–noun
| 1. | the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work.Course Hero does not sponsor the use of shared educational course materials for unethical purposes, such as plagiarism or other forms of cheating |
and for cheating:
v. intr.
1. To act dishonestly; practice fraud.
Now, I accept this happened to some extent, and this blog is not about the actual act itself. This blog is about the ironies of life.
My math teacher is also my friend on Facebook. Facebook has this nasty little habit of telling you about every single move your friends make. So, when I saw that he had joined a group called Course Hero Inc, I thought it was very interesting. Here is what the group says about themselves on Facebook:
The Course Hero Mission
Course Hero is an open online study community for students, teachers and self-learners to publish and view academic resources online: outlines, solutions, study guides, exams, presentations, notes, formula sheets, essays and other works.
Now, if this doesn't sound like cheating and an outlet for plagiarism, I don't know what does. This is basically saying, "Yeah, you're going to have the same class/professor, so why don't you just take all my old exams, and presentations, and essays so that you can do well in the class." CHEATING!
But still, let's give course hero another look and see what else they have to say:
Course Hero provides open educational resources (OER) with search and organizational tools that create efficiency and insight....Most undergraduate and graduate students currently do not publish their work, even though many of them have created valuable educational resources. Mostly students are not encouraged to share their educational resources and do not have an outlet through which to share them. Course Hero provides such an outlet.
Let's just look at the statement "most students are not encouraged to share their educational resources..." Gee, I wonder why. Could it be because sharing your "educational resources" is CHEATING???
So, as a teacher/professor/educator, aren't you held to the school's code on cheating? I mean, this is after all, what he told me when he called me in his office. So as a teacher/professor/educator, don't you think in public maybe you should uphold those moral standards of academic integrity even if you don't agree with them? It is well known that Facebook is a PUBLIC forum, and my opinion is, if you're a professor with your students as friends, you shouldn't join groups that go against your school's moral code (especially not after you've just accused some of them of cheating).
I don't really care about his personal moral/ethical code. He is a bit uppity about his religion. You know, he's one of those Christians that acts like he's never done anything wrong...Jesus Christ didn't die for his sins because this math teacher doesn't sin. Whatever. But as my professor, don't accuse me of cheating, and then go and publicly proclaim that you support it. That just screams "hypocrite". And just in case you were wondering, this is what Dictionary.com says about that:
–noun
| 1. | a person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that he or she does not actually possess, esp. a person whose actions belie stated beliefs. |
Oh, and one last thing. Course Hero Inc does have this disclaimer at the VERY end of their mission statement: Course Hero does not sponsor the use of shared educational course materials for unethical purposes, such as plagiarism or other forms of cheating. But honestly, after reading all the other stuff, who believes it?
p.s here are my references, so no one can accuse me of plagiarizing any of this:
http://dictionary.reference.com/
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=9973532580 (also you could go to www.coursehero.com)
