e-Learning Pundit

The Chart Online, a publication of Missouri Southern State University, published a piece on plagiarism last week.  For online classes, the temptation could be greater.

Eighteen-year-old Angela Carter (not her real name) had never cheated on her own coursework. But when a busy friend needed to pass just one more class as part of her master’s degree at another university, Carter saw no problem in “helping her out.”

“It was a self-paced online class,” Carter said. “This lady was a 30-year-old mother of four, and she just didn’t have the time to do it. She offered me $300 to do the class for her. I did all the homework, everything – I had it all done in two weeks.”

The coursework wasn’t a problem for Carter. What did scare her was taking three proctored tests, using her friend’s drivers’ license as identification.

“I looked a lot like her,” Carter said, “but she was 30 and I was 18.”

Once, the proctor looked at the ID and remarked, “Wow, you’ve really changed.”

“I laughed and said, ‘That’s what having four babies does to you,” Carter recalls.

She never got caught.

Kudos to the young lady for performing so well in a graduate-level course. But unfortunately, the outcome for the intended student is totally lost in the scheme.

College is meant to be difficult for a reason. Otherwise, the coveted degree represents just another piece of paper.