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Cheater or Collaborator?

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Take social bookmarking, for instance. Suppose you are a biology teacher who has asked students to research a variety of topics in life science—for example, stem-cell research.

Highlighted by brasst

Let’s suppose three students have chosen this topic and are working on answering an essential question regarding the ethical considerations of this type of biological research and are doing so independently. Let’s also say that each has an account at a social bookmarking site like del.icio.us and has tagged a variety of resources about stem-cell research. Student A knowingly goes to Students B’s and C’s site, examines the tag for stemcellresearch, finds some new resources, and tags them into Student A's account at del.icio.us. Is this appropriate or a violation of academic integrity?

Highlighted by brasst

Many would consider this cheating and would equate the process to a situation in which one student photocopied several research articles, left them on a table, and then another student came along and took them. Yet anyone with a del.icio.us account knows that calling the actions of the above student inappropriate is absolute nonsense and that the ability to reach into another account to see resources is part of the game.

Highlighted by brasst

on 2009-07-01 by brasst

For most behaviors online, there's a corresponding offline behavior that could give digital immigrants a frame of reference. I find this analogy interesting because they are, at least on the surface, similar. The more I think about it, it shows the flaw in past (and in some case current) practice. Teachers need to have a clear concept of what their desired outcomes are - is it learning to research? learning about the concept? a little of both? This should guide what the right/wrong of the situation might be and should be communicated clearly to students. It will help clear the haze for all involved. Few kids would intentionally violate an honor code or their teachers' expectations; it's the teachers' responsibility to structure the assignment in such a way that his or her outcomes are well-understood by all.

Student A knowingly goes to Students B’s and C’s site, examines the tag for stemcellresearch, finds some new resources, and tags them into Student A's account at del.icio.us. Is this appropriate or a violation of academic integrity

Highlighted by dmantz7

The scenarios described above relates only to the socialbookmarking aspect of research in the digital age, just one component of a complex social system for information sharing and learning. We still have a long way to go before we understand, and negotiate systemically, what these collaborative sharing environments mean to student learning.

Highlighted by brasst