Analysis of the Relation among Moral Judgment, Information Ethics
Judgment and Internet Ethics Consciousness of Undergraduate Students forDeveloping the Model of Information Ethics Education

Jang Soonsun
Youngdong University, Korea
likesun0610@daum.net
Lee Okhwa
Chungbuk National University , Korea
ohleekorea@gmail.com
Lim Yeonwook
Hanyang Cyber University, Korea
yeonwook@empas.com

Abstract
Problems caused by the side effects of information society created a big pressure for more
effective education for ethics of the knowledge society, even though the information ethicaleducation has been practiced nationwide more than ever. In this thesis, I analyzed therelationship among the three major elements related to ethics for undergraduate students(moral judgement, the information ethics judgement and the internet ethics consciousness)for developing the model of information ethics education.
With the subject of 150 undergraduates, standardized tests of the self-diagnose about the
moral judgement, the information ethics judgement, and the internet ethics consciousnessof the undergraduates were conducted. Analysis of the data showed that the level of themoral judgement, the information ethics judgement, and the internet ethics consciousnessof the undergraduates were not so related, which means the high moral judgement ability
does’n not necessarily guarantees the high level of internet ethics consciousness while those
two are assumed to be strongly related. This result suggests there is a need to develop theeducation program for improvement in the morality and internet ethics education. The
relationship between the moral judgement and the information ethics judgement showedvery weak static correlation, and there was no significant correlation between thecorrelation of what and the internet ethics consciousness. This means that there was little
correlation between the reality and the cyber space and no correlation between the action
and the consciousness.
I proposed the information ethics education model based on the analysis of the previous
researches as follows. First, diagnose the consciousness, the morality, and the precedentknowledge and then conduct the education of the customized learning contents
individually on line based on the diagnosis. Next, I practice self-directed, active, andpractical learning offline. In this time, throughout all the learning procedure we have toimplement the learning based on the Flipped Instruction Model, Authentic Learning andConvergence Learning.
key words : Information Ethics Education Model, Moral Judgement, Information Ethics Judgement,

Internet Ethics Consciousness.

INTRODUCTION
In the rapidly changing digital environment where new media has appeared, to develop the IT advanced
cultural civil consciousness and to construct information culture, Korean government has been implementing
specialized information ethics education to each subject such as adolescent, teachers, parents, officials, and so on
from 2002 as a policy for protecting the citizen from the information pollution such as junk mail, swearing,
advertisement for adult contents and so on (Ministry of Security and Public Administration, 2012). Also, byimplementing the information ethics education to the citizen, digital citizenship such as prevention of dysfunction of
the information oriented society, understanding of information oriented society phenomenon, study for creative
application of information, and so on has been implemented through information culture and information ethics
education (Ministry of Education, 2011).
Also, in the cyber space, people show aggressive tendencies and deviant behaviors, complex and flexible
identity, and disinhibition effect (The ethics Council on Internet, 2011). Will the morality in real life be equal to thatin cyber space? It has not been proved how much it is different, if it isn’t so. Also, to prevent the dysfunction of theinformation, it is necessary to educate the ethics stronger than the existing ethics education and differently based on
the understanding of the cyber space and information technology. In addition to the information education thatstudies the information technology till now, it is necessary to conduct the education of humanism that is needed forthe citizen in the information oriented society.
To keep up with this, in the information education curriculum, there has been added the information ethics
and the information protection for the adolescents since 7th educational curriculum revision in 2007 and also there
have been a lot of researches about it (Ministry of Education & Human Resources Development, 2007).
However, even though college students have been spending more time using the Internet, and also doing a
lot of activities on the internet, they have not been received the information ethics education. So this is the time toresearch how to educate them.
In this paper, to improve the effectiveness of the information ethics education, the learner’s characteristics
among education factors must be analyzed first. The information ethics education must be learned by experience,education of attitude, and induced to the change of behavior. The learner’s characteristics for the effectiveness of theinformation ethics education is the integrated moral virtues related to the behavior rather than prior knowledge. The
integrated moral virtues have a high mutual relatedness of cognitive domain, affective domain, and conductive
domain (Thomas L., 1991). So we need to analyze the level of cognition and conducting and their relatedness of thecollege students.
Based on the necessity of the information ethics education, in this paper we evaluated the moral judgment
and the information ethics judgment as the conductive domain of the college students and predicted the behaviors in
the real world and in the cyber space. Also, as the cognitive domain, diagnosing the internet ethics and researching
the morality of the information ethics, we are going to emphasize the necessity of the information ethics education
and analyze their relationships.
The purpose of this paper is to research moral judgment, information ethics judgment, and the level ofinternet ethics of the college students, to analyze the relationships among the moral judgment, information ethics
judgment, and internet ethics, and to suggest the developing method of the information ethics education modelthrough literature analysis. That is, through studying the relationship between the learner’s behavior and recognition,
we intend to utilize it in the information ethics education and then help the students to get the values and the
behaviors in the cyber space.

Research Issues
Research issue 1. How is the level of the moral judgment, the information ethics judgment, internet ethicsof the college students?
Research issue 2. How is the relationship between the moral judgment, the information ethics judgment,internet ethics of the college students?
Research issue 3. What are the suggestions for developing the information ethics education model?

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
Analysis of the relationship between the moral judgment, the information ethics judgment, andinternet ethics
Excellent personality is explained that it is achieved to integrate knowing, desiring, and practicing thegoodness, and also each component such as cognition, emotion, behavior influences it with relationship mutually(Park. et al, 1998). Ryu(2009) said that the integrated morality education is implemented only when the cognitiveside is transferred into emotion and carried into action.
The final goal or direction of the research and the education for all the morality or ethics is representing
the moral behavior (National Youth Policy Institute, 2011). However, it is impossible to observe all the behaviors of
the students. Therefore, to infer ethical behavior level, the moral judgment which represents the ability ofdetermining the ethical behavior is estimated in a certain situation. If the moral judgment becomes higher, it isexpected to enhance the behavioral level (Kim, 2011).
According to Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development, the moral standard is different depending on theage as in Table 1. The moral judgment means the proportion of the post conventional moral level, 5th or 6th level, and
it is used to find out the personal moral level the most (Hong, 2004). Also, it means decision ability for what is themost moral among feasible behaviors and it is possible to expect the ethical behavior practice level (translated by
Moon, 2004).
<Table 1> Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development (Anne Colby et al., 1983)
Level
Stage
Kohlberg’s Moral Development
1

Avoiding punishment․Obedience

2

Satisfaction of needs․Dealing

3

Considering good kid reputation

4

Considering law and order

5Social contract

6

Universal ethics

Pre conventional level

Conventional level

Post conventional level

Kim(2005) developed the information ethics judgment based on the theory about the moral judgment.
Internet ethics consciousness is defined as the ethical value and behavior pattern that Internet user must carry, and it
is also composed of autonomy, respect, responsibility, and participation and estimates the overall consciousness(Choo, 2009).
When we overview the moral judgment and the relationship between several consciousness in the prior research,
there was usually no or little relationship between the moral judgment and several consciousness.

Information ethics education
In the secondary education curriculum, as the curriculum for the information was amended, theinformation ethics education has been reinforced. Also in the university, even though the importance of theinformation ethics education has been recognized and proliferated, there lack the professional instructors. Also
because the lecture is being practiced by lecture method instruction, it is not efficient to educate the information
ethics (Kang, 2012). It is necessary to suggest and develop a new information ethics education model. Also, theeducation model based on the integrated morality for information ethics is needed, and the components of it are
shown on Figure 1(Korea Agency Digital Opportunity and Promotion, 2006).

[Figure 1] The Integrated morality for the information communication ethics education(Korea Agency Digital Opportunity and Promotion, 2006)

METHOD
We carried out the questionnaire for 150 of freshmen Y university in Chugbuk for this research.
KDIT provided by the morality and psychology research center of Seoul University is the revised tool forevaluating the morality, adapted DIT of Rest by Moon (1986). We carried the selective DIT testing among the moral
judgment testing tools that Kim (2005) developed. For Self-diagnosis for the internet ethics consciousness weresearched using the questionnaire of CBT(computer-based testing) based college students self-diagnosis(http://www.nethics.kr/intro.jsp) provided by the internet ethics education information service of Korea Internet andSecurity Agency.
We used SPSS 8 for the statistical processing for each test factor, calculating mean comparison andcorrelation analysis.

RESULTAs the research results are shown in Table 2, point of Moral judgment(maximum of 95) was 34.2,
meaning that it is lower score compared with the mean of points in the prior research. DIT selective information
ethics judgment was 12.8. Also the result of internet ethical self-diagnosis had mean of 71.0, and the percentage of
16 type was 79.7%.
<Table 2> Moral judgment, Information Ethics Judgment, Internet Ethics Consciousness Points
Information Ethics
Internet Ethics
GenderNumberMoral judgment
Judgment
Consciousness
Total/Mean
Maximum

148

34.2

12.8

71.0

95

18

120

As the internet ethics consciousness is represented into four domains in radar chart in Fig. 2, the domain
of autonomy had the highest score of 18.3 and the domain of responsibility had the lowest score of 17.1.

Autonomy

Participation

Responsibility

Respect[Figure 2] Score of the internet ethics consciousness in each domain
The correlation of moral judgment, the information ethics judgment, the internet ethics consciousness, andfour domains in the lower part is represented in Table 3. First, there is a significant correlation of .233 between the
moral judgment and the information ethics judgment. Second, there is no significant correlation between the moral
judgment, the information ethics judgment and the internet ethics consciousness. Third, there is a high significant
positive correlation in the order of .660 of responsibility, .565 of participation, and .534 of respect between theinternet ethics consciousness and four domains. Fourth, in the correlation between the domains of the internet ethics
consciousness, the responsibility has the correlation of .248 with participation and .247 with respect, and the respect
has a high correlation of .200 with the information ethics judgment. Fifth, though the above analyses have a positive
correlation, there is -.351 of negative correlation between autonomy and respect and there is -.287 of negative
correlation between autonomy and responsibility.
<Table 3> The correlation between the moral judgment, the information ethics judgment, and the internet ethics consciousness

moral
judgment

informationinternet ethics
ethicsautonomy responsibility respect participation
consciousness
judgment

moral judgment
Pearsoninformation coefficient 233**
ethics judgment
Sig.
004
Pearsoninternet ethics coefficient 003
consciousness
Sig.
973
Pearsoncoefficient 055
autonomySig.
504
Pearsoncoefficient .045
responsibility
Sig.
589
Pearsonrespectcoefficient .036

1
.
045
.

1

584
.052

.10
7

.
527

.19
4

.053

.66
0**

.
524

.351**

.00
0

.
200*

1

.
000

.53
4**

1

.287**

.2
47**

1

Sig.

participation

.
660

015

Pearsoncoefficient 044

.013

Sig.

.00
0

-

.56
5**

.
595

874

.
000
.082

.00
0

.0
02
.2
48**

.
322

.022
.0

02

1

787

*p<.05 **p<.01

Suggestions for developing the information ethics education model
We intent to suggest the direction for developing the information ethics education model through priorresearch analysis. In this paper, we are going to suggest the information ethics education model composed of threestages, and the overall education strategy is Flipped Instruction Model. First stage diagnoses the learners using thediagnosing tools such as the morality, the information ethics, prerequisite learning on-line and determines learning
contents in second stage as diagnosis stage. Second stage gives theory class on-line using OER(Open Educational
Resources), OCW(Open Course Ware) and so on through LMS(Learning Management System) as cognitive stage. In
this course, class about cognition, activity, assignment, evaluation and so on is carried out with the situation related
to real life, applying the authenticity based learning. Third stage processes the learning by experience off-line
through discussion and practical activity based on the class of second stage and considers the change of activity as
activity stage. The practical activity is the learning activity such as mind map, drawing table and graph, internet
search, quiz, game, commenting, introspecting note, practice diary, writing slogan and logo, writing essay,presentation, posting works and so on. To express the activity learning is carried out, considering past behavior,
attitude for activity, subjective norm, and cognitive action control. In this course, the convergence learning related to
the real life is implemented.
The research result shows that the relation between the internet ethics and four domains has a highsignificant positive correlation in the order of responsibility, participation, and respect. In the correlation between thedomains of the internet ethics, responsibility and participation, and responsibility and respect have the correlation,
and also respect has a high correlation with the information ethics judgment. Based on the result, we can summarize
the contents of the information ethics education. That is, we can emphasize to educate students in the order of
responsibility, participation, and respect, then the level of the internet ethics can be improved. To raise theinformation ethics judgment, we can emphasize to educate the students in respect domain.

Stage<Table 4> Summary of the information ethics education model
Application Contents and Education
MethodEducation Strategy
Contents

1.
Online Diagnosis Diagnosing tool for the information ethics
Diagnosis
ㆍ Four domains of internet ethics
ㆍ Discussion

2.
Cognition

Online Class

3. Behavior

ㆍDiscussion
ㆍ Practical Activity
ㆍ Prior behavior
Offline Classㆍ Attitude for the behavior
ㆍ Subjective Normㆍ Cognitive Action Control

Authenticity based
Learning
FlippedInstruction
Model
Convergence Learning

[Figure 3] Information Ethics Education Model

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONSFirst, the level of the moral judgment and the information ethics judgment, and the internet ethics has aremarkably low score compared with the previous research, so it is necessary to educate the information ethics andimprove the morality to the students irrespective of their major. It must be considered while the liberal arts
curriculum is adopted in the university.
Second, even though the moral judgment and the information ethics judgment have no high correlation,
they have significant correlation and also they have an insignificant correlation with the internet ethics. Even though
this result runs counter to Kim’ research result that the information ethics judgment has a high correlation with themoral judgment(2005), this is the conclusion under the condition that the result of other judgment testing is similar.
As in this paper, because the equal subjects are not researched, the result in this paper is more adequate. The
conclusion also runs counter to Kim’s research result (2011). Because there is no correlation between moral
judgment, the information ethics judgment, and the internet ethics consciousness, it is necessary to retain the validity
based on the conventional morality and ethics education in the information ethics education till now. Therefore, it isnecessary to develop a new education model and teaching material and so on.
Third, the ethical behavior level and the consciousness level are analyzed to have no any correlation. So it
is necessary to search for the directions separating the behavioral side from cognitional side while educating theinformation ethics. Park et. al(1998) insisted that the ethical cognition, emotion, and behavior have the correlation
between each constituents, and the moral judgment and the moral emotion can influence to the moral behavior.
However it also runs counter on the research result in this paper. Also, Lim(2009) considered it as the cognitive
domain of the information ethics education determining whether it is appropriate morally or not, and treating theability of analyzing and making own decision reasonably. Also he hold that the domain includes the understanding
about the characteristics of the internet environment, knowledge about the regulations related to the information
crime, and the studies about the ethical theory as the standard of judgment about whether it is right or not. It is easy
to be separated between the understanding and the activity. For example, even though we know that illegal
downloading is bad behavior, we do downloading illegally because of financial problems, inconvenience, and notknowing how we download the files legally. It means that we need to understand the copyright exactly and urgently.
Fourth, if we intend to do proper behavior on the internet, we need to have high judgment about the
information ethics and instill the morality and respect domain with correlation. To solve this problem, we need toeducate the respect domain much more among the information ethics educations, and also we have to research thedirections about it.

Fifth, we proposed the direction for developing the information ethics education model in the university
through analyzing the literature. First stage figures out the learners’ consciousness and morality and the level of
prerequisite learning as a diagnosing stage. Also second stage implements the theory class on-line according todiagnosing results as cognition stage, and third stage learns by experience off-line through practical activity andconsiders the change of behavior as behavioral stage. In this course, the overall education model is Flipped
Instruction Model, applying the authenticity based learning on-line and the convergence learning off-line.
Sixth, in this paper we analyzed the relationship between the moral judgment, the information ethics
judgment, and the internet ethics consciousness and proposed the direction for developing the information ethics
education model appropriate for the situation of the university through analyzing the literature. However, theinformation ethics education model proposed in this paper has not been applied directly, and so it is needed to apply
to the practical class and amend and complement the problems through constant research. Despite these limitations,the research result is the education model emphasized on the internal side of the learners with the morality and we
expect this research to be the cornerstone for the research about the information ethics education in the future.

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