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Emerging Technology

The New Study Group: Facebook

A student at Toronto's Ryerson University has been charged with 146 counts of academic misconduct after organizing a Facebook group for his Chemistry class.  According to reports, the group was designed to allow collaboration amongst students while working on their homework assignments.  Strangely, the professor has no policy against students working together on homework assignments, yet he found this form of collaboration to be inappropriate.  The story can be found here:

http://www.switched.com/2008/03/07/student-faces-expulsion-over-facebook-study-group/


It's an interesting case to consider.  Certainly it would be tough to get 145 students to study together in the same room, so having this online group allows for them to work together more easily.  Then again, it could be considered an unfair advantage given the asynchronous nature of the discussion and the potential issues with accessibility for other students in the class. 

 
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Published Mar 11 2008, 11:15 AM by sjackman
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Comments

 

theisey said:

If the students are actually learning when they share information, then it's accomplishing mission.  On the other hand, if they are simply sharing the answers without gaining the problem-solving skills, then it becomes a problem.

The key issue for the professor was probably the loss of control.  Small groups sharing means that everyone is probably contributing.  Larger groups sharing could mean a fair number skate on by without doing any of the work.

Perhaps a better reaction would have been to recruit the student to recreate the FaceBook group in a more controlled environment so the students still share insight, but with enough controls so they don't simply share the answers.

March 11, 2008 2:22 PM

About sjackman

In the TEACH program, Steve works with PhD students to improve their classroom teaching by providing feedback from videotaped classes and student questionnaire responses. His other roles include researching student learning styles, assisting instructors with gradebooks in Microsoft Excel, and learning about new technologies for education. Steve spent three years as a teaching assistant and full-time instructor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign where he taught introductory meteorology courses and earned an M.S. in Atmospheric Sciences. Steve is an avid storm chaser and golfer. He does his best to not mix the two.
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