Dan's Landing » Post-Secondary

If you’re going to plagiarize, do it right

Danny — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 14:33:07 +0000

Over at Rate Your Students, where educators complain about their pupils in much the same way their pupils complain about them 24/7, there’s a post about three plagiarists. From the post:

My 3rd worst Plagiarizing Pupil was so lazy that she could only be bothered to retype the first page of the paper she stole…She was caught at first glance for two reasons: 1) she didn’t choose a matching font for her retyped first page, and 2) someone else’s name was on the rest of the pages.

My 2nd worst Plagiarizing Pupil submitted, as her own, a sample student essay from the class text I had assigned them to read in preparation for that assignment.

And quite possibly most dim-witted plagiarizing pupil I have ever had is the student who, for an OPTIONAL revision of her first paper (which she had actually bothered to write), submitted another student’s paper on a completely different topic.

Oh the things you try to get away with when all you have to do for grades is write a paper.

Technorati Tags: RateYourStudents

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Poking fun at Ryerson

Danny — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 14:05:47 +0000

The Eyeopener (which needs your soul to let you sign up and post comments online) pokes fun at the recent PR debacle Ryerson University found itself in.

After charging a student with 147 counts of academic dishonesty, they began expulsion proceedings. The student has since not been expelled, forced to attend a seminar on academic honesty, failed the course and has had a notation made on his transcript, to be cleared upon graduation. All because a silly professor’s misunderstanding of how students mirror the real world when it comes to dealing with problems: they collaborate.

In the wake of the scandal, a new website was created to help students study: www.thestudygroups.com. I’m still baffled that no one thought of using a forum!

Am I the only one that remembers the days before Facebook?

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U of T’s Mark Federman thinks Ryerson is over reacting

Danny — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 21:11:58 +0000

Ryerson University has started expulsion proceedings against a student because of his involvement with Facebook study group. Mark Federman, a professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education which is associated with the University of Toronto was interviewed by Global TV regarding the scandal. Here is his interview:

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Forget embarassing pictures on Facebook…

Danny — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 17:32:30 +0000

…study groups can get you in trouble too.

Chris Avenir, a first year engineering student at Ryerson University in Toronto is facing expulsion for academic dishonesty. The devious rascal is accused of cheating on some chemistry assignments (guess he won’t be going into chem eng) by setting up a Facebook group. In the said Facebook group, students would share tips and answers to assignments which they would then hand in for marks. It was a type of online study group made up of 147 people (coincidentally, Mr. Avenir is charged with 147 counts of academic dishonesty – the other students…not so much).

Many of Chris’s supporters (especially online, Facebook) have accused the University of being behind the times.

What I don’t understand is why they are going only after him and not the other people in the group too? Postings made to Facebook groups are identified by their post-er. It would be fairly easy to expel someone who posted answers and actually cheated. Instead Ryerson University is playing the “you aided academic dishonesty” card and going after the creator of the group.

I do understand why Ryerson is pursuing this though. They’re trying to make an example of Chris; set a precedent for any online collaboration in the future. Unfortunately the hearings are behind closed doors and we don’t know what kind of evidence the university has. His hearing was yesterday so the results should be available I would say at the latest next week.

Here’s the Ryerson University Student Code of Academic Conduct for anyone who would like to take a read.

Bonne chance, Chris! We’re rooting for you.
(Yeah, go ahead an accuse me of aiding and abetting academic dishonesty now!)

Technorati Tags: Ryerson University, engineering, academic dishonesty, Facebook

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Voulez-vous coucher avec…

Danny — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 23:04:02 +0000

…mes parents?

Students in France are drawing attention to the issue of student housing. While on this side of the ocean it would probably consist of a Facebook group or two, they’re doing it [HA!] old school and using posters. Attention grabbing posters for sure:

(In case you’re not Frenchly inclined it says: “Some people pretend students don’t have a housing problem…Damien and Melanie, 22 and 21 years old, each live with their parents.”)

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MEOW! Catfight!

Danny — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 05:15:34 +0000

Ontario colleges have ‘fessed up’ to being behind the Obay campaign (see Accordion Guy’s post and the Torontoist coverage). To give you a summary, ‘Obay’ ads sprouted up in Toronto (and maybe elsewhere too) and made it seem like a “mind-control” drug parents could use to control their children’s behaviour. “When Amy started thinking for herself, we had to nip it in the bud with Obay.” claimed one of the posters.

Maclean’s reports that the Canadian Federation of Students seized this opportunity to remind colleges that while free thinking is all good, they should obey the law when it comes to the illegal ancillary fees college students are taxed each year. A class action suit was filed against the colleges for this reason in June of 2007. For more information on that go to StopUnfairFees.ca.

As for the whole politics of these press releases…this is how I will remember it:

(Created with the help of Despair.com)

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Free education? Don’t mind if I do

Beware the power of the WebCT

Danny — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 16:27:02 +0000

You’ve all heard of RateMyProfessors.com and the like. Of course the interweb has a place where professors can rate their students. While personal information, such as names of students, is withheld for obvious reasons, the stories are priceless. The best part is we have all run into the super-keeners and the lazy liars.

Check out Rate Your Students and be regaled by classroom stories from the educator’s perspective.

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Free education? Don’t mind if I do

Danny — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 21:11:12 +0000

Stanford University has dropped tuition fees for some of its students.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that John Hennessy, Stanford’s President, announced yesterday that students whose families make less than $100,000 a year will no longer be charged tuition. Also, if a student’s family income is less than $60,000 a year, room and board will not be charged either.

I think it’s time for me to change universities again.

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Absolutely disgusting

Danny — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 05:19:23 +0000

Apparently Oshawa is joining the ranks of cities which will go to great lengths to criminalize its student population.

Apparently the Oshawa Police executed quite a few search warrants against student houses. Sorry they’re not student houses, they’re houses around UOIT, Durham and Trent U. Apparently the city could not figure out on its own that houses close to campuses will be inhabited by (god forbid) students!

They are also cracking down on other stupid stuff like noise in ~~the whole city~~ neigbourhoods near the schools. What’s next? A neighbourhood association to film students at night?

I guess if we don’t like it we can always take our education elsewhere.

Douchebags!

Signed,

A ~~criminal~~ student

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Deceptive Universities?

Danny — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 04:55:03 +0000

Joey Coleman wrote a pretty interesting article on the way universities attract students (it is his take on the story ran by The Windsor Star). In it he tries to discuss whether or not universities are using deceptive practices to “lure” (if you will) students to enroll there. He mentions a few ways in which this is done, and I would like to address some of these (some in more detail than others).

Residence – (i.e. any accomodation provided to you by the university, be it a dorm, a house, apartment building…whatever) . Every university assures you that their system of matching people is the best and you’ll be put on the floor you want and with the most perfect roommate(s); in addition you’ll get the moon, the stars and the dwarf Pluto. Okay I exaggerated a little but you get the point. I visited 2 campuses (campi?) before making my decision to attend UWO in first year: UWO’s and Mac’s. I took the residence tours at both and I received pretty much the same info from both:

You’ll get a single, double, or triple room and they each have a different price
You’ll have to pay for a meal plan, etc.
Our roommate matching system is based on the questions you answer and we match you with someone who you’ll be best buds with just like [tour guide] and [tour guide's former roommate] are
some other university specific stuff

It’s obvious that you have to take this with a grain of salt. As a future university student you have to think for yourself and say “This all sounds great, but it might not end up that way. These tour guides are hired PRECISELY for the purpose to get me excited about coming here.” (Let’s not get into a big discussion about school spirit and that. This is not what this post is about.) I personally know of tens of cases where the roommate turned out to be a complete and utter nightmare, people didn’t get the room they wanted and so on and so forth. I lived through one of them myself and my UWO friends will most likely recall that as we drudged along together. To sum this point up, you may or may not get what you want, it’s what you do with it that counts.

Scholarships (particularly Entrance Scholarships) aka the motherload. The main thing a lot of students wish to know is how are they going to pay for all this higher education the will be receiving. The Windsor Star, Coleman, and a CFS representative quoted by the previous two sources (oh boy) seem to frown upon the way entrance scholarships are handled. They have a problem with the fact that “administrators know students will forfeit [the scholarships] within the first year.” While that may be indeed true (it is a safe bet administrators plan scholarship offerings around this important piece of information) I would not call it deceptive. Why? Because the rules for retaining your scholarship are spelled out and available publicly for anyone to read. It usually involves maintaining a certain grade point average (in the simple cases) but in the more complex (read: more money) cases I’ve seen/heard about the student must fill out an application for renewal detailing achievements and involvement in the past year as well as goals for the coming school year.

I find it fair. The university is making an investment in the students. They expect something in return. To answer Joey’s question “Why are [students and their families] not given the complete truth of about their purchase, why are they not being told what is “under the hood?” They are. There’s just a LOT of reading and information to be absorbed and retained which is overwhelming. Students are not given the money with the expectation they will fail (Investment 1aa1 will teach you it’s not worth investing in assured failure). Those who keep their averages, keep the money. Those who don’t, like me, don’t and have to rely on working at times 3 part time jobs and OSAP to get by for one more school year.

I disagree with the implication that universities are being deceptive. They give you all the information you need. You just have to actually take the time to understand it. It is nothing like “getting kids smoking. You need to get them in the door and itâ€™s a captured market after that. People are committed to getting a degree because you have to in this market. The opportunities to reconsider another school after the loss of a scholarship arenâ€™t there.” as the CFS rep was quoted in The Windsor Star.

Universities do indeed help people enter by offering these scholarships but both parties know the money is conditional. I would characterize it more like a professional designation with regular renewal tests. You know your stuff? Good you can keep practicing. You don’t? Sorry can’t keep that license on the wall but you can try again next time. (ok so entrance scholarships don’t give you a next time, but there are many other ones out that that one can apply for. Again this takes time and effort.)

The sad reality of all of this is that there indeed are such few students maintaining those averages. Either standards are too high, or students are not properly prepared or a combination of the two. That is, again, a discussion to be had another time.

To wrap everything up:

YES – universities offer you the moon and the stars…they don’t have them and that car the dealer just said would take you to the moon and back…yeah not happening, take a step back and think for yourself.
YES – universities offer you entrance scholarships to attract you to their campus, they want $tudent$
NO – they do not deceive you into thinking you’re always going to have the money. They tell you straight out this is what you must do to keep it

Caveat emptor!