The Observer, March 28, 2008
Volume XL, Issue 22
New website treads line of academic integrity
Schoology.com, a new website created in 2007, is a place for college students to share class notes and tutor each other. Students who are tutoring can charge any amount they want to per minute and specialize in certain subjects. Schoology.com will also pay for the notes uploaded depending on their popularity, quality, and helpfulness. All one needs to register for the website and sign up as a tutor is a verifiable email address ending in .edu. There are currently just over 400 documents in the public library that can be downloaded by anyone on the website. The documents range from class notes to study guides and summaries of chapters from popular textbooks.
Raksha Kumar, a sophomore mathematics and German double major, says the idea of the website "is good, but you need the community support. If there aren't enough people from your school then it won't work. It might also discourage people from using ESS, peer tutors, and SIs as a resource." As of right now, there are no submissions from Case students.
In light of recent events at another university, some students are concerned that Schoology.com will be in violation of the Academic Integrity Policy. CNN.com, along with several other major news networks, has been following a story about Chris Avenir, a student at Ryerson University in Canada who was accused of cheating via a Facebook online study group.
The Facebook group was comprised of 147 students swapping notes and tips for a chemistry class. The school is claiming that Avenir's group encouraged students to share answers to the assignment, which according to most academic integrity policies, including Case's, would be considered cheating. Although Avenir was found not guilty, he still suffered a zero on the assignment, which was worth 10 percent of his overall grade.
As of right now, the Case Western Reserve Academic Integrity Policy defines cheating as "copying from another's work, falsifying problem solutions or laboratory reports, or using unauthorized sources, notes, or computer programs." Although Facebook is not specifically listed as an unauthorized computer program, it is clear from the precedent set at Ryerson that there is room to argue when it comes to Facebook's place in academia.
Chinmay Patel, a junior biology major and one of the concerned students, said, "As long as proper credit was given it's ok If anything's taken verbatim it has to be quoted. If you work in a group you have to disclose either the website or the group." Kumar also has her doubts about whether or not the website violates the Academic Integrity Policy.
Since no Case students are sharing information on the website as of yet, it has not been a problem. However, all universities, not just Case, should take the time look at their current Academic Integrity Policies and make sure that they will be able to hold up in the Facebook era.
