how do you feel about student "discord" groups?

[rabbitandfox23]

I just discovered "Discord", an app that's similar to Whatsapp and allows dozens of users to stay in touch.

It has become increasingly popular among students at my University to start Discord groups for their courses, as a matter of course. I can see how it's useful esp. during covid-times.  But some students also tell me it's where students often share their work (when it should be done independently). It also happened to a colleague where one student demanded a blanket extension for a final paper and that she was speaking "on behalf" of the entire class. It seems like the students were consulting each other on Discord and saw their numbers as a way to make collective decisions and to present them as demands to the instructor.

Has anyone else  had similar experiences? Does Discord offer more pros than cons in your view?

[RatGuy]

Students at my university use Group Me. I guess it's something similar? I generally don't have a problem with students using such apps.

[the_geneticist]

It's fine if it's social, but students also use it to cheat.  Same with Slac & Groupme and Reddit.
I'm looking forward to paper & pencil exams with nothing else on the desk.  Way, way harder to cheat in that environment than in online classes.

[apl68]

It's fine if it's social, but students also use it to cheat.  Same with Slac & Groupme and Reddit.
I'm looking forward to paper & pencil exams with nothing else on the desk.  Way, way harder to cheat in that environment than in online classes.

Funny you should mention that.  Yesterday I agreed to proctor a series of exams for a student this semester.  In the past almost all of our proctoring has been for online exams.  We take the student's phone, set the student up on a library computer, and log in to the exam using an instructor-supplied password.  But this latest instructor wants the exams to be all-paper--which we'll have to print out for the student.  The instructor warned us that some of the exams will need a LOT of printing.  She's only giving paper exams because she has lost faith in any kind of computer-based exam.  I've been wondering how widespread this is.

[the_geneticist]

Needing to have a connection to the internet for online exams means students have the ability (and the temptation) to use it.  Yes, I know that there are lockdown browsers & video monitoring software.  But that assumes your students have access to a computer that has the software installed & has a camera.  Our students often don't.  And you can't rule out them texting or using another device just out of view. 

Honestly, I'd only feel OK using online exams again if the students were sitting in a campus-owned computer lab with proctors (or if we go back online and have no other options).

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

Students at my university use Group Me. I guess it's something similar? I generally don't have a problem with students using such apps.

Yep. They use GroupMe over here. One of my students invited the entire class AND me (not sure that the student intended to invite me). Think I should join?

[arcturus]

For my upper-level courses, I want students to work together on the homework, as that provides excellent learning opportunities for all (stronger students help the weaker students, which strengthens the understanding of the stronger students while simultaneously helping the weaker students understand the basic concepts; otherwise known as a win-win). Pre-pandemic, this usually meant that they gathered together in person to work on the homework. Now they use Discord.

For my GenEd courses, I encourage students to study together (since I still see it as a win-win), but they are less likely to do so just because it is a large class with people from all over campus. If they choose to use Discord, or any other app, that is fine by me. My online exams are open note, open book, open people (but timed and with randomized questions and answers), so I am not worried about cheating, per se.

I am fortunate that I teach in a discipline where collaboration is the norm. While there are core principles in my field that each student should master individually, having students work together is often the best way to achieve that goal.

[Aster]

Discord's primary user base is computer gamers. People use it to talk in real time with other people in multiplayer video games. Discord is the #1 gaming app for this, and is enormously popular globally with lots of young people.

And yes, Discord is easily set up for fast and easy sharing/swapping of data files, embedded videos, screen captures, etc... So it is an outstandingly effective tool for students to pass notes and information to one another.

[San Joaquin]

Thank you for calling us young people.  :-)

[Caracal]

I'm encouraging my students to set up group.mes so they can easily get notes if they've had to miss class. Also going back to in person exams. I have essay exams, and they were open book, so the issues were different, but obviously there was no way to prevent students sharing information, although I could see if there was actual copying going on.

The thing is that these groups are far from the only way students can cheat, so seems silly to worry too much about them.

[Langue_doc]

I've had students use similar apps to stay in touch. The downside, however, is the use of these apps to (i) cheat/plagiarize despite directions that these are not group assignments, (ii) complain that grading policies are unfair, (iii) complain that the course is too difficult because everyone in the class thinks so. I've had several emails where students have complained about information in the syllabus and used the phrase "all the other students in the class think so" to support their complaints.

[apl68]

I've had students use similar apps to stay in touch. The downside, however, is the use of these apps to (i) cheat/plagiarize despite directions that these are not group assignments, (ii) complain that grading policies are unfair, (iii) complain that the course is too difficult because everyone in the class thinks so. I've had several emails where students have complained about information in the syllabus and used the phrase "all the other students in the class think so" to support their complaints.

When I saw the title "Student discord groups" I thought it was going to be about organized student complaints or protests of some kind.

[egilson]

If you're concerned about privacy and the retention, use, and sale of students'/user's data, I wouldn't use Discord: https://privacy.commonsense.org/privacy-report/Discord---Chat-for-Gamers.

[Caracal]

I've had students use similar apps to stay in touch. The downside, however, is the use of these apps to (i) cheat/plagiarize despite directions that these are not group assignments, (ii) complain that grading policies are unfair, (iii) complain that the course is too difficult because everyone in the class thinks so. I've had several emails where students have complained about information in the syllabus and used the phrase "all the other students in the class think so" to support their complaints.

I guess, but students don't need an app to grumble about a course together and then try to pretend everyone else is also confused to deflect any potential blame. If you're teaching at a smaller school, students are usually going to know lots of people in their classes anyway. Even at bigger schools, by the time you get into upper level courses students tend to know each other.

I can see how it could be possible for these apps to create an echo chamber where a few disgruntled students can take over a narrative about a class, but it isn't like you can keep students from using them. I tend to think that at big schools, it could be really useful for students to have an easy way to get notes for a class they missed or to ask basic logistical questions.

Everyone is always grumbling about students asking dumb questions via email. If a student can get a classmate to answer the question instead of me, that seems like a positive.

[Hegemony]

If my students are using Discord to try to crowd-source the answers to online exams, they're just spreading their lack of knowledge more widely. First, the questions on my exams are chosen randomly from a larger question bank, so the students in on the chat would be answering many more questions than they themselves will get on the exam. Second, I always tell my students in in-person classes: "Do not try to cheat by looking at the paper of the person next to you. Because that person does not know the answer." The scores on the exams demonstrate the truth of this.