Papers composed of cut-and-paste excerpts from online services and CD-ROMs are the future of education. None of this should be considered plagiarism, either. In fact, I don’t see why the student can’t just turn in something written by someone else so long as the other person’s name is cited … The student of the future is not the same as an Oxford Scholar of 1895, true. Fact is, the Oxford student would not be able to compete with the computer-augmented student of the future. Times change and we have to change with them.
Predictor: Dvorak, John C.
Prediction, in context:In a 1995 essay, Cathy Gellis quotes John Dvorak from his book “Dvorak Predicts.” Gellis writes: ”He made one comment which I found particularly troublesome: ‘Papers composed of cut-and-paste excerpts from online services and CD-ROMs are the future of education. None of this should be considered plagiarism, either. In fact, I don’t see why the student can’t just turn in something written by someone else so long as the other person’s name is cited … Here’s how it goes. A professor assigns a topic to a student. Let’s say it’s the social implications of fur trading in Nova Scotia in 1850. The student explores the databases and discovers an obscure paper written at the University of Florida in 1820. It covers this topic exactly. He or she will get an A+ as far as I’m concerned. This exercise is a modern version of plowing through the library and trying to piece together a half-baked thesis with scant information. The student of the future is not the same as an Oxford Scholar of 1895, true. Fact is, the Oxford student would not be able to compete with the computer-augmented student of the future. Times change and we have to change with them.'”
Date of prediction: January 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: Controversial Issues
Subtopic: Copyright/Intellectual Property/Plagiarism
Name of publication: Personal Essay, Berkeley
Title, headline, chapter name: Distance-Learning Essay #3
Quote Type: Paraphrase
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.csua.berkeley.edu/~cathyg/infotech_writing/dlearn03.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Cooley, Theresa M.