If the goal is to have students learn the subject, and looking at Course Hero helps, maybe it’s not such a bad thing after all? Maybe it is useful to try to teach students to use these new resources responsibly instead of banning it from the classroom. Some other things instructors can do to fight against cheating:
It’s important to note that Course Hero, though innovative, is not the first of its kind. And from the looks of it, it definitely won’t be the last. Student groups, clubs, fraternities, and sororities have collected test files for decades, giving members of those groups a distinct advantage over others.
It’s hard to know what to think of Course Hero, a site that declares itself as a “social learning network” where you can “give and get” information. Conceived by students at Cornell, Course Hero provides access to old tests, homework problems, textbook answers and class notes.
Despite the good things Course Hero claims to offer, the most glaring question is this: Is using Course Hero cheating? Each of the websites offering these services overtly addresses this question. The answer they all come up with is, of course, No. Most of the websites have safeguards against what they consider cheating.
You can join a study group and meet students in your class you otherwise might not have worked with. You can choose to study through the internet, or meet at a physical table and chairs on campus. In this way, Course Hero allows you to make connections with others who you can help, and who can help you.
It provides a temptation to students who are looking for exam answers and want to cheat in class. You also can’t track who is using Course Hero. Often, notes are posted anonymously, so the individual who posted them cannot be tracked down.
Course Hero isn’t really free. While you can create an account for no cost, you can’t view anything until you pay in one of two ways: By posting materials (40 documents = 1 month free) By paying a monthly, 6 month, or yearly fee.
Post only answers, and not questions, on CULearn for homework and tests—that way the answers won’t mean as much. Give students old tests to study from, so that there is no reason for them to search online. This could help to level the playing field for those who would have cheated and those who never would.