Is it okay for students to use another person - whether a tutor or family member - to help them complete their academic work?

Question

BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

When evaluating whether it is acceptable for students to use another person to help complete academic work, we should consider integrity and the learning objectives involved.
Option 1: 'No - it’s not okay in this case unless Karl shares the Tutor’s answers with the other students in the class.' This suggestion introduces a misleading exception (sharing answers) and tries to frame the issue in terms of equality of access rather than the core problem of outsourcing work. Even with sharing, using a tutor to do the work still constitutes external aid that bypasses the student’s own problem-solving process.
Option 2: 'Yes - tutors are acceptable resources to help students learn.' While tutors can be valuable learning aids, this statement is too broad. Acceptable tutor use typically means guidance, feedback, and help with understanding concepts—not completing assignments or writing code for the student. The question emphasizes completing the work, which is outside the permitted learning-support boundary in many academic policies.
Option 3: 'No - because the Tutor did the work for him, it is unfair to other students and dissolves the whole process of formulating your own original code.' This option foregrounds two key issues: academic fairness and the developmental goal of generating original work. When a third party does the work, it undermines the learning process and violates most academic integrity standards that require original authoring by the student.
Option 4: 'Yes - because the professor never said anything against using online resources' This line of reasoning conflates the existence of a policy gap with permissibility. The absence of a stated rule does not automatically authorize outsourcing work; many institutions prohibit it under broader policies about collaboration, plagiarism, and originality. Relying on silence is an unreliable basis for judgment.
In sum, the core concerns across the options revolve around fairness, integrity, and learning outcomes. The reasoning aligns with common academic integrity principles that emphasize original work and appropriate use of support resources rather than outsourcing the task itself.

Is it okay for students to use another person - whether a tutor or family member - to help them complete their academic work? Single choice

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