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Ryerson fails, not Facebook student

Started by mathewi · 1 year ago

Although it’s been at least a couple of decades since I was in university, I can remember how useful it was to get together with other students at the library or in the coffee shop to talk over a problem or an assignment. Using something like instant messaging or Facebook would have be ... Continue reading »

10 comments

  • tonyhung

    1 year ago

    Not just "fail" -- I believe the appropriate phrase is "EPIC Fail".

    Secondly, the bigger academic question is how appropriate is it to have homework assignments that hinge upon anyone "not copying" the answer in this day and age?

    It seems ludicrous, because while Facebook was the easiest way to form a study group around this issue, all it does is drive it into the social "underground" into more obscure sites, or simply private online groups, where it can still proliferate.

    Cheers
    t @ dji
    reply
  • mathewi

    1 year ago

    I agree, Tony. It's not like copying or sharing answers didn't exist
    before Facebook came along -- before that it was IM, and before that
    it was plain old hard copy. Facebook may make it easier or faster, but
    that's about it. I think academia is struggling with many of the same
    information-control issues that media and content companies are.
    reply
  • tonyhung

    1 year ago

    I totally agree. Sad thing is that kids like Chris Avenir get caught in the middle (did I just call him a kid? Wow, I feel old) with real ugly consequences -- that is, not just consequences that are severely ugly, but are actually real. If he gets expelled that is, I think, a Big Deal.
    reply
  • Tish Grier

    1 year ago

    oh, academia's *definitely* struggling when it comes to understanding social networking--not to mention most of what's happening online. When I read this story this a.m., I wasn't just horrified--I thought about a prof I met last week at We Media Miami, who is from Ryerson, who was talking about how she teaches media literacy in her class. ...and what I've discovered is that there are pockets of professors in many universities who are teaching about the ups and downs of Facebook in their classes. But that the universities, overall, have no understanding of life online. So, we get really bad stuff like this happening. I sure hope Ryerson sees their way to not expelling this kid.
    reply
  • Kim Champion

    1 year ago

    If there's a lesson to be learned here, it's that everything you say and do online can and will be indexed by Google on the world wide web. The overriding sentiment is that the Facebook study group is no different than students hanging out at school or the library helping each other with homework. Over at my blog, I argue that actually, it is.
    Whatever you do in private is your business. When you do it on the Internet, it becomes everybody else’s business. Govern yourselves accordingly.
    reply
  • Johnny Daelucian

    1 year ago

    Someone should advise the accused student to start a petition against the school to drop its unwarranted threat of expulsion and to offer him an official apology for their misappropriation and duly bias negligence in the assessment of the matter.
    reply
  • benjaminwright

    1 year ago

    If people like this Ryerson student want privacy on their social networking sites, they should consider posting legal terms of service to that effect. See http://hack-igations.blogspot.com/2007/11/privacy-advocates-such-as-nyu-professor.html The idea is not legal advice for anyone, just something to think about. --Ben
    reply
  • mathewi

    1 year ago

    approve

    On Sat, Mar 8, 2008 at 1:47 PM, Disqus
    reply
  • Davin

    1 year ago

    Hey Guys...this is horrible. As a soon-to-be grad (hopefully) from San Diego State...this is more of the old thinking that the ivory tower shoves down our throat.

    
Is it OUR fault that schools are so antiquated they don't understand that Facebook is like a virtual study hall or dorm room or any other place we would all normally study?
    

    Don't let Chris take the fall on his own.

    
Go to www.ChrisDidntCheat.com and buy something from the CafePress store.

    The money will be donated to Chris. He can either use it for legal expenses or for a round of beers (which I think we can all agree he'll need during/after this debacle).

    
Spread the world.

    
www.ChrisDidntCheat.com
    reply
  • Tonsil

    1 year ago

    I'm not part of the nerd community so I don't even know what you are planning to do, but I wanted to point you to the petition: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/chrisdidntch...
    reply

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