WeBWork Professional Standards and Ethics 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: An instructor wants to reuse WeBWorK problems created by another institution. What is the ethically correct approach?
- Use them freely since WeBWorK is open-source software
- Check the problem's license and obtain permission if required before using (Correct answer)
- Modify the numbers slightly so attribution is no longer needed
- Use them only if fewer than 10 problems are borrowed
Correct answer: Check the problem's license and obtain permission if required before using
Even within open-source ecosystems, individual problem content may have specific licenses requiring attribution or permission.
Question 2: A student realizes they accidentally submitted an incorrect answer but the system shows it as correct due to a grading bug. Ethically, the student should:
- Keep the unearned credit since they did not intentionally cheat
- Immediately notify the instructor about the grading error (Correct answer)
- Wait to see if other students also benefit before deciding
- Document it privately in case the grade is disputed later
Correct answer: Immediately notify the instructor about the grading error
Benefiting from a known system error without reporting it is ethically equivalent to accepting unearned credit.
Question 3: Which statement best describes the ethical obligation of WeBWorK course developers regarding student data?
- Student answer data can be shared publicly to benchmark performance across institutions
- Student performance data must be protected and used only for legitimate educational purposes (Correct answer)
- Instructors may sell anonymized student data to educational publishers without consent
- Student data can be retained indefinitely without restriction after the course ends
Correct answer: Student performance data must be protected and used only for legitimate educational purposes
FERPA and professional ethics require that student data be protected, used only for educational purposes, and handled with confidentiality.
Question 4: During a remote exam administered through WeBWorK, a student's internet connection drops and they lose partial work. The ethical protocol for the student is to:
- Claim extra time or a full retake regardless of the actual disruption
- Document the issue with timestamps and contact the instructor promptly with evidence (Correct answer)
- Access the exam from a classmate's already-completed session
- Submit without mentioning the issue and hope partial credit is awarded
Correct answer: Document the issue with timestamps and contact the instructor promptly with evidence
Transparent and timely communication with documentation is the honest and professional approach to technical disruptions.
Question 5: A researcher wants to study how students use WeBWorK by analyzing clickstream and answer-attempt data. What ethical step is mandatory before beginning?
- Notify only the department chair and proceed
- Obtain IRB (Institutional Review Board) approval and appropriate participant consent (Correct answer)
- Proceed if the analysis is only for internal use
- Anonymize the data first and then begin without additional approvals
Correct answer: Obtain IRB (Institutional Review Board) approval and appropriate participant consent
Research involving human subjects and their educational records requires IRB review and informed consent protocols.
Question 6: When a WeBWorK problem set deadline has passed, an instructor manually extends a deadline for one student without academic justification. This raises what ethical concern?
- Server load imbalance
- Inequitable treatment of students (Correct answer)
- Violation of open-source licensing
- Breach of the system's terms of service
Correct answer: Inequitable treatment of students
Granting special accommodations without documented academic justification creates unfair advantages and violates principles of equity.
Question 7: What is the most professionally appropriate way for a WeBWorK administrator to handle a student's request to see other students' grades?
- Share the data if the requesting student seems trustworthy
- Deny the request, as student records are confidential under FERPA (Correct answer)
- Provide aggregated class statistics but protect individual identities
- Require the student to submit a written request and then fulfill it after review
Correct answer: Deny the request, as student records are confidential under FERPA
FERPA explicitly prohibits sharing individual student educational records with other students without consent.
WeBWork Professional Standards and Ethics 3
An instructor wants to reuse WeBWorK problems created by another institution.
What is the ethically correct approach?