Development of ethical codes for instructors in distance teaching

This research aims to develop a measurable ethical code framework for instructors engaged in distance teaching. In pursuit of this objective, ethical codes have been devised for instructors in distance teaching, and a measurement tool has been developed to ascertain the levels of adoption of these ethical codes by instructors. The research has been designed and conducted using an exploratory sequential mixed-methods design. The qualitative phase utilized the Delphi Technique, while the quantitative phase involved a survey research method. The Delphi Technique was implemented with 22 experts in the field of distance teaching. The conceptual framework of the study is built upon Ethical Codes, comprising six dimensions and 62 ethical code items. These dimensions are designated as Instructional Design, Social Interaction, Content Delivery, Technology Use, Management, and Assessment and Evaluation. In the first step of the quantitative phase, a "Code of Ethics Adoption Scale (ECAS)" was developed to determine the levels of adoption of ethical codes by distance teaching instructors. The ECAS consists of six dimensions and 60 items. In the second part, the ECAS was used to determine the levels of adoption of ethical codes by distance teaching instructors. The scale was administered to 1,593 instructors who had experience with distance teaching as of the 2022-2023 academic year. The participants of the study were determined using the available sampling method. It was determined that the developed measurement tool has a high level of adoption by instructors in terms of items, dimensions, and the scale as a whole. The levels of adoption of ethical codes by instructors in distance teaching were examined in terms of variables such as gender, age, academic title, faculty, diversity of distance education experience (COVID-19, etc.), amount of distance teaching experience, and level of instruction. According to the ECAS results, male instructors had significantly higher levels of adoption of ethical codes than female instructors. The ages of instructors did not have a significant impact on their levels of adoption of ethical codes. The academic titles of instructors in distance education showed a significant difference in their levels of adoption of ethical codes. Professors had a higher tendency to adopt ethical codes in the Total Scale and Social Interaction dimension than instructors with other academic titles. A significant difference was found in the levels of adoption of ethical codes between education faculty and engineering faculty instructors in the dimensions of Instructional Design and Social Interaction; this difference was in favor of the engineering faculty. Instructors who first taught distance teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic had higher levels of adoption of ethical codes in dimensions other than Social Interaction, Content Provision, and Management, and in the total scale, than instructors who taught distance education independently during the COVID-19 pandemic. Instructors with 1 and 2 years of distance teaching experience had higher levels of adoption of ethical codes in the Total Scale, Instructional Design, Social Interaction, Technology Use, and Assessment and Evaluation dimensions. Instructors who taught at both undergraduate and graduate levels had higher levels of adoption of ethical codes than instructors at other levels of instruction. In conclusion, based on the findings of the study, various recommendations were made to instructors, administrators, and researchers. Key Words: Distance education, distance teaching, online learning, ethics, codes of ethics, instructor