WebedtecH

Techdirt: Is An Online Study Group Cheating?

Vincent Clement writes in to let us know that that a student at Ryerson University in Toronto is facing expulsion for setting up an online study group for his chemistry class using Facebook. The school is saying it wasn’t so much a study group as it was a place for 146 students to cheat and share answers (though, it’s only blaming the student who ran the group). Students at the university are reasonably up in arms over the matter, as they don’t see how it’s any different than a traditional study group. Of course, the whole thing seems a little bit silly. As we discussed almost exactly a year ago, people working together to collaborate is an important skill in the real world, and what some people consider “cheating” these days seems a lot like the type of collaboration that kids are quite used to doing online, and which should serve them well later in life.

We can view this quite easily.  The school doesn’t have a clue.  I look for this action to be retracted rather quickly.  If not, then anyone who knows chemistry should join his study group and give these guys a hand.

After watching the Frontline special on “Growing up online” I’ve come to realize the core of the issues, whether it’s social networking, cyberbullying, stalkers, or any other forms of nastiness boil down to one thing…trust.

We can spend all our money and time building moats and walls around our children, screening their friends, and spying on their every move but it will be to no avail. Kids are far smarter about technology than even we give them credit and will find the ways necessary to access what they want. Take basic precautions but better is the time spent building the trusting relationships with your kids so they are comfortable sharing their online world with you. If you don’t understand something and they do, ask them to teach you. If you don’t know, find out. They’re your kids after all…what else do you have to do but spend time and money investing in their welfare and well-being.

Teachers are in the same circumstance. Often we spend more time with the kids than the parents do during the week. Don’t be the 30-year tenured dinosaur reveling in your technical illiteracy. You may not know it all, but you do know how to communicate with kids. Help them to feel comfortable communicating with you.

I watched the Frontline show with my 15 year old daughter (I highly recommend everyone watch it with a teenager for a realistic perspective) and at the end when the one kid said he would not give his mother his Facebook password I asked her “So why do you give me your usernames and passwords when I ask?” I half expected the answer, “Because I have to.” The real answer was…”Because I trust you.”