Kathleen Edwards

Navigating the Gray Areas: Ethics Go Online at UMUC

By Chip Cassano

"Ethics involves the place where most of us, every day, encounter something that catches our attention, and causes us some slight feeling of discomfort," said Kathleen F. Edwards, co-program director for the health care administration track of UMUC's Master of Science degree. "I think of it as the gray area between codified law and totally free will. Somewhere in that middle ground, in that gray area, is where most of us function every day."

Edwards has a good deal of experience negotiating that gray area. As a former chief public health officer, director of a statewide program on HIV/AIDS, and assistant commissioner of health for the City of Baltimore, ethical dilemmas were a part of the landscape, and Edwards brought expertise and concern with her when she came to teach at UMUC a decade ago.

"Ethics is wound into every course in the health care track," Edwards said; "you'll see it in the syllabi, you'll hear it when faculty speak, and you'll read it in their writings." It is equally evident in other UMUC programs, such as the online and executive MBA programs, where Edwards and others teach modules on ethics and corporate social responsibility.

Navigating the gray areas in the relatively new and often still unexplored realm of online instruction is of particular interest to educators. On what Edwards terms the macro level, courses are structured to include content that addresses ethical issues, and students can be directed to a wealth of information related to ethics that is available online, at Web sites like those maintained by the Better Business Bureau, universities, and professional societies.

That very wealth of information, however, makes it equally important that online educators establish guidelines for ethical conduct at the micro level, addressing issues of copyright and fair use of intellectual property.

"Anyone can be tempted to say, 'My goodness, look at what these hundreds and thousands of men and women have written about ethics; this is better than I could say it,' and go ahead and borrow material they may not have created," Edwards said.

A contributing factor may be the sense of anonymity that online interactions can foster, and UMUC has responded, in part, by establishing "Netiquette"—guidelines governing online conduct, and encouraging respect, honesty, and accountability in the online environment. In addition, the Graduate School explores online tools that can help students and faculty follow ethical guidelines while deterring unwise choices.

Ultimately, Edwards said, the goal is to allow students to develop sensitivity to ethical conflicts, awareness when those conflicts exist, and competence in exploring and addressing those conflicts—a model that has also been used to assess cultural sensitivity.

"I'm gratified at the end of a seminar," Edwards said, "when a student comes up and says, 'I knew that ethical issues were a concern, but I didn't realize that there were more things that I could do, more ways to increase my own comfort and that of my staff and better define how my company, my organization, is going to deal with ethical issues.' "