WHILE OTHER patrons of a coffee shop along Padre Noval Street were already unwinding from a day’s work, the pressure had just started building up for Jane (not her real name) and her classmates.
They were piecing together a marketing plan for a major subject to beat a nearing deadline, a task that highlighted their similarity with the product they wanted to sell. After all, the marketing plan was meant to emphasize not just the merits of the product, but also the people behind them.
Unfortunately for Jane and her classmates, the requirement was far from being the only one that required them to prove themselves. They had to market themselves as worthy of a passing grade in numerous other courses.
Jane would further realize this when a familiar ping from her screen put her energy juices to a halt. Another deadline to cram, Jane thought, as she opened the notification of learning management system Canvas.
But unlike the marketing plan, Jane did not have to consume energy or brain cells for the minor subject requirement. Jane paid someone to pull off the assignment – ironically an essay on Ethics – as she was unable to manage her time in the face of piling deadlines.
“I couldn’t figure out how to do it because there were already too many things on my plate that I needed to do,” Jane told The Flame.
“That’s when it reached the point where I sought [academic] commission.”
Jane is one of the many students who turn to “academic service” providers – a practically unregulated industry that offers to complete school works for a fee – to cope with the pressures of university life.
Usually promoted through social media, the services range from essays and reports to entire theses or dissertations, offering a no-sweat way to finish school tasks under the nose of education authorities and academic administrators. Although there are existing policies that punish all forms of academic dishonesty, they do not seem to deter students like Jane, who managed to submit the Ethics essay without being caught.
Experts warn that the proliferation of academic commissioning – also known as “academic ghost writing” and “academic outsourcing” – will have a serious impact on the skills and mindset of learners.
They warned that resorting to questionable means to finish school responsibilities creates a false sense of achievement, encourages dependency and dishonesty and forms an impression that anything can be pulled off by anyone willing to pay the right price.
But such long-term effects do not seem to matter for students who can no longer handle their academic load and who are more concerned about the here and now. For them, the scenario is simple: No requirement, no passing grade; no passing grade, no diploma.
From Recto to Facebook
Academic ghost writing is not a new concept as similar services were already offered even before the advent of the Internet.
Recto Avenue, about two kilometers from UST, was the mecca for such service providers, whose stalls displayed a list of school works and their corresponding prices. Owners of such stalls were usually busy doing paper works using their typewriters, with sample diplomas and transcript of records serving as their background, an image that popularized the term “Recto University.”
With the emergence of social media, those who are in the business of “academic commissioning” have found a new venue to reach potential clients. Advertisements offering writing services ranging from poems to dissertations make their way to Facebook or X feeds, targeting students who are either overwhelmed by their school works or are looking for an easy way out of their requirements.
“It (advertisement) just suddenly popped up on my Facebook (feed)… so I checked it out, and it turned out to be real,” Lisa (not her real name), a Medical Technology student, said.
Interestingly, the price ranges for the services are generally similar, although some of the so-called academic ghost writers are offering extra services to get ahead of the competition.
A number of them charge P25,000 to P40,000 for a full dissertation; P20,000 to P30,000 for a full master‘s thesis, business plan, strategic management plan, feasibility study and capstone project; and P15,000 to P20,000 for a full undergraduate thesis.
Other service providers charge by study chapter or the number of words or reference materials.
One of them charges P500 each for the introduction and study background of a college thesis. Its rates for the other thesis sections are as follows: P400 each for theoretical and conceptual framework, definition of terms and scope and delimitation; P300 each for the statement of the problem and hypothesis; P350 for the significance of the study; P70 for every reference material cited in the related literature review and P500 for the synthesis.
The cost of commissioning the research design and methodology ranges from P250 to P600 per section while the rates for the results and discussion ranges from P100 for each table to P4,000 for the entire chapter. A student who wishes to outsource the summary, conclusion and recommendations of his or her undergraduate study will have to shell out about P3,000.
The rates are higher for post-graduate academic papers. The prices of the chapters for a masters’ thesis ranges from P5,000 to P9,000, while revisions cost P2,000 to P3,000 per chapter. For dissertations, each chapter ranges from P7,500 to P10,000 while the price for revisions is P5,000 to P5,500.
Several academic service providers guarantee that they can finish their tasks in one to two weeks. Others lure customers by offering free title proposals, questionnaires, Powerpoint presentations and “unlimited” revisions. If you are nervous about presenting a paper you did not write, at least one service provider offers a free “mock thesis defense session.” Some even included anti-plagiarism and artificial intelligence (AI) reports in their package as a confidence-building measure. Clients need to be assured that they won’t be haunted by the ghost they created later on.
However, it was a different story for content creator Realyn Manalo, also known as “Ryn | Your Thesis Bestie.”
Manalo, who has over 30,000 followers on TikTok, makes “thesis tips and tutorial”’ videos and uses ChatGPT and other AI tools to generate academic papers. She recently drew online backlash after promoting a P5,000-deal for an AI-assisted research paper covering chapters 1 to 3. While the fee does not cover revisions, the content creator said in her now-deleted video that clients would receive a compilation of the ChatGPT prompts she used for the draft.
To convince potential clients that their business is legitimate, some service providers claim that they are registered with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). However, there is no assurance with regard to the quality of their outputs as their ads do not state the credentials of those who will perform the tasks, many of which are highly specialized papers.
To be clear, some tasks can be outsourced, provided that they do not alter the substance of the academic output. They include encoding jobs, transcriptions, grammar checks, employment of statistical tools and other tasks that do not alter the meat of the outputs. In fact, a number of UST programs require theses and dissertations to undergo English grammar checks. Thomasians pursuing quantitative studies are also expected to tap statisticians for the processing of their data.
‘Like asking help from a classmate’
Although tapping academic ghost writers is a form of dishonesty, many do not seem to have qualms about it as shown by the popularity of Facebook groups of “writing service” providers.
One of them, a private group called “Academic Commission Ph Services,” has more than 78,000 members while a similar public group named “Academic Commissions has about 10,000.
All of their customers want a quick fix to their academic troubles, but have different views when it comes to resorting to such shortcuts.
Jane believes inputs on group projects should not be outsourced as it could backfire once the paid writer’s work mismatches with those of the other members. She added that such services should only be considered when submitting individual requirements that won’t be presented.
“How would you defend the thesis [paper] if you weren’t the one who made it?,” the marketing student said.
“During a defense, you would not be able to defend (your submission) because you lack deep knowledge about the paper.”
Jane, who has received a perfect score with a commissioned task, said she only avails of such services when she has extra funds. Otherwise, she claimed to do the work herself to stay engaged with the subject.
Lisa said outsourcing math assignments had helped her manage deadlines during exam weeks. She also reviews the work she commissions to help her better understand the lessons.
“It’s like making them my tutor since there’s a step-by-step process… and I still study [the output] they give me too,” the Medical Technology student added.
Asked about the possibility of being caught, Lisa replied: “It’s not that scary because from my perspective, it (academic commissions) feels like you’re just asking for help from a classmate, except [(that]) your classmate is a pro in the field. And at the time when I had my work commissioned, that was my only choice and it’s like taking the risk since there was no AI yet.”
How deals are sealed
“Need someone to do my whole chapter four, [with] data analysis, [it only needs] interpretation (need by Friday) drop rate, if no rate, ignore thank you,” a social media post read.
Raizel Josh Selma, who has been into “academic services” since 2022, recently finished a similar task – a chapter one of a thesis for P1,000. Selma usually receives requests for literary-based outputs and proofreading, which sometimes includes checking a thesis.
Most of his clients are senior high school or college students who often reach out under pressure from piling deadlines. According to him, he serves at least five clients a month, allowing him to augment his monthly income by P1,000 to P1,500.
“I advertised my services online on my Facebook. It’s still my [pinned] post to this day. And that’s where they get the idea of contacting me. They hear it either from my Facebook post, that’s still up there, or through the word of their friends or friends themselves,” Selma told The Flame.
In the case of Jane, she often scrolls through X looking for someone who “specializes” in particular courses. For her Ethics paper, she chose someone whose profile indicated a “forte” that has relevance to the course.
According to her, the transaction begins when the academic ghost writer asks her preferred or required word count. Before sealing the deal, the writer gives a per-word rate — P0.50 in her experience — making the total fee depend on the scope of the task. If her budget falls short of the service’s standard rate, Jane said the writer would often ask her to decide whether to adjust her budget or walk away from the transaction.
Jane juggles her limited weekly allowance as a dormitory resident. Despite this, she had already availed academic commissions for about 20 times from her freshman year, often spending P200 to P500 per task.
Once the requirements are set for submission, Jane said some service providers even provide a Turnitin report after sending the original file of the outsourced work to assure the client that it is free from plagiarism and AI.
However, not all academic commissions went as planned.
Jane and her classmates are not good at drawing so they tapped the services of someone with a cartoon-profiled account on X for a group illustration and paid a P1,000 down payment. The drawing never came.
“When we asked them to send proof of progress, they blocked us,” she said.
Such incidents are not uncommon. A 2023 study published by the International Organization of Educators and Researchers Incorporate – International Multidisciplinary Research Journal observed that fraudulent transactions go both ways on academic commissions. The fraudsters are either “client scamming commissions” or “scamming commissioners” who accept payments upfront and deliver either substandard work or nothing at all.
“In terms of clients scamming commissioners… the client will no longer be active in social media and thus will not pay,” the study read.
“Meanwhile, in the commissioner scamming client scheme… the commissioner will either give substandard outputs or will no longer be contacted in social media,” it added.
Selma said he avoids this risk by implementing what he calls a “downpayment insurance” policy.
“I ask everyone to give a downpayment — maximum is 50% — to ensure that my work [will] not be made in vain,” he said.
The 2023 study also argued that social media has normalized offerings of academic commissions by both students from junior high school to graduate level and educators, including teachers and professors.
“Although educators are aware that this is unethical, this may be rooted in the fact that these educators who opt in receiving academic commissions needed more funds for their reason,” the study said.
Not a shortcut?
While Selma describes offering academic commissions as “basically a ghostwriter,” he claimed that these services are a response rooted in academic pressure rather than in shortcuts.
“I do get where this concern comes from… But in an educational system… that prioritizes input over merit and where all the subjects have a quota to fix, sometimes students can’t really write for themselves… And so that’s where I come in. And I offer my assistance to at least get them through this dilemma,” he said.
The biggest project he handled was a screenplay for a graduating student, who could no longer keep up with multiple requirements and had to finish a short film.
“It was incredibly taxing for him, so I stepped in,” he said.
The academic commission writer claimed to have not received criticism from clients or teachers. According to him, he even earned praises for his work. He is convinced that the assistance offered by service providers should still allow students to learn.
“The line should be drawn simply when it feels like they’re not doing any work…If they don’t really learn anything, how can they be productive citizens?” he added.
Asst. Prof. Melanie Joy Gunio of the University of the Philippines College of Education said students and even educators seek and offer academic commission services because of an “intersectionality of different problems.”
“It’s driven by many things. And I think it’s less the problem than it is a symptom of the problems… One of the things that drive this, let’s say for the student, is the focus on the output rather than the learning process,” Gunio told The Flame.
“We can see the lack of support system… How do we approach learning? It’s not just about what to do or the outputs but how to do it and for what. So there goes the curriculum. What are our goals for learning? What are our intentions for teaching students?”
Gunio noted that academic commissions have become more common during the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced educational institutions to shift to online or remote learning.
“The children did not seem to know how to do things. It’s like a more independent learning. So they’re kind of lost and all of that. And then many teachers did not know how to deliver the instruction,” the education professor said.
Jane thinks quick fixes for smaller assignments are acceptable, but not everything should be paid for to ensure that learning is not hampered.
Although his clients expect fast results, Selma said he still prioritizes originality. When AI tools like ChatGPT were released, he started to lose clients, but eventually they returned.
“As someone who writes and whose business was affected by [AI] business by what is practically a regurgitator of words, I do know what it’s like to be… kicked to the curb. And I really make sure that everything is 100% original and just from my thoughts,” he said.
At times, Selma asks his clients about their writing style so he can imitate their style and better match the typical tone and language they employ in essays.
Even with AI tools, Lisa said the works of commission providers is still “different” as it involves fresh knowledge.
Larsie Commisári, who started offering academic commission offering in 2023, charges P0.60 per word for essays, thesis edits and other writing tasks. Her works have been flagged as AI-generated twice. Commisári said she was “completely honest” with her clients if the outputs were marked as AI-generated. In both cases, her clients assured her it was not a big deal.
“I’m brave enough to sit with it even when I’m completely shocked, especially knowing I didn’t use any AI at all,” she told The Flame.
To address the problem, she continued revising the paper until it was AI-detection free.
“They told me how amazed they were with how I handled everything and how I turned the paper around based on their feedback,” she said.
“In these rare situations, I usually only need to revise the paper once. After that one shot, the AI flag is totally gone. It’s always such a relief for both me and the client.”
Nothing to be proud of
Despite attempts to justify academic commissions, such deals are frowned upon as they involve passing off someone else’s work as one’s own, an act seen in educational circles as a form of intellectual dishonesty.
While Faculty of Arts and Letters (AB) Dean Prof. Melanie Turingan is not against students using their skills to earn money, she warned that engaging in academic ghost writing crosses the line.
“I don’t see anything that’s wrong if you intend to make use of what you have—talent or gift of writing or art—if you will use it not at the expense of your integrity,” she told The Flame.
The Artlets dean emphasized that there is “nothing to be proud of” in earning high grades that are not earned through honest means.
“If you are learning this kind of practice here, you are engaging in things [that] you know are an easy way out, that everything is available for you since you can afford the future and that is also a reflection of what kind of person you are,” Turingan said.
The Code of Conduct in the UST Student Handbook states that Thomasians are expected to put a high premium on honesty, truth-telling, truth-seeking and truth-doing. Students must not engage “directly or indirectly” in any form of dishonesty, or aid others in doing so.
Turingan said helping others, while seemingly noble, should not be at the expense of one’s principles. All subjects, general or professional, deserve the same respect and effort from students, she added.
“Inclusion of general education courses that are not very much related to the degree that we are in incorporates lifelong learning that we need… The number of units of general education and professional [courses] are the same,” the dean said.
Turingan also sees nothing wrong with tapping the services of those who proofread academic papers as long as the chapters are “not changed drastically.”
“It’s okay to proofread. I will [even] ask for a pay because they had it proofread. [Because] something was amiss, there was wrong spelling, [or] wrong grammar. And that’s alright because that’s proofreading,” she said.
Turingan pointed out that the integrity of the authorship is lost once edits go beyond corrections and key arguments or conclusions are modified.
“No matter how beautifully written a paper is, if you were not the one who did it, you cannot defend it,” she said.
“Because the person who created the thesis, no matter how…the wordings seem problematic, knows his or her paper from page one to the last page.”
Prof. Jeremaiah Opiniano, former director of the UST Research Center for Social Sciences and Education, said the culture of academic commissions undermines not just coursework but research itself.
“We do not need to state the obvious why academic commissioning breeds deceit,” Opiniano, who now heads the UST Journalism Department, told The Flame.
“It [academic commissions] shortcuts the process of a student’s learning, and her or his education thus becomes costlier (on top of tuition, expenses for requirements and expenses for schooling).”
According to Opiniano, the growing global pressure to get published has contributed to the proliferation of academic commissions on social media.
“Not many find ease in writing thoughts and analyzing issues,” he added
Commission on Higher Education (CHED) National Capital Region director Jimmy Catanes said academic commissioning “undermines the very essence of education.”
“For students, it fosters a false sense of achievement, hinders skill development, promotes dishonesty, and cultivates dependency, eroding their academic integrity,” Catanes told The Flame.
“For the country, it degrades the quality and credibility of Philippine higher education, erodes public trust, creates unfair competition, misallocates resources, and ultimately produces graduates who are ill-equipped for the workforce and national development.”
Gunio said students would not be able to acquire the necessary skills if they rely on academic ghost writers for their requirements. However, she also cited the tendency of some young people to prefer things that are “instant.”
“For that person (who tapped academic services), one (of the things lost) is a sense of purpose in your learning because the ownership is no longer there… You’re just, let’s say, after the grade,” the education professor said.
“So you lose all these benefits of the process of actually learning… And we will go back to these: Why are you studying? What is your purpose for being there?”
Enforcement issues
According to the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), there is no singular law exclusively regulating academic assistance services, but its public advisory explicitly prohibits and condemns their use and promotion.
“These practices fall under violations of academic integrity and are addressed through administrative and disciplinary mechanisms within higher education institutions, in coordination with CHED,” Cinderella Filipa Benitez-Jaro, executive director of CHED, told The Flame.
“The same [sanctions for those who offer the services] will be within the authority of our higher education Institutions to act on as part of their academic freedom and/or administrative freedom,” she added.
The sanctions for students who offer or tap academic ghost writing services ranges from suspension to expulsion, depending on the severity of the offense and the policies contained in their respective school handbooks.
For educators, the sanctions are more severe, according to Catanes. They may face suspension, dismissal, or termination from their position and if they are employees of public educational institutions, they could be subject to civil service rules and may face disciplinary actions under the Professional Regulation Commission Code of Ethics.
Catenes said CHED does not have a specific policy targeting academic assistance services, but its existing frameworks and guidelines prohibit such practices through academic integrity and student conduct regulations. They include CHED Memorandum Order (CMO) no. 46 issued in 2012, which treats academic integrity as a core value in outcomes-based education and requires higher educational institutions to develop systems to uphold integrity and quality; and CMO no. 9 released in 2013, which states that faculty members are expected to model academic honesty, discourage plagiarism and refrain from outsourcing academic tasks.
CHED has also issued a Thesis/Dissertation and Research Ethics Guidelines, which enforces protocols like ethical review boards and originality declarations for these and dissertations to ensure integrity in research outputs.
Jaro said the commission has received reports involving students availing and offering ghost writing or academic assistance services through various platforms, including Facebook and other third-party providers.
“Upon receipt of these reports, CHED has publicly condemned such services as they are not recognized, accredited, endorsed, or approved by the Commission. CHED considers the use or promotion of such services a serious breach of academic standards and has issued a public advisory warning the public against engaging in such practices,” the higher education official said.
Jaro said the commission would continue to monitor, investigate, and take action on violations, intensify public awareness; encourage whistleblowing; and work close with higher educational institutions to develop stronger academic ethics programs and honor codes.
“After our issuance of notice to the public and we still receive complaints, CHED will determine further course of action,” she said.
Under the latest edition of the University of Santo Tomas handbook, dishonesty and cheating, which includes plagiarizing, performing an academic activity for another person without the consent of the proper university or college authority and submitting manufactured, manipulated or false result in research or study are punishable by non-readmission, exclusion, or expulsion depending on the gravity or number of the offenses.
Despite the presence of policies against academic commissioning, enforcement cannot be done if no one comes forward to file a complaint.
“I haven’t received any report or inquiry about students engaging in support that is pseudo-business. Apart from the usual tutoring services that one can give the other,” Turingan said.
“Honestly, there is no sanction if there is no complaint, right? How can the University act on a problem if no one informs us about it?,” the AB dean added.
For Gunio, the lack of clear policies against academic commissioning poses a problem.
“It depends on the institutional policies, the laws and policies governing it,” the education professor said when asked about the sanctions that may be imposed on teachers engaging in academic ghost writing.
“I think one of the problems is we do not have clear cut rules yet when it comes to this and how transparent are we when it comes to these policies,” she added.
In the case of Lisa, the good reputation of her former school emboldened her to outsource some of her assignments despite policies punishing those who committed dishonesty.
“At the time, I feel that they (teacher) expected you can answer the activities they give you since my classmates can also do it and the school had a good reputation with many academic achievers,” the Medical Technology student added.
For Jane, students have no qualms taping academic service providers because they can put personal touches on the output to make it appear that they made it.
“For example, when there is an essay involved, the students can change certain words or sentences to make it seem like they made the essay. I think that students who commissions also change something in the paid outputs so that the prof will not notice,” the Marketing student said.
“And since there are other profs who handle many students, they cannot know for sure if what the students passed were commissioned because it’s impossible they will recognize the style of students in making their activities, unless they handle both the payor and payee, which is rare.”
Commissioned research works, Jane claimed, are usually aided by the application Grammarly so students are confident that they won’t be caught.
“They (professors) do not really know me fully to recognize which is which from what I made and did not make, that’s why I just go with it. And of course, I also change some [parts] to be sure,” she added.
Is it legit?
Although students who outsource their tasks to academic ghost writers know that their shortcut route is risky, others demand a proof of legitimacy, prompting service providers to display their business name registration.
However, DTI National Capital Region Director Winston Singun noted that the document only confirms a business name
“Those who are selling will say, ‘I’m legit, I have a business name,’ and they will pin or post a picture of their business name. Because to an ordinary buyer, they might think ‘that’s okay, it’s registered with DTI,’ right since DTI has a reputation for being credible,” Singun told The Flame.
According to Singun, many business owners mistakenly believe that a DTI certificate is already enough to run a business.
“What you have is a DTI business name that you will use further to get a business permit from the city hall, to get a BIR TIN (Bureau of Internal Revenue tax identification number), to get SSS (Social Security Service) registrations — the business name is just the beginning,” he said.
Data from the 2023 DTI Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) report show that about 90.43% of 1,246,373 registered establishments in the Philippines are classified as micro enterprises, or those withg one to nine employees and whose assets do not exceed P3 million.
Academic commissions typically fall under the “other service activities,”under which more than 87,000 enterprises are categorized. According to Singun, service providers engaged in academic commissions can already be categorized as “professionals.”
“Now if the one performing the service is a person, they can be considered as a professional as they are already the one rendering the services for academic support,” the trade official said.
Although the DTI has yet to receive formal complaints involving academic commission services, Singun said their setup is similar to online “informal facilitators” that offer to secure government documents like TIN, passports and business registrations.
According to the National Internal Revenue Code, individuals engaged in online trade or business must register with the BIR either within 10 days from the start of employment or before starting business operations. Meanwhile, Revenue Memorandum Circular 91-2024 states that self-employed individuals are required to register with the BIR within 30 days after the issuance of their certificate of business name registration from the DTI.
BIR revenue officer Emerito de Guzman, Jr. noted that through business registration, customers can at least trace business owners through their names and addresses indicated in their business permits and take legal action if necessary.
“Well, on the part of students, make sure to ask for proof of business registration and permits… Because there, you will find out if their business is truly legitimate… It’s also not okay that you (buyers) pay first, then there is no certainty whether they will return to you,” de Guzman told The Flame.
The BIR cross-checks records with DTI when unregistered businesses are reported, he added.
Like its Oplan Kandado program, which padlocks tax delinqiuent establishments, the BIR can shut down online businesses if found operating without proper registration. The tax bureau also imposes sanctions on businesses who failed to secure a valid certificate of registration, display the certificate online and refuse to issue official receipts.
Although tax laws and regulations clearly state the penalties for erring businesses, some academic commission clients, including Jane, are unaware of them. According to her, academic services have become widely accepted despite a lack of registration.
A matter of integrity
So how do you address a serious and visible problem that no one seems to complain about?
For educators interviewed by The Flame, the key lies on implementing and strengthening policies that highlight the importance of integrity.
To foster academic integrity among students, Faculty of Arts and Letters administrators rolled out an elective course on the philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas, a subject that they hope would be offered in the entire university, Tungingan said. Aquinas, being a “prolific writer,” inspires students to uphold honesty in their academic journey rather than resorting to paid assistance, the AB dean added.
Acknowledging the struggle faced in academic writing, Opiniano emphasized that the response should go beyond punishment and focus on institutional support. He cited the need to improve thesis writing courses, saying they should not only reinforce ethics, but also strengthen students’ writing skills.
“Per-chapter writing and submission — no matter how laborious — may help in checking the real competence of students in research,” Opiniano, whose works have been published in several academic journals, said.
Catanes said the CHED is reinforcing academic integrity through a multi-faceted approach that involves capacity-building for higher educational institutions, review of policies and standard and collaboration with stakeholders.
Capacity-building covers providing training training, resources and workshops on best practices for fostering integrity, including detection methods and stronger disciplinary processes, according to the CHED regional director.
Reviewing policies and standards involves regularly updating policies and quality assurance benchmarks to address emerging issues, such as academic commissioning, while collaboration with stakeholders covers strengthening partnerships with student organizations, faculty associations, professional bodies and state agencies to tackle academic dishonesty.
Gunio cited the need to look at learning as “more holistic and integrated” when designing curriculum, noting that both knowledge and values should be given importance.
“Across different courses, we’re not just teaching knowledge, specializations, the courses we have. It’s not just about the knowledge that we gain. When we talk about competency, it is the combination of knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes. So when we look at the goals of education, it’s not just about learning a content… It’s a whole competency, what are the knowledge skills, values and attitudes that students need to acquire after this process,” the education professor said.
“When we talk about academic integrity, let’s say honesty, what are the values and the attitudes we need or we want the students to develop? So it’s part of the overall goals that we set in the curriculum.”
Acknowledging that students’ work load can be burdensome, Gunio said curriculum designers should consider whether the courses are relevant or responsive to the needs of learners and their communities.
“Also, when we look at the design in terms of the different elements of the curriculum, I think it is important that we build education that is built on trust. It’s not punitive, wherein we’re just looking for the errors of the students and then punish them if they committed a wrongdoing,” the educator said.
“We have tools for plagiarism check, which can be very effective to detect wrongdoings. These are very helpful. But again, we will go back to the goal pertaining to how instruction is designed in a way that teachers and the students are actually partners.”
Such an approach, Gunio explained, involves strategies that are not only after the students’ outputs, but also the whole process in creating them.
“So you work alongside the student, you show them the process and you walk them through, through to the final output,” she said.
But the learning process is the least of the concerns of students like Jane, who resorts to shortcuts to get a task done in the face of mounting deadlines. Paying ghost writers may have exorcised some of her pressures, but she knows that the specter of her act will haunt her later on.
“You won’t always have AI or someone to do the work for you…If you were not the one who made the work, can you actually explain your output to your boss?” Jane said.
“If you’re already depending on others’ work while you are still in school, what more when you’re out there, working?” F
