Building Sultan Qaboos university students' ethical competencies during e-Learning education

The covid-19 pandemic has imposed many changes in the education system, including shifting to e-learning style. This shift has forced students to learn many skills and competencies to benefit from their experience in an e-learning environment. A vital competency that should be considered is ethical competency. Ethical competencies affect the educational process as students are obligated to follow the university's ethical guidelines to guarantee the fairness of students' assessments. This study aims to determine students' ethical competencies enrolled in the Information Studies department at Sultan Qaboos University during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study also will seek to develop a framework that would help the students gain the required ethical competencies to improve the quality of the educational process and outcomes. This research project will utilize a mixed-method approach, and the design will include utilizing questionnaires and focus groups as research tools. This research's outcomes should help to better understand the current students' practices in e-learning, Increase the awareness of the importance of ethical competencies in e-learning and develop a tool (interactive tool, e.g., Q and A tool) to develop students' ethical digital competencies.

The covid-19 pandemic has imposed many changes in the education system, including shifting to e-learning style. This shift has forced students to learn many skills and competencies to benefit from their experience in an e-learning environment. A vital competency that should be considered is ethical competency. Ethical competencies affect the educational process as students are obligated to follow the university's ethical guidelines to guarantee the fairness of students' assessments. This study aims to determine students' ethical competencies enrolled in the Information Studies department at Sultan Qaboos University during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study also will seek to develop a framework that would help the students gain the required ethical competencies to improve the quality of the educational process and outcomes. This research project will utilize a mixed-method approach, and the design will include utilizing questionnaires and focus groups as research tools. This research's outcomes should help to better understand the current students' practices in e-learning, Increase the awareness of the importance of ethical competencies in e-learning and develop a tool (interactive tool, e.g., Q and A tool) to develop students' ethical digital competencies.