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Michael's avatar
Michael B Community Member

Students asking for class work

What is the best way to handle or resond to cases where students are clearing looking for assignments and take home tests to be done for them?

 

Recently I saw one the had RETAKE in the document name that was clearly a take home test. 

 

Another case had a job decription with:   must be original work, no plagarism can be accepted, and the supporting document requires the original student to sign a line that states all work that is submitted is there own.

 

A third asks:   Write code that uses Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning to rephrase Chat-GPT responses to bypass plagiarism detectors.  ,,,, I want the text to be written like an educated and normal human.

I understand there will always be academic cheating -- but is there any value in reporting such cases?

It would help to be able  to simply  'Flag this job'  with "Asking for Plagarism".  And if someone tells me the UPWORK agreement for job posters explicitly prohibits such jobs, that's great but enforment seems lacking.

19 REPLIES 19
Mary's avatar
Mary W Community Member

There was once a wonderful freelancer who would string these cheats along until she found out where they went to school. She would then notify the professor/ department chair/ or dean who were always exceedingly grateful for the information. I just flag them as "academic fraud" and let it go because I'm lazy.

Anthony's avatar
Anthony H Community Member

Yeah, I find that story disturbing. However, isn't academic work forbidden on Upwork? It's kind of a no brainer. Flag them and move on. 

Jayper's avatar
Jayper S Community Member

I would think that a Freelancer would be too busy with business development than to spend all that time and energy doing that sort of leg work.  For me, I'd just ignore it.  

William T's avatar
William T C Community Member

Michael,

 

I would either ignore those jobs or if I had time to interact with the student I would remind them that is cheating and many Universities will drop them. Encourage them that they can do better. However, if someone is willing to cheat, they will probably have no issue with telling you off.

Jeanne's avatar
Jeanne H Community Member

I flag them as inappropriate.

Sarah's avatar
Sarah B Community Member

Instead of doing their work for them, I offer to help instead. It's clear that some of these students, especially high school, are struggling or have lost any/all intentions of learning. Instead of just doing the work for them, I offer to help build essay outlines, edit/proof (with explanations), or simply provide them with helpful links to complete their work. 

 

As someone who graduated in 2019, school sucks, and even more so after the lockdowns here in the states. Teachers are quitting because they aren't being paid enough and classrooms are so full some of these kids can't get a shred of their teacher's attention. There are a lot of reasons why these kids just don't want to put in the time and effort anymore. Instead of being someone that takes their money and does their work or reports their account, opting to help them, without doing their work, would be far more beneficial to some of these kids. 

Jeanne's avatar
Jeanne H Community Member

This is a jobs platform. I'm not going to "help" any student do the work they need to complete on their own. In addition, I'm not going to run the risk of running afoul of the Terms. Not every younger person thinks "school sucks" and many do their own work. Learning how to structure arguments, establish logical method, and how to edit your own work, along with other valuable lessons, is crucial. "These kids", as you call them, need to learn. I have numerous friends and associates who teach high-school and college courses. Every one of them is opposed to "help" in any form, whether it is old style getting someone to write your assignment or high speed Wi-Fi. Of course, their preferences don't stop all cheaters. However, if they are caught, consequences can be quite severe.

 

You are reporting a rather dystopian view of our youth. I'm sorry you don't know motivated, active, intelligent younger people. I do. Not only do many of them not ask or demand or feel entitled to "help" they understand the rules about doing your own work, and the invaluable lessons learned.

Raysa's avatar
Raysa A Community Member

I think she's refering to getting paid for the 'help' as it's still a job. I'd personally just notify the student and then flag it. But as someone who graduated years ago and still does continuing education courses, I do agree with her - in many univeristies there are A LOT of tenured professors who no longer teach, but rather simply assign; college is hard indeed (I'm speaking as an engineering major). Though, I agree it's not fair to generalize them all, and it does NOT justify cheating. 

Jeanne's avatar
Jeanne H Community Member

I don't know enough about the particular situation to draw a conclusion. I refuse to do anything with academic tasks for students because it is a violation of the Terms. Tutoring and teaching are different.

 

There have always been professors who were absent. Once they received tenure, they checked out.  There are some good ones and a rare few who are fantastic, at least from my point of view and colleagues and friends. Attending universities is a lot like life - you get what you put into it. Students who had a basic level field, performed very differently, with range of results. The main difference was attitude.

Sarah's avatar
Sarah B Community Member

What I mean by "help" is don't get paid to do their work for them, obviously. That's against TOS and it's wrong. That being said, doing a quick Google Search and sending them along with a few words of encouragement will make a greater impact on these kids VS "ooh, you're cheating! I'm telling on you!" 

 

Additionally, helping these kids understand say... essay outlining or proper research and how to access fact-checked resources is another way of helping. Sending a few links or explaining something to them isn't doing the work for them. 

Jeanne's avatar
Jeanne H Community Member

We have different approaches. I want nothing to do with them. Anything that can be flagged as inappropriate and removed because of the Terms, I want nothing to do with in any way.

 

Every student knows it is against the rules to use someone else to perform any aspect of their assignment, unless specifically altered. Information is literally at hand. Since most students (most people) are attached to their phones, and/or have laptops or even desktops, it is quite simple to access information. If their specialty requires actual use of a library, they still have those.

 

"That being said, doing a quick Google Search and sending them along with a few words of encouragement will make a greater impact on these kids VS "ooh, you're cheating! I'm telling on you!"

 

I refuse to encourage anyone who is cheating. The students post on the platform with full knowledge they are cheating. They are also posting a job that no one can do, unless they want to break the Terms.

 

I do not tell anyone the students are cheating, including the students. I am not the student cheat police. However, I'm not going to encourage them, or help them in any way. I flag them as inappropriate because the jobs violate the Terms and move on.

 

What kind of Google search are you doing the students can't? Google is free for everyone. Why do you feel cheaters should be encouraged and helped?

 

"Additionally, helping these kids understand say... essay outlining or proper research and how to access fact-checked resources is another way of helping. Sending a few links or explaining something to them isn't doing the work for them."

 

How old are these "kids" anyway? I thought we were discussing college students. They don't know how to create an essay? Maybe that's why they need to learn? They should know how before they are in college, and if they don't, there are tens of thousands of great articles, blogs, free student guides from high school level to graduate and so much more at their fingertips. If they don't know how to access fact-based resources by college, they need to learn. There are articles like that, too. Kids should be able to learn that the "I got grate grades" website is different from a site at a major university.

 

The students who post, have every possible advantage, but decide to be lazy and cheat. They are not marginalized, disadvantaged people who are struggling to find resources. I choose to help people who need and deserve assistance. Privileged students with money to post who knowingly break the rules 

do not fall into either category.

 

Anthony's avatar
Anthony H Community Member

That's a level-headed response, Sarah. Does it work?

Sarah's avatar
Sarah B Community Member

I haven't had a lot of students come to me on UpWork specifically, but in the past, it seems to work pretty well. Most of these kids turn to cheating because they're falling behind and are overwhelmed. Taking a few minutes out of my day to explain a couple of things and answer a few questions is no skin off my back. 

Raysa's avatar
Raysa A Community Member

I'd make them aware of the consequences and simply flag the work. I wouldn't go to extremes and cause anyone harm (expecially because it's based off assumptions)., but I would still flag it and keep it moving. 

Utku's avatar
Utku S Community Member

One way to handle such cases is to communicate clearly to the students that their behavior is not acceptable and that they must complete their work themselves. If you are a teacher, you can use the opportunity to explain why academic integrity is crucial and how cheating undermines the learning process.

Regarding reporting the cases, it is up to you to decide whether or not to report them. If you choose to do so, you can flag the job or assignment and indicate that it involves plagiarism. If you are working on a platform like Upwork, you can check the terms of service to see if such jobs are prohibited, and report them to the platform's support team.

In any case, it is crucial to take action to prevent academic dishonesty and maintain the integrity of educational institutions.

Jeanne's avatar
Jeanne H Community Member

"One way to handle such cases is to communicate clearly to the students that their behavior is not acceptable and that they must complete their work themselves."

 

The students know this before they break the rules

Natalia's avatar
Natalia M Community Member

Cheating and plagiarism undermine the integrity of education and devalue the efforts of honest students. It is disappointing to see that there are people who are willing to cheat their way through academia. I believe that reporting such cases is necessary to maintain academic honesty and ensure that cheating is not encouraged or rewarded. It is also important to flag jobs that are clearly asking for plagiarism so that platforms like this one can take action and discourage such behavior. Education is valuable and should be earned through hard work and dedication, not shortcuts and dishonesty.

Utku's avatar
Utku S Community Member

Natalia,

 

I completely agree with your perspective on cheating and plagiarism in education. These unethical practices are detrimental not only to the individual student but also to the academic community as a whole. Cheating undermines the integrity of education and devalues the efforts of honest students who have put in the hard work and dedication to earn their grades.

 

Reporting cases of cheating and plagiarism is essential to maintain academic honesty and ensure that those who cheat are not rewarded for their actions. It is crucial to address such behavior as early as possible and take appropriate actions to prevent it from spreading and affecting the learning environment.

 

Moreover, it is equally important to identify and flag job postings that promote or reward plagiarism so that the platform can take action and discourage such behavior. By taking a strong stance against cheating and plagiarism, we can promote a culture of honesty and integrity in education and ensure that academic achievements are based on merit and hard work.

Jayper's avatar
Jayper S Community Member

I just ignore these.  These sort of job post buries the high quality clients that are serious about their projects.  Hopefully Upwork can leverage off AI to filter through these things.