Mid-South Instructional Technology Conference
Teaching, Learning, & Technology
Transforming the Learning Environment
April 4-6, 2004
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Anita B. Crockett, PhD, RN, Middle Tennessee State University Track 2 - Promoting Transformation in the Learning Environment |
Abstract
Operational ethics, an approach to ethics for the 21st century, provides insight into student behavior in the context of the learning paradigm. Extreme behavior with technology (plagiarisms, cheating, and manipulation of assignments) are reflections of a student attempting to control the learning environment. Operational ethics approach constructs a gateway for comprehending individual student behavior so that learning with understanding can be facilitated and extreme behavior minimized. Specific examples of applying operational ethics will be presented.
Description
The ‘internet generation’ of college students continue to exhibit what are thought to be atypical behaviors as colleges and universities move from the instructional paradigm to the learning paradigm. Plagiarisms, cheating on exams, manipulation of assignments (often using technology) are extreme examples of ‘bizarre’ behavior that plague the educational environment today. Milder forms such as poor attendance in classes, increase in parking violations, and apathy in understanding the requirements are rampant. These behaviors reflect what Tapscott calls “an attempt to control their learning environment.”
Because technology (and specifically the internet) gives these students permission to learn according to their individual learning style, that behavior ripples out into every facet of their engagement with the learning environment, whether virtual or real. Those learning styles are the reflection of core values rooted in core temperaments. If the process of learning is smooth, students can modify their individual needs in order to do what is expedient for cooperative or collaborative purposes. But under constant stress (which is fast becoming the norm) complemented by multi-tasking, students begin to fall back on their core values and behave according to their ‘comfort zone.’
Operational ethics, an approach to ethics for the 21st century, provides insight into student behavior in the context of the learning paradigm where the emphasis is on learning with understanding. Maximized learning requires self-understanding in context. Faculty facilitation of learning can only be effective if the faculty member gauges student behavior in light of the student’s value system. Although technology is the portal through which students construct knowledge, how they manipulate that technology is rooted in their core temperaments. Core temperaments determine core values and give insight into why students make the decisions they make and behave the way they do. In the past, individual core values were overlooked in favor of a more uniform, homogenized student response. Faculty and administrators must make the transformation from viewing students (and themselves) as ‘fundamentally the same but superficially different’ to a more accurate view of ‘superficially the same but fundamentally different.’
Operational ethics approach constructs a gateway for comprehending individual student behavior so that learning with understanding can be facilitated. Specific examples of applying operational ethics will be presented.