Plagiarism and the Online Classroom Barry Gilmore Lausanne Collegiate School March 28, 2008

A father is suppose to wish the best for his children, but Pap seems to dislike the idea that his on is getting an education, becoming better that who he was. The new judge in town returns Huck to Pap because he privileges Pap’s “rights” over Huck’s welfare—just as slaves, because they were considered property, were regularly returned to their legal owners, no matter how badly these owners abused them. “You think you're better'n your father, now, don't you, because he can't?” These examples teach us something about Huck and about society. Huck is at the center of countless failures and breakdowns in the society around him, yet he maintains his characteristic resilience.

What are the options?

A father is suppose to wish the best for his children, but Pap seems to dislike the idea that his on is getting an education, becoming better that who he was. The new judge in town returns Huck to Pap because he privileges Pap’s “rights” over Huck’s welfare—just as slaves, because they were considered property, were regularly returned to their legal owners, no matter how badly these owners abused them. “You think you're better'n your father, now, don't you, because he can't?” These examples teach us something about Huck and about society. Huck is at the center of countless failures and breakdowns in the society around him, yet he maintains his characteristic resilience. Term paper mill Sparknotes Original Online text of novel

“Plagiarism? I’d define it as an easy A if you don’t get caught, and an easy F if you do.” -Andy, age 15 Part One: The problem How? Why? Consequences Part Two: solutions Classroom culture Assignments School culture

Obligatory Doom and Gloom 40% of students have engaged in cut and paste plagiarism 77% say Internet plagiarism is “not a serious issue” 15% have submitted a paper taken, in part or whole, from a term paper mill or website

Lausanne Collegiate School

What’s on the menu? The types of Internet plagiarism Ordering in (term paper mills) Sure, I cooked that (copying) The sampler platter (cut and paste) Artificial sweetener (substitution) Hamburger helper (paraphrasing) What’s so good about home cooking, anyway? (too little paraphrasing) Too many chefs (parent help)

Good Intentions Intentional?Unintentional? Downloading a paperPoor paraphrasing Peer copyingOver-collaboration Lack of citation?

Downloading an entire paper online Cutting and pasting to make an entire essay Making up sources Peer copying Substituting words in a sentence Cutting and pasting a sentence or two Working with a partner too closely Poor paraphrasing skills Including sources in a bibliography but failing to cite in-text Taking material directly from a textbook to answer a homework question Intentional Plagiarism Unintentional Plagiarism

What are they thinking?

Accusation Admission/Denial Consequence How do we respond?

Raising a question Explanation of student thinking Explanation of teacher thinking Learning Consequence

Teachers of undergraduates “deal with” about 38% of suspected plagiarism cases When teachers do pursue cases of plagiarism, over half discuss the rules of citation with students and 48% use “informal counseling” methods (Nagelson)

First: Find out why Discuss the escalation of consequences Consider two-strike systems (with a record) Save examples to share (without names) Second: Failing Rewriting Discipline Sources on future papers Involving parents

Make parents partners through education Help parents help children: o pointers for proofing o clear expectations Move from extrinsic to intrinsic rewards Communicate early Keep a paper trail Focus on learning

Prevention Rules of attribution Digital literacy Research tools Assignment design Assessment School culture

Digital Literacy

S.E.A.R.C.H. Peer source checking Required source analysis C.A.R.S. Digital Literacy

S.E.A.R.C.H. Search using Google Scholar Examine reputable sources Assemble a source/search list Return to Google/Google Scholar Collect more keywords and sources Harvest a list of sources (and visit a library)

More to research (my notes) instructional rubrics alternate assessment defending rubrics standardizing assessment writing assessment

Assignment Design Typical advice: Specific prompts Unlikely comparisons Personal assignments Problems?

Assignment Design 2 My advice: Student choice Staged topic design Staged due dates

School Culture Unhealthy competition? Honor codes Gender, sports, achievement level Teacher modeling and discussion

WHENPRIVATE CAMPUSES WITH HONOR CODE LARGE PUBLIC UNIVERSITY WITH MODIFIED HONOR CODE CAMPUSES WITH NO HONOR CODE On tests23%33%45% On written work45%50%56%

Final Thoughts Grades 3-5 Grades 6-12 Teachers didn’t discuss plagiarism Teachers did discuss plagiarism 49%61% 37%22% (understood) (felt it was okay)

1. Realizing and affirming academic integrity as an institutional core value 2. Promoting a commitment to lifelong learning 3. Establishing the role of teachers as both guides and mentors 4. Assisting students in understanding how the Internet can help and also hurt them 5. Encouraging students to take responsibility for academic integrity 6. Providing assurance that students know and understand expectations 7. Creating and using fair forms of assessment 8. Decreasing the opportunities students have to be academically dishonest 9. Dealing with academic dishonesty when it happens 10. Assisting with defining and supporting campus-wide academic standards for behavior.

Barry Gilmore