Students prefer web over library to wrap-up projects

Are today’s students cheating on their assignments and projects, copying and pasting randomly from unreliable sources on the Internet, affecting their understanding of the subject? Has project submission become just a formality in educational institutes?

Though it is a complacent view that the ‘net generation’ is smart but the question is do the students know that they could be unknowingly plagiarising by accessing vast amount of material online?

“Nowadays, with net access the management, engineering and university students are least bothered; they just want to finish their projects quickly without maintaining the quality. The institutes are busy making money, least bothered of correcting the students,” said George Judah, former DG, Rajarambapu Institute of Business Management (RIBM).

Not entirely blaming the students for blatantly using the Internet sources for the projects, Judah said that the education system is not making the course outline interesting for the students.

“Very few students care about in-depth reading; I find the passion missing in the students and more in teachers. The faculty is less than mediocre. Students need proper mentoring and
monitoring,” he said.

Finding nothing wrong in using the Internet references, president of Foundation for Liberal and Management Education (FLAME), Indira Parikh said, “Like any other tool, students must know how and when to use the Internet as a source. They have to be aware of the incorrect web content and use reputable sources for their projects. The students must give references of the sources, which they generally fail to do.”

Using Google or Wikipedia is an easy way out said Parikh. “But just copying and not understanding does not help in learning. How to translate online knowledge into learning is important,” she added.

A student from city’s B-School told DNA that doing projects is not possible without referring to the Internet. “With enormous pressure to complete the project in given time, we find the Internet as a very quick and convenient source of reference,” said the student.