Beyond Social Presence: Facelessness and the Ethics of Asynchronous Online Education

Abstract

In this position paper, I argue that a focus on achieving and increasing social presence in online courses tends to derail a consideration of the ethical implications and dimensions of the essential facelessness of asynchronous education. Drawing upon the work of Emmanuel Levinas and Nel Noddings, who contended that the face is the basis of caring, ethical relations, I explore what it means for human relations, education, and society in general that learners increasingly come face-to-face with screens rather than with embodied, different others.Dans cet article, je prends position et soutiens que la volonté de mettre en place et d’augmenter la présence sociale dans les cours en ligne a tendance à nuire à une prise en compte des implications et dimensions éthiques de l’anonymat, lequel est inhérent à la formation à distance asynchrone. Pour ce faire, je me base sur les travaux d’Emmanuel Levinas et Nel Noddings, qui allèguent que le visage est à la base de relations éthiques et bienveillantes. J’explore la portée de ce concept en termes de relations humaines, d’éducation et de société en général, dans un contexte où les apprenants sont de plus en plus en relation avec des écrans plutôt qu’avec d’autres êtres humains

A Proposed Ethics Code for Online Learning During Crisis

“…These principles conquer with many studies previously [31]; [32]; [33]; [1]. These principles asserted on the importance of rights and duties for both teachers and students within online environment as mentioned in several studies [18]; [19]; [20]; [21]; [22]; [23]; [24]; [13]. Respect and protecting digital dignity are one of human rights that should be respected and treated without any discrimination.…”

“…It is the teachers' role to educate students on ethics that control students' behaviors [18]; [38]; [19]; [20], [24]. ; [13].…”

“…Online learning ethics are defined as standards and values that must be adhered to in order to achieve the desired human goals, while violating them, is considered an immoral behavior that has many consequences [13]. These ethics should be documented within the code of conduct of the teaching profession for any state, meanwhile, the analysis of the Palestinian code of ethics for teaching profession [14] revealed a lack of online learning ethics, thus, the purpose of the current study was to introduce an online learning code of ethics in the crisis learning environment.…”

Locked in and locked out: Covid-19 and teaching “remotely”

“…The attuning process in my in-class teaching walkabouts work in hand in glove with the feedback I give on journals or assignments: always particular to the student, as I work to make myself cognizant of the journeys students are on—even as I also want to attune them to the journeys entailed by working with difficult, complicated knowledge. Writing about students’ experience of online education, Rose ( 2017 ), herself a specialist in educational technology, draws on the work of Levinas ( 1998 ) and Noddings ( 2003 , 2005 ), positing that the face—as in “face-to-face”, in the same physical space and time—“is the basis of caring, ethical relations, and that those relations represent an integral, essential element of education” (Rose 2017 , p. 28). In reviewing the research on “the implications of facelessness” (p. 23), she suggests that “[not only] is it difficult for those who come together in online learning environments to form caring relations, but that the prevalence of such faceless contacts may contribute to a further inability to engage empathetically with others—and, indeed, to a devaluation of human contact in general” (p. 24).…”

“…Rose ( 2017 ) further notes that video conferencing (e.g., Zoom) has done little to alter the unreality of such conversations, where eye contact is nearly impossible, and the vagaries of internet connections often distort both what is seen and what is heard. Such “discussions” are ultimately devoid of the nonverbal and contextual significance that so abundantly characterizes in-person conversations.…”