the resulting book, focus primarily on the safe and ethical use of technology in digital learning environments. It is the second volume in a series.

The course was organized according to four topics based on Farrow’s (2016) Framework for the Ethics of Open Education. Students were asked to review, analyze, and synthesize each topic from three meta-ethical theoretical positions: deontological, consequentialist, and virtue ethical (Farrow, 2016). The chapters were co-designed using a participatory pedagogy with the intention to share and mobilize knowledge with a broader audience.

The first section, comprised of four chapters, focuses on topics relating to well-being in technology-enabled learning environments, including the use of web cameras, eproctoring software, video games, and access to broadband connectivity. The second section focuses on privacy and autonomy of learners and citizens in a variety of contexts from schools to clinical settings.

In each of the seven chapters, the authors discuss the connection to the value of technology in education, and practical possibilities of learning technologies for inclusive, participatory, democratic, and pluralistic educational paradigms. The book concludes with reflections from the course instructor gained over two iterations of teaching the course.