WSJ: Students outsourcing homework

By  | 1/18/2006 | Filed under: Globalization, Innovation, Technology

Some U.S. students are taking note of a lesson learned by U.S. corporations and are outsourcing their homework. Lee Gomes at the Wall Street Journal writes:

Rent A Coder enables people — usually Americans — who need computer programs to put them out to bid — usually for cut-throat prices by Indians and Eastern Europeans.

Indeed, some programming students appear to be outsourcing their way through college. “Pascal Rookie,” from Colorado Springs, Colo., has put five school projects to bid. And while he may be a plagiarist, at least he treats his helpers well: Mr. Rookie has received the highest marks possible for a buyer in the eBay-like rating system used by Rent A Coder. “A pleasure to work with him,” said one.

Is the outsourcing of learning another sign that the U.S. is losing its innovation advantage?

More on the “innovation advantage” tomorrow morning…

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Dr. John Moravec is a faculty member in the Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development and the Innovation Studies/Master of Liberal Studies graduate programs at the University of Minnesota. He is the principal of Education Futures LLC; a co-founder of the Horizon Forum, a roundtable on the future of education at all levels; and is the editor of Education Futures. He can be emailed at john@educationfutures.com.

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