= Premium Content

  • Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Previous

Next

Owner of Institution Called a Fake University Is Sentenced for Visa Fraud

June 13, 2011, 11:00 pm

The owner and operator of a California institution that authorities called a scam for visa fraud was sentenced on Monday to a year in prison, The Orange County Register reported. The institution, which operated as California Union University, lost its federal certification to accept foreign students in 2009, and the owner, Samuel Chai Cho Oh, pleaded guilty in January to 12 counts of visa fraud and money laundering.

In a separate case that had reverberations at high levels in the United States and India, similar charges have been lodged against the president of Tri-Valley University, another California institution that authorities accuse of exploiting government regulations to commit visa fraud.

This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

  • Print
  • Comment
  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Alan-Bilansky/773560413 Alan Bilansky

    Interesting.  Sure fills a real need.

    Putting student records in a non-university, not necessarily secure network makes me nervous.  Attendance is low-stakes, however, and I might be the only person on the planet who worries about this.

  • http://ProfHacker.com George H. Williams

    Yes, as we’ve written before at ProfHacker, we should always be mindful of such issues.

  • http://www.theambulantscholar.com Amy R

    “The entertaining part of the app comes during class discussion: If you
    want to call on a student at random, just open the app and shake the
    phone, and it will suggest a student.”

    Entertaining, yes.  And to some extent, functional.  Ultimately, worrisome, and not just for the reason that Alan points out.

    For instance, I have a very strict “no cell phone” policy in my class. (I usually teach classes of 20-25 students.)  Lest I look like a hypocrite, I don’t use my phone in class, ever — not even to check the time.  I don’t know if using the above feature of the app would send the wrong message to students; however, it certainly wouldn’t help drive the point home that class time is “sacred” and that all distractions and unrelated materials, etc. should be put away.

  • mposner

    Using a cell phone in class for a learning purpose is good modeling for how this ubiquitous technology can be folded into the classroom and not just viewed as a negative.  I have students whip out there cell phones for in class text based reviews using the free “Poll Everywhere” web service. On my recent class evals students asked for more of these reviews, which they have found very helpful.  

    I have moved away from banning cell phone use, and instead ask students to not be rude with their in class technology use (cell phones or laptops).  That being said, I do like “Attendance” quite a bit.

  • tengrrl

    Okay I understand that the app does tracking and stats on students’ responses, but all in all, I can’t help but think it would be easier to pull names out of a bucket, like the IT Can we used to use in Brownies, or perhaps assign numbers and use a bingo contraption. 

    I could understand the potential use for larger classes, but for larger classes, I’m not really going to want to hand-enter every student. And in a small class, you don’t need it. You already know this info w/o fancy stats.

  • johnbarnes

    As a longtime randomized-Socratic questioner (and a deep believer in it), I’d say this sounds like a first-gen app with too many quirks and about a third of the options and features that would be ideal. On my own index card system I generally make some kind of notes about the quality of student oral answers and I often have some simple rubric that I can checkmark; there are several uses for that and I’d be loathe to give them up.  And I strongly agree that “everybody out of the bucket first” is a poor kind of selection.  I don’t like purely random much better.  There are selection systems that I use manually that fall in between those, and I’d like to have an array of options with selectable parameters.  And yes, security issues always matter.

    Which is to say I probably wouldn’t adopt it but bravo to the developers; it’s a good start.  Eventually there will be a better one available on tablet type computers.

  • drjeff

    No, no, no!

    You are the PROFESSOR (or lecturer, or whatever).  You are NOT a student (even if you’re a grad student at other times, you’re the teacher in this class). You (generally) make the rules.  It is modeling good sense, good rule-making and good decision-making to recognize, understand, and take advantage of the fact that there are two classes of people subject to the rules (you and them; maybe 3 if you have a TA). Do you think the police should be subject to strict gun-control laws?  Blindly saying “everyone is subject to all the same rules” even when it makes no sense is not a way to teach them to make good (or any) decisions. By all means, give them rules that you will follow, but don’t think that needs to apply to all of them!

    When I was teaching in high school, on the first day, one of the students pointed out the laser pointer I was using, and mentioned that laser pointers are not allowed in high school.  I smiled, and said, “that’s right: you are not allowed to bring in a laser pointer.”  If did a world of good for my credibility and ability to control the classroom.  I even found I was able to let that class get a little “out of hand” in discussions, and it was relatively easier to re-establish order than in the other classes where there was no such discussion.

    On the other hand, I made it as clear as I could that I was also subject to the “everyone in my classroom must treat everyone else with respect” rule.

  • raza_khan

    HI Jason

    After reading this.. wow… seriously wow…. I have issues with this app at so many levels.

    1.  Violation of FERPA is sufficient enough for me not to go on but I will for the benefit of those who see FERPA as an annoyance… (well … it is a federal law, you know!!!)
    2.  Almonds… yes… Almonds… They have been proved for retaining memory…. At what point, do faculty give up on not remembering students names.  The ONLY way you remember your new students name every quarter or every semester is to practice, practice and then some more… hold on… that is EXACTLY what I tell my students when it comes to learning math-related chemistry concepts!!!… I am sure there is an app for that.. but I am not to be run by app which brings me to my next point.
    3.  Faculty members fcilitate the class to ensure that every one is comfortable and also the fact every one’s voice is heard… Unless, you believe in Borg from Star Trek The Next Generation,  why is an app taking over that responsibility?

    Of course I see the value of technology… don’t get me wrong.. but for some reason I believe that the value of human mind, thought and critical thinking to analyze and respond to a classroom is much much more!!!!

    Okay.. back to my computer…. show me the screensaver and mesmerize me!!!  :)

    Raza
    _________________
    Raza Khan, Ph.D.
    Dr.Raza.Khan@gmail.com

  • http://twitter.com/jhengstler Julia Hengstler

    Can’t you use the iOS screen capture function to capture & share data from this app with students?

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Ryan-Sikorski/100002415904808 Ryan Sikorski

    It surely is a 1st gen app… I spent the majority of time learning iOS for half a semester before even programming. I’m a Mechanical Engineering not a computer scientist:) I think it’s something hopefully future students can add to or change to improve it.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Ryan-Sikorski/100002415904808 Ryan Sikorski

    Hello,

    Thanks for the feedback, I love Almonds and The Borg are one of my favorite parts of Star Trek.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Ryan-Sikorski/100002415904808 Ryan Sikorski

    Hello Jason,

    Thanks for the quick blurb on the app! I understand there are issues, but it was made as senior project in school (I’m not even a programmer but a Mechanical Engineer). Hopefully future students can add to the app and adjust some of the critcisims against it.

    Overall though I’m very happy for it being the first program I ever worked on (I spent half my time just trying to learn iOS and Objective C).

    I’m glad to see users outside of Rowan University using the app as well, even if on a limited trial basis.

    Thanks for the feedback.
    - Ryan

  • tptrekker

    A year in prison and another 12 months “home confinement.” I would have opted for hanging him up by his miserable thumbs except for that prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. 

  • nacrandell

    So for 12 counts of visa fraud and money laundering he receives 12 months of prison? And of course the question is how many more charges, pardon the pun, are out there but they didn’t have enough evidence to prosecute?

    Proprietary schools need regulation and enforcement to maintain academic integrity, protect students and provide educated workers for businesses.

  • 609zr

    That is three failed universities in one issue of the CHE.  There appears to be an abundance of government run educational departments.  Do any of their employees produce tangible outcomes?  Consolidate and eliminate as many of these unnecessary government offices as possible.  There are approximately 8,000 colleges/universities in America.  Get rid of all of the unaccredited, fraudulent, fly by night, money grabbers, and visa schemers.  Universities spring up like 7-11s.  It is no wonder there are so many uneducated college graduates.  Hang everybody involved including the students.  Most of them are equally guilty of perpetrating a crime.

  • Guest

    Well, as an instructor of record who has been making the rules for seven years (including some time as an adjunct), I’ve been satisfied with the results of the rule I’ve outlined above.  But I do see your point about different rules for different “classes” of people.  I do have those kinds of rules, but just not for cell phones. Perhaps you didn’t consider this?

  • http://ltlatnd.wordpress.com Chris Clark

    Maybe a revised app could assign each student a number it would use in the cloud – and only store names and photos on the device.

Copyright 2012. All rights reserved.