A freshman at Ryerson University is facing
147 charges of academic misconduct for organizing a Facebook study group for one of his engineering courses. The University claims the collaboration on the study group amounted to cheating and the student faces expulsion.
"But if this kind of help is cheating, then so is tutoring and all the mentoring programs the university runs and the discussions we do in tutorials," he said.
...
He had earned a B in the class, but after the professor discovered the Facebook group over the holidays, the mark was changed to an F. The professor reported the incident to the school's student conduct officer and recommended expulsion.
Neale said Avenir missed two meetings to discuss the matter because of a miscommunication. Tuesday's hearing was arranged to give him a chance make his case against explusion. Ryerson is not obliged to do so.
While Neale admits the professor stipulated the online homework questions were to be done independently, she said it has long been a tradition for students to brainstorm homework in groups, particularly in heavy programs such as law, engineering and medicine.
Each student in the course received slightly different questions to prevent cheating, she said, and she did not see evidence of students doing complete solutions for each other. Instead, she said, they would brainstorm about techniques.
"They'd say to each other stuff like ... `Remember what to do when you have positive cations (a type of positively charged ion)' and that sort of thing," she said.
But Neale admitted the invitation to the Facebook group may have been what landed them in trouble. It read: "If you request to join, please use the forms to discuss/post solutions to the chemistry assignments. Please input your solutions if they are not already posted."
Still, said Neale, "no one did post a full final solution. It was more the back and forth that you get in any study group."
And in
today's Calgary Herald, the University defends their stance:
"The issue is that it doesn't matter where it happens," Norrie warned. "We will pursue it."
Norrie said that the university's code of conduct "calls for us to charge the person who facilitates and enables cheating. We're trying to educate students on what they can and can't do."
"The code is clear that someone who enables others to cheat will receive a severe penalty."