Plagiarism as a Remix?

Just as a response to the last post about plagiarism, thought this might be an interesting read on plagiarism. It's called Teaching Remix.

Plagarism?

These articles discuss how people feel about plagarism and whether it is or isn't cheating... it gives educators some food for thought

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/09/plagiarism-is-not-a-big-moral-deal/?hp


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/02/education/02cheat.html

Betting on Grades

One of the top stories on WBZ was about a website where students can go to bet on their grades. I just thought it was interesting. Apparently BC is one of the schools where students can bet.

This is the website
http://ultrinsic.com/

This is the news report
http://www.wmur.com/money/24574851/detail.html

Potential Disadvantage of Merit Pay

In our class discussion regarding merit pay, I couldn't help but worry that along with merit pay would come increased competition amongst teachers. I feel that merit pay might make some teachers less willing to share ideas or collaborate for fear that their ideas/methods will help someone else gain more pay over themselves. Teaching should foster the sharing of pedagogy and methods amongst teachers as opposed to isolating teachers against each other. I don't know if this would actually be a direct result of merit pay but I worry it could potentially lead in that direction...

Merit Pay and Tenure

Gov Crist vetoed legislation in Florida this year that would have abolished tenure and tied teachers' salaries to students' test scores. This issue is very controversial and has not been put to rest. Thankfully, there will be a new governor in Florida in November and tenure will be abolished next year.



http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125857939

Plagiarism

Plagiarism lines blur for students in digital age NY Times 8/2/2010
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38517684/from/toolbar

College officials suggest that many students simply do not grasp that using words they did not write is a serious academic misdeed : “If you’re taught how to closely read sources and synthesize them into your own original argument in middle and high school, you’re not going to be tempted to plagiarize in college, and you certainly won’t do so unknowingly."


There will always be a temptation to plagiarize. But in light of how information is shared on the internet, when does an idea demand protection and how will you know that it is an original thought of the author?

Governor Deval Patrick speaks about education on BC Campus 9/13

Attending this seems like a no-brainer for anyone in our program...

Who: Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick

What: Speech about the state of education in Massachusetts

When: Monday, September 13th 7-9PM (get there early)

Where: Murray Function Room (BC Campus)

Link: https://events.bc.edu/cgi-bin/publish/webevent.cgi?cmd=showevent&ncmd=listmonth&cal=cal18,cal3,cal59,cal51,cal8,cal2,cal9&id=132212&ncals=&de=1&tf=0&sib=1&sb=0&sa=0&ws=0&stz=Default&sort=e,m,t&swe=1&cf=list&set=1&token=andrewma:7a8230cd&m=9&d=29&y=2010

Grammar School with Snooki

Snooki jokes aside, I thought John Green had some really interesting things to say about grammar and the importance of discourse.

Using Twitter in the classroom

50 Terrific Twitter Tutorials for Teachers

A friend of mine sent this to me this morning. In light of what we were talking about last week, I thought everyone might be interested. There are links to 50 different articles, some of which are just about how to set up a Twitter, but there's an entire section on using Twitter in the classroom, with ideas and tips from lots of different teachers and students.