A Ryerson University student is facing possible expulsion for sharing homework tips with other students on Facebook. First-year student Chris Avenir has been accused of cheating for setting up a Facebook group where 146 engineering students discussed homework assignments worth 10 per cent of their mark, the Toronto Starreports.
“All these students are scared shitless now about using Facebook to talk about schoolwork, when actually it’s no different than any study group working together on homework in a library,” students’ union advocacy rep Kim Neale told the Star.
Avenir is the only student charged with cheating in relation to this case. He says that the conversation on the group mirrored what the students would discuss in the study hall. “But if this kind of help is cheating, then so is tutoring and all the mentoring programs the university runs and the discussions we do in tutorials,” he said