December 1, 2008
SENTINEL EXCLUSIVE
FSU professor: Online music course, which athletes cheated on, was a 'state-of-the-art class'
TALLAHASSEE - The professor of the online music course that is the focal point of Florida State's investigation into academic fraud by athletes told the Orlando Sentinel he "wrote a beautiful class and it was abused."
During an exclusive interview with the Sentinel last week, Dale Olsen described how "MUH 2051: Music of World Cultures"-- a course designed for non-music majors -- became a breeding ground for academic dishonesty without his knowledge.
"It was a state-of-the-art class, distance learning, called an asynchronous distance learning course where you have no time constraints and contact with the students," Olsen said. "And it won an award and I gave scholarly papers on it. And my colleagues just loved the idea.
"And it was abused. So that's all I need to say, I think."
Related links
FSU determined the misconduct, which came in various forms, occurred when athletes, athletic tutors and other students gathered for tests in university computer labs. The most egregious abuse, university President T.K. Wetherell told the Sentinel, came when an athletic tutor "started hollering" answers during examinations.
FSU, which is preparing to submit its final investigative report to the NCAA perhaps as soon as this week, also determined during the 10-month investigation that a "Learning Specialist" employed within the department of Athletic Academic Support Services (AASS) instructed one athlete to take an online exam for another.
The FSU athletic department has undergone significant change since the investigation began. The university on Monday introduced Randy Spetman as its new athletic director, bringing in the 55-year-old former Air Force colonel from Utah State. Spetman replaces Dave Hart, who stepped down effective Dec. 31. Hart has maintained his resignation was unrelated to the academic probe.
FSU did not renew the contract of Mark Meleney, director of AASS. Brenda Monk, a learning specialist for AASS since 2001, resigned during the summer.
Athletes implicated in the cheating have been required to serve suspensions for 30 percent of their seasons.
FSU focused a large part of the probe on sections of Olsen's course between the fall of 2006 and spring 2007.
Wetherell said it became clear that the test questions and answers -- which he said didn't change from semester to semester -- had been obtained by students.
"Everybody had it," Wetherell said.
When informed of Wetherell's description, Olsen said it wouldn't have been possible for exact copies of his tests to be floating around campus, but he acknowledged that there wasn't a way to prevent the exams from being printed.
"Because the test is administered by computer and from a test pool -- 60 or 70 questions in a pool of which 40 are chosen randomly by the computer," Olsen said. "So every time a student takes the exam, it's going to be different questions. So that really negates the possibility of having the same test around."
Asked if he had explained that to investigators, Olsen said he had "not explained anything to anybody."
"I don't need to explain," he said. "I wrote a beautiful course. I'm not going to explain it. I don't think I need to. If they want to do their homework, they can come and see me and talk to me about it."
Florida State Provost Larry Abele, the chairman of the committee responsible for taking action in the case, said Olsen had been interviewed by the Office of Audit Services, and that Olsen likely would soon be interviewed by NCAA officials, who have twice come to campus to offer FSU guidance. Wetherell also has visited the NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis.
The course is still offered by FSU, with modified testing procedures.
After he finished teaching a class one night last week, Olsen, who said he would retire in June after 35 years at FSU, thought for a few moments about how students had cheated in his Music of World Cultures course. He said he had no idea it occurred until university officials informed him. And before he walked out the door and into the darkness, Olsen said, "Hopefully, this won't cause anyone great stress in their life."
Sentinel staff writer Josh Robbins contributed to this report. Andrew Carter can be reached at acarterb@orlandosentinel.com.
Mixx it!
Copyright © 2008, Orlando Sentinel
