ETHICAL ASPECTS OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN TIMES OF PANDEMIC

Abstract

The emergence of the COVID-19 virus, at the end of 2019, certainly affected the way in which the daily life of human beings develops. One of the most relevant aspects was the movement from face-to-face education to a completely remote one. This brought with it a number of difficulties and barriers, including compliance of the ethical aspects of distance education. Academic dishonesty, in higher education institutions, has always been a major topic. In the literature, various factors associated with ethics and morality are discussed, presented by students who were taking distance courses during the pandemic, among these, the opportunity that this digital environment can present to have behaviors unrelated to ethics and academic integrity. Studies point to different techniques that students can use to gain, an unfair advantage over other students in distance learning courses. The roles of the academy, including higher education institutions and university professors, carry a key process in the ethical behaviors that students will assimilate in their distance courses. The processes and changes brought about by COVID-19, associated with the movement of higher education institutions to have distance or online course offerings, are here to stay, as an alternative teaching method. Both, professors and students, who are part of distance education, must know the associated factors to minimize acts considered unethical and academic dishonesty, within this teaching method.