Wikiality Assignment

1/20/11

Seanne Danielak

Student ID Number: 0000499631

Wikiality Essay

EDU 590, Professor: Mr. Bruce Umpstead

Response To Wikiality

          Recently, I asked my sixth grade students to involve themselves in a research project that I had never assigned before. The assigment was for them to choose an unfamiliar country and list five important facts about the country's music that would help the class gain a better understanding of how different cultures value music in various parts of the world. These students also had to find pictures of performers from that region and document popular songs by copying links into their word documents. The other students would then be exposed to the information through the peer sharing process. When I received the research back from my students early this week, I was delighted by the results. Unfortunately, my view on this project was instantly tainted due to my own personal experience researching Wikipedia.

          Last night I read through these assignments again, finding that Wikipedia was cited in just about every document that was submitted. The problem is that I can no longer credit my students for utilizing a proper, reliable source. If I was able to simply log-in to Wikipedia and completely distort the information about a film score that I know nothing about, then I certainly cannot assume that any of the existing information is credible. I would have attempted to side with Wikipedia if I had received confirmation that, indeed, my changes had not been accepted and my entry was invalid. However, it still has not been corrected after two days, and I'm sure that there have probably been a slew of people that have researched the “Far From Heaven” soundtrack during the last forty eight hours. Ok, it probably hasn’t been perused through at all since the modification, but if I had changed the article on a recent news topic, I’m sure someone’s life would have been affected. Furthermore, how can I trust that the people who are accepting these facts are even legitimate?

          Of course, my sixth graders will not be thrilled that I am now going to assign them the task of citing a second source to backup their current information, but the lesson has now evolved into very much more than how it began. In the article “$200 Textbook vs. Free. You Do The Math”, Scott G. McNealy discusses the overwhelming prices of hardcover textbooks and the increased need for online materials. I made a correlation between the Wikipedia assignment and this article after much reflection. I realized that even though we may be saving financially by researching online, are we saving ourselves academically? I would need strong evidence that the facts written into these web books are indeed truthful and convincing me after this experience is going to be an awfully difficult task. 

          I began to question more than I had anticipated as I read the article, which compelled me to research this topic even further. I came across another great article that tackled more of these questions that I felt was worthy of mentioning in this response. “The good news is that we are at 25 years of PCs in education and change is a brewin’. The bad news is that posting PDFs of textbooks isn’t where the market is headed.” It is also mentioned that a better way of expenditure might be towards educational game development instead or additional supplemental materials. (Open Source Textbooks- We Do The Math, Stanford MBA Admission Blog)
         
          In conclusion, digital online books may potentially hold the risk of including incorrect information. Likewise, even though Wikipedia contains a wealth of information, there is a probability that the contents may be inaccurate and should not be used as a sole source for research.

Bibliography

McNealy, Scott. “$200 Textbook vs. Free. You Do the Math.” July 31, 2010. Web. <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/01/technology/01ping.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=general>

Stanford MBA Admission Blog. “Open Source Textbooks – We Do The Math” August 13th, 2010. Web. <http://www.mbaschool.biz/open-source-textbooks-we-do-the-math.html>

<www.Wikipedia.com>

The Increased Need For Academic Integrity In A Digital Age Essay

1/14/11

SeanneDanielak                                                                                                                                                                                      

Student ID Number: 0000499631

Age Of Plagiarism Assignment

EDU 590 - Professor: Mr. Bruce Umpstead

The Increased Need For Academic Integrity In A Digital Age

          "Class, if you highlight any text or picture, and then you hold down the control key while also pressing down 'C' on the keyboard, this commands the computer to remember, or 'copy', what has been highlighted. Then, you can easily paste all of that into another medium by holding the control key again while pressing down the 'V' key this time. Isn't it amazing how much easier life is now"? This is fairly close to what I say at the beginning of the second lesson I teach my 6th graders each trimester this year. The class I teach is music, with a focus on technology. This is a very basic lesson that teaches an important tool that the students will not only utilize in my class but will be used throughout their lives. Many of my students do not have access to a computer on a daily basis, so they are not able to retain a lot of this elementary information and need to be reminded each year on how to do this easy computing. However, after reading recently about the sudden increase in plagiarism cases throughout this country, it does honestly make me realize that I have missed some very important steps in this process. A few of the missing links include the explanation of how abused this function can be, reminding them (or teaching them) what plagiarism means and emphasizing the importance of valuing one's own work.

          From the time we initially begin school, academic intergirity is instilled in us. Kindergarteners "tattle-tale" on each other for mimicking movements and creating the same picture in a draft book. In middle school, students will usually go out of their way to impress their friends as individuals as well as their teachers as intellectuals. However, it seems that with the increase of extracurricular activities, high schoolers seem to be consumed with so many other things that they probably look for answers to save themselves some time (even if it requires giving up one's own integrity to do so). The thought to plagiarize most likely crosses their mind at some point, and if they have not been properly taught the implications of doing it as well as the immoral value of it, they may be inclined to walk down that road.

          In a recent experiment, I attempted to "trick the system" as I plagiarized an essay and tried not to get caught through submission of the assigment. I found out through the process that it is more time-consuming than I imagined to copy and paste someone else's writing off of the Internet and then change it to sound as though it wasn't ripped off. It probably wouldn't have taken me very much longer to actually write my own essay including my thoughts and research. I realize that if I had not attempted to paraphrase it and just left the writing as it were, it wouldn't have taken so long, but either way by doing this project, I lost the sense of accomplishment that one receives after completion of an assignment. As I stated to my husband, I didn't get that "runner's high" after I finished the race. It taught me a lesson on the significance of valuing my own work and the importance of instilling that into my students as well.

Response To The Online Class (1/10/11)

1/15/11
Seanne Danielak
Student ID Number: 0000499631
Response to Monday Night's Class
EDU 590 - Professor: Mr. Bruce Umpstead

I have just finished listening to an MP3 recording of the online Wimba class due to a late registration into this course. The problem of enrollment was a miscommunication on my end. While typing out all of the information during the online registration, I must have switched a few dates around and it caused me to believe that the course registration agreement had to be submitted by January 10th. It was when I sent my information to Kendra Brown that day when I was informed that the class had already started. I was still able to join the cohort, but it was Tuesday by the time I was able to log into blackboard to receive all of the information. I noticed that I missed this online class the evening before, and that there was already quite a few assignments to do. I am determined to stay in the class and catch up to everyone this week though. It is exciting to be able to participate in such an exciting program!

I found the recording to be very useful and interesting. I completed the first assignment and realized that if I had just listened to the recording of the class in the first place, I would have avoided a lot of time spent doing the wrong assignment. That is one lesson that I have already learned by taking this course. "Tricking the computer" was not exactly my goal throughout the assignment and I may have learned to pay a bit more attention to details when reading the assignments as well. Also, there was information that was shared during the broadcast that I was unaware of and would like to share it here. I had no idea that every school in the state of Michigan is required to have a technology plan that is approved by the state in order to receive their Internet services at a discounted rate. I also found it interesting when Mr. Umpstead said "Your job is to learn, and my job is to facilitate the learning". I have not been exposed very much to this teaching style as a student, so I am interested in the teaching and learning process as well this semester.

I am very excited to be able to use computer and Internet resources better as someone brought up during the class on Monday. Also, ways to incorporate these ideas into my own classroom is also something I am looking forward to. It is nice to know that a lot of us have the same excitement in many of the same areas.

It was rather difficult to hear Mr. Umpstead due to the "vaccume" noise in the background. Also, whenever any of the students asked a question, there was quite an echo and they were extremely hard to understand as well. Other than those small issues, listening to the recording was very informative and I appreciated being able to understand the class a bit better through that experience.

Thank you for allowing me to share my feelings about Monday night's class.

My First Blog

I am very excited to continue my education and I hope this is exactly what I am supposed to be doing for this class. Good luck to you if you are reading this for class purposes.