Academic cheating is a problem that all educators face at some point in their teaching career. I believe that teaching students about plagiarism, as well as how to avoid it, from a young age is critical to their future academic success. One method that we can use to help students avoid plagiarism is to show them examples of plagiarized material and then how to use that same information in an assignment using the students' own words. I love the idea of making this an activity in class one day at the beginning of the year, especially for middle and high school students!
Since academic cheating/plagiarism is not confined to writing assignments, I strongly feel that it is so important as a school librarian to ensure that teachers understand the various forms that cheating/plagiarism can take. Leading a professional development session is one possible way to educate teachers about more technology-based forms of academic wrongdoing.
What do you make of the data I asked you to read? Any other ideas about instruction students besides showing examples?
ReplyDeleteWhat jumped out at me most from the data that I read was the idea that most teachers, administrators, and students have no idea about the limits set on how much information can be used (even for educational purposes) while still remaining within the Fair Use Guidelines. With regards to college students' thoughts on plagiarism, I was not at all surprised to find that most think it is easier to plagiarize with technology (in fact, I thought 52% was a very small number!). Rather than asking "should teachers enforce plagiarism violations?" I would have been interested to see responses to "DO teachers enforce violations?"
DeleteI would not just show students examples of plagiarism and how to avoid it - as stated, I think making this a class activity would give students first-hand experience manipulating information and incorporating it in a legal, ethical way in an assignment. I believe that hands-on instruction in plagiarism will be much more effective than merely talking to students about its dangers.
Jessica, I think your question, "DO teachers enforce violations?" is an interesting one as well. I think with today's technology, like the popular Turnitin, it would be hard for teachers NOT to enforce violations.
ReplyDeleteFair Use Guidelines is also another area of interest to me. As an educator, I was really never aware of the guidelines. I'm thankful this course brought me into awareness. This is information that I can now share with others, if asked.
Your idea of having a professional development session dedicated to these issues is great! Even those who think they know the rules and guidelines would benefit from a refresher course!
Hi Jessica,
ReplyDeleteI believe that professional development should be the first step in the "battle against plagiarism/academic misconduct". I have learned that in order to implement new teaching strategies it seems to always help to get all teachers on board. I too, believe that many students are unaware that they are actually plagiarizing (for example: the data presented by Dr. Strange). It is essential that we teach what constitutes plagiarism, before we began to penalize students for it.
Hi! I noticed that you haven't posted in a while. I hope all is well!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Larry. You have to start with a cohesive understanding in a school of what plagiarism is - a definition if you will. You must make sure all English teachers are on the same page and that all other teachers will enforce the rules. Many teachers do not enforce the rules because they do not understand what plagiarism is. That is sad.
We must teach in our classes what we define as plagiarism and then enforce the consequence.
Good Luck!