On 3/9/07, Barry Wellman <wellman@chass.utoronto.ca> wrote:
I'm kinda amazed at how many people did NOT answer my question (about precedent re Turnitin), but treated it as a projective test.
Sorry. You gave us an opening and we took it. :) I imagine that if anyone had an answer to your question they would have shared. But I suspect the reason you asked us is that answers in this area are very hard to come by and I don't think that anyone is surprised that we don't have "The Answer."
Next year, I will insist, as per Toronto policy, that Turnitin be used.
Can we view the use of a undiscriminating tool like Turnitin as some sort of flip side to or natural continuation of the shifting nature of privacy? I just rediscovered New York Magazine's "Say Anything" article from last month and much of it resonates with me and what I think I'm seeing in the research and in my interactions with college students: "The future belongs to the uninhibited." Similarly, I am led down this path by a comment made by Cary Sherman in yesterday's "An Update – Piracy on University Networks" Congressional hearing. As wrong as he is about many things, he was spot on when he said: "The transition from physical to digital has completely altered the way we live our lives. Shouldn't these changes be reflected in schools' message to students? Colleges are charged with educating our citizens. Isn't it essential they prepare them to use appropriately the technology that will fill their lives?" Does the use of Turnitin and similar impersonal and automatic tools qualify as a facet of our collective education in this area? Kevin