B. Gilliard
Technology is often blamed for encouraging bad behavior, particularly when it comes to academic dishonesty. There’s the notion, for example, that it’s much easier to plagiarize now thanks to the ability to copy and paste information from the Web into a term paper.
So at first blush, the new homework help Web site Slader might be accused of fostering just this sort of cheating behavior. The site offers the answers to homework questions in most major high school level math textbooks, and depending on how much you use it, there’s a fee. Students can pay for answers. Answers to all the questions, not just the odd ones. And answers with explanations and “proofs.” But it’s not as straightforward a transaction as it looks.
Though the site was originally launched with answers written by math tutors and teachers, the plan going forward is to use the peer-to-peer model — students helping each other on the site. The most useful answers will be rated with stars to distinguish them.
Of course, students have long shared their answers the old fashioned way – turning to one another for help, sharing their answers and solutions — whether over the phone or face-to-face, whether transcribed word-for-word from another student’s paper or solved thanks to the help and support from a peer. And that will be the model used for Slader: homework answers for students written by students.
Anticipating the criticism, the New York-based startup believes it’s a mistake to dismiss this simply as cheating; rather they say the aim is to provide real-time help to students to work through their homework — an online study hall, if you will. The startup is providing the tools for students to share their work and teach and learn with one another.
That teaching element is important to recognize, and co-founder Scott Kolb says the site is much more of a tutoring resource than simply a place to go look up and jot down the right answer. It’s a type of “microtutoring,” he says.
That “micro” element doesn’t just mean simply that Slader offers help on a specific math problems rather than, say, hiring a math tutor for more generalized help with the subject. The Web site also features “microtransactions.” In other words, there’s an intellectual and a monetary exchange per Continue reading
