Dustin Stout, Carrie Chalker, Kayla Becker and Tara Knott contributed to this multimedia story.

If a simple little lie could get you your dream job, would you tell it?

The answer to that question has made educational fraud into a billion-dollar business. Diploma mills are everywhere, and like a game of global Whac-A-Mole, as soon as you find one, it disappears and pops up somewhere else.

What’s a diploma mill?

Steven Reed, former director of postsecondary education for the Tennessee Higher Education Commission, said diploma mills provide “no educational content for a credential.  That’s the simplest definition.”

Clients pay these mills a fee and receive a degree in return.  And the more you pay, the better your degree – many mills now offer masters’ and doctoral degrees.  For an additional charge, some will even provide you with a false transcript.

But why would anybody purchase a fake degree?

Imagine this.  You dropped out of high school to work at your family’s business and have been making good money, but with the economy in shambles, you have to close.

“You might have even legitimately tried to go back and get your GED and not passed.  But you need to feed your kids,” Reed said.  “What do you do? Spend a little money, get a diploma, get a job.”

For this reason, most customers of diploma mills don’t see themselves as victims – that is, until they get caught using a phony degree and are charged with fraud.   The diploma mills generally escape all responsibility because of four little words on their website: “For entertainment purposes only.”  This allows the mill to claim they were just providing the customer with a service and had no idea it would be used for illegal activities.

What is the government doing to stop diploma mills?

Diploma mills one of the hardest criminal industries to track because most people who purchase their products know what they’re getting into.

“They’re not walking in blind. They know that they’re paying a fee, and that fee means no educational content and you give me my credential,” Reed said.

But on occasion, an unknowing consumer might be browsing the web for a way to earn an online degree and stumble into the hands of a diploma mill.  And when that consumer realizes they’ve been duped, Reed said, that’s when the government can hunt the mill down.

Many mills hide behind a religious disguise, so some states, including Tennessee, have laws that allow the government to get involved with a religious school because that school is providing a secular degree to its students.

Still, catching and closing a mill isn’t enough – the biggest problem is keeping it closed.

“If [diploma mills] get caught, they just simply shut down and they move somewhere else. It’s a game for them, in a way,” said Reed. “They know the laws, and they probably know them even better than some of the state administrators.”

To shut them down for good, he said, “it really takes some folks that are constantly in the game keeping up with it.”

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Covered by Christian Rich, Audrey Schaulat, Amanda Short and Jen Todd

After answering a knock on the door, a mother is beaten and stabbed, and her 4-day-old infant has been kidnapped.

In September 2009, this is the situation Nashville Metro Police Department and soon the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation found themselves in.

Tammy Silas, an Alabama resident, posed as an immigration official in order to gain access to the child, then fled after assaulting the mother.For three days, TBI agents and its Fusion Center, along with FBI analysts, funneled the various tips on Silas’ whereabouts leading to her arrest and the child’s safe return.

Crimes like this have become increasingly easier to solve thanks to the Fusion Center.

Open and functioning since 2007, the Fusion Center is an information sharing center that brings together information from local agencies to form an “analytic resource.” Statistics from campus police units are included in this wealth of information in compliance with the 1989 College and University Security and Information Act.

This is in line with national trends that show violent crimes have been decreasing since the late 90s according to the National Crime Victimization Survey.

According to TBI records, from 2009-2010, reported offenses decreased 4.6% on Tennessee college campuses.

Since Belmont started its crime prevention program, campus violence has slightly decreased from past years, Belmont Investigations and Special Initiatives Major Renee Albracht said.

Every month, Nashville’s Metro Police Department hosts crime stoppers meetings to discuss crime trends among local colleges, universities, police departments and hospitals.

http://prezi.com/5gqi2onn1eqc/copy-of-copy-of-future-of-magazines/

Gene Policinski sat down with Collier Roberts, Amanda Stravinsky, Grace Thomas and Elise Tweston to talk about multimedia and how journalists can keep up with the ever-changing Internet.

The Evolution of The Internet: For better or for worse?

By: Collier Roberts

             A pioneer, by definition, is a person among the first to develop or be the first to use or apply a new method or area of knowledge.

Gene Policinski, a founding editor of USA Today, and now vice president of the First Amendment Center, has become a pioneer of sorts, with what he calls his “Grand Theory of the Internet,” educating journalists all around the world of the evolution of internet as it relates to journalism, for better or for worse.

“The Internet has come from being a toy, to a tool, to a necessity,” Policinski said.

This is his grand theory of the Internet.

With the evolution of the Internet, from its birth until now, new technology has now allowed the consumer to become the editor. But with that, as Policinski explains it, comes a push and a pull.

“I love the fact that I can make judgments about what I want to read at any given moment, and get it when I want it,” said Policinski. “But I also expect out there to be a professional who will make a decision that I need to know this. I have never been so well connected and over informed.”

Since the Internet has gone from being a toy, to a tool, to a necessity, somewhere in the mix some discipline has been lacking. Because the Internet is heavily relied upon in society, consumers have become overwhelmed, according to Policinski.

“We are overwhelmed with the tools and we’re overwhelmed with the reach and the ability to put it out there and we’re not making enough decisions about what we’re putting out there,” said Policinski.

So has this evolution of the Internet in the eyes of journalists been for the better or for the worse?

Policinski could argue for both.

Since the rapid growth of the Internet, people have more access to information than ever before. The consumer, can now become in the editor in the sense that you can choose what you want to see, read or hear at any given time.

But since technology has come this far, therein lies the issue of credibility. All media outlets are looking to have their information out first, and because of the way the Internet has developed, they are able to do that, but is it always correct or even newsworthy?

Policinski does believe that there is hope for the way a journalist can thrive in this age of rapid Internet growth.

“Due to the growing number of critics, credibility is the only thing we have left. Credibility is what we have to market, to bring to the news report and that is everything.”

Policinski gave three ideas in order for journalists to gain the trust of the viewers and readers back during the age of necessity of the Internet.

“Get it right. Be accurate, timely, and consistent with a follow up,” said Policinski. “If you do these things, you will be in good shape.”

Dr. Syb

Robinson also has Spelling Bee coordinator to add to the list. Spelling bees have been a part of Dorren’s life for over ten years now as the self-proclaimed “word freak” shares, “I think because I have an English accent, people think I’m good with spelling.” Robinson first got her start with spelling bees when she was working at a newspaper and asked if she could take charge of the local Metro spelling bee. Robinson sarcastically shares how that spelling bee ended in and hour and half of appeals.

This year marked her tenth year hosting the Regional Spelling bee for Middle Tennessee. Robinson shared how many of the families have become staple participants over the years, and how she has watched younger siblings of spellers grow up and become spelling bee participants themselves.

When asked about being a spelling bee participant herself, Robinson quickly recalls being 11 years old, living in New Jersey and getting out on a word due to differences in pronunciation.

One word she will not get out on if put to the test, however, is liaison. Robinson confesses she highlights that word in every dictionary she comes across.

Robinson’s most interesting tale in the spelling bee world would have to be the time a kid with autism memorized the entire book of assigned words. Unfortunately, the mother of the gifted child had mispronounced one of the words when reviewing, which ended in quite the upsetting spelling bee.

Another word Robinson knows all too well is Wagnerian pronounced with a V, which has proved to stump a number of spellers in the past.

This year proved no different for a kid who missed it as well.

Robinson is sure to continue helping with spelling bees and live out her love of words, misspelled or not.

“I misspelled librarian! Then I told my friends that I did it on purpose because I didn’t want to be in the spelling bee…I lied.” – Kara Bellefant

“I went up to spell my word, which was floral, and I acted like it was written on my hand and said it as if I was reading it off my hand.” – Dillon Bock

“Insomnia. I lived in Miami and the teacher had a crazy accent so I had no idea what he asked me to spell. I said insomBia. Twice.” – Brooke Wilder

“Believe, I spelled it beleive, it has haunted me ever since.” – Caleb Hickman

“I spelled “chromatic” incorrectly on purpose because I didn’t want to be in the school district competition.” – Amanda Tincher

“I spelled general as generel. Lol. I knew there were two e’s and I didn’t count correctly when spelling it out loud.” – Joanna Rolan

“3rd grade…I misspelled “clock” – yeah. definitely destined to be a music business major. I don’t remember how I spelled it though…it’d be kind of difficult to mess that one up!” – Megan Wagner

“This made me laugh. I misspelled “linear”. It was before I knew it was a math term.” – Emilee Murphree

“I misspelled melanoma. I avoided reading through the study list of medical terms since I didn’t think I could do it.” – Courtney Swim

“2nd grade… “lagh” instead of “laugh” somehow I became an English major.” – Ashley Francis

“We’re looking for people, businesses and non-profits with ideas that will have a positive impact. Look around your community and think about how you want to change it.” This is the mission statement found on refresheverything.com Pepsi’s official website for the Refresh project. Basically, the program allows you to pitch your idea in 70 characters or less on how to improve the world. They take 1,000 applicants a month and allow users to vote up to 10 times a day for their favorite project. The slogan benefiting Pepsi at the end of the day is ‘Every Pepsi refreshes the world.”

I think this project may have all the components to be wildly successful for both Pepsi and its applicants. What people are looking for in business now is heart. Who cares the most about their customers, who puts the most passion into what they’re doing. You can see in the book “Mavericks” that companies like ING, those innovators putting people first, are the ones soaring. Furthermore, Pepsi or Coke, Pepsi or Coke, what gives either one an edge besides those entirely divided by flavor: marketing.  People will believe in this project and more fully stand behind Pepsi because in essence Pepsi is standing behind them.

It is also a brilliant move to Crowdsource and allow people to vote on their favorite projects.  Crowdsourcing provides ownership and community building. Overall I say…good move Pepsi.

I vowed to never give in. I thought I could stay strong. Then one day I was left unsupervised and it happened.

I have a confession to make: I’m a Farmviller.

Now before you quit reading—hear me out. Just like 80 million other users, curiosity got the best of me; after my first cow I was hooked. I planted my crops, made farmer friends, gathered livestock and still haven’t lived it down from my friends.

At one point I was checking my Facebook every 4 hours to milk a cow or plant some corn. Believe me—I have known all along that Farmville is quite possibly the most pointless game ever and it didn’t deter me.

But I’m not alone in the farm-fatuation.

Mashable.com

To this day I’m still quite unsure what allure there is to manually clicking 50 separate plots of land three times in a row to make fake money so you can buy fake seeds to plant all over again? There’s even an option to spend REAL money to buy fake money to buy fake seeds that will harvest fake crops.

So I guess my question is: When did American’s lives become this boring?

And with that, I’ll leave you with one YouTuber’s explanation.

If you’re curious how I’m doing with my problem, I’m happy to report that I’ve been Farmville free for five days and counting. My roommates are expecting a full recovery. Here’s proof of my barren farm.

If you or a loved one is still struggling, seek help here:

HOW TO: Block FarmVille on Facebook

Online FarmVille game ploughs new fields of revenue – Times Online‘

‘FarmVille’ gamemaker Zynga sees dollar signs – Fortune Brainstorm Tech