assignment 2

Distance education is an integral part of modern day higher education in Australia. Every brick and mortar university offers almost every course available to on-campus students as a distance education option. There are several reasons for universities to offer distance education, such as cost, want and desire of potential students who cannot attend a traditional campus for various reasons and also political interest. We will look at the question if distance education and on-campus students have the same opportunities to gain an equivalent education and if it is unfair to treat these two distinct groups unequally to achieve an equal outcome.

In our modern society, we pride ourselves on the fact that opportunity is open to all, that everyone has a “fair go.” Some countries have built their national pride and anthem on the notion of liberty, equality, and fraternity. Therefore, it could be assumed that in almost all areas of endeavour all participants are given an equal opportunity to succeed. However, does this mean that all participants are also given equity or fairness as they strive to meet their goals? Lets us examine the terms equality and equity and if they relate to fairness for a distance education student versus an on-campus student.

First, there must be a definition of both distance education (hereafter known as DE) and on-campus (hereafter known as OC) and what the students studying under these regimes will expect in the way of learning aids. A DE student typically does not have any physical contact with the university and are undertaking their studies some distance from the campus, usually at either their home or place of employment. There are many reasons for choosing distance study, one could be that the student is in ...

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...t quite often ethical principles are grounded in cultural and educational background. So is there a test that could be applied to measure the ethics of decisions? In E-commerce 2013: business. technology.society(Laudon & Traver, p. 534) it is recommended to apply “The New York Times Test”. “Assume that the results of your decision on a matter will be the subject of the lead article in the New York Times the next day. Will the reaction of the readers be positive or negative? Would your parents, friends and children be proud of your decision?” So could we apply this litmus paper to the question of resources to the DE students and OC students? Is it an ethical proposition to give all available resources to everyone as suggested by Kant, or is it within the bounds of ethical behaviour to only give what resources are needed by each group to achieve an expected outcome?