Ethical relationships between instructor, learner and institution

Abstract

Ethical relationships arise from the interaction of the student, instructor and institution. Teaching is viewed here as leadership based upon moral and ethical principles, as opposed to technical ones. Student participation in a course involves recognizing and resolving various ethical issues, some of which focus on the instructor’s actions. The institution, too, as it supports students and instructors, is ethically involved. Macfarlane’s treatment of the ethical basis of teaching and Starratt’s three key virtues of Responsibility, Authenticity, and Presence are advanced to facilitate a discussion of ethical relationships. I draw also on my own experience of teaching in distance modes to raise some concerns and suggest that ethical dilemmas may be analyzed as issues of moral character rather than prescriptive rules and regulations.

Keywords:

• Adult students
• Ethics
• Leadership
• Tutoring
• Virtual classrooms
• Web‐based instruction