Helping Students Cheat? - Frankly Fridays Discussion

Frankly Fridays

Frank Conversation about Faculty Issues

Friday, October 18^th, 9:30-10:30 AM, Osprey Commons Faculty Lounge (Building 16, 4^th Floor)

Topic: Helping Students Cheat?
Let us know you will be there: ofe@unf.edu

As the stakes become higher for college graduates to find jobs and make a living, and as employers are demanding that employees have college degrees, students are finding ways to accomplish this requirement without extreme effort or challenge. In fact, e-commerce has responded to this need and provided websites where students can hire others to take their classes for them (http://www.wetakeyourclass.com/). As institutions of higher education are pressured to demonstrate that students learn important skills from their college experience, the challenge of ensuring that the appropriate students receive the appropriate recognition for their work is becoming increasingly difficult.

In two essays, Chronicle contributor, James Lang, provides some perspective and advice about how faculty at institutions of higher education might be implementing procedures that make student cheating more likely (Part I, Part II, Part III). In this Frankly Friday session, we will discuss the current state of cheating at UNF and some ways to address the issue.

Come discuss how these issues impact UNF and faculty across the U.S.
We will meet in the Faculty Lounge on the 4^th floor of the new dining facility, Osprey Commons.
OFE will provide the coffee and pastries.

Let us know you will be there: ofe@unf.edu

Best regards,

Dan Richard

Income Inequality, Trust, and Academic Dishonesty

Is the growing problems with cheating in US colleges and universities related to economics? In a recent article, psychologists have observed a link between economic inequality in a state and the amount of cheating in that state (measured by the number of Google searches for "buy term papers" and national pay-for-paper websites). They suggest that the way to reduce academic dishonesty is to build trust between teachers and students, students and students, and within society as a whole. Read the summary of the research on the Association for Psychological Science website.
http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/news/releases/income-inequality-and-distrust-foster-academic-dishonesty.html

Researcher Receives Sanctions for Plagiarism and Data Falsification

A University of Pittsburgh Assistant Professor has received sanctions for plagiarism and falsification of data on grant applications with the National Institutes of Health.
See the Chronicle post for a brief description of the sanctions. 
To read more details about the case, visit the Office of Research Integrity information page.