Ethical and aesthetic considerations in language MOOCs

This chapter focuses on critical aspects, not usually discussed, in the field of language education. Its main purpose is to examine the ethical and aesthetic dimensions of language education in the context of e-learning, in particular in global learning via MOOCs. The literature on the use of information and communication technology (ICT) has highlighted how the new learning environments and tools have provided great opportunities as well as new challenges for language teaching and learning, but it has been less explicit about how these technologies, virtual environments and modes of computer mediated communication have impacted on the ethics and aesthetics of language education. Here I consider how the context, the content, the medium and the agents involved in education can be approached from an ethical and aesthetic perspective, and the reasons why these considerations are important for our language programmes.