Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Study Applications and their effect on students education (Survey Results,…
Study Applications and their effect on students education
Why Some Professors Ignore Cheating
A study done by professors at Ball State University asked 127 instructors of psychology why they may potentially ignore cheating. They found that there are four major reasons that would incline professors to ignore cheating, including emotional reasons, such as stress or lack of courage, difficulty reasoning the extensive time and effort required to deal with cheating, denying that students would cheat, and lastly be fearing the concerns with retaliation or a possible legal challenge.
Ethics (or lack thereof) When It Comes to Cheating
Kantian Ethics state that it is immoral to cheat on tests-it is only moral to cheat if you can will the maxim into a universal law but in this situation that it is impossible therefore it is immoral.
For the Rule Utilitarians who consider the consequences of acts of cheating, there is a concern that as a rule cheating would not only not produce much general happiness but would actually produce harm instead.
Since Act Utilitarianism is a case by case basis while it would produce the best possibility for the student it would negatively impact the professor and potentially the institution.
Study Application: Course Hero
Course Hero is a study app that provides access to old tests, homework problems, textbook answers and class notes. It also offers the ability to form study groups where you can share files and exchange ideas. It’s basically a forum where you can put up old schoolwork you’ve done and see the old schoolwork of your peers from your own school and around the nation.
Is Course Hero Ethical or Unethical?
Despite the good things Course Hero claims to offer, the most glaring question is this: Is using Course Hero cheating? This can easily be argued either way. But in general from research and user reviews I suspect that Course Hero is used unethically more times than not.
Pros and Cons of Course Hero
CONS
The temptation to cheat is very high.
Using someone else's work without crediting them.
Not fully learning the material.
Potentially learning wrong information.
PROS
Access to multiple documents around the world.
Catch up on notes you might have missed in class.
Study for tests and quizzes using study guides.
Compare answer keys to learn from mistakes.
Wolfram-Alpha
Act Utilitarianism
Cons
The consequences can be catastrophic and the unhappiness generated can be high. If you do not understand the equations or how to work them out, then you have no basis to judge the validity of the answer you receive. Getting an answer does not mean getting the right answer. This could lead to some very terrible results if you present the wrong answers/solution to your boss, especially if they then ask you how you got your numbers.
Analysis
The potentially catastrophic consequences of this act would deem it unethical. The risks for an unhappy ending far outweigh the potential for a happy, low consequence outcome.
Pros
The consequences can be low and the happiness generated can be high. If you understand the equations you plug into the program you will save a lot of time trying to work it out, and can get a repeatable result from the program. This can be very useful if your boss wanted an immediate answer to a problem. This could lead to much happiness both to you and your boss.
Rule Utilitarianism
Cons
Students are likely expected not to use this site, and employees would be expected to be able to show their work in case there are questions about the answers they provide. This might violate company culture, if not explicitly violating company policy against sites like this.
Analysis
Using sites like this are likely a violation of rules or expectations. Therefore it is unethical to use it.
Pros
Using sites like Wolfram-Alpha might not be explicitly againt the rules or company culture. This site will be useful in an environment that prefers quick results over careful diligence, which could increase happiness for everyone involved.
Kantian Ethics
Cons
There are some fields or professions where you would expect the person to take a more careful approach to mathematical equations, instead of assuming a program will infallibly generate their answers. It would be unprofessional for them to "cheat" and use sites like Wolfram-Alpha.
Analysis
Since it would be unethical for some people to use this site, it would have to be categorically unethical for all to use it.
Pros
Using Wolfram-Alpha is not much different than using a calculator, it is just a more complicated version. If you only care about receiving an answer to your equation then this is acceptable. After all, you are not likely to double check the results from a calculator.
Miami University Academic Integrity
Miami University endorses policies that promote academic integrity. This means that any type of academic dishonesty is not tolerated, which includes plagiarism, cheating or fabrication. Students responsible of academic dishonesty face punishment from failing the test or paper, failing the entire class or being suspended from the University.
Why do students cheat?
There are many reasons why a student would cheat, but it mainly comes down to the “stress and pressure of getting good grades” (Davis, 2). Students also feel like everyone else is cheating, so why shouldn't they?
How does Miami’s Academic Integrity code support moral theories?
Act Utilitarianism
– Following Miami’s policy will create the greatest amount of happiness for the community as a whole. When a student cheats or plagiarizes, they may gain the most happiness at the moment because they passed when they would have most likely failed. However, this type of behavior does not create happiness in other students that worked hard and didn’t cheat, the professors that are instructed to grade a student on their knowledge or the community that may hire this student in the future based on fraudulent grades.
Rule Utilitarianism
– Miami’s code of conduct and academic integrity was created to support Rule Utilitarianism. Cheating is a violation of basic moral laws that should not be violated.
Kantianism
– Miami’s policies support Kantianism because there are punishments when a student cheats or plagiarizes. If this kind of behavior was tolerated, then students would not fail or be suspended from their studies. If cheating and plagiarizing was tolerated, the world would have a bunch of uneducated college graduates leading this world.
Survey Results
Frequency:
50% said that they rarely use websites to cheat, 10% said that they never have, 20% said that they sometimes do, and 20% said that they often do. These results show that while many have said that they have cheated, the frequency of such varies greatly with half of the people only doing so when truly stuck.
Does cheating help or hinder a person's ability to learn?:
40% of people said that they believe cheating can somewhat help a person to learn, 30% believed that it does not affect their learning,10% said they think it severely harms their learning, and 20% believed that it greatly helps the student learn. These results show that people's opinions are widely different and have different reasoning on what could help or hinder a person's ability to learn.
Used Websites to Cheat:
90% said that they have used a website to cheat on a quiz/test at least once. 10% said they never have. This shows that the act of getting answers from the internet is a very common practice
Is It Ethical?:
60% said that it is ethical. 20% said that it is not. 20% said that it depends on the situation. This question let people explain their answers, the ones that answered "it depends" said if it was not explicitly forbidden, then it is considered fair game. Those that answered it was not ethical simply said that it was against the rules. Those who said it was believed that it should be allowed anyways since it shows a student's ability to gather information.
Used website to truly study before:
60% of those asked said they have used them to study, 40% said they have not. This shows that it is somewhat split on how many people actually use these sites for their intended purpose.
