**4.4 Equality, equity and diversity**

The issue of equity and diversity raise questions about whether the use of VR in online courses promote equality, equity and diversity for students? Can VR in online courses ensure education for all? Can social, cultural and academic values be successfully transmitted using VR in online learning? As VR in online courses requires internet connection and computers which limit access to many social groups (i.e., poor people) - social exclusion of people who cannot afford to buy a computer or get connected to the internet. Lack of information and communication technology equipment among low-income people, exclude them to online course systems. However, Wedemeyer stated that" Instruction should be available any place where there are students—or even only one student—whether or not there are teachers at the same place at the same time" [26, p.36]. This statement underlines the ethical aspect of equality of access for all on online learning using VR as a moral obligation. There are moral issues of culture in online course using VR, including the of imbalances arising from dominant cultural morals represented in teaching materials and methods [27], and possible miscommunication among participants in online

discussions arising from cultural differences [28]. Additionally, most online courses in business schools are designed in English, non-English speakers can be excluded.

#### **4.5 Autonomy**

The issue of autonomy in online learning using VR raises questions such as are VR in the online education environment conducive for learning freedom or do they threaten to undermine it? Autonomy as self-control plays a key role in ethics as it is about to obey only yourself –to be able to deliberate and make decisions without being influenced by external sources [24]. To be autonomous, individuals will need access to appropriate information from relevant sources without constraints and to be able to choose for themselves according to their own ideas and values in order to make decisions. However, VR technology in online learning acts as a gatekeeper of information, which causes a risk to the informational condition of autonomy. The institution has control over information posted, can also control how people perceive and understand the world of learning. Additionally, VR technology in online courses raises serious concerns related to personal neglect of users' own real bodies and real physical environments [29].

#### **4.6 Copyright and plagiarism**

The issue of copyright and plagiarism raises questions such as how to protect copyrighted data, students and teachers' contributions and materials used for teaching, from being exchanged illegally? It is increasingly known that the prohibited copying of copyrighted media (e.g. texts, music works, movies and software programs) is prevalent throughout in education [2]. Additionally, many students and teachers who engage in such misconduct practices do not think themselves to be doing something that is obviously morally wrong. This is certainly true for college students. As Glass and Wood have reported that a large majority of students do not recognize the illegal copying of software as unethical [30]. Moreover, plagiarism is widespread in many business schools, where it is one of the biggest forms of academic dishonesty. Copying the ideas or work of another person without citing the source, including books, extracts of articles, tables, diagrams and material from the internet or other electronic sources is common among students. Uunauthorized or inappropriate use of computers, calculators and other forms of technology in coursework, assignments, Brey reported that assignments handed in by students may turn out to be copied from other students or to be taken over, in part or in whole, from existing published works [23]. VR in online courses tools such as computers and the internet only add to the way that students have at their possession to perpetrate plagiarism.

#### **4.7 Ownership of data**

The issue of ownership of data raises the question about who owns the data published on social networking sites? Does a teacher or a student keeps the ownership of his own data, or he/she loses it in the moment he/she accepts the business school's terms and conditions? Are foundational rights of individual subjects recognized in VR technology in the online learning environment, and what it takes to protect them against obstructions? These few questions among many others arise against the background of disputed relations of ownership between an owner and his/her property. VR technology operates through gathering and processing of huge data. Ownership of data, access and control are critical moral issues in the sharing of VR in online courses data [31]. In many business school policies, data generated and posted to VR learning environments are owned by the institutions.

*The Rise of Virtual Reality in Online Courses: Ethical Issues and Policy Recommendations DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.97516*

#### **4.8 Online bullying and hacking**

Online bullying and hacking raise the question about how individuals can be protected online against personal attacks and stalking? Billions of students are bullied everyday worldwide, as many students think that bulling is a tradition of passage in a student's life. This includes harassment and intimidation that takes place online using pictures or words and is difficult to control. It takes several forms of exclusion, threats, aggression to public humiliation mainly among the students at the universities and business schools, these are morally wrong. VR in online courses could be used as a platform for online bullying or harassment, racists could also use it as platform for bullying behaviors in the shadow of anonymity. Additionally, hacking involves interfering on someone's personal computer through distant access, purposely changing files to which one has not been granted access, liberating computer viruses, stealing passwords or files, exposing personal information, and stealing electronic money [32]. Teachers and students at VR in online courses may get involved in hacking for a range of reasons - they may just be unaware that they are breaking into a computer system, they may just be curious, they may be out to harm someone, they may want to benefit themselves, or they may have entirely different reasons [23].

#### **4.9 Control and surveillance**

The issue of control and surveillance raises question about how to control the exchange between students and teachers or among students in virtual environments? How to ensure surveillance of students in online courses? In one side, virtual technology allows anonymous communications because of the use of internet from harassment to fraud which are difficult to track and appear difficult to solve. On the other side, surveillance of students in all online courses is an issue. Actually, in online courses using virtual technology, teachers are to track students' participation, the number of responses they post and what they read, when they read it. Virtual courses provide teacher with a permanent record, which are often used to give us information about a student's performance, however, such surveillance is hidden, and concern and action on the part of those being observed is driven by uncertainty [24].

#### **4.10 Freedom of speech versus hate messages**

The issue of freedom of speech versus hate speech raises questions about what are the limits of what can be published? Who decides what is acceptable? Even though, in most countries some degree of freedom of speech is ensured in the constitution, but there are limitations for hate speech, defamation, and obscenity. In business schools, there may be various electronic ways of exchanging messages between students and teacher or among students and/or with external people to the organization, which are important collaborative virtual settings. As in faceto-face interaction, these VR forms of interaction can be used to send threatening, obscene, provocative or harassing messages [24]. These may include discriminatory, sexist, or/and racist messages, used to tease fellow students or teachers based on their socio-cultural affiliations. However, such messages are usually not considered to be acceptable in an academic setting, as educators strive to ensure that the classroom functions as a safe, non-hostile environment for students and teachers in virtual courses as do face-to-face classes [24]. **Table 1** below summarizes ethical issues related to the use of VR technology in online courses and the questions they raised


**Table 1.**

*Summary of Ethical Issues and Questions they raised.*
