Directorate of Human Resources Strange Bedfellows The interaction of student plagiarism and assessment practice

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development

Online essay site may put patients at risk Hospital patients could be placed at risk because a new online essay service might tempt trainee nurses to cheat their way through university, plagiarism experts have warned. The website – called nursing-essays.com – was launched last month as a service that provides a selection of high-quality model nursing essays, which are perfect for nursing students everywhere looking for a helping hand… Phil Baty 05 August 2005

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Shock and horror? Plagiarism is: more complicated more interesting more useful …seeing beyond the headlines

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development A tale of two surveys July institutions July institutions no total6,500 cases 30% had no casesno nil reports and named

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development What I recommend you notice Under-reporting [July, 2005 Scottish Examination Board 180,000 candidates, 500 exams 41 cases reported] Under-detecting [50% admit ignoring] Naïve academics Increasingly pragmatic and strategic students

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development You read, I go searching… Is the eBay offer a threat to civilisation as we know it? If not, what does it threaten? Be ready to tell others in two minutes

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development The point: Plagiarism forces us to rethink assessment We need to resist incorrect or opportunistic attempts to say what the rise in case numbers signify Changes to deal effectively with plagiarism will improve assessment, skills development, institutional integrity… …and learning

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Others uses of plagiarism Profit-based, market-place thinking and outcomes-based programmes have killed education Widening participation is wrong Exams are the only way to test students Managers are evil

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development respondents reported that they felt lost and bewildered at university implying that academic integration was a major issue… [it] is strongly associated with a persons perception that it is somehow natural and fundamentally right and proper… to be a university undergraduate. Such perceptions are less common perhaps among non- traditional students… First year courses should aim to make non-traditional students feel at home in the academic environment and to believe that a university education is a natural experience for people from all sorts of cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. Barnett, 2005

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development New metaphors? Not: crime war disease

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development

Four reasons plagiarism improves assessment practice 1.Shared understanding of UK academic culture and practices

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Shared understanding?… a definition submitting someone elses work as your own workWhat is that? someone elses work How can work belong to others? my own work What makes work belong to me? submittingWhat is OK?

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Submitting someone elses work as your own

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development UK learning culture Original does not mean no one ever thought of it before. It means made by you, coming from you. Your own words does not mean words that have never been used before. It means written by you. You show you know by changing things. Transformation shows understanding New means putting together others work in a new way

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Four reasons plagiarism improves assessment practice 1.Shared understanding of UK academic culture and practices 2.Better skills development

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development I gave them an hours lecture about plagiarism so they definitely know about it but I still get it. Its in the handbook. Whats wrong with them?

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development

The melody

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Are you ready to perform in a concert in two months time? If not, what do you need to be ready?

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Four reasons plagiarism improves assessment practice 1.Shared understanding of UK academic culture and practices 2.Better skills development 3.Better learning

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Better learning: process, not product Submitting drafts – they draft! Tracking the process – there is one Activity as a pre-requisite for learning

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Four reasons plagiarism improves assessment practice 1.Shared understanding of UK academic culture and practices 2.Better skills development 3.Better learning 4.Better institutional integration

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development

If you cant love it, use it Clarify your own thinking Collaborate Focus on pedagogy, not catch and punish Document and research the local

Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development Summing up Pedagogy Patience Practical help Publicity