Troy Hutchings, Ed.D.

Senior Policy Advisor, NASDTEC

The Emerging Playbook: Reexamining Professional Obligations in a Virtual Classroom

Part III – Student Privacy

This past week my local National Public Radio (NPR) affiliate aired an excellent story about a topic that raised within me several interesting ethical considerations. As the title of the news report suggests, Virtual School Lets Teachers See Directly into their Students’ Lives,[i] there is an assumption that direct access into the personal space and living arrangements of students is a good thing.

And while the Model Code of Ethics for Educators does prompt us to “seek to understand students’ personal and social needs … ” (MCEE III.B.1), I found myself pondering the professional ethicality of peering into places and situations that previously would have been viewed as explicitly off-limits.

Think about it – in the webcam classroom, our students’ personal lives are on display without context, explanation, and in many cases, consent.

Whenever I have questions related to the intersection of schooling and virtual technology, I turn to my friend and colleague Frederick Lane.[ii] In Part III of our five-part series on emerging ethical issues related to online learning, Fred discusses specific considerations for educators as they navigate issues related to student privacy.

Preserving Student Privacy in the Era of Virtual Learning

Frederick Lane

 

Imagine, if you can, the uproar that would occur if parents learned that a teacher was wandering around town and peering into kitchen, living room, and bedroom windows. Such a discovery would justifiably be front-page news, and the voyeuristic educator undoubtedly would be promptly fired.

 

Even in the pre-COVID world, of course, teachers naturally learned bits and pieces of personal information about their students. But generally, students set those limits. Teachers need to be mindful that, like the rest of us, students now have less control over their personal information than before. When the little red light on the webcam starts glowing, students open a window into their home and their home life to a couple of dozen or more relative strangers. That may not be a comfortable prospect for some kids, which intensifies the ethical obligations that teachers owe to their students, their school community, and their profession.

 

The most critical ethical obligation is to avoid misusing any information you glean from forced glimpses into your students’ home life. Even relatively innocuous comments can be inappropriate and upsetting: critiquing decorations, for instance, or remarking on how other family members dress or behave. (I’ve written about the mandatory reporting dilemma earlier, which is obviously a different kettle of fish.)

 

But a teacher’s ethical obligations to students go beyond direct interactions. Few of us have any illusions about the prevalence of both bullying and cyberbullying among K-12 students. It is a significant problem and one that educators have an ethical duty to combat. Bullying thrives on perceived differences – class, economic standing, family values, lifestyles – and every remote class session is an opportunity for emotional thugs to gather more information.

 

One aspect is educating children about the implications of our more transparent society, including the evolving social rules for how we interact with each other. Another is helping parents understand the need for comfortable remote learning spaces in the home and encouraging schools and school districts to provide resources where necessary.

 

Our response to the pandemic is reshaping the meaning of “privacy.” Even as educators grapple with the changes in their own lives, they have an ongoing ethical obligation to help minimize the impact of our brave new world on the children they teach.

Fred raises a point that I had not previously considered – students’ right to control the disclosure of personal information. While the aforementioned news report focuses on the professional benefits of accessing students’ personal environments, Fred’s commentary emphasizes the possible consequences to students when they (and their parents) are not able to set limits related to disclosure of personal information.

Virtual learning continues to unveil new ethical challenges – and perhaps the greatest challenge is related to protecting student welfare in a learning environment with diminished privacy. The Model Code of Ethics for Educators provides standards that define our ethical responsibilities regarding student privacy. By turning those standards into questions, we can develop mechanisms to inform actions that are not only aligned to professional norms, but we are actively promoting the safety of all students. Here are a few examples:

• Given the realities of virtual learning, how do we best respect the privacy of students and the need to hold in confidence information obtained in the course of professional practice? (III.C.1)
• How can we keep personal and professional lives separate and distinct? (MCEE V.A.7)
• What protocols do we have in place to monitor and report cyber bullying incidents and their impact on the learning environment? (MCEE V.B.3)
• What measures are appropriate and reasonable to maintain confidentiality of student information? (MCEE V.C.1)
• How can we ensure the rights of third parties, including the right of privacy, are not violated via the use of technologies? (MCEE V.C.3)

But just as importantly as asking the right questions, we are also tasked with reconciling distinctly different ethical responsibilities based on situational variance – in this case, ensuring student privacy while seeking to understand the context of our students’ lives.