Facebook Study Groups: Cheating?
This is an article about Chris Avenir, a student at Ryerson who managed a facebook study group. He was accused of cheating and threatened with expulsion.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080318.wlfacebook18/
BNStory/PersonalTech/home?cid=al_gam_mostemail
My opinion:
I started out thinking that this was ridiculous behaviour by Ryerson. Why would they expel someone who is using technology to reach out and learn cooperatively with other students? As I read the article though, I became aware of several subtleties around this issue.
When one thinks about study groups of students working together, physically in the same room, one can argue that the facebook group is exactly the same. So what’s wrong with that?
Well, the problem is, a traditional study group may be flawed to start with. It’s a matter of student understanding. If the hypothetical brick and mortar study group is a bunch of students who are working together to solve problems and are gaining understanding, then we’re golden. Great situation. Same with the facebook group. However, if the group is one in which one or more students are simply providing answers and the others are copying it, we have a problem. Students copying answers are not gaining understanding. I don’t want to have a doctor or a lawyer who worked her way through school copying answers from someone else. I want the doctor who has done the work herself and has an intimate understanding of the concepts involved.
Now, the thing is, we all know that flawed study groups have always existed. Schools have never done anything about it because…well because its pretty near impossible to stop it. Some kids will always be willing to give away the answers and some kids will always want to copy them. It’s a problem whether in a library or in a facebook group.
The Answer:
Ryerson should forget about trying to stop facebook groups. We as educators are not ever going to have the resources necessary to stop all the student copying that goes on. Fortunately there is another way. Evaluation should be based on understanding. Give students chemistry problems and let them copy solutions if they want to – heck – give them the answers with the problems. Just don’t evaluate those problems, but evaluate a similar set of problems that will judge an individual student’s understanding of the concepts involved. Evaluation should be based on ain individual student’s understanding.
Copying answers will not help a student prepare for these types of evaluations and will force students to attempt problems on their own and learn the material for themselves. That is what education has always been, and always will be, about.
Chester, A. and Gwynne, G. (December, 1998). Online Teaching: Encouraging Collaboration through Anonymity. Journal of Computer Mediated Communication
Karayan, S. and Crowe, J. (April, 1997). Student Perceptions of Electronic Discussion Groups. T.H.E. Journal
Pardee, M. (June, 1996). Using E-Mail, Web Sites & Newsgroups to Enhance Traditional Classroom Instruction. T.H.E. Journal, 23, 1
The Empowerment Age: Why the Internet Matters. Situation Analysis by EchoDitto, Inc. A 2004 Year End Report
Full Disclosure: Josh Goldstein is Associate Director and Jeremy Goldberg is Executive Director of GYPA.
June 21st, 2008 at 1:49 pm
Jerry
A very enlightening article. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I agree, copying answers will not help students prepare for evaluations. Ryerson should reassess their views on how students collaborate.
d
July 1st, 2008 at 5:08 pm
Hi Jerry,
I remember seeing the headlines about that controversy but had not read much about it. My first reaction was similar to yours as I thought it would be ridiculous to expel that student. As you, I also found the article interesting as it educated me about different sides of the coin.
I particularly appreciated the following quotes from that article:
“And some believe it’s the grown-ups who need to change their attitude.”
It reminded me of that PowerPoint slides Julia showed us that depicted how people freaked out when simple things like the pencil and later the pen were introduced in the school systems back in the day. The Internet is the new frontier and as TLite has been correctly emphasizing, it is high time for us teachers and school systems to adapt to today’s realities.
But I also think that the students must also educate themselves as proposed by another quote in the article:
“But young people must be taught to educate themselves responsibly online, utilizing the resources there without falling victim to their unreliability.”
Is one thing to say that the adults must adapt to the new technology. But I also think that if the students want the rights use this powerful technology, they must also accept the responsibilities that come with it.
Thanks for your two cents. Those were mine…
Abheeru
PS pretty happy the kid did not get expelled.
July 2nd, 2008 at 9:43 pm
Hey Jerry,
This is a very interesting article to read. Thanks for sharing your view on this. I personally like your example since I am a chemistry teacher! lol =)
I do agree with you. Copying answers alone cannot lead to the understanding of the concepts. They may look at how others have gotten the answer and make sense out of it for their understanding. But copying alone will not lead them to a higher achievement. I highly promote collaborative learning in the classroom. I don’t see why they can’t do this outside of the classroom.