Dozens of Plagiarism Incidents Are Reported in Coursera's Free Online Courses | Hacker News Reader

Dozens of Plagiarism Incidents Are Reported in Coursera's Free Online Courses

chronicle.com

10 pointsilamont5 comments

Dozens? Out of 39000 students? Even if there were many dozens this is a small percent of the total student base (390 = 1%).

The number of students cheating at higher institutions is frequently reported to be much higher. For instance:

http://chronicle.com/blogs/percolator/is-student-cheating-dr...

The problem is not Coursera. The problem is people who cheat. And I am not sure that this is much of a story at this level.

Right. A course I used to TA normally had about a thousand students per semester. We'd catch at least 10 of them cheating every time, and I have no reason to believe we caught them all. This was a gen ed CS course for non-majors. There were the eight sorority girls who turned in identical programs, then, when questioned, claimed that it was because there was "only one way to write a computer program". Then there was the guy who had his homework done by an online contract programming service and turned it in with "Written by (online service)" still in the comments. Then there was the guy... but you get the idea.

Cheaters cheat. It's what they do. Onlineness has little to do with it.

"The idea that this could scale as a broad substitute for higher education is, I think, ridiculous."

Of course you do, Mr. Establishment.

First of all, I'm glad this isn't about the actual course material being plagiarized. That would most definitely hurt Coursera's standing as it tries to be accepted in establishment education.

But I don't know what's sadder: the reported plagiarism by students, or the mindset of these students -- when offered free academic coursework in which the purpose is self-edification without a promise of actual credit -- will try to cheat the "system".

And does that cheating occur because they haven't been instilled with intellectual honesty? Or because they're so used to an educational system that rewards winning the rat race by any means? Or because they simply don't understand what accreditation means?

I don't know which of those three sub-options is saddest.

When I was learning the game, my dad once told me, "Son, if you cheat at golf, you cheat at life. You determine the kind of man you want to be, but when you're with me, be honest. It's the only way you'll get better."

Many years later, I've found this quote profoundly true. Folks who will cheat in a friendly game of golf do, in my experience, habitually cheat (a friendly mulligan here or there I let go, but pulling a ball out of a sand trap, or calling a 15ft putt a "gimme" is pretty egregious). And I don't think they can help it at the point I see them. They're ingrained with the mindset that the world is out to screw them, so they have to cheat and lie to screw the world back. We see this mindset time and time again, but people who cheat and lie habitually are of the idea that everybody else does, so it's not wrong. Those who don't are always appalled at the habitual cheaters and liars. Cheaters tend to see that reaction and assume that those people are faking it--and that they, too cheat and lie when it benefits them.

In short, people cheat on a free course because some people are just assholes who cheat and lie. They don't know how to do anything different.

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