Abstract
The field of open and distance education has witnessed much transformation since simple print based communication till the WEB era. With the increasing use of new communication technologies, discussion of the ethical issues becomes more important. Ethics in education in general and distance education in specific has its manifestations in various forms. This paper identifies ethical issues that is concerned with distance education The article puts emphasis on Principles and codes of Ethics in various aspects in the realm of distance education such as those pertaining to student-teacher relationship, research ethics, subject matter experts, instructional designers, faculty, teaching assistants, but major emphasis is on ethical principles in four areas: Commitment to the Student ,Commitment to the distance education System , Commitment to the Profession and Ethical Commitment of instructional designers in distance education system . Codes of ethics apply to all members of the distance education, including the regents, faculty and other academic personnel, staff, students, volunteers, contractors, agents and others associated with the distance education institution.
