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?

Assessment Standards Knowledge exchangeBusiness School people’s motives…

Assessment Standards Knowledge exchangeBusiness School …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”

Assessment Standards Knowledge exchangeBusiness School …or their true character… Helen Keller “remained paranoid about plagiarism ever after” Can we trust the truth of anything she says?

Assessment Standards Knowledge exchangeBusiness School …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?

Assessment Standards Knowledge exchangeBusiness School …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?

Assessment Standards Knowledge exchangeBusiness School 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.

Assessment Standards Knowledge exchangeBusiness School 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

Assessment Standards Knowledge exchangeBusiness School 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)

Assessment Standards Knowledge exchangeBusiness School 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

Assessment Standards Knowledge exchangeBusiness School 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’

Assessment Standards Knowledge exchangeBusiness School 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?’

Assessment Standards Knowledge exchangeBusiness School 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

Assessment Standards Knowledge exchangeBusiness School 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

Assessment Standards Knowledge exchangeBusiness School 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

Assessment Standards Knowledge exchangeBusiness School 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

Assessment Standards Knowledge exchangeBusiness School 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

Assessment Standards Knowledge exchangeBusiness School 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’

Assessment Standards Knowledge exchangeBusiness School 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

Assessment Standards Knowledge exchangeBusiness School 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)

Assessment Standards Knowledge exchangeBusiness School 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

Assessment Standards Knowledge exchangeBusiness School 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

Assessment Standards Knowledge exchangeBusiness School 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