Ethics in Teaching

1. Ethics in Teaching According to a study from the American Psychologist, which of the following did most faculty polled find unethical? • Ignoring a student’s cheating • Teaching a class without being adequately prepared that day • Privately tutoring students in your department for pay • Teaching in classes so crowded that it affects your effectiveness (1991 by Tabachnick and colleagues)

2. Ethics in Teaching Of 482 faculty surveyed in the study, all of the previously mentioned situations were considered definitely to somewhat unethical.

3. Ethics in Teaching At the end of this module, you will: • Know a working definition of ethics in teaching • Understand guiding ethical questions used to make decisions in teaching • Be able to identify ethical questions in tricky situations • Know the three principles of ethical conduct put forth by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP).

4. A Definition of Ethics Murray and colleagues defined ethics as “general guidelines, ideals, or expectations that need to be taken into account, along with other relevant conditions and circumstances, in the design and analysis of teaching.” (From New Directions in Teaching and Learning,1997, Vol. 66.)

5. Another Definition of Ethics According to Marilla Svinicki at U.T. Austin, being ethical in the classroom means considering the responsibilities we have to students and colleagues. In other words, we can think about ethics in terms of the responsibilities we have and how we fulfill those obligations.

6. Example Situation Consider this situation: You are a new faculty member at UTD. Your program head tells you that you WILL teach a class in an area that is only tangential to what you know. Ethically, can you teach it? What should you do?

7. Analyzing Ethical Dilemmas In analyzing these dilemmas, we can think about some ideas from Marilla’s Svinicki’s workshop at UT on ethics: • Is the situation public or private? • How much can you separate the relationship with a student or colleague from your evaluation of students?

8. Analyzing Ethical Dilemmas, cont’d • Do institutional standards condone the action? Is it something other faculty do and accept? • Is this an equitable situation for students? For you?

9. Consider Teaching Class in an Area You Don’t Know It is a private matter that you don’t know the content but it affects your public persona if you pretend to teach what you do not know. Will you be able to evaluate students’ learning and knowledge of an area you do not know yourself?

10. Consider Teaching Class in an Area You Don’t Know, cont’d Do other faculty at UTD teach in areas they do not know well or at all? Is it an accepted practice? Do the students know about it? Will the students gain the knowledge, skills, and ways of thinking from the course that they need to succeed in the future?

11. Another Ethical Example You have several international students taking your class. A few of these students bring you gifts near the end of the semester because that is what they do in their respective cultures. They do not understand the American idea of accepting such gifts as possibly bribing the teacher. What would you do or say?

12. Questions to Ask Before Accepting Gifts What would other students in the class think if they found out that you were given and accepted these gifts? Could you mention the gifts to other students without feeling uncomfortable? How valuable are these gifts to the students? To you? Are they valuable enough to change your opinion of the students? Will a gift cause you to evaluate a student differently than you would have otherwise?

13. Questions to Ask Before Accepting Gifts Do other faculty accept gifts from students? Do students at UTD recognize this practice as typical? Would other students believe that giving you gifts could gain them favor?

14. AAUP Statement on Ethics In 1987, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) published a Statement on Professional Ethics. From this statement, ethics in teaching are based on the following principles:

15. AAUP Statement on Ethics, cont’d • “Developing and improving scholarly competence.” Is it ethical to get behind in your field? Probably not. Is it ethical to think about your teaching and try to improve it? Definitely yes.

16. AAUP Statement on Ethics, cont’d • “Encourage the free pursuit of learning….demonstrate respect for students as individuals and adhere to their proper roles as intellectual guides and counselors.” There are many questions you can ask yourself about this principle:

17. AAUP Statement on Ethics, cont’d • Do you give your students the opportunity to question and disagree? • Do you put forth all views on a subject? • Do you create an open environment in your classroom to allow students to ask questions? • Do you have and keep your office hours to be available to students outside of class? • Do you have set procedures for grading that all students know and understand? • Do you follow your procedures for evaluating students without exceptions for favorites?

18. AAUP Statement on Ethics, cont’d • “Avoid any exploitation, harassment, or discriminatory treatment of students…do not discriminate against or harass colleagues.” • Do you give students appropriate credit for work they’ve done on your research? • Do you cut short appointments with students you don’t like? • Do you try to avoid students you do not understand, who do not speak English well?

19. Being an Ethical Faculty Member What is the most important way you can be ethical as a faculty member? Talk about ethics to your students. Tell them that everyone will make mistakes but that you are dedicated to upholding the highest ethical ideals of our profession. Have a conversation with them about how they can be ethical students and how you will be an ethical faculty member.

20. Summary You have learned: • One of many definitions of ethics in teaching. • That some guiding ethical questions used to make decisions in teaching center around how private or public the situation is as well as how equitable students perceive you to be. • How to identify ethical questions in tricky situations • Three principles of ethical conduct put forth by the AAUP. Click here to test what you’ve learned.

21. Which of the following is NOT an ethical issue from Tabachnick’s 1991 study? a) Ignoring a student’s cheating. b) Teaching a class without being adequately prepared that day. c) Teaching class when you are preoccupied by a personal issue. d) Teaching in classes so crowded that it affects your effectiveness. Check your answer

22. Which of the following is NOT an ethical issue from Tabachnick’s 1991 study? a) Ignoring a student’s cheating. b) Teaching a class without being adequately prepared that day. c) Teaching class when you are preoccupied by a personal issue. d) Teaching in classes so crowded that it affects your effectiveness.

23. Which of the following is NOT one of the AAUP’s ethical principles? a) Developing and improving scholarly competence b) Encouraging the free pursuit of learning c) Demonstrating respect for students as individuals d) Developing nurturing relationships with students Check your answer

24. Which of the following is NOT one of the AAUP’s ethical principles? a) Developing and improving scholarly competence b) Encouraging the free pursuit of learning c) Demonstrating respect for students as individuals d) Developing nurturing relationships with students Press the <esc> key to exit this module.