Ryerson student faces

cheating charges over
Facebook group

By Nikalas Kryzanowski, News Editor

L seems that Facebook has called into
question post-secondary _ institutional
policy yet again. In Toronto, at Ryerson
Polytechnical University, eighteen-year-
old computer engineering student Chris
Avenir is currently facing expulsion
for administrating what
he calls a “study group”
on the popular social
networking site. Avenir
said he joined the online
chemistry study group
“Dungeons/Mastering
Chemistry Solutions”
last fall, then eventually
took charge of it. He said
the group was essentially
a place on the Internet
where students could ask questions about
homework assignments. The group soon
came to the attention of his professor,
who accused him of cheating. Avenir
now faces 147 counts of academic
misconduct, one for every member of
the group who swapped tips on how to
do a particular assignment.

Avenir’s case brings to light the
role that social networking sites such
as Facebook can play in the academic
environment. He and his supporters argue
that a virtual group is no different
than any other group of students
who meet in public to collaborate
on homework. fils prolessor, Dy
contrast, saw itas cheating, allegedly
stating that the assignment was
supposed to be done independently,
and contending Avenir’s chemistry
forum was promoting the sharing of
answers

Few, if educational
institutions specifically reference
social networking sites in their
academic honesty policies, and
Dougias Coilege is no exception.
Because of the Ryerson case,
however, it is apparent that
departmental deans and professors,
including those at Douglas, may
no longer shy away from cracking
down on what they perceive as
academic dishonesty online, as weil

6

any,

“The student
faces 147 counts
of academic mis-
conduct, one for
every member of
his group.”

as in person.

“Social networking sites can be used
in many ways,” said Susan Meshwork,
Chair of the Education Council at
Douglas College. “I expect—and this
is my personal opinion—that if social
networking sites were used to support
activities that our academic
dishonesty policy defines as
academically dishonest, a
student who was using them
for such activities could
find themselves in breach
of the College Academic
Dishonesty Policy.”

“I think one of the
things we have to look at is
whether are there different
standards for offline cheating
then for online cheating. That’s a very
important question. And the answer is
no, there is not,” said James L. Norrie,
director of the Ted Rogers School of
Information Technology Management at
Ryerson.

Avenir, who received an “F” for
his assignment, faced a hearing at the
university after which, he stated he
was “optimistic” about the outcome.
A decision is expected sometime this
week.

 

 

 

   
   

   

News Shorts

By Nikalas Kryzanowski

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, lS ie

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