Websites are making a difference in education for students. The Internet provides some wonderful resources to help students learn. This week’s article looks at some websites that give help in ways that some people think encourages cheating and undermines learning. Go to the link below and read the article. Write a reflective comment that shows you have read the article, expresses your views, and addresses my questions. Note that I expect more from you than just answering my questions to get full credit.
When you go to college, will you use one of the sites mentioned in the article? If so, how will you use it? What features of these websites do you think are ethical? Which features should be removed? Respond to the following quotation: “Part of what’s valuable about homework is that it gives you a safe space to practice and struggle.” Should homework be graded?
Study Buddy Article
17 comments:
When I go to college, I think that I won't be using any of the sites mentioned in the article. I say so because I've tried SparkNotes, and well, it's not that helpful. And I'm sure these sites won't be much better. With physics and math problems, one has to learn to do them; they're not something that are simplified online like literary classics. They require actual learning. Plus, the only reason math and physics homework is given is because the teacher/professor wants the students to practice! So, if we're not practicing, then what are we doing? Just taking test after test without knowing what's happening? No! So yes, I don't think I'll be using any of the sites while I'm in college; they'll probably be illegal by then anyway. One of the ethical features of the websites, is the step-by-step math equation solution. It's really helpful because a student can compare it to his or her steps and figure out what he/she did wrong. It can actually teach students. Another good feature is the question and answer board; it's okay for students to ask questions that maybe their professor hasn't clarified, or their professor doesn't know. The features that should be removed are things such as exams, essays, etc... All the things that require no studying or learning on the student's behalf. Anything ready made. Also, things such as type-in-the-question-and-get-the-answer for math are unacceptable; the student's simply typing in stuff; there's no learning included. I think that quotation is so true, and should apply to more teachers worldwide; but only to math and physics professors. Why? Because when they grade homework, there are so many little things that can go wrong in math, and it's unfair because a student can get a low grade because of that yet ace his or her tests. The quote makes a lot of sense because it is a safe place; it shouldn't be graded. You simply get to practice, and review it with your teacher. If you have trouble with it; you can discuss it at school. Homework really shouldn't be graded, except for literature or writing classes. Homework is just a way to get ready for assignments or exams, which definitely count.
Personally, when I go to college, I will most likely never use any of the sites mentioned in the article. To begin with, while using such sites to obtain lecture notes for writing or literature classes may benefit a student, using such sites to obtain math and physics solutions only harm a student. Math and physics are the types of subjects that a person needs to understand without any outside help to be successful at; they cannot cheat their way through these courses with such sites. Furthermore, I feel such sites would hinder my learning because while I can see step-to-step solutions of certain problems, I am simply viewing my work being completed for me and not really doing any work myself expect picking up a pencil and copying everything I see. Lastly, I think these sites only promote academic dishonesty, as with their wide variety of free essays, tests and exams, many students will be tempted to view such material and use it in their own work. Despite this, I think there are two important features of these websites that I think are ethical. One such ethical feature is the step-to-step math and physics solutions. With these courses being difficult to grasp for many, such demonstrated problems help students better understand how to solve certain problems and see their flaws (if they view the worked-out solutions completely and not just the answers). Another ethical feature is the lecture notes (of course with the educator’s permission). It is common for students to miss classes at times and this feature helps them catch up with class work and understand what went on in the class during their absence. The features I would remove are the documents posted concerning term papers and prior exams. These features only promote academic dishonesty and do not display a student’s own thinking and understanding. I would also remove the question and answer board because through this process, students are usually not doing any work or learning themselves and they are simply getting answers; students should make sure they understand things before they leave class and not depend on others to help them get things done. As for my response to the quote, “Part of what’s valuable about homework is that it gives you a safe space to practice and struggle,” I completely agree with it. The point of homework is so students can see whether or not they understand the material they learned in class by applying it to new tasks. Hence, homework is a time for students to practice learned material for upcoming assessments, so it should not be graded. Students should get a chance to discuss their homework in class, see where their strengths and difficulties are, learn from them and then be graded in the form of tests and exams. If homework is graded, then it is as if students are being told that they should understand and master material once they are presented with it and never make room for improvements and additional learning.
I think I would probably use those sites just because I’d know what to study for, and I wouldn’t have to study the entire book down to the very last details- it’d be a waste of my time that I could use to study other subjects. I’d only use it to get an idea of what the professor will put on the test, and what I really need to focus on. I don’t think putting on exams that are used every year is ethical, but I do think it’s okay if the professor puts it up and he or she has no intention of ever using it again- it’s a practice test available to the students if it’s not going to be used again. Not a cheating device. I think that Course Hero is good because it connects different school letting students learn different methods of teaching, one that they might even understand better. The only feature that needs to be removed is the exam sections if a teacher uses the same exam every single year. I think it’s a good study tool but the user shouldn’t abuse it by plagiarizing information found on the site. Yes, homework is a safe place to practice and struggle, but if it to remain that safe place, it shouldn’t be graded, only given a completion grade and gone over in class with the answers, and if enough students have an issue, go over the question, or fix the problems on your own time with another student who got the question right. Homeowork is that safe place, and one it’s graded, it loses that feeling of, “Oh, it’s practice, I can try and if I can’t figure it out, I can resolve it tomorrow.”
I haven't yet tried these sites, but they seem helpful if they truly do go through problems step by step. In this manner the students can learn to do the problems on their own. But in the case of formulas and programs that you can just copy and paste, or plug and play- the student would not learn and then not do well in the exam. I think that depending on the course, I might use one of these sights in college/university. I think that would use the sight to help me understand things that I got wrong on an assignment. Obviously some classes or types of assignments that wouldn't be a problem. I believe that when something on the site gives away the answer or encourages cheating, it should be removed from the web site that is providing it, or filtered so that it doesn't get onto the website at all. I don't think this will be possible because of the amount of postings on these websites. Homework should bee graded because if you follow ethics of work, like I believe most people do then you will do well on the home works and exam. The exam will be a telltale sign of how much work the student has done over the year.
It is hard to say since I’m still only a freshmen, however I think that when I go to college I will need all the help possible, and therefore I might use some of these sites. And if I get to use them I will probably use them for essays I will have to write, and I will prevent me in studying the entire book. I don’t really have an opinion on the ethical features of this website nor on which ones should be removed, however I have to agree with Nico when he says it might encourage cheating. And to be honest I don’t think homework should be graded, since when the homework is assigned some people might still not understand the subject, and I see homework as something the teacher didn’t have time to give us during class.
Omar Abdel-Rahim
When I do go to college, I highly doubt that I will use one of these websites. That's not me being pretentious, I just think that I can keep working hard and writing and studying and preparing the way I am, without an electronic aid telling me how to go through everything. My techniques work for me now, so, if I push myself, they'll work in college in too, hopefully. The features of these websites that I think are ethical are, as my colleagues said, step-by-step solutions to problems, which allows the student to learn where they went wrong which, as the article showed, college teachers don’t do, they just say you did it wrong, instead of allowing you to learn from your mistakes, which these websites do. Also, the whole idea of providing practice problems to help students is an ethical one indeed, as it helps them improve. As Nadine said, the whole ‘question and answer' idea is also a great one as well, as it provides explanation on topics that the professor possibly didn't cover. As for which features should be removed, I think that the term papers and previous exams should be taken off, as do my colleagues. It is not right for a student to steal this information, as it just discourages them from studying through the rest of their academic career, that they should always take the easy way out. Also, quite obviously, it is cheating, and requires little to no effort on the part of the student, which is why they should be removed. I wholeheartedly agree with the quote, in that homework is a great tool that a student can use to improve, and it can teach them the proper way to do things right, and test their understanding of the material, and also where and how things can go wrong, and how to learn from those mistakes. As for whether or not homework should be graded, I think it should not be. This is because, if homework is not graded, then the student can still receive feedback for their work, and learn where they went wrong, and also what they did right. They can do this, and learn how to do it properly, without having their overall grade droop because they didn't understand it the first time. That's not fair, especially as homework is, as Nadine said, a way to prepare for larger assessment, like projects or tests, and should not be graded.
I think that when I will go to college I will most probably use the sites mentioned in the article. I will use it by getting information I don’t understand and find the translation in Sparknotes. The features of these websites that I think are ethical are how some of the websites translate figurative language so that people would understand; I’m talking off course about Sparknotes. Another feature that is ethical is the step-by-step solution which is for the Cramster supplies. The features that should be removed are on the Course hero, because it is saying that, in the article, the students can get the previous semester’s exam and they can get information, and that would be cheating so it should be removed. From the quote, “Part of what’s valuable about homework is that it gives you a safe space to practice and struggle,” I think that it does give you a safe space to practice but I’m not sure about the struggling part. I think that homework should definitely be graded, but graded for completion. It should be graded for completion because of couple of reasons. The first reason is that the people are just practicing on doing the homework and it won’t matter if the homework is wrong or right. It should also be as a completion grade because when the teacher checks it and the person got four out of ten on it, for example, it would be bad for him and his overall grade, it could damage it.
I don’t think I would use ay of the sites because it isn’t completely necessary. I wont use this site because I don’t like to use shortcuts in life. I think that something ethical about this is that some student might be able to see what the teacher is looking for in his test. I think that they should remove exams because usually a teacher will have similar questions and so it could accidentally lead into cheating. I think that homework is indeed a struggle for student so that they could challenge themselves and do better. Yes homework should be graded because if it isn’t students will start to not do it as seriously. It is human nature to be lazy and so grading is a tool to help prevent that.
I think that when I got to college I will most probably use at least one if not more of the sites that have been mentioned in the article because I wouldn’t have to waste my time reading the entire book, it would be much less time consuming. I would use it to get an idea of what my teacher in college would put the test, how the test will be formatted and what I should be putting more effort in studying. The features of these websites that I think are ethical is the Course hero because it connects schools together which combines different teachings together which gives students the opportunity to study different methods of teachings and compare them together and choose the one that they think is the best. The feature that should be removed in the exam section because I think it would be stupid for the teacher to put the same exams for every year. Even thought it’s good for studying students might take the advantage of plagiarizing or cheating. Yes I think homework should always be graded because if it weren’t graded people won’t even do it. For example, in math class homework is not graded so I take the advantage of not even doing it.
When I go to college I would defiantly use on of these sties because I use spark notes now. I think spark notes are pretty useful I used it or my English test. I think the teachers questions and student answers and feed back are good because fir the teacher art you can see what the questions might be and what teachers might expect of you. I think the student work is because you can compare your work with the students and you can study off them and see how well you do by testing yourself. Honestly I don’t think homework should be graded because I would think of it as a study tool rather than homework, I think we should get graded on the quality of work we do in class and participation but the fact that we have exams I think homework is a good way to review.
I’m not going to use it because I’m not going to college. The features I think they are ethical by some of the websites translate figurative language so that people would understand. Nothing should be removed. Homework should not be graded.
When I go to college, I don't think I'll be using sites mentioned in the article. The features I think they are ethical by some of the websites translate figurative language so that people would understand. I don't think any features should be removed because in my opinion it's fine. “Part of what’s valuable about homework is that it gives you a safe space to practice and struggle.” In my opinion I don't think homework should be graded or if it's it should be graded nicely!
When I go to university I would use SparkNotes because I will want a description in what they are saying. I think that these sites are good. i think that they should remove the exams from the sites.i think that the homework should be graded.
when i go to college i think that i would use any of the mentioned sites, because i already use spark notes. And this site would be helpful. i think its ethical, i don't think that any of the essays should be removed. i think that homework should be graded
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