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These interventions relate to the Educational, Legal, and Technological aspects of online notes companies and other 'student-market' sites.
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Our Priority: Defending the Education of Students and Teachers
There are very many ways in which students and educators can defend their rights to education (see also my paper on the educational issues). Among the strategies are:The Law: An Instrument, No Argument
- Sensitize students and teachers to the many problematic issues involved. Discuss and listen to opinions and concerns!
- Send emails to online notes companies to have your course sites removed and to show that you don't approve. Although not directly consequential, this is important!
- Set up a website and/or explore other avenues to distribute news, opinions, and awareness about the educational troubles associated with online notes.
- Teachers can specify in their syllabus what their concerns are about these notes companies and/or emphasize that they consider selling notes a form of cheating that will be penalized accordingly.
- Include a note in your syllabus that you disapprove of notes companies.
- Contact appropriate policy authorities in your university or college and make them work out an educational policy that protects student-teacher relations, copyright lectures, conceive of selling notes as cheating, and/or otherwise protect the dignity of our education. Some smart universities have such policies, such UCLA, UC-Berkeley, Princeton, and Harvard. Others are thinking along those lines. For instance, the University of Vermont and Michigan State developed policies (see also this quiz).
- Contribute to launch lawsuits against the companies and/or appeal to politicians and legislators to push for explicit laws on the matter.
.My personal preference in fighting the commercial invasion of notes companies is to sensitive students to the educational issues involved. Teaching always involves a participation of students. Additionally, we can appeal to university administrations to develop policies based on academic honesty that ban the sale of notes. My teaching philosophy is inspired by the work of John Dewey, the renowned philosopher/educator, who wrote extensively on education in a democratic society.
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Here are some helpful online sources on Dewey:
Online papers by Dewey:
My Pedagogic Creed (1897).
The Democratic Concept in Education (1916).
How We Think (1910).Links and Pages:
Dewey, John, 1859-1952 - On Dewey's teaching methods.
John Dewey Links - References on the internet.
The Center for Dewey Studies - Southern Illinois University.I personally feel that the legality of online course notes has no bearing on their educational merits and problems. Something that is lawful is not necessarily appropriate. The law, therefore, can be no argument in this debate.
However, the law can provide for a useful and rather powerful form of protection to issues that move us in terms of rights and justice, also in educational matters. Therefore, while never an argument, the law can be an instument to protect student-teacher rights and duties. This is the only reason why I wrote a paper on the legalities involved with online notes companies.
Relatedly, universities can develop and have developed policies that prohibit the selling of notes for profit. These policies are typically justified as a matter of academic honesty, which is in my view the best way to tackle the problem. Several universities have in this way already been successful in halting the invasion from commercial notes companies.
Available online: a detailed paper about
The Legal Protection of Education!
Note to University Administrators
Early 2000, I sent out a mailing package to some 130 colleges and universities in the hope of aiding them in their efforts to halt the invasion of online notes companies and develop appropriate policies. Anybody who represents a university administration can ask me for a copy of the information package and I will send it.
Send email to: DeflemM@sri.soc.purdue.edu.
- - - - - - - - - - - - -- The Use and Abuse of Techno-Education
-There are very many businesses on the internet these days that have some relationship with education. Some of these developments are useful, for instance when they are an explicit part of education and/or offered by students and teachers. But other sites are very puzzling and appear to offer the means to intrude into the world of responsible education.
Cool stuff
College Students and the Internet () RealAudio of the Diane Rehm Show, NPR Radio, October 12, 1999. A helpful discussion of the internet's impact on the college experience. Just in the past several years, technology has changed the ways students interact with professors, do research, complete coursework and have fun.
Scary Stuff
The Heller Reports This scary site offers a variety of techno-tools to invade the education market. For instance, the Heller Report on Educational Technology Markets provides news and analysis on new technologies in education, and Internet Strategies for Education Markets focuses on the education market for Internet and online services. Here is more supposed partner: university.com.Information on Copyrighting
Copyright materials at Cornell (very helfpul site, with full text of Title 17); The Copyright Website (site with general information and specific items, such as Copyrighting of Digital Information); Berkman Center for Internet and Society (at the Harvard Law School, includes materials and online discusions).The Trappings of Technology
Some websites are designed to cheat and others to catch cheaters, equivalent to fighting fire with fire... There are the summaries-providing sites, such as cliff notes and sparknotes. Among the most dubious of college-related sites are the paper-mills, such as www.writemyessay.com, schoolsucks.com, cheater.com, bignerds.com, planetpapers.com, collegetermpapers.com, essaycrawler, netessays, paperstoreenterprises, and cheathouse.com (which also includes tricks on how to cheat on an exam...). And then there is the Opposition, i.e. sites designed to catch cheaters, such as nocheating.com and plagiarism.org, as if that would be the solution!Online Cheating
Here are some discussions of paper mills. Consult the Combating Cybercheating: Resources for Teachers, from El Paso Community College, contains many sites about paper mills. See also Statement by U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd.Techno-Education Sites
The Virtual University This page offers site addresses of various technological tools and stuff in relation to education, usually online distance learning and virtual universities. See also this reading list about Innovations in Higher Education. (Floyd M. Hammack, NYU).CollegeStores Online
There are, alas, more things between heaven and earth.... such as the so-called college bookstores online, which are not collegestores at all, as they are not affiliated with any college. Recently, the National Association of College Stores filed a lawsuit against online bookseller Varsitybooks.com on claims of false advertising (see this related article from the Cavalier Daily).
DeflemM@sri.soc.purdue.edu
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