Another Liz here, who has decided to add her voice of horrified disbelief at
the way this exercise has been conducted. I did not read any of the student
contributions as I had no idea what the subject line meant. I only looked at
the content of the explanation from the tutor when I saw that and
explanation was being provided, as I was mildly intrigued to find out what
the subject line referred to.
I have read some of the responses from list members and accept that some
people have been generous enough and felt safe enough to comment publicly on
the content of the student assignments and the exercise itself. I cannot
comment on the assignments but am astonished that an exercise like this
could proceed without being first submitted to the tutor's educational
institution for ethical approval. I cannot imagine that it would have been
allowed to proceed in this way if that safeguard had been applied.
Quite apart from the lack of duty of care displayed to the students, and
their families, I feel that there has been an abuse of this email list and
its members. All the responses, including mine, are in the public domain
and are available for further use, eg. quotation or analysis, subject to
copyright http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/policyandsecurity/copyrightissues.html
I appreciate and accept that the tutor has learned from this exercise and
has offered his apologies and I do not want to be rude. However, I am
finding it difficult to think of a more diplomatic way of suggesting that,
since JISCMail cannot reply on members to exercise common sense and common
courtesy, that the Policy and Security section needs to be updated in order
to avoid a recurrence on this or any other list. (I cannot find any
reference to a "list owner" for this list other than the Centre for
Disability Studies at Leeds University so have cc'ed to the contact email
address on that website - apologies if I have missed this in earlier
correspondence).
What I would expect as acceptable conduct would be for a tutor to first
approach the list owner about using a list in this way. I would NOT expect a
list owner to then allow an exercise to be conducted in the way this one has
proceeded.
I would find it acceptable for list members to be invited to participate in
an exercise like this "off list" in a private forum. If "self-selection" is
the rule, then some guidance or criteria would be useful, even if only
"everyone is welcome". It would also be helpful for there to be clear
acknowledgement that the list has a global membership and that students must
assume significant cultural and socio-linguistic differences if the
discussion is open to anyone interested in participating.
Then, that all concerned, students and "reviewers", would be supplied with
appropriate guidance on confidentiality, disclosure of personal information
and UK data protection law. I have an NHS professional background and
personal experience of receiving "disability services" and these facts
undoubtedly colour my expectations, which would include a requirement for
participants in this type of exercise to explicitly "opt in" by signing a
confidentiality and data protection form that explained how data would be
processed, stored and ultimately destroyed. I accept that this might be out
of step with the expectations of many other list members.
My personal experience also includes supervising university students on
experience placement in the NHS and, as a part of this, enabling their
successful and uncontroversial involvement with another email list (
http://www.webwhispers.org) by ensuring careful "introductions" and clear
information on the purpose of their participation and how any information
shared will be processed. As a member of the Disability Research list, I
expect to be treated with the same basic care and consideration by any tutor
seeking to use the Disability Research list for the benefit of students.
Presumably the students who sent in assignments are still members of this
list and will be reading criticisms of the way their involvement was
handled. I am very sorry for that in so far as it might affect their
relationship with the tutor and institution. I did think about sending my
comments only to the tutor but the public response has been very varied so
there are positive comments to balance the negative feedback from myself and
others. (My very positive comment would be to say that I applaud the tutor
for having the imagination to solicit comments/reviews from list members! My
problem is with the execution of the exercise.) I also felt that, while
others might disagree with my perspective, that it would be helpful to add
it to the discussion about the principles that might or should apply to this
type of exercise.
So, I hope this contribution is helpful and that ways will be found for
future involvement of students by means that are wholly constructive and
acceptable.
Best wishes,
Liz Panton
On 7 June 2010 07:33, Liz <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> I decided at the start of this particular discussion i would not add to it
> as I may feel the urge to speak rather plainly and not articulate myself
> quite as eloquently as others have done on this subject. I shall contain the
> urge to rant.
>
> To say some measure of 'enlightenment' is better than none is rot.
> Particularly when in my opinion, the students 'sympathy' 'admiration' and an
> apparent newfound 'acceptance' and 'understanding' merely shows a naivety
> that could prove as dangerous as ignorance. It was cringe-worthy reading
> (oops - there it is - my plain-speak).
>
> I urge those students to question why some people may get a little ticked
> off with such views and challenge the tutor/lecturer using further debate.
> The responsibility of the tutor/lecturer should not cease on module close.
>
> If i seem a little harsh - i make no apologies : )
>
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