What do you do if you're taking a course that utilizes blogs and social networking, and you find yourself suddenly subscribed to blogs in a webring that promotes suicides and self-destructive behavior?  Blogs promoting eating disorders?  Hate speech masquerading as political inquiry?  Student posts revealing confidential or personal information?  Your course has crossed an ethical line, but it happened in the blink of an eye, and you never had any idea it was coming.

Ethical dilemmas never envisioned by designers of first-generation online courses have surfaced.  When eLearning first appeared, it seemed that the biggest preoccupation was with "netiquette" and making sure not to "flame" fellow students.  There were also concerns about privacy and fair use of documents.  However, when the class utilizes blogs or links to other sites, and employs social networking software, interactivity is taken to another level.  Before you know it, you've gone to an extreme edge of the original content of the course, and you've done it on the surface of a "tag cloud" or through del.icio.us shared links.

When does the investigation of a destructive behavior turn into a destructive behavior in and of itself?

Here are a few examples of what can happen if one is not careful. 

An English Composition Course:  Extended Definitions - Eating Disorders

Imagine that you're taking a course, and your professor has asked you to write your first topic on eating disorders.  In addition to doing online research, she would like you to share the links to blogs that you find interesting.  You have been instructed to send them to each other, to post them on a blog roll, and to create a tag cloud in del.icio.us.

It is an interesting topic, and one that you can relate to.  After all, your sister has struggled with eating disorders for years, and everyone in your sorority seems to engage in bizarre eating habits.  You decide that this is an important topic, and one that will help you understand the world around you, as well as the pressure you feel when you see images of very thin celebrities and fashion icons.

But, after a few weeks into the class, it dawns on you that something very strange has started to happen.  You find that learners are teaching each other about eating disorders: not just what they are, their occurrence, and consequences, but also about how to acquire the disorder.  Your fellow students are tapping into the underground network of pro-eating disorder sites, which are known as pro-ana (pro-anorexia) and ana-mia (pro-anorexia and pro-bulimia) sites, and which are often linked in social networks known as "webrings." 

You are disturbed by this, but do not know what to do.  Contact your professor?  Post a complaint on the discussion board?  Call the department?  This brings a number of ethical issues to the forefront.  Certainly you will be obtaining information that would help create stronger arguments and support the points you are making in their papers. 

However, the enthusiasm with which some are sharing the information illustrates a very useful point, as well as a learning principle in action.  The students are learning via social development.  In many ways, they are being conditioned and reinforced.  In this case, it has both positive (information sharing, knowledge of the topic) and negative aspects (reinforcing destructive behavior).  Learning is continuous.  However, not all learning is headed toward the desired learning outcome.  In this case, it could be destructive and dangerous.

The Acid Test:  What Behaviors Do You Find Yourself Encouraged to Do?

Do you find yourself encouraged to participate in self-destructive behavior and to harm yourself? You may find that the fellow learners are unconsciously rewarding dangerous or self-destructive behavior. It could, however, be a fairly benign action.  They may not realize what they are doing, and are be simply curious, and/or genuinely concerned and motivated to help.

If you find yourself in a course, it could be a good opportunity to open up a thread on the discussion board and discuss the ethics of such sites.   On some level, you are ethically obligated to discuss what you are seeing. However, this also can be treacherous ground because you certainly do not want to publicly humiliate anyone.  At the same time, the intervention of a professional might save a life.  You probably remember the story of the young girl who posted that she had taken a lethal quantity of sleeping pills after seeing a so-called "suicide site," modeled on ones in Japan that promote suicide pacts.  Someone read her post and found a way to find her. 

The young girl was rescued before her attempt proved fatal.  The question has to be asked, though:  Would she have harmed herself if she had not seen the site?  Did she become caught up in emulatory behavior?

Survey of Current Social Problems:  Stress and Too Much Self-Disclosure

Classes that deal with current issues, counseling, psychology, social work, and criminal justice often ask individuals to analyze case studies and to relate situations to their own experiences.  This is usually completely appropriate, even rather boring.

However, there can be the occasional case where an individual is seeking solutions to his or her own problems.  Again, that's usually not a problem.  However, when the problems are severe, or potentially distressing to the individuals in the course, one has to step back and take a closer look.

For example, you may be taking a course in Current Social Problems, and the readings have been on domestic violence and spousal abuse.  Imagine your alarm when you read one day that an individual is experiencing spousal abuse and she fears for her life.  You've just read statistics on the phenomenon, and you're suddenly very worried.  You feel obligated to do something, but what?

The best approach in this case is to let the professor know your concerns. The worst think you can do is to try to give advice, or to draw attention to it in the discussion board.  There are laws protecting a student's right to privacy, and the disclosure could put you in a very awkward situation.  Besides, what would you do if you offered your opinion, and then you found that taking the advice resulted in harm?

Think, Interact, and Let Yourself Care

Every time you take an online course, you embark on a marvelous adventure.  You have the chance to explore new worlds, get to know other people, consider new ideas, and move across boundaries you thought were completely impenetrable.  With that journey comes risk and responsibility.  Be aware of ethical pitfalls and potential dilemmas.  Don't be afraid to share your concerns with your instructor or your fellow students.

[Listen to the companion podcast at:
http://community.elearners.com/blogs/inside_elearning/attachment/269.ashx - 1.35 MB]

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