(teach) online materials & cheating

[karenstanleyma-3]

Dave asked:
I would like to ask Tom Robb and others who have experience with online
materials that are a required part of a course to what degree do you think students do the work correctly and not copy the work of others or get a friend to answer the questions?
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Well, of course, that's not just true of online work.  That can happen with any kind of homework.  

I consistently have some students who register and pay to be in a composition class, then copy segments from online text and turn it in as their own.  (After a full class spent on plagiarism and its various forms, as well as a discussion of why doing their own writing helps them acquire the skills they will need in the future.)  These are students who want to go on to "regular" curriculum courses in English, so it's not as if their English class is just something they have to finish and leave forever behind.

A number of years ago, I had a student who said that her earlier basic skills ESL classes (versus "academic ESL" - organized so that students didn't have homework or tests, just interaction in class) had been much less *work* and more fun, but that all her friends had told her that she was making MUCH faster progress in her current classes.  

While I would like everything to be fun (and perhaps thereby encourage all students to do it), it's good to recognize that to make the most progress in the shortest amount of time, students will probably have to put in time that is work without a high "fun" component.  (This does not mean that everything has to be this way; just that it's pretty sure that at least some of it will be for best, fastest results.)

I think if you make something required, and have some sort of accountability, most students will do it.  Some will get varying levels of "help" from their friends.  However, if you don't make it high stakes, but make it count for *something*, I think most students will do their own work.

Karen
http://karen.stanley.people.cpcc.edu

[Merton Bland]

Dave asked:
I would like to ask Tom Robb and others who have experience with online materials that are a required part of a course to what degree do you think students do the work correctly and not copy the work of others or get a friend to answer the questions??
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I have never been to any other country (and these feet have trod the soil of 106 countries) where plagerism is so ingrained in the culture as it is in China.?Say, if someone did it right, why should I do all that work and come up with something so much worse.
Mert - Dr.M.L.Bland, Arlington, VA, USA