Journal Entry, Week Five
Currently, the sources that I have found for my paper all support each other. I'm still not sure how exactly I'm going to tackle the topic, but I have a few ideas. I want to include my distance learning plan that I had mentioned in lab.
Here's the plan.
Since universities are affected by COVID-19 and everyone's learning has changed drastically, I believe it's the sole duty of the university/colleges to provide the necessary learning tools for their students. Since barely any universities are lowering their tuition significantly, they have money to spare. For students who don't already have a laptop at home, the university either provide the laptop as a rental, or give the students a significant chunk of their money back so they may purchase one for themselves. The university IT department should provide the students with a list of specifications and suggested laptops for use at school if they choose to purchase their own. Rented laptops will be rented out for the school year, and will be wiped upon return. Rented laptops should also have access to the school network so students can store their files online, allowing them to login anywhere and access it. For technology intensive majors, either a PC should be provided or access to a remote desktop connection through a VPN, like we have for the BASIS program, should be provided for them. This allows students to work and not have to use measly laptops for their projects and programs. The university should also provide internet access for the students who are of low income and can't afford at home internet services other than through their cell phone.
I took a look at the Information Systems Journal, and to be honest, the ethical guidelines do not surprise me. They seem reasonable, such as disclosing where your funding source comes from. A good example would be a person who is researching how vaccines affect people, and the source of funding comes from a known anti-vaccine fund. That's a big conflict of interest. Personally, I feel a bit iffy about signing over copyrights for my article to a journal publisher. Other publication options are to try and publish the article themselves, or making it open source and available to all.
Plagiarism is kind of a problem on college campuses. I'm pretty confident I know how to avoid plagiarism. I think it's more of a problem in the lower levels of college, but once you are in a bachelors or masters program, the refresher courses are good to have just to ensure you can avoid it.
I have prior experience in citing my sources. I have used both APA and MLA formats. It's pretty easy for me at this point since I've done it quite a bit. To create bibliographies and citing my sources, I use citation machine or easybib. They are my go-to options for this kind of work. This week I learned I need to make my own motivation to get stuff done, and not wait for it to come to me. I've been super productive all day today so that's that.
Here's the plan.
Since universities are affected by COVID-19 and everyone's learning has changed drastically, I believe it's the sole duty of the university/colleges to provide the necessary learning tools for their students. Since barely any universities are lowering their tuition significantly, they have money to spare. For students who don't already have a laptop at home, the university either provide the laptop as a rental, or give the students a significant chunk of their money back so they may purchase one for themselves. The university IT department should provide the students with a list of specifications and suggested laptops for use at school if they choose to purchase their own. Rented laptops will be rented out for the school year, and will be wiped upon return. Rented laptops should also have access to the school network so students can store their files online, allowing them to login anywhere and access it. For technology intensive majors, either a PC should be provided or access to a remote desktop connection through a VPN, like we have for the BASIS program, should be provided for them. This allows students to work and not have to use measly laptops for their projects and programs. The university should also provide internet access for the students who are of low income and can't afford at home internet services other than through their cell phone.
I took a look at the Information Systems Journal, and to be honest, the ethical guidelines do not surprise me. They seem reasonable, such as disclosing where your funding source comes from. A good example would be a person who is researching how vaccines affect people, and the source of funding comes from a known anti-vaccine fund. That's a big conflict of interest. Personally, I feel a bit iffy about signing over copyrights for my article to a journal publisher. Other publication options are to try and publish the article themselves, or making it open source and available to all.
Plagiarism is kind of a problem on college campuses. I'm pretty confident I know how to avoid plagiarism. I think it's more of a problem in the lower levels of college, but once you are in a bachelors or masters program, the refresher courses are good to have just to ensure you can avoid it.
I have prior experience in citing my sources. I have used both APA and MLA formats. It's pretty easy for me at this point since I've done it quite a bit. To create bibliographies and citing my sources, I use citation machine or easybib. They are my go-to options for this kind of work. This week I learned I need to make my own motivation to get stuff done, and not wait for it to come to me. I've been super productive all day today so that's that.
Great post. From reading your journal entry it is easy to see that you have read and found a good number of sources to give you an idea on the current situation affecting colleges as well as the ways that colleges could provide better resources to students if they will not lower their tuition. One thing I did notice however is that in your plan those students who do not have access to a computer would get a discount/rebate on their tuition to purchase a laptop for school work. What is to keep students from claiming they do not have a PC to simply get a discount on their own tuition.
ReplyDeleteLooking at the stimulus check the government gave out in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic as a prime example of money being given to people for food, rent, and essential services that was spent on luxury items. So you may want to consider in your report how schools could regulate these costs/rebates.
I agree with you Jean, it should be the college's duty to provide students with the resources necessary to excel in their programs - it is why we pay large copious amounts of money to get into college in the first place right? I don't think it's out of the question for them to at least, at a minimum, provide laptops to those who are in financial need. The laptops would definitely have to be monitored carefully to ensure no tampering is done when the laptops are taken home, and they would have to inspected upon return and wiped - but other than that, I don't think there should be much of an issue.
ReplyDeleteIt looks to me like you got a good plan to delve tackle your paper. I certainly agree that the school should provide aid in terms of tools and supplies like your mentioned in your blog post above. It is particularity hard for students with low income and it is true that some of them using their phones or tablets for their homework, which is completely inadequate. Renting laptops are definitely good solution as well for most students, but not good enough for students like us. luckily most of us own good hardware to get us through the difficult time and own classroom with available PC's for use at our pleasure.
ReplyDeleteI also agree on your response to plagiarism. This topic i get countlessly reminded of, but i'm sure it is for a good reason.
Great post