Student plagiarism:

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Student plagiarism it needs a a special
focus

• Jude Carroll
• Assessment Standards Knowledge Exchange

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We are we remain fascinated by plagiarism.
It is an infraction that compels our attention,
that incites in us an almost prurient curiosity.
Robert Macfarlane, THES, 16/03/07

• What are we curious about?

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peoples motives
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or their foolishness

• Mike Batt
• I have been able to say in one minute what Cage
  could only say in four minutes and 33 seconds

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or their true character

• Helen Keller
• remained paranoid about plagiarism ever after
• Can we trust the truth of anything she says?

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or their honesty and reliability

• Can this document be disregarded as a whole
  because 19 was copied without attribution?
• Does this man deserve to be our leader?

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their personal creativity

• Alex Haley
• The passages were in something somebody gave me
  and I dont know who gave it to me somehow or
  another, it ended up in the book
• Does he deserve his reputation?

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Students say the same things as other plagiarists

• I didnt know it was not ok
• I didnt remember where that idea came from
• I dont know how the copied extracts appeared in
  my work
• This text is what I think. This is my own view,
  too.
• You wanted some words about this topic. Well,
  here are some Happy now?
• Students are not like other plagiarists.

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What kind of a problem is student plagiarism?

• . A moral one?
• students lacking ethical strength, only wanting
  the reward, not accepting academic values,
  already experienced at faking it when they
  enter HE
• . A postmodern one?
• reusing others texts, downloading music, all
  value systems are relative, plenty of examples
  of others plagiarism to copy
• A pedagogic one?
• forcing a clearer sense of what we mean by
  learning and what students must do to show
  their learning

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Pedagogic problems pedagogic solutions

• Not technical solutions (yes, technology has
  expanded the opportunities and access)
• Not narrowing participation solutions (yes,
  teaching more diverse students means we must
  teach differently)
• Not quality assurance solutions (yes, plagiarism
  might undermine the value of HE awards if
  ignored)
• and
• Not a new problem (yes, ever changing new aspects)

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What is the pedagogic problem?

• submitting someone elses work as your own for
  academic credit
• work product effort to make it
• someone elses work recognising others
  thinking, organising, finding, solving,
  analysing, writing. Who had the idea? Who
  made the meaning?
• as your own Have you changed it to show
  you have understood it? Have you used others
  ideas in a new way (and cited)?
• academic credit We award credit for students
  learning, not for students products

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Pedagogic solutions underpinned by learning theory

• Constructivist
• Making personal meaning
• Teacher as guide by the side

• Instructivist,
• Positivist
• Coverage
• Teacher as sage on the stage

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The key idea

• Plagiarism no work to make meaning
• No making meaning no learning
• No learning no credit
• The key action assessment tasks that trigger
  the question, How do I make that? and not How
  do I find that? or Who do I know who can do
  that?

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Collusion is especially problematic

• Students need to operate in two systems
• Social / dialogic
• Individual / positivist
• Teachers have very different ideas about when
  they cross the line between co-operation and
  creating a false idea in the assessor as to whose
  work is being judged.
• Needs particular care to ensure students know
  what is expected

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One solution match the assessment type to the
pedagogy

• If the pedagogy is positivist and individual, use
  examinations
• If the pedagogy is constructivist, use coursework
• coursework to develop higher order cognitive
  skills
• coursework to develop professional and
  interpersonal skills
• coursework to develop and assess students
  attitudes and beliefs

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interesting challenges in matching methods

• Many teachers and almost all students enter HE as
  positivists
• Students Tell me the answer or Tell me
  where to find the answer)
• One teacher I start with the assumption that
  I know everything there is to know about my
  subject
• Many students are increasingly consumerist
• Students I am here to get a degree a
  good degree
• Mismatches are very uncomfortable

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Plagiarism as a symptom

• Shows that students are not able or not willing
  to make their own work or do their own work
• Shows that students remain positivists when they
  should be making personal meaning (You wanted
  an answer and here is one I found/bought/copied)
• As in illness, this symptom points to an
  underpinning cause . probably linked to
  assessment

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Ideas for deterring plagiarism in coursework

• Most plagiarism arises from misunderstanding
• A significant amount arises from not being able
  to comply with academic writing requirements
• A small but growing number of students
  deliberately submit others work as their own.
  They say they do so because
• -they can
• -it is relatively easy
• -they believe they are unlikely to be caught
• -if they are caught, consequences are likely to
  be small

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Teachers and students and plagiarism..

• Accrediting learning. Learning as work,
• Rewarding making meaning not finding stuff
• Discounting copying no evidence of
  understanding but no evident need to progress to
  other signifiers..
• Protecting academic regulations about doing your
  own work because it means doing your own
  learning

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Distortion factors for judging learning..

• Being swayed by journalists and headline writers
• Over-focus on referencing and the finer points of
  citation conventions
• Ignoring breaches for reasons not linked to
  supporting learning

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• UK passport service (March, 2007)
• 6m passports issued
• 0.25 of applications are fraudulant 15,000
• 0.15 issued fraudulantly 9000
• 600,000 people to be interviewed
• Remote video conferencing systems to be set up
• Extra staff hired

• One UK university
• 17,000 students with 10 pieces of coursework each
  (170,000)

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So, does student plagiarism threaten UK Higher
education?

• New levels of frequency
• High levels of deliberate fraud

• Studies show consistently no more deliberate
  cheating than in 1990s
• 4 admit deliberate cheating and 13 deliberately
  broke the rules

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REASONS GIVEN FOR MISCONDUCT (c.550)

• Ignorance of / misunderstanding of referencing
  276
• Time pressure 78
• Collusion due to misunderstanding 59
• Carelessness/couldnt be bothered 41
• Expediency (intention to cheat admitted) 27
• Assessment task seen as pointless 7
• Pressure to help a friend 30
• Lack of confidence in own ability 23
• Failure to understand the material 15
• Other reason (please see comments below) 65
• Dont know 18
• Refusal to give a reason 5

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What I recommend

• Look beyond the headlines
• Avoid unhelpful metaphors
• Make appropriate judgments about risk and
  frequency
• Make changes appropriate to the real level of
  risks and threat