EAKIN MARK E <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in sci.stat.edu:
>A software publisher sent me a stat package that teaches and grades
>students. He also sent copies that my students could use for free for one
> semester. This is okay. However he offered to pay me if I would require
>my class to use the software and if I would sent an anonymous list of
>their grades and their scores from the use of software to him. After
>asking several faculty here, they reaffirmed my belief that acceptance
>of this payment would be unethical if not illegal at my university. Soon I
>am going to send a letter to the publisher indicating my conerns. However I
>was curious to see if people on the list feel this is as unethical as I feel
>it is.
I wouldn't have a problem with part of it: the promise to send an
anonymous list of grades and scores.
The part I do have a problem with is accepting money to influence
your choice of instructional materials.
But suppose you believe the software is a good instructional tool,
and worth what the students will have to pay for it, so that you
would require it even if this deal were not on the table. In that
case you might want to accept the deal and donate the payment to the
university, or to a fund that helps needy students buy textbooks and
similar materials. That removes the element of personal gain and
improper influence. Of course you'd still want to run this by the
university's ethics office.
--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Cortland County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com/
"If there's one thing I know, it's men. I ought to: it's
been my life work." -- Marie Dressler, in /Dinner at Eight/
.
.
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