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Human Research Ethics and Teacher/Student Relationships

As part of my Masters in Education program at American College of Education, I recently took a course in ethics related to using humans as research subjects.  This course was through the National Institutes of Health and led to a certification.  Some of my peers questioned why it would be necessary for teachers to be concerned about how to treat human subjects in research.  However, when you think about it, we are constantly observing our students, gathering data, experimenting with our methods and planning, and making adjustments based on student feedback.  We often share our observations about our students with our peers and with students' parents.  We also guide our students' use of and access to outside information.  This could be considered study of human subjects, and as such has certain ethical ramifications. The three basic ethical principles that came from the Belmont Report are: Respect for persons, which involves informed consent; Beneficence, which is protection of the test subjects from harm, and maximization of benefits; and Justice, which is the fair distribution of benefits and risks in the selection of test subjects.  Of course, there is a lot more to it and you can read the information of the websites at the links I have provided.

In practical terms, for we who are teachers, one consideration is how can we protect the privacy and confidentiality of our students' information?  This comes into play when we discuss students with other people including peers and parents, and it also comes into play with our students' online interactions related to class work.  I am an advocate for blended learning because I believe in the power of free access to information. However, the potential for online information and identity theft continues to increase, and our students need to be taught to be careful and responsible digital citizens for their own safety and protection.  One good place to start is the Google Be Internet Awesome website .  This site has resources for educators aimed at teaching students about internet safety.  Another great site is Edudemic which has a  list of what it means to be a good digital citizen.

In my research I discovered that one reason teachers shy away from using more online technology is because of a lack of confidence in it (Basargekar & Singhavi, 2017).  That is a shame because there is much to be gained by tapping the wealth of tools and resources available online.  Think about the things you consider to be barriers to your use of technology in the classroom and drop me a note!  We can explore the solutions together.

- Dan
Reference
Basargekar, P. p., & Singhavi, C. (2017). Factors Affecting Teachers' Perceived Proficiency in Using ICT in the Classroom. IAFOR Journal Of Education, 5(2), 67-84.

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