Teaching Online In Higher Education Conference

The purpose of this paper is to depict a model of the ethical drivers of the implementation of instructional technology. The model is meant to be a starting point for institutions as they initiate, update or implement instructional technology. A major assumption underlying the paper is that a consideration of ethics is lacking in the planning process for instructional technology. Instructional technology is defined as the intentional use of hardware, software, and “net-ware ” to communicate and foster discourse related to the content of a discipline. A brief case history is used as a basis for explicating a taxonomy of ethical drivers of the implementation of instructional technology. The taxonomy depicts three levels of ethical drivers: service to the individual good, service to the institutional good and the commitment to the universal good as interrelated in an organizing heuristic. Nested within these three levels are a series of dichotomies which represent “decision points ” for institutions and individuals: whether to base implementation on “high ” ethics or “low ” ethics. Specific questions are presented based on the taxonomy that institutions can utilize to assess the “ethical environment ” and to foster improvement in that environment. It is concluded that without such a framework, the ethical environment is said to be more responsive to personal agendas, institutional image or superficial considerations in the implementation of instructional technology. A Taxonomy of Ethical Drivers of the Implementation of Instructional Technology © appears at the end of the paper