e-Learning and Academic Integrity

Tyler Powell

More and more often these days colleges are creating classes that students can take online. Since online classes aren't scheduled at any particular time of the day, students enjoy the freedom of choosing when they will "attend" class. It allows students to work around a busy schedule, perhaps get a part-time job, or even get some classes out of the way over the summer, all from the comfort of their home. There is a problem with this concept though: give a student an inch and he or she will take a mile.

In traditional classroom settings, the professor has an eye on everyone. During quizzes and tests, they roam the room, making sure no students are cheating in any way, shape, or form. Students take copious notes during lectures so that they can memorize the material for the exams, and those that don't most often won't pass the class. This doesn't apply to online courses. With no one around to monitor the students' actions, disinterested students are more likely to cheat on tests. They can keep their textbooks open and look up information online without their professors being any the wiser. Such students not only violate Academic Integrity, but also disservice themselves. With a wealth of information at their fingertips, they have no need to study or take notes, and therefor do not learn any of the material.

If students are expected not to resort to such mannerisms, the course material must be engaging, challenging, and thought provoking. An article in the International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning states that "creating effective e-learning relies on having tasks for students to undertake that provide an experience likely to lead them to the desired new understanding...A rich activity is one that opens up opportunities for action rather than directs students down a prescribed pathway. Such an activity 'implies the active involvement of the learner in making choices about what experiences to undertake...'" In online classes, the students must want to learn the material in order to obtain a passing grade without cheating. Therefor, the course material needs to be made interesting in order to ensure fewer violations of Academic Integrity.

Freshmen Forgiveness vs. Pass/Fail

By Sami Ahmed

On one of my earlier blog post I discussed about the Pass/Fail system some universities have in order to make a freshmen’s transition to college easier. Georgia Tech has a different program in order to help freshmen in case they fail a few classes, “freshmen forgiveness”. The way this program works is first time freshmen students who receive a grade of D or F in a course within their first two terms are eligible to repeat the course and have the original grade excluded. The course must be repeated within the student’s first four terms in residence.

This system is very forgiving and may be considered superior to the pass/fail system. In the pass/fail system if a student receives a D or F in a class they get a 0.0 GPA for that class. Universities that have pass/fail system probably do not have the freshmen forgiveness program, due to the university would then be considered too lenient.

However the pass/fail system is more advantageous over the freshmen forgiveness system if a student receives a B or C. Also in the “freshmen forgiveness” program, the student would have to re-take the same course if they wish to get a better grade, making the student spend twice the amount of time in a class.



The table below shows which system is better depending on the grade a student receives:

Leaving School: What are Your Chances?

By Michael Kang


Transitioning from high school to college is a critical step for many around the world. Although this step, in itself, is rather difficult, lasting through college can also be a challenging feat for many. For some, it can appear to be overwhelming and they cannot handle it. For others, it may seem like it's holding them down and they would rather seek other opportunities with more a more immediate return. However, this does not imply or plainly state that college drop-outs will not be able to attain a decent occupation. Although opportunities do exist for those who decide to drop out of school early, it may not be as simple as it seems.

Many believe that attending college is a crucial step to attaining a "good" job in the future. Most employers, however, believe that those with college degrees have more credibility compared to those who do not. According to Phyllis Korkki in her New York Times article, "[if] you respond to an online job posting that requires a bachelor’s degree and you don’t have one, you are much more likely to end up in the “no” pile. That’s why it is especially important for those without degrees to rely on networking." It may not be impossible to find a job without at least an Associate's or Bachelor's degree, but finding a willing employer will most likely be difficult.

Leaving school, even with a supposedly "feasible" reason, are, most often, frowned upon. Korkki quotes Ms. Piotrowski, "If you have only a few credits to go, why let them dog you for the rest of your life? For some people, the hours spent worrying about not having a degree could be spent actually getting one."

Student services markup

Bud Whitley

Mandated student fees have been around for more than a century, an article from thefire.org gives the history of mandatory fees as being enacted by students to support certain student facilities and organizations. All around the country, college students as a whole would agree to pay fees for things like athletic fields and support services; however, these students didn’t agree to pay the item markup prevalent in the services they pay to keep up.

Any sort of item a student buys on campus has a price considerably greater than market price. The convince stores that are open to students until very late (usually 1 or 2 AM) sell any sort of thing one may need to pull that allnighter or pick up a snack between classes sells a loaf of bread, costing about $1 - $2 at the grocery store, for $4; a 100% markup at best! The West Campus Market holds a monopoly on the west campus of Georgia Tech as the only guaranteed safe place where students can get food after the dining hall closes at 9 PM. As such, students on west campus have only one choice of where to get there late night food and there for have to pay the marked up price for food. According to the University System of Georgia, as of 2006 Georgia Tech had some of the highest mandatory fees of any school in the system, so why should students pay massive mark-up prices to uses a service they already contribute too?

Women Engineers: Good Enough

Gabriel Garza

The ratio of students enrolled in most engineering specialized universities show that men surpass women by far. For example, only 33% of the student body at Georgia Tech is women. This might show that female students aren't as smart and capable as males to be enrolled in an engineering major, but recent studies demonstrate that female engineers are as persistent as male engineers.

 

History shows us that many people think that men are smarter and superior than women. As it is in the case of Higher Education, the fact that the majority of engineers are men causes people to think that men are more capable of achieving this degree. Women have inclined more into other less-demanding careers such as liberal arts. A study made by the Women in Engineering Programs & Advocates Network shows one possible reason why the ratio is like that causing people to think this way: "Fewer of the female students felt that engineering was the right major for them, and they were less confident about their overall academic abilities than were male students. Female students have less confidence in their abilities in engineering and physics courses and are less likely to ask questions in class than male students do." If females continue believing this, they will continue to be looked as inferior to men. 

 

However, Paul Basken mentions in his article of The Chronicle of Higher Education: "Female Students are just as persistent as men in engineering." This statement is based on a study that demonstrated that women were not dropping out as much as men in engineering majors. This should impulse universities to make a bigger effort in recruiting women into engineering because they are as capable as men. 

Riding out the storm

David Lai

With the recent economic downturn, job are becoming harder and harder to find for graduating students. Even students who find jobs face the risk of losing their jobs pending unavoidable corporate layoffs. One increasingly popular solution – stay in school.

Today, many students, instead of waiting for the economic recession to be over, take advantage of this period by honing their skills through graduate studies. Numerous surveys have validated that more and more students are applying to graduate school as a result of the recession. While attending graduate school requires a significant time as well as financial investment, many experts agree that this is the correct move for most students.

In addition, graduate studies are good for more than just stalling while a recession is occurring. In an increasingly competitive job market, a graduate degree will not only make students more qualified, but it can significantly affect their starting salary. According to Salary.com, a Master’s degree commands on average $10,000 more annual earning power than a bachelor’s degree does. In addition, according to gradschools.com, “Students with master's or doctoral degrees are likely to start their career at a higher level and continue to advance their career at a faster rate than if they earned only a bachelor's degree in their field.

To even further the argument, the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), recently found that recruiters are looking for employees with "soft skills," such as leadership and communication. Recruiters are finding these skills in the prospective employees who have earned graduate degrees.

Changes in Importance of Information Technology

By Michael Kang

With technological advances occurring on a regular basis, the need for funding for such advances is needed, especially for the young bright minds who will, one day, make even further advances. But for those who are no so "tech savvy" and are in need of technological assistance may not be able to receive such necessary assistance. Although technology advances regularly, students are unable to receive technological resources and support with the ever-advancing technology.

As technology continues to grow, both public and private schools are slowly falling behind in keeping up. According to Steve Kolowich in his article, "I get the sense that the IT department is kind of like the library: In down times, we won’t order as many books, in down times we can cut back. And it just doesn’t work, because there’s a cumulative hit on the infrastructure, there’s a cumulative hit on resources." As Kolowich says, technology is "cumulative" and, therefore, cutting back on the development of such "cumulative" advances would be frowned upon. In the end, schools would have to catch up and thus, spend just as much money, or even more, to get up to speed.

With technological advances, comes the choice of whether to continue adapting college databases and systems with the advances. Unfortunately, with the troubling economical situation, such decisions are rather difficult to make. In the near future, hopefully institutions would not fall behind as far as they have now in the technological advancement of the current age.

Seven or Zero Semesters: The Freshman Dropout Issue

Tyler Powell

Freshman year is always complimented with a modicum of mixed emotions. Often, students enter college with a lackadaisical demeanor, completely unaware of the new responsibilities they are about to take on. Homework and projects begin to pile as high as laundry and exams creep up faster than expected. Paying back the next seven or more semesters of tuition seems like an impossible task. Eventually homesickness sets in and students find themselves bored or depressed. What they once thought was a new found freedom has now morphed into academic bondage, keeping them working hour after hour to make up for lost time while still trying to create new friendships and continue personal hobbies.

It's no surprise that more freshmen dropout than any other class of students. In fact, according to Jonathan Whitbourne, "...nearly half of all freshmen will either drop out before getting their degree or complete their college education elsewhere." Dropout rates this high normally beg the question, "Are admission standards too low?" but what we should really ask is,"Are there some factors which colleges don't or can't screen for?" It is often assumed that college dropouts failed most of their courses, but this is not always the case. As Anya Sostek reports, in a recent survey of 1,600 Kentucky residents who are classified as having "some college, no degree", 60 percent of those who participated reported dropping out with a B average or higher. A few of the top reasons listed for dropping out were "'family responsibilities,' followed by 'financial reasons' and 'offered a good job.'"

In the college admissions process, every student is a set of statistics, and if all of the statistics match up to the standards, that students is accepted. There is little or no social involvement, no way of filtering out those students who don't have the drive to complete their education or on the other hand are overconfident in their abilities and blame the college as soon as their grades drop. Involving every prospective student in a personal interview would severely cut down on admission rates while increasing costs, so any psychiatric screening would be unprofitable. Therefor, the job of preparing future freshmen for college must fall in the hands of every high school; they must be charged with educating their students to every aspect of college life, as opposed to merely expanding their academic prowess.

Getting Grades

Bud Whitley

Measuring one’s success in college comes in the form of academic grades given by professors. Dr. Norm Weiner of the University of Maine writes in a guide to freshmen: “Your grade is a message from your professor to you, a message that says, ‘This is how well you really do — or really don’t — understand this stuff.’ It is our attempt to communicate our evaluation to you.” Professors need to perform this very beneficial to the student and an essential job. However, Dr. Weiner does not discuss in his guide what happened when that “attempt to communicate” breaks down.

When a professor refuses to give out grade or takes a long time to grade things, students do not know how they are doing in a class or if they need help understanding the material. Without having an idea of where they stand, students doing poorly in a class will consequently do worse in the future. At the same time, some professors return tests and quizzes without noting if there will be a curve or not, and if so how large will it be. Most prevalent in classes where the test average is between 30% and 50%, this issue is a major problem as it is really anyone’s guess what a student’s grade will amount to in the end. This lack of understanding is most detrimental as it leaves the student in a state of unease and fear as he or she has no clue how they are doing in a class.

Focus on Research vs. Focus on Teaching

By Sami Ahmed

A problem that has no perfect solution for universities is to balance a universities’ focus on teaching and research. According to Paula Krebs in the Chronicle of Higher Education, “Balance between research and teaching is never easily achieved. In any institution below the top of the Carnegie pecking order, teaching invariably wins out over research in the day-to-day battle for faculty time and energy. … Research becomes what you do in your spare time.” This however applies to lower ranking universities. Georgia Tech, one of the highest ranking universities in the engineering field, is known to be heavily involved in research.

Being involved in research can have its down falls. The professors are focused mostly on their research, then their classes. Students sometime feel that their teachers’ don’t put enough heart into their teaching. Universities heavily involved in research can sometimes not put enough emphasize on teaching, especially on the basic courses.

Universities that are involved heavily in research can really help a student though in the long run, especially as they are reaching the end level of their higher education. Institutions that are involved in research have more real world facilities. The students learn from the professors who are right now in the frontlines in the scientific world. The students also get involved in the research themselves, which makes them more prepared for the work field.

To sum it all up, Universities that are heavily involved in research have their flaws when it comes to teaching some of the basic easy courses. Once a student becomes an upperclassmen or grad student, research institutions are extremely beneficial.

Are Unpaid Internships worth it?

Gabriel Garza

In most universities, there are programs that help students get paid or unpaid summer internships to acquire professional experience. Most of the people think that doing an internship is a great thing even tough it is unpaid, although others think that these types of internships are not worth it.

Experiences make a difference. Graduating with some past professional experience definitely makes a great impact when applying to full-time jobs. For unpaid internships, the career center of UC Berkley mentions: “When the experience is substantive and meaningful, it helps you learn more about a career field, as well as build skills that help you get a paid internship or full-time job in the future.” Although you may be an obstacle for the company, if it helps you for your learning, these internships are worthwhile.

 

Even though an unpaid internship could be a good career move, sometimes students cannot afford it, and causes more downsides than upsides. Ben Yagoda mentions in an article from The Chronicle of Higher Education that many students “will have to needlessly cough up $2,300 each this summer for the privilege of working without pay”. Sometimes, the professional experience is not what you have hoped to, and in addition you have to cover up travel and living expenses. Students that encounter these experiences would have rather study abroad or learn a foreign language during their summer break. Summer internships are meaningful not only because of the experience you obtain, but also because you get rewarded for the big effort you do. If these things are not fulfilled, you will more likely end up paying instead of you getting paid.

Skipping Class

David Lai

One significant problem found in universities today is student attendance to class lectures. While some teachers enforce grade-dependent class attendance policies, many teachers do not, leaving the responsibility of attending entirely up to the student’s desire to learn.

In general, skipping class has obvious negative implications on the student’s academic performance. A study conducted by Gary Wyatt demonstrated an inverse relationship between student absenteeism and student academic performance. Despite the fact that this is relatively common knowledge, student absenteeism still occurs on an astounding scale. One informal study conducted by Dr. Blair Hedges showed that “forty to 50 percent of students weren't attending his classes.” In general, for classes with optional attendance policies, this phenomenon occurs readily.

While a seemingly obvious answer would be to make attendance mandatory, this isn’t always the best solution. There are many times when students have legitimate reasons for missing classes (i.e. medical, interview, completing assignments or studying for an upcoming exam, family emergency). In addition, students are in essence paying for the class through tuition and other related fees. Even though each missed lecture may cost the student hundreds of dollars, by paying for a class, students should be awarded the freedom of determining when it is in their best interest to skip a given lecture.

An ideal solution would be to adopt an optional lecture policy, and offer grade incentives for attendance. Few teachers use this type of policy, despite the fact that it provides the flexibility that students require while still providing encouragement for students who might otherwise skip.

Laptops: How Much Are They Really Doing For Education?

Tyler Powell

In this modern digital age, especially with the advent of ultra-portable laptops, it is nearly impossible to go anywhere in the US without seeing a computer. College campuses have by far some of the densest populations of computers since every student has at least one and most buildings have a local array of desktops. A classroom may be packed full of students furiously typing the notes into their various word processors so that they can later take their laptop to the library and print them off. Is this really what goes on though?

Carrie Fried reports on a recent survey of two classrooms regarding the use of laptops during class. When students were asked what they found the most distracting in class, 229 of the 359 students who responded reported that laptops were the biggest distractions, whether it be an other's laptop or their own. Many of the students who had laptops reported using it for purposes other than taking notes, purposes like checking emails, instant messaging, and playing games.

Professors have recognized this rising distraction and have put forward efforts to stop it. Some professors have completely banned the use of laptops in their classrooms, while others require their students to sign a contract stating how they may use their laptops during class time before they are aloud to use them.

On the other hand, a college can't require their students to buy expensive laptops and not expect them to use it however they wish. It is not fair to the student to be told what to do with their property. Therefore, it must be the responsibility of the student to pay attention in class and the responsibility of the professor to make the class interesting enough to warrant his or her students' attention.

Grades: What are the Causes that Bring it Down?

By Michael Kang


A student's grade, along with gpa, is allowed freedom to fluctuate, in either direction. But what causes grades to drop when students may just as well be studying with the many free times he or she has?

According to the Milwaukee School of Engineering's website, there are many factors that effect grades and some are more obvious than others. Along with common belief, stress is, yet again, a key component to grades. According to research done by the University of Minnesota, "Students who reported a minimum of eight sources of emotional stress possessed an average GPA nearly .6 lower than those who did not." Binge drinking is also said to have affects where those "[s]tudents who drank excessively at least once in the previous two weeks had, on average, a GPA nearly .3 lower than those who did not." Although some may say that it is obvious that those who drink recklessly will have negative side affects, there is one situation that I believe not too many people know about. The University of Minnesota's researchers also noticed that "[students who looked at screens], [w]hether it be the television, videogames, or computer time, reported spending four or more hours in front of a screen had an average GPA over .25 points lower than students who spent an hour a day in front of a screen."

Unfortunately, with technology growing day by day, creating less "screen time" is becoming more difficult. Universities nation wide are relying more on the use of computer submitted assignments and tests, along with email being the primary means of communication.

Language conflicts in multicultural texts

Bud Whitley

Christopher J. Lucas discusses the phenomenon in the late 1980’s and early 90’s were some members of the academic world were trying to make curriculum more divers and multicultural by including litterateur from more sources than “dead white men.” These members had a goal to give students a more rounded curriculum and expose them more diverse cultures and fields of study. However, many of these college professionals over look the fact that a number of multicultural books do not translate well into an American culture.

A translation occurs when a language barriers disrupts the directly translating works of literature from one language to another. Translating into English often times causes works to lose a great deal of connotation and meaning, not to mention literarily phrases and techniques that do not exists in the English language. Literary techniques such as alliterations, similes, and metaphors loose all meaning when translated directly, causing the works to make far less sense than originally written.

The fact that many of the books and poems and speeches contain values and beliefs not normally held in American culture cause another issue in the incorporation of such works. These conflictions of beliefs lead to confusion and misrepresentation. If improperly taught, some highly prejudice works from other countries might give the incorrect impression that all people from that country think and feel the same way. Aspects of the movie “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan,” although a comedic satire, could be misinterpreted to suggest that all people of Kazakhstan have horrible prejudice for a particular race of people. With this possible danger on the horizon, great care needs to be taken when incorporating translated works into a previously strictly European culture.