Online Etiquette and Ethics

The current generation relies on information and communication technology tools, which confirm their necessity around the world day after day, and your role as a teacher lies in explaining the benefits of technology and how to deal with it properly.  

The current generation is communicating with the world around it more than the previous generations, by using email and instant messaging applications.

Services such as Skype made voice and video calls possible, and social media platforms have helped us to keep in touch with whoever we want, at any time & anywhere. However, with those services readily available on the Internet, do students learn the correct behaviors to use It properly? You must ensure that your students learn ethics and etiquette, and each school should foster established policies of these learn ethics and etiquette to instill discipline in the hearts of students.  

School's policies on online etiquette and ethics

Online etiquette and ethics should outline the basic guidelines for students about behaving correctly online. It should include the following: 

• In face-to-face communication, your words may have less of an impact, but your tone and body language matter. However, In online communication, users cannot see you, so your words have a much larger impact, if not given consideration. Therefore, be mindful of what you post about others and how you communicate with them, you need to be tactful with your replies and posts. Let your language always be polite, and if you want to discuss any personal issues, it would always be better to do it in person rather than online.
• Be careful about what you post on social media sites, as they can be accessed by all. So, before posting, keep in mind your word choice; don’t write anything without giving it a proper thought. Also, review your writing several times before you post it. 
• Concerning email, never forward emails without the sender’s permission, and do not forward spam emails. 
• Remember that you might think you are anonymous on the Internet by not sharing your photo and by providing false identification. You might believe that you can write and post anything and no one will ever know who you are. You might also use software that will help you hide your IP address. However, bad practice catches up with everyone eventually as there are specialized authorities that track proofs online and reveal any bad online behavior, and sending inappropriate messages or posting unacceptable comments will ultimately be traced back to their origin. 

Therefore, the golden rule that you need to make sure your students always remember when they are online is to "never say something to someone online which you would never say to them in person".