Blattman quotes the NYTimes here on an ethical query regarding Turnitin.com. A parent complains that his or her child was surprised to find a professor would be using turnitin as an anti-plagiarism tool only when he/she handed in a paper.
The times' "ethicist" suggests that maybe students shouldn't be cheating in the first place, and Blattman himself notes how shady it is that he isn't allowed to use turnitin (along with other Ivy League professors) for some (questionable) reason.
Although I agree with "The Ethicist" that the kids shouldn't be cheating in the first place, and think the professor has a right to be using the tool in this way, aren't we really only asking for trouble when we don't let our students know ahead of time that they'll be held to account for plagiarism through turnitin.com? Further, if the knowledge that we'll be using turnitin is commonplace, won't that prevent cheating in the first place, thus making it more likely that (a) students will do the work, and therefore (b) learn something from it?
1 comment:
Ivy League universities are not good at getting students jobs, only grants to be commie nutty organizers. No business ever trusts such left wing graduates who don't believe in capitalism and become crooks because they are taught the only way business makes money is crooked so they seek to avenge their unemployability through their own crookedness. The universities consider real jobs and competition beneath them, so they want their little sissies to live off grants, even in the hard sciences or business. How many of their engineering professors have Professional Engineering certification? Almost none! They love foreign students because they slave up and don't expect professors to actually work for the tuition, like American students do. No middle class parent should consider sending their kids there, because these schools will destroy your entire family. The only school
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