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Coursera's Functional Programming - Cheating Discovered

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Re: Coursera's Functional Programming - Cheating Discovered

#41

Post by segmond »

jordanthoms wrote: post #11
prophetjohn wrote: post #5

I have to wonder if those posting solutions on github are actually doing it in an effort to cheat. I made a similar mistake recently with a project I completed in my computer architecture course. When the professor contacted me about it, it seemed obvious. But at the time, all I was thinking about was "yay, public code!" Obviously, I took it down right away. I wonder how many people are doing the same thing. Cheating…

If it's your work, you own the copyright, and it's totally within your rights to make it publicly available.

it seems so on this site like to argue just for the sake of argue. who is saying anything about rights? sure, it's his work, it's his right do anything he wishes, and he will be expelled. the course doesn't mind you sharing your code, just wait till the class is over. share and risk getting expelled.

Re: Coursera's Functional Programming - Cheating Discovered

#42

Post by edw519 »

Actually, this is valuable data.

As a potential employer, I care more about the candidate's ethics (or lack thereof) than their ability. I could always teach them, but I could never trust them.

Coursera should just publicly identify cheaters so I can cross check against resumes or certifications. Problem solved.

Re: Coursera's Functional Programming - Cheating Discovered

#43

Post by namank »

Permit wrote: post #31

I'm of the opinion that the value of Coursera's courses comes from the learning opportunity, not the certification. I think they should simply allow cheating and not issue certificates. Alternatively, allow cheating and continue to issue certificates while letting employers decide the true value of the certificates. The point of Coursera (to me) isn't to pad my resume, it's to learn from courses not always offered at…

While its true that the value is in learning and not the certification, it is also true that assignments have a specific role to serve.

If learning is truly your motive and you are unable to do the assignments, well just don't do them. Why even go as far as cheating.

Re: Coursera's Functional Programming - Cheating Discovered

#44

Post by elliottcarlson »

I found it annoying when people were submitting answers to Stripe's CTF before the end date - just seemed to cheapen the experience - and would imagine for someone not cheating in the class that they might feel the same way.

(on a side note - did anyone get their CTF tshirt yet?)

Re: Coursera's Functional Programming - Cheating Discovered

#45

Post by llimllib »

readme wrote: post #13
cimi_ wrote: post #8

The certificates, IMHO, are meaningless in the context of these online courses. Considering this, I find the measure exaggerated. I use github as a central place to store almost everything I write outside work, so it comes pretty natural for me to version code for problems I've been working on there. Disclaimer: I'm not involved in the Scala course, so I don't know how the actual assigments were structured.

The certificates will have value as long as they remain evidence of honest completion of the course. To say they are worthless is kind of short-sighted. Considering the number of tech resumes in the typical hiring manager's inbox that contain a laundry-list of programming languages in the skills section and not even a single project or course to prove the knowledge of the candidate, I'd say there is a fairly large do…

> Given two resumes, one with a big bullet list of unverified skills, and one with a bullet list of some completed coursera courses, which would you choose?

I would accept neither as evidence of anything other than the skills a candidate advertises.

IOW, I trust "I know Scala" on a resume exactly as much as "I know Scala and completed a Coursera course on it".

Re: Coursera's Functional Programming - Cheating Discovered

#46

Post by pawelwentpawel »

Permit wrote: post #31

I'm of the opinion that the value of Coursera's courses comes from the learning opportunity, not the certification. I think they should simply allow cheating and not issue certificates. Alternatively, allow cheating and continue to issue certificates while letting employers decide the true value of the certificates. The point of Coursera (to me) isn't to pad my resume, it's to learn from courses not always offered at…

Just wondering - would you put a certificate from Coursera on your resume? I raised this question a while ago in here : http://workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/2074/showing-co...

Also - cases will be handled on an individual basis - I guess it's not a standard sized class. There is a few hundred people signed up at least. Putting up a free course in functional programming seems like a lot of work. On top of that, trying to find people who are cheating and handling them more or less individually is a bit of a time waste in my opinion.

Re: Coursera's Functional Programming - Cheating Discovered

#47

Post by abolibibelot »

Jun8 wrote: post #39

"I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke" people to enroll in a free online course that (presumably) nobody forced them to take and then submit homework done by someone else. Rather than trying to fight cheating (which is impossible), Coursera should emphasize the point that these courses are not resume busters but for learning.

Well, it seems that Coursera business model is either issuing meaningful certificates, or offering other companies potential hires (the latter being what I've understood of Udacity business model). In both cases, the certificate is supposed to mean something.

I've taken several Coursera classes, but I don't mention them in my resume and I only care about the certificates as an incentive to complete the course, but from the very nature on how these classes are graded, it would be very difficult to prevent cheating (or sharing), barring having the exams taken in real-life locations (something that Udacity optionaly provides for some of its courses if I recall correctly).

Re: Coursera's Functional Programming - Cheating Discovered

#48

Post by zheng »

Jun8 wrote: post #39

"I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke" people to enroll in a free online course that (presumably) nobody forced them to take and then submit homework done by someone else. Rather than trying to fight cheating (which is impossible), Coursera should emphasize the point that these courses are not resume busters but for learning.

The point is that Coursera eventually does want their classes to be resume busters

Re: Coursera's Functional Programming - Cheating Discovered

#50

Post by namank »

edw519 wrote: post #42

Actually, this is valuable data. As a potential employer, I care more about the candidate's ethics (or lack thereof) than their ability. I could always teach them, but I could never trust them. Coursera should just publicly identify cheaters so I can cross check against resumes or certifications. Problem solved.

Lol, thats harsh. Everyone makes mistakes, everyone slips. Making mistakes is an integral part of iterating towards the better.
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