Assessment Standards Knowledge exchange Student plagiarism: ‘it needs a a special focus’ Jude Carroll Assessment Standards Knowledge Exchange

Assessment Standards Knowledge exchange

Student plagiarism:

‘it needs a a special focus’

Jude Carroll

Assessment Standards Knowledge Exchange

Assessment Standards Knowledge exchangeBusiness School

“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?


people’s motives…


…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”


…or their true character…

Helen Keller“remained paranoid about plagiarism ever after”

Can we trust the truth of anything she says?


…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?


…their personal creativity

Alex Haley ‘The passages were in something somebody gave me and I don’t know who gave it to me… somehow or another, it ended up in the book’

Does he deserve his reputation?


Students say the same things as other plagiarists

• I didn’t know it was not ok• I didn’t remember where that idea came from• I don’t 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.


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


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)


What is the pedagogic problem?

‘submitting someone else’s work as your own for academic credit’

‘work’ product + effort to make it

‘someone else’s 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


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’


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?’


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


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


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


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


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


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’


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


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)


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


REASONS GIVEN FOR MISCONDUCT (c.550)

Ignorance of / misunderstanding of referencing 276

Time pressure 78

Collusion due to misunderstanding 59

Carelessness/couldn’t 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

Don’t know 18

Refusal to give a reason 5


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

Documents

Assessment Standards Knowledge exchange Student plagiarism: ‘it needs a a special focus’ Jude Carroll Assessment Standards Knowledge Exchange