Every high school, college and university around the world
depends on the perception of their professional credibility in order to attract
students to attend their school. Public high schools increasingly have to sell
themselves to their communities as private schools, homeschooling as new
charter schools rise in popularity and effectiveness. As publicly funded
vouchers and inner city lottery selections have proved, schools must compete to
garner students’ attention, and attendance despite the socioeconomic status of
their community. College grants, scholarships and student loans offer ways to
make higher education seemingly accessible to all. But these educational
institutions still depend on a student to pay fees to attend and use federal
and state funding in order for the school to survive in any economy. In order
to support their mission, schools must accept and retain a specific number of
students on a yearly basis. Every school wants to be credible and attractive,
especially in an increasingly digital world. Integrity and digital relevance
are of high importance.
However, the increasing use of emergent technologies to
serve the needs of the institution is having a negative effect. Students are
being pitted against the school or against the technology company that the
school has contracted to use. In a well publicized case in 2007, students from
a suburban Washington D.C. high school sued iParadigms LLC over copyright infringement
of original student work. In such cases, even though the school is the business
client, the client must financially support any criticism against the company’s
integrity. As is evidenced by the following paragraph taken from the TurnItIn
website, a school must bear the brunt of all legal fees when such a case is brought
against TurnItIn for false allegations, copyright infringement, and are held
liable for any defamation of character suit by students trying to defend
themselves against the findings of this software.
Indemnification:
You agree to indemnify and defend iParadigms from any claim (including
attorneys fees and costs) arising from your (a) use of the Site, (b) violation
of any third party right, or (c) breach of any of these Terms and Conditions.
You agree to cooperate as reasonably required in the defense of any claim.
iParadigms reserves the right, at its own expense, to assume the exclusive
defense and control of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification under
this section and, in any event, you agree not to settle any such matter without
the prior written consent of iParadigms.
As is evidenced above, this private company's programmers
are hiding behind the school’s reputation. This indemnification clause causes
the client to not question the integrity of the software, instead the school
questions the integrity of the student when any conflict arises. Therefore, the
college must financially and legally defend their honor by subjecting a student
to jumping through hoops to defend their own integrity. Many students do not
have the same resources or body of work to prove their innocence against a
system that has produced what may be a ‘false positive’ due to correlation or
coincidence. Student work could merely be producing similarity to the works in
the database, particularly if the school employs the same teacher, syllabus,
and list of assignments year after year.
As evidenced by the following document forwarded to the University
of Arizona faculty by an iParadigms company representative, the university is
instructed to demand their students use this software to prevent possible
plagiarism:
If you decide to take and continue in this course, you are agreeing to
submit your papers
online, when so instructed, to a plagiarism-prevention program called TurnItIn.com.
When you set up your individual account with TurnItIn.com for this
class, make sure you
understand and consent to all the terms that the program provides you
at that point. You
should note that TurnItIn.com – always without your name and any
personal information
– will retain your paper as part of their database so that students who
plagiarize from it
can be detected. Because of
this program, the vast majority of you who do your own
work and cite your sources of information properly will not have to
compete with students
who commit undetected plagiarism.
Anyone who has questions or problems with
TurnItIn.com may talk privately about these with the instructor.”
(you can read the entire PDFdocument here Legal Issues regarding TurnItIn.com)
A high school student dare not criticize the use of TurnItIn
without inviting suspicion over their possible intent to plagiarize. A college
student is making a choice over what university they attend, and what classes
or major they pursue. So the course syllabus that requires every writing
assignment to run through a suspect database hides behind the supposed “choice”
of a student to elect to study somewhere, or something else. Often, questioning
the use of untested and uncertain software programs is seen as questioning the
integrity of the individual teacher, course of study, or school itself. Teachers
and administrators are familiar and adept at having to defend the choice of
curriculum, textbooks, and methods used within the classroom. Students and
parents are left with the choice to support these decisions or go somewhere
else.
By determining to use this software, colleges have accepted
the results of this software above the word of the student. When a student has
been accused of plagiarism the only recourse against this blemish on their
integrity and character is to request an ethics committee review. In a normal
court of law, when a citizen is accused of a crime, they are innocent until
proven guilty and allowed legal representation. However, in academia, they are
stripped of their right to legal representation as is evidenced by the
following statement from the Ethics Committee of the University of Phoenix:
*Please be aware, per
the student code of conduct, tape, digital, or other electronic recording of
the committee meeting is not permitted. Also, Students are not entitled to
representation by an attorney or any other third party at any point in the
process.
In the case of a high school student being accused of this
type of crime, parents automatically believe the evidence provided by the
school. After all, the school wouldn't lie about such a thing, right? What
happens to that student as a result of such an allegation? The student withdraws and finds the doors of
other schools and institutions suspect of their future behavior. Instead of
teaching students how to cite sources properly, TurnItIn brands students as
cheaters, determining their academic and professional careers suspect of future
abuse. The innocent student may become depressed because no one believes them,
asserting the integrity of the school above the integrity of the individual. These
students are the eggs that must be cracked to prepare the omelet of greater defense
against plagiarism. Parents of accused students must hire a forensic computer
expert in order to clear their child's name, moving thousands of dollars
previously earmarked for academic growth towards producing an affidavit to
prove their innocence. And in the case of a false positive or incorrect
assessment, does the school reimburse the parent or student these costs? Not
based on the ‘terms and conditions’ agreed upon by simply using or piloting the
program within the classroom.
Exonerated students are left to move on with life and often
must sign anti-disclosure agreements to prevent a scandal. If other schools
heard about the actual effects that use of this software breeds, they might not
pledge future financial support to this private company. And therein lies the
problem: legally, the company is set up to gain at the expense of the school’s
integrity and the student’s career. When are we going to realize that the risks
are too high for the potential rewards this company produces? Next, we will
examine the way this company advertises for future clients using the integrity
of the institutions they are supposed to protect. Also, we will see whether or
not the system actually produces the desired results of a safer, plagiarism-free
world that it claims.
Invited co-author of this article, Sean McGowan is published author, a teacher of Civics and American History, as well as a Chaplain.
Part 3: Tricks and Illusions - False Advertising To Produce Sales
