LS 521- Spring ‘02
4/19/02
Objective:
Students will learn about and discover “helper” and “aid” websites online that their students can use and/or abuse.
Introduction:
It started in college.. The rumors that you could get
entire papers off of the Internet in any subject! It was like the biggest and most organized fraternity
“Scholarship Closet” ever! Some
students used them, others were just curious.
Shortly thereafter, we heard about Web-savvy professors using programs
that could identify when a paper was heisted off of the Internet. Obviously, plagiarism and idea theft are
serious topics, and ones that bring us to the issue at hand: Internet homework
help. It would be naïve and stupid for educators to think that the new generation
of students does not have access or interest in Internet “cheat sites” because
that would probably be a blind assumption.
As our students become more familiar with the Web, so should we. As teachers, we need to have access to the
resources and technologies that can protect our students from themselves.
Activity:
You will begin by going over two websites that students
would be able to use to cheat or do homework without very much effort. The first is an online translation site
where the user can simply enter a text in many languages, and then hit a button
that will convert the text into the desired language. This site would be ideal for students in a foreign language class
who are to translate text, or write compositions. The second is a math site that will do an enormous array of
questions, including solving complex equations. This site is for high school and college students, but is similar
to ones available for younger math students as well.
http://translation2.paralink.com
http://www.quickmath.com/
Next,
you will continue by examining two websites that are geared towards helping
a student complete his or her homework.
These sites do not offer answers with no effort. The first is a language site that allows
students to take lessons on verbs, tenses, and check their spelling. It would be a good resource for a language class
to use. The second helping site is one
for students with questions in math. It
offers explanations for math properties and has mini-lessons.
http://www.vokabel.com/index.html
http://www.math.com/students/homework.html#prealgebra
Assignment:
Search the Internet yourself. Look specifically in your content area for sites that are good
and constructive resource for your students, and those which are not. Find three of each. You may want to use Google.com or Yahoo.com.
Assume
that your students are “Web savvy” and write them a beginning of
school/semester/class letter convincing them that there are positive and
negative uses of the Internet when it comes to homework. List the reasons of why they should not seek
to find websites that will do their work for them. Be creative, direct, and honest.
Include the constructive sites that you found in your area for them as a
homework resource. Post this letter on
your index page.
Other Sites:
Homework Helper-
Part of Discovery.com, this site offers over 700 sites supposedly found and
used by a 15 year old, BJ Pinchbeck.
The site is organized so that one may find helpful homework aids in many
categories including art, English, foreign language, math, music, science, and
social studies.
http://school.discovery.com/homeworkhelp/bjpinchbeck/
Homework Help- This site offers students a chance to ask
real questions and have their questions answered by volunteers who are
qualified to answer the questions. It
is a unique site because it is a) free and b) interactive. As a guest, you may view some samples of
questions asked and answers given. You
may even register to use it or help out!
http://www.startribune.com/homework_help/
Homework Center- An absolutely
fantastic resource for students and teachers, the Multnomah County Library
offers visitors links to over 35 different subject areas. Each subject has a large number of links that
will guide the user to more detailed and related information.
http://www.multcolib.org/homework/
Rubric:
|
|
Excellent |
Satisfactory |
Poor |
|
Content |
Concrete ideas presented in a
well-supported manner. Original ideas
and observations. Convinces students to be responsible |
Average argument with little
or no original thought. |
No, or unrelated, content
presented. Off target presentation
with no basis. |
|
Effort |
Displays attention to detail
and obvious effort in reading and understanding |
Adequate level of detail and
effort displayed |
Work was sloppily/hastily
completed or not at all. |
|
Language |
Rich vocabulary used. Content-related words and phrases
correctly used. |
Written at the appropriate
level. No grammatical or syntax
errors. |
Poor word choice, mis-spellings
and grammatical errors. |