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May 26, 2009, 11:02 AM ET
Online Professors Pose as Students to Encourage Real Learning
Jane Malan and Bill Reed are cousins in deception. They infiltrate online courses and secretly collect information about students by blending in with them.
She comes off as a clever thirty-something, with a photo that shows strong features. He poses as a silent twenty-something with some skill at fishing — his photo depicts him holding what appears to be a large rockfish.
A classmate once asked the goateed fisherman to get together, a doomed romance for one reason: He does not exist.
Both Mr. Reed and Ms. Malan are the alter egos of real professors. As The Chronicle reports today, the characters belong to a small group of “ghost students” that academics in Indiana, Connecticut, and South Africa have injected into online courses to kick-start discussions among students, keep them from dropping out, and spy on their communications.
The deceit has provoked questions about faculty ethics. Two of the professors admit that their unreal students teeter on an ethical precipice, because the technique could be abused. Others in the distance-education community accuse them of falling over the cliff. The critics worry such behavior could scar the image of an education sector many still regard with skepticism.
What do you think? Is posing as students ethical? Or does it cross the line? —Marc Parry
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