Does it really make sense to pay to do your homework?
Let me make myself abundantly clear: WebAssign is the worst piece of software that I have ever had to deal with to date! The reasons for this are rather simple: from a software engineers perspective the user experience is awful, very circa 1999. There is little to no use of Javascript for form validation, asynchronous loading, or animations. Of course there are dozens of websites like this that I use for school including Edline and Moodle, so that can be easily overlooked assuming the software has a perceived benefit to both teachers and students alike. However, that is simply not the case!
Few can complain about Moodle because it is FOSS, if a school system is not fond of it they do not have to use but, but if they do it will not cost them a thing. Edline, while neither free nor open source, comes at no cost to the student and does not require participation on the student’s behalf. Then there is WebAssign, a website for completing homework assignments online that requires student participation, increases daily screen time (which is hardly needed nowadays), and comes at a mandatory per-course cost to students! In short, students now have to pay to do homework!
What if a student does not have a computer or access to the internet at home (this is increasingly becoming an assumption and can have absolutely dreadful consequences but that is another story)? The Cambridge Public Library system allows any member to have one hour of daily access to a computer with the internet (and this is pretty good considering most municipal systems cannot promise such access). In all fairness the one hour is plenty of time to get work done, and honestly about as much time as any human being should be required to sit in front of an inanimate, light-emitting machine. However, should the student not be able to complete their assignment within this time what are they to do?
Finally, there is one other more major concern with WebAssign: it decreases the time in which a student can complete an assignment and increases their ability to cheat. WebAssign depersonalizes homework, preventing a teacher from becoming familiar with a student’s handwriting, style, etc. It also does not provide a means of showing one’s steps, so the quality of feedback decreases. Without showing one’s work cheating becomes phenomenally easier as well. Finally, most teachers seem to use 11:59pm as a deadline to prevent ambiguity, but from the perspective of a student who completes homework in the morning this forces them to churn out work quicker, focusing on completion and less on correctness.
While WebAssign warrants my concern, this is about as much time as I am willing to allot to this post. I must make this brief because I have until 11:59pm tonight to turn in my homework electronically. If you are an educator reading this allow me to summarize: DO NOT USE WebAssign! If you are a student reading this: TELL YOUR TEACHER NOT TO USE WebAssign! The perceived benefits of easier plagiarism will only determent your education, plus does it really make sense to pay to do your homework?
