The purpose of education is to impart lasting, useable student learning. For student learning to occur most efficiently, an environment must be created which students perceive as fair and safe and where students believe they can succeed. This environment must emulate in positive ways that familiar place, the classroom. Creating this online "classroom" is a noble, but arduous, effort. When, rather than encouraging student learning, preventing student dishonesty or monitoring student behavior becomes a focus, we are left to question not only the learning which may not occur, but the ethical impact of the course. This query would be valid whether the course is delivered in person or online.

This paper suggests an assessment outlook based on 1) encouraging ethical action in students, 2) personalizing the course while maintaining appropriate faculty/student interaction, 3) methods of coordinating various student assessment tools in online education to minimize student dishonesty, 4) creating assessment which minimizes unequal access problems, 5) monitoring discussion groups to minimize aggressive input which distracts from learning, 6) fostering ethical forms of student collaboration. The paper also acknowledges that, despite our best efforts, some dishonesty will occur, whether online or in the classroom.