assessment design as part of deterring students from plagiarism: Jude Carroll University of Wollongong 4 November 2011

What I plan for this presentation Changes in 10 years Fitting assessment design into a holistic approach Suggestions for programme design Three approaches to task design [Workshop: try it out, think through how to use these ideas in your programme…]

What’s changed in 10 years of managing plagiarism [in Australia]? From surprise to everyday event From students’ responsibility to shared responsibility From text-based copying to electronic & networked From assumption that all plagiarism is cheating to recognition of a range From DIY to systematic solutions

What’s changed (continued) From software as ‘magic bullet’ solution to faith in assessment redesign From personal to policy-driven

More … Diverse students [and more stereotyping and generalisations….] Opportunities to bypass work Deliberate cheating [from a low or very low base] Coursework type assignments

Why focus on assessment design? You have to start somewhere Assessment IS the students’ lived experience of university Probably high impact, relatively low demand….. but still requires push and support

Where to start? 1.Definition [Knowing what….] 2.‘Rules of the game’: induction, informing 3.Designing programmes for skills practice 4.Designing assessments to discourage copying 5.Spotting it when it happens 6.Dealing with cases: fast, fair, defensible 7.Policies for 2011 the holistic approach

The clue is in the definition…. Submitting someone else’s work product as if that work product is the result of your own work. Not acknowledging correctly the true originator of the work you submit. Claiming credit for someone else’s work.

All plagiarism is significant Copying bypasses learning [Transformation creates understanding] Credit reflects learning. ‘We do not give credit for handing in stuff’ Cheating devalues awards and threatens confidence Integrity, transparency and politeness are key values in HE

‘Plagiarism is submitting someone else’s work without correct acknowledgment and then claiming credit for the work as if it was your own.’ What students do to plagiarise: 1. Copy without making the source clear 2. Take without acknowledging the source ( for ideas, structure, research, images, dance etc) 3. Commission. They pay someone 4. Re-use. Hand in twice for credit. 5. ‘Freeload’ in groups

Focus on stopping students from copying ….. ….. the best place to start. What are the issues for students around copying? myths and ‘hauntings’ unlearning and ‘the empty cupboard’

Students explaining why they copied: “This person writes exactly what I think.” “This person writes it better than I do.” “This person writes English better than I do.” “There is only one way to write this.” “These are my own words. I copied them myself.” “These are my own words. I copied from a book but I bought the book.”

What software can do to help with copying

Stopping students from copying 1. Acknowledge students’ previous experiences 2. Recognise language issues 3. Empathy with students’ unwillingness to change 4. Provide many exemplars + opportunities to interact with them 5. Practice, practice, practice 6. Penalties that reflect the reality

Complex problem, holistic solution 1. Students know what to do and how to do it 2. Programmes and tasks are designed to make copying, finding and faking difficult 3. Detection using a range of strategies to identify ‘not the student’s own work’ 4. Policies and procedures that are fair, fast and efficient

Three strategies for using assessment to deter plagiarism 1. Setting ‘Make’ not ‘find’ tasks 2. Getting students started: no ‘last minute’ production 3. ‘It’s not worth trying’ designing in avoidance opportunities

Deterrence by encouraging students to ‘make an answer’ rather than ‘find an answer’

You say why one would encourage, one deter plagiarism. What factors influence the success or failure of speculators on the commodities market? Download a current set of commodity futures prices [ then five questions about how to analyse and interrogate the download]. If your answer to (5) shows an imperfect hedge result, explain the probable main reasons for this. If your result is a perfect hedge, explain why this is unexpected given this is a contango market. Rank the factors relevant to the success or otherwise of speculating in this example. Explain the ranking. Rosser, U of Coventry, 2008

What makes one better? Download some data. Analyse it Make a judgment [perfect hedge or imperfect hedge?] Justify your judgement. Explain the unexpected in a specific context [a contango market] Rank the factors relevant to the success or otherwise of speculating in this example. Individualised Using the data Applied theory in a specific context ‘Higher order thinking’

NO: An essay on ‘smoking and public health’ YES???: Find 3 ‘stop smoking’ websites. Create criteria to judge which will best improve public health. Rank them as being worth funding. Justify your ranking. YES??: Select xxx recent decisions w. impact on smoking. Which are most / least likely to have a positive impact? Why? Draft advice to a government cttee to strengthen the decision - include quantitative data. YES??: Here’s a case study, evaluate it against xxx criteria. YES:? Be ready to debate, ‘The best way to improve public health is to stop people smoking’. [variation: write the script in class] YES: Imagine you are xxx trying to convince yyy to fund a ‘stop-smoking’ campaign. Prioritise your arguments + support each one with cited evidence from recent reliable studies.

Blocks to this suggestion? Time and timing ( to create, to mark ….) ‘Tried and tested’ Spotting one’s own Choosing the wrong method for checking….

Strategies linked to constructivist learning theory Make the students start early (stages, drafts, chunks…..) Make the process visible and public (peer review, posting, observed) Make the process valuable (assessed, reviewed, reflected) Make the task significant (authentic, personal, individual)

Strategies linked to avoiding punishment Authentication activities Severe penalties for deliberate cheating & fraud Students aware of past consequences for students

Summing up: Can assessment design deter students from plagiarism? Programme level: Designing IN chances to learn and practice Task level: Designing OUT opportunities for easy copying and taking Policy level: Designing penalties that shape decisions

Last word Complex problem Unlikely to disappear Focus on learning, not on cheating Requires a systematic, joined up and ongoing set of actions In general, there’s more good news than bad.