---
title: Problems in online education
date: "2002-10-14T12:00:00Z"
categories:
  - links
wp_id: 1096
description: I examine how high plagiarism rates in online courses highlight a conflict between academic originality and corporate report-writing needs, suggesting that the core objectives of online certifications may soon undergo a significant shift.
keywords: [online education, plagiarism, academic integrity, corporate training, certification, pedagogy]
---

[Problems in online education](http://www.chicagotribune.com/templates/misc/printstory.jsp?slug=chi%2D0210010171oct01). David McGrath teach English online. He ends up ...

> spending hours copying excerpts from her paper into cheater catching software programs and search engines to verify that it was authentic. [It is not authentic] 30 to 40 percent of the time.

Universities today certify the ability to do original work, in addition to training students. Corporates, I think, value the ability to create a good quality report, irrespective of originality. This is a mismatch. Maybe the whole objective of courses, at least online courses, will change shortly. [via Plastic](http://www.plastic.com/article.html?sid=02/10/13/16590444).