Ethical criteria in e-learning during the outbreak of COVID-19 from the perspective of students, faculty and educational administrators: A qualitative study

The outbreak of COVID-19 has confronted universities with countless challenges in educating students. Therefore, the present study was conducted to determine the ethical criteria in e-learning during the outbreak of COVID-19 from the perspective of students, professors and educational administrators at Hamadan University of Medical Sciences.

The present study was a qualitative one with qualitative content analysis approach. The study was conducted with the participation of 30 students, faculty and educational administrators who were selected through purposive sampling. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews. Elo and Kyngas approaches were used to analyze the data. To increase the scientific reliability and validity of the results Lincoln and Guba methods were applied.

The participants included 16 students in different educational levels, 10 faculty members and 4 educational directors. After providing in-depth interviews and analyzing them in the first stage, a total of 193 initial codes were extracted. The primary codes were merged and the complete summary steps were placed in the relevant classes. In reviewing the ethical criteria in virtual education, a total of three main categories of learners 'ethical criteria, professors' ethical criteria and the organization's ethical criteria and 27 sub-categories were reported.

Due to the prevalence of COVID-19 disease, e-learning has expanded as a new educational method. Therefore, by developing the necessary infrastructure, producing and sharing software, interactive educational tools, and using the experiences of other organizations and other countries, the impact of this type of training can be increased.