You might be surprised to hear that Facebook, Wikipedia, and other online media networking sites are the alleged culprit behind plagiarism among college students.
But that’s what the experts are alleging. So-called cyber plagiarism is at an all time high among college students, according to a new survey released from the Pew Research Center in conjunction with The Chronicle of Higher Education.
The survey, called “The Digital Revolution and Higher Education,” asked 1,055 college presidents from two- to four-year, private and public schools for their thoughts on how digital technology has impacted college academics.
More than half said that they’ve seen a significant increase in plagiarism over the last ten years and an overwhelming majority — 89 percent — cited computers and the Internet as playing a major role in plagiarizing by students. But is technology to blame or should students take more responsibility?
Here are some other findings from the study:
Online courses are becoming more available: 77 percent of college presidents said their schools now offer online courses. 89 percent of four-year public colleges and universities offer online classes and 60 percent of four-year private schools offer them.
University officials value online courses more than the public.
The study also interviewed 2,142 people over the age of 18 on the same topics. They mostly agreed with college presidents in all areas but one – the value of online courses. Only 29 percent of American adults said an online course provides equal educational value to one taken in a traditional classroom whereas, “half (51 percent) of the college presidents surveyed say online courses provide the same value.” Twenty-three percent of college grads say they have taken a class online, doubled from students who graduated in the past 10 years.
Reading textbooks will go digital. 62 percent of college presidents anticipate that half of undergrads will be using digital textbooks by 2021.
In-class technology is vital. 57 percent of recent grads said they used a laptop or smartphone in class “at least sometime” and most colleges and universities “do not have institutional guidelines in place for the use of these devices in class.” 41 percent of college presidents said students are allowed to use laptops or other portable devices during class, 56 percent left the decision to use technology up to the individual instructors, and only 2 percent prohibited use of these devices in class.
College presidents are into technology and social networking: 87 percent of college presidents use a smartphone daily, 49 percent use a tablet “at least occasionally,” and 42 percent say they use an e-reader like a Kindle or Nook. 32 percent say they’re on the social networking site like Facebook or Twitter weekly or more often.
What do you collegiettes™ think? Comment in the box below!