Learning and Teaching in the Panopticon:Ethical and Social Issues in Creating a Virtual Educational Environment
This paper examines ethical and social issues which
have proved important when initiating and creating educational spaces within a virtual environment. It focuses on one project, identifying the key decisions made, the barriers to new practice
encountered and the impact these had on the project. It demonstrates
the importance of the 'backstage' ethical and social issues involved in
the creation of a virtual education community and offers conclusions,
and questions, which will inform future research and practice in this
area. These ethical issues are considered using Knobel-s framework
of front-end, in-process and back-end concerns, and include
establishing social practices for the islands, allocating access rights,
considering personal safety and supporting researchers appropriately
within this context.
[1] Schome Homepage. Schome: The education system for the
information age. Accessed on 10 March 2007 at
http://www.schome.ac.uk
[2] E. Murphy, "Being Digital by Nicholas Negroponte: Review," Accessed 11 June 2003 at http://www.stemnet.nf.ca/~elmurphy/emurphy
[3] P. Twining, "Conceptualising computer use in education: introducing
the Computer Practice Framework," British Educational Research
Journal, 28, 1, 95-110, 2002.
[4] K. Sheehy & S. Bucknall, "Young learners- views of future education
systems: ÔÇÿLike now only better-," Paper presented at the IFIP
Conference: Imagining the future for ICT and Education, Alesund,
Norway, 2006.
[5] J. Rix & P. Twining, "Talking about schools: Towards a typology for
future education", Educational Research to be published.
[6] M.D. Childress & B.R. Braswell, " Using massively multiplayer online
role-playing games for online learning," Distance Education, 27, 2,
187-196, 2006.
[7] Warcraft Realms website. Accessed 10 March 2007 at
http://www.warcraftrealms.com/census.php.
[8] M.D. Dickey, "3D virtual worlds: an emerging technology for
traditional and distance learning," 2007. Accessed 10 March 2007 at
http://www.oln.org/conferences/OLN2003/papers/Dickey3DVirtualWo
rlds.pdf
[9] M.D. Dickey, "3D virtual worlds and learning: an analysis of the
impact of design affordances and limitations of Active Worlds, blaxxun
interactive, and OnLive! Traveler; and a study of the implementation of
Active Worlds for formal and informal education," Columbus, OH: The
Ohio State University, 2000.
[10] M. Bricken & C.M. Byrne, " Summer students in virtual reality: a pilot
study on educational applications of virtual reality technology," In A.
Wexelblat (Ed.), Virtual Reality: Applications and Exploration.
Boston, MA: Academic. pp. 199-218, 1994.
[11] R.D. Riner, " Virtual ethics virtual reality," Futures Research
Quarterly, 12, 57- 70, 1996.
[12] SimTeach. Accessed 10 March 2007 at
http://www.simteach.com/wiki/index.php?title=Campus:Second_Life
[13] P. Foster, " Some critical comments on the BERA Ethical Guidelines,"
BERA Research Intelligence, 67, February, p. 1, 1999.
[14] J.F Soltis, "The ethics of qualitative research," International Journal of
Qualitative Studies in Education, 2, 2, 123-130, 1989.
[15] BERA. Revised ethical guidelines for educational researchers 2004.
Accessed 10 March 2007 at
http://www.bera.ac.uk/publications/guides.php
[16] BPSCode of ethics and conduct 2006. Leicester: The British
Psychological Society. Accessed 11.11.2006 at
www.bps.org.uk/document-download-area/documentdownload$.
cfm?file_uuid=6D0645CC-7E96-C67FD75E2648E5580115&
ext=pdf
[17] AOIR.Ethical decision-making and Internet research:
recommendations from the AOIR ethics working committee, 2002
Accessed 10 March 2007 at
http://www.aoir.org/reports/ethics.pdf
[18] C. Lankshear &M. Knobel, "The moral consequences of what we
construct through research.," Paper presented at the Australian
Association for Research in Education Annual Conference, Brisbane, p.
154, 1997.
[19] P. Banister, E. Burman, I.M.T. Parker & C. Tindal (Eds.), Issues of
Evaluation in Qualitative Methods in Psychology. Buckingham: Open
University, 2004.
[20] C. Allen, " What's wrong with the 'golden rule'? Conundrums of
conducting ethical research in cyberspace," The Information Society,
12, 175-187, 1996.
[21] E. Reid, "Informed Consent in the Study of On-Line Communities: A
Reflection on the Effects of Computer-Mediated Social Research," The
Information Society, 12, 2, 1996.
[22] M. Knobel, " Rants, ratings and representation: ethical issues in
researching online social practices," Education, Communication and
Information, 3, 2, 187-210, 2003.
[23] K.M. Leander & K.K. McKim, "Tracing the everyday 'sitings' of
adolescents on the Internet: a strategic adaptation of ethnography across
online and offline spaces," Education, Communication and
Information, 3, 2, 212-240, 2003.
[24] A. Cavanagh, " Behaviour in public? Ethics in online ethnography,"
Cybersociology, 6, 1999. Accessed 6 June 2001 at
http://www.socio.demon.co.uk/magazine/6/cavanagh.html
[1] Schome Homepage. Schome: The education system for the
information age. Accessed on 10 March 2007 at
http://www.schome.ac.uk
[2] E. Murphy, "Being Digital by Nicholas Negroponte: Review," Accessed 11 June 2003 at http://www.stemnet.nf.ca/~elmurphy/emurphy
[3] P. Twining, "Conceptualising computer use in education: introducing
the Computer Practice Framework," British Educational Research
Journal, 28, 1, 95-110, 2002.
[4] K. Sheehy & S. Bucknall, "Young learners- views of future education
systems: ÔÇÿLike now only better-," Paper presented at the IFIP
Conference: Imagining the future for ICT and Education, Alesund,
Norway, 2006.
[5] J. Rix & P. Twining, "Talking about schools: Towards a typology for
future education", Educational Research to be published.
[6] M.D. Childress & B.R. Braswell, " Using massively multiplayer online
role-playing games for online learning," Distance Education, 27, 2,
187-196, 2006.
[7] Warcraft Realms website. Accessed 10 March 2007 at
http://www.warcraftrealms.com/census.php.
[8] M.D. Dickey, "3D virtual worlds: an emerging technology for
traditional and distance learning," 2007. Accessed 10 March 2007 at
http://www.oln.org/conferences/OLN2003/papers/Dickey3DVirtualWo
rlds.pdf
[9] M.D. Dickey, "3D virtual worlds and learning: an analysis of the
impact of design affordances and limitations of Active Worlds, blaxxun
interactive, and OnLive! Traveler; and a study of the implementation of
Active Worlds for formal and informal education," Columbus, OH: The
Ohio State University, 2000.
[10] M. Bricken & C.M. Byrne, " Summer students in virtual reality: a pilot
study on educational applications of virtual reality technology," In A.
Wexelblat (Ed.), Virtual Reality: Applications and Exploration.
Boston, MA: Academic. pp. 199-218, 1994.
[11] R.D. Riner, " Virtual ethics virtual reality," Futures Research
Quarterly, 12, 57- 70, 1996.
[12] SimTeach. Accessed 10 March 2007 at
http://www.simteach.com/wiki/index.php?title=Campus:Second_Life
[13] P. Foster, " Some critical comments on the BERA Ethical Guidelines,"
BERA Research Intelligence, 67, February, p. 1, 1999.
[14] J.F Soltis, "The ethics of qualitative research," International Journal of
Qualitative Studies in Education, 2, 2, 123-130, 1989.
[15] BERA. Revised ethical guidelines for educational researchers 2004.
Accessed 10 March 2007 at
http://www.bera.ac.uk/publications/guides.php
[16] BPSCode of ethics and conduct 2006. Leicester: The British
Psychological Society. Accessed 11.11.2006 at
www.bps.org.uk/document-download-area/documentdownload$.
cfm?file_uuid=6D0645CC-7E96-C67FD75E2648E5580115&
ext=pdf
[17] AOIR.Ethical decision-making and Internet research:
recommendations from the AOIR ethics working committee, 2002
Accessed 10 March 2007 at
http://www.aoir.org/reports/ethics.pdf
[18] C. Lankshear &M. Knobel, "The moral consequences of what we
construct through research.," Paper presented at the Australian
Association for Research in Education Annual Conference, Brisbane, p.
154, 1997.
[19] P. Banister, E. Burman, I.M.T. Parker & C. Tindal (Eds.), Issues of
Evaluation in Qualitative Methods in Psychology. Buckingham: Open
University, 2004.
[20] C. Allen, " What's wrong with the 'golden rule'? Conundrums of
conducting ethical research in cyberspace," The Information Society,
12, 175-187, 1996.
[21] E. Reid, "Informed Consent in the Study of On-Line Communities: A
Reflection on the Effects of Computer-Mediated Social Research," The
Information Society, 12, 2, 1996.
[22] M. Knobel, " Rants, ratings and representation: ethical issues in
researching online social practices," Education, Communication and
Information, 3, 2, 187-210, 2003.
[23] K.M. Leander & K.K. McKim, "Tracing the everyday 'sitings' of
adolescents on the Internet: a strategic adaptation of ethnography across
online and offline spaces," Education, Communication and
Information, 3, 2, 212-240, 2003.
[24] A. Cavanagh, " Behaviour in public? Ethics in online ethnography,"
Cybersociology, 6, 1999. Accessed 6 June 2001 at
http://www.socio.demon.co.uk/magazine/6/cavanagh.html
@article{"International Journal of Business, Human and Social Sciences:62627", author = "K. Sheehy and R. Ferguson and G. Clough", title = "Learning and Teaching in the Panopticon:Ethical and Social Issues in Creating a Virtual Educational Environment", abstract = "This paper examines ethical and social issues which
have proved important when initiating and creating educational spaces within a virtual environment. It focuses on one project, identifying the key decisions made, the barriers to new practice
encountered and the impact these had on the project. It demonstrates
the importance of the 'backstage' ethical and social issues involved in
the creation of a virtual education community and offers conclusions,
and questions, which will inform future research and practice in this
area. These ethical issues are considered using Knobel-s framework
of front-end, in-process and back-end concerns, and include
establishing social practices for the islands, allocating access rights,
considering personal safety and supporting researchers appropriately
within this context.", keywords = "distance education, ethics, virtual environments.", volume = "1", number = "11", pages = "728-8", }
