Is it acceptable to adopt someone else’s identity online? The simple (read: obvious) answer is no, but professors and students alike are using the Internet to misrepresent themselves.
The Chronicle of Higher Education posted two stories about such deceptions.
The first, Online Professors Pose as Students to Encourage Real Learning, is about professors using alter egos or “ghost students” in online courses to spy on students and spark discussion among classmates. The professors don’t see a problem with the method, saying it has a “serious purpose.” People rob banks for money to pay debts or take sick family members to the doctor also do so for a “serious purpose,” but that doesn’t make it ok.
Students, of course, feel violated and betrayed when they find out their “classmate” is actually their professor. It’s appalling that professors don’t see a problem with this practice. It’s specifically disturbing because these same educators likely would have a big problem with their students participating in similar deception, such as that discussed in the second article.
UT Austin Humor Magazine Writers Impersonate Institution’s President on Twitter is about a student-run humor magazine creating a Twitter account for the University of Texas-Austin’s president. The students who run the magazine said they hope they don’t have to stop because it’s “way too fun.” The magazine’s editor admits that many people seem to think the account is real. The short article goes on to discuss another university president whose Twitter account also is suspected to be fake.
What happened to professors leading by example? Is this a classic case of “do what I say, not what I do?” Perhaps professors participating in online deception think what they’re doing is different because they are creating fictional people. This distinction is an ethical line in the sand.
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