Online Tutoring Online Tutoring Ethics and Professionalism 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Under FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act), which information about a student may an online tutor NOT share without consent?
- The student's favorite subject
- The student's academic records and performance data (Correct answer)
- The subject area being tutored
- The grade level of the student
Correct answer: The student's academic records and performance data
FERPA protects the privacy of student educational records, prohibiting unauthorized disclosure of academic performance data.
Question 2: A parent asks an online tutor to share session recordings with them. The student is 16 years old. What should the tutor consider first?
- Whether the recording equipment is high quality
- The platform's privacy policy and whether the student consented to recording (Correct answer)
- Whether the parent is paying for the sessions
- Whether the student performed well in the session
Correct answer: The platform's privacy policy and whether the student consented to recording
Before sharing any recordings, the tutor must review the platform's privacy policy and ensure proper consent was obtained from the student.
Question 3: What is the ethical obligation of an online tutor if a student discloses they are being abused at home?
- Keep it confidential to maintain the student's trust
- Report the disclosure to the appropriate authorities as a mandated reporter (Correct answer)
- Advise the student to speak with a school teacher
- Document it in session notes only and monitor the situation
Correct answer: Report the disclosure to the appropriate authorities as a mandated reporter
In the US, tutors may be considered mandated reporters and are ethically and legally required to report suspected child abuse to authorities.
Question 4: Which of the following is an example of maintaining confidentiality in online tutoring?
- Discussing a struggling student's performance with other tutors casually
- Keeping student progress reports private and sharing only with authorized parties (Correct answer)
- Posting anonymized student success stories without obtaining consent
- Using identifiable student examples in social media posts
Correct answer: Keeping student progress reports private and sharing only with authorized parties
Confidentiality means only sharing student information with those who have explicit authorization to receive it.
Question 5: An online tutor wants to use a student's work as an example in a promotional video. What must the tutor do first?
- Anonymize the work and proceed without asking
- Obtain written consent from the student and their parent or guardian if a minor (Correct answer)
- Ask the student verbally during a session and proceed if they agree
- Post it since the work was created on their platform
Correct answer: Obtain written consent from the student and their parent or guardian if a minor
Using a student's work for promotional purposes requires explicit written consent from the student and, if a minor, their parent or guardian.
Question 6: What does 'informed consent' mean in the context of online tutoring?
- The student agrees to all tutor requests without question
- The student and parent understand and agree to the scope, methods, and data use of the tutoring service (Correct answer)
- The tutor informs the student of their current grades
- The parent consents only to the tutor's pricing structure
Correct answer: The student and parent understand and agree to the scope, methods, and data use of the tutoring service
Informed consent means all parties fully understand what the tutoring service involves, including methods, data collection, and privacy practices, before agreeing.
Online Tutoring Online Tutoring Ethics and Professionalism 2
Under FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act), which information about a student may an online tutor NOT share without consent?