Learning Behavioral Differences Among Students and Ethical Issues in a University Cloud Classroom System

In a private learning environment, each learner's interactions with course contents are treasured clues for educators to understand the individual and collective learning process. To provide educators with evidence-based insights, this chapter intends to adopt sequential analysis method to unfold learning behavioral differences among different groups of students (grade, subject, and registration type) in a university cloud classroom system. Experimental results indicate that sophomores undertake more learning tasks than other grades. There are significant differences in task-related and self-monitoring behaviors between liberal arts and science learners. Registered learners have higher participation levels than non-registered ones. Meanwhile, a user study aiming to analyze students' learning feelings indicates that a fraction of students have dishonest behaviors for achieving a good online performance. Finally, this study discusses behavioral ethical issues emerged in cloud classroom, which deserve the attention of educators for regulating and optimizing the online learning process of students.

Learner-Developed Case Studies on Ethics

This chapter explains how case studies can be used successfully in higher education to provide an authentic, interactive way to teach ethical behavior through critical analysis and decision making while addressing ethical standards and theories. The creation and choice of case studies is key for optimum learning, and can reflect both the instructor's and learners' knowledge base. The process for using this approach is explained, and examples are provided. As a result of such practice, learners support each other as they come to a deeper, co-constructed understanding of ethical behavior, and they make more links between coursework and professional lives. The instructor reviews the students' work to determine the degree of understanding and internalization of ethical concepts/applications, and to identify areas that need further instruction.

Cybercitizens at Schools

In recent decades, cyberethics, cybersecurity, and cybersafety have been the center of interest at schools. This chapter uses a case study approach to describe the issue of cyberethics, cybersafety, and cybersecurity (3Cs) as well as how problems of these three Cs are intermingled to become general cyberethics issues for the society. The chapter also promotes good cybercitizens at schools because it is of great importance for the school districts to take some measures to improve students' knowledge and awareness of cyberethics, cybersafety, and cybersecurity, to enhance the safety and security of school infrastructure, to avoid cyberbullying, to ensure students are good cybercitizens, and to help train teachers to be cyber professionals.

Digital Privacy Across Borders

This chapter examines digital privacy and key terminology associated with the protection of online personal information across two countries and through an education lens. The authors raise awareness of the identified risks for students as their online presence grows. The authors highlight some of the potential consequences of a lack of awareness of the risks associated with sharing information online. They outline the obligations of multiple parties (from the vendor to the end user) when students use online apps, including the teachers and parents who want to protect students' digital privacy. Employing policy analysis and a comparative approach, they examine federal, national, and local legislation, as well as curriculum responses to this issue in the USA and Canada. When the authors compare federal policy responses from these two countries, they find that they differ in instructive ways. The chapter concludes with a focus on risk abatement, including solutions and recommendations.

Student Perceptions of Online vs. Face-to-Face Learning in Criminal Justice

This chapter provides an overview of the findings from a study of students at a four-year university who were surveyed about their experiences learning in both online and face-to-face modalities. While some students reported perceived equitableness between their experiences in online and face-to-face classes, there were some findings that demonstrated the need for further inquiry. Of note, the majority (61%) of students indicated that they learned more or much more in face-to-face classes than online. Students in online classes were also much less likely to make use of faculty office hours or, in some cases, to even have contact with their professors at all. This chapter concludes with a discussion of the ethical issues corresponding to the disparity between online and traditional learning modalities.

Intentionally Secure

This chapter focuses upon the need to intentionally incorporate the principles of digital citizenship as an integrated curriculum element. Specifically, the infusion of information security and cyberethics principles should occur at the same time and rate as the use of technology within the educational setting. Through the development of a universal curriculum set, the author provides a content list and sample strategies for making these issues a natural part of the curricular goals of these courses.

Moving Urban Students Beyond Online Public Voices to Digital Participatory Politics

The authors explore a teacher's 10-year journey to foster his urban middle school students' public voice and then their ability to engage in participatory politics. The authors first provide a conceptual and experiential context for how the teacher came to question whether cultivating 8th grade students' online public voice in a U.S. history was enough. Second, they discuss how two teachers created online interschool deliberations about contemporary issues and how a third teacher used low and high tech to enable her students to take civic action. Third, they discuss the essential elements of an online participatory learning space. Fourth, they address the challenges of integrating digital deliberations about contemporary public issues and online civic action into a U.S. history curriculum. Finally, they present how they adapted a site devoted to deliberations about just war in the context of U.S. history to a focus on just action in a contemporary setting.

Cybernetics, Cyberethics, and Technologically Enhanced Learning

Cybernetics is the science of communications and control. It has been applied to everything from household thermostats to non-verbal communication. Ethics is the study of beliefs about right and wrong thought and behavior. The synthetic subfield of cyberethics deals with the application of ethics to the technologies and practices of cybernetics. This chapter will explore a definition of cybernetics that goes beyond its association with computers, information networks, and the rights, roles, and responsibilities of people involved in information technology. This more adventuresome approach will embrace broader themes in education and offer insights into the “box” outside of which we are relentlessly being told to think.

Cyberbullying

This chapter describes cyberbullying with a focus on K-12 students. Cyberbullying has evolved with the increased use of information and communication technology. As electronic information becomes more a part of everyday life, there has been a negative aspect to the use of computers and mobile technology. Cyberbullying presents a complex set of issues that can negatively impact students' safety and wellbeing. Cyberbullying includes many of the same issues as traditional bullying but extends the aggression beyond the physical schoolyard. In addition to the cyberbully perpetrator, these aggressive acts include cybervictims and often find the cyberbully-victims who move from victim to perpetrator. This chapter explores the safety and ethical issues facing K-12 schools and the challenges associated with this electronic form of aggression.

Teachers as Models of Internet Use

As the use of computers increases in schools, students' primary role models in computer use and the internet are their teachers. However, teachers themselves are still learning their way through technology in education and how to best use technology to support student learning. This chapter discusses seven issue areas in relation to cyber ethics and decision making online that go beyond the pedagogy of technology in learning contexts. In particular, the chapter is focused on how teachers can model and conduct best practices in digital copyright, student privacy, student access, digital citizenship, digital communication, social media and empathy, and digital literacy.