It's probably a creepy experience to find your name and school on a list of products to help students cheat in your class.
A site called Course Hero is apparently state-of-the art in this enterprise, complete with features that allow shoppers to select colleges—and yes, even particular instructors. (On the right side of the page, you can access each state, school, subject, course, and teacher. If you aren't there now, you may be soon!)
In prior ages, exams and term papers were the chief possessions that desperate students wanted, but the industry has branched out to include homework assignments, textbook problem solutions, lecture notes, and study guides. The site offers a veritable Cheat-O-Rama, without admitting such a thing, of course. Many documents are available for free, according to the site.
A recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education (March 28, subscription) raises the question of whether technology lowers the ethical threshold that potential cheaters ponder when deciding whether or not to cross over to the dark side. Professor Trevor Harding, of California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo, calls it the "technological detachment phenomenon," adding, "As long as there's some technology between me and the action, then I'm not culpable for the action."
Presumably it's like downloading pirated music versus shoplifting. Not to mention the reduced likelihood of getting busted when the merchandise is obtained online.
The article reports that Course Hero "boasts a free collection of over 500,000 textbook solutions. The company set up a group on Facebook, where more than 265,000 people have signed up as fans."
Some of the professors profiled in the piece aren't terribly concerned about cheating on homework, since tests determine the grade in their classes. However, it is common for instructors to award partial (or even substantial) credit for out-of-class assignments. That way, even if they bomb the exams, they can still pull out a passing grade.
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