Curbed Creativity at the UoP

Plagiarism is a problem at every college and university. Limiting research paper topics is one way of fighting this problem.

At the University of Phoenix Online, this tactic has been taken to extremes.

I have a 1,500-word paper due this week on organizational commitment and communication. The organization I write about must be the same organization that I wrote about in my first paper two weeks ago, from a list of only eleven permitted organizations: Walt Disney, Cisco Systems, GE, Nordstrom, Starbucks, Google, IBM, 3M, Southwest Airlines, the U.S. Army, and the American Red Cross.

Ah, but the limits haven't been laid out yet in their wretched entirety. The paper must "explain how different leadership styles [. . .] affect group communication" in the organization I chose; "analyze the different sources of power found in the organization;" "identify the motivational theories that would be effective within" the culture of the organization; "evaluate the role of communication as an element of" said theories; and "describe the commitment of the workforce to the organization and their relationship to the organization's communication."

The paper practically writes itself! Apart from being horribly boring, such strictures placed on paper topics and content do not lend themselves to a positive learning experience. Research paper assignments at most schools allow the student enough leeway to permit him or her to engage the learning experience in a way that best suits the individual student's areas of interest.

There are aspects to the programs at the University of Phoenix Online that can be disheartening, but are in truth no different than the problems experienced by brick and mortar institutions. This is one of the few exceptions that give me heartburn. The situation is hardly as bad as that in the team learning assignments, but it is still irritating.

I've whined at length about other objections I have to the learning format in place for my MSA program at the UoP, but this one doesn't deserve as much attention - but it is worth knowing about for those of you considering the UoP for further education.

So excuse me - I've got a paper to write.