Human Resources The Student Plagiarism story continued: Induction, skill development and detection Jude Carroll Oxford Brookes University

Human Resources Help 1 : ‘complex problem, complex solution(s)’ Good induction Teaching the skills Course design: designing out easy cheating, designing in practice Detection using a range of strategies Fair punishments, transparent decisions Procedures designed for large numbers

Human Resources I admit ……. Students are not following the rules because they don’t know they exist Students are not following the rules because they are confused about how to comply (and it’s difficult to do). Students are not following the rules because they are cheating / deliberately breaking them and every variation in between these positions…..

Human Resources Hindering 2: relying on teaching ‘referencing’ …make the work or find the work? ….give readers a true impression or fool them? …am I confident enough to risk writing my own instead of finding it?..do I have the skills to do a good one? How do I reference this person’s ideas that I found in my research?

Human Resources Q: What helps students be ready to follow the rules? One answer: Induction ‘Ensuring students know their responsibilities’ Induction: necessary but not sufficient Doing, not telling Avoiding multiple repeats Needs will change as levels rise……. Think about revisiting induction later on?

Human Resources Students will follow the rules…. 1.if they know what they are, 2.If they have the skills to do so, 3.If they can see no other way to meet the requirements, and 4.If you defend and protect the rules and are seen to be doing so…..

Human Resources Analysing Evaluating Paraphrasing Summarising Structure Supporting personal opinions with others’ authority ‘Mining’ texts Using referencing systems taking apart; creating & answering sub-questions making judgments (value, reliability, authority others’ words and views what goes first, what order to put things in etc Finding authority Citing and acknowledging

Human Resources Good practice for detection Fair: Students know the rules & have the skills A range of strategies are used Effective; Pro-active and reactive Staff have the skills to do it Efficient Skill sharing Agreement on what is ‘enough’ evidence

Human Resources Electronic text-matching: Should we use it? Advantages Allows you to screen Tells you where to look Probably fairer because it does not just use change of language Speed Makes a record Studies have been done to show reliability Disadvantages Only covers perhaps 40% Only useful for some plagiarism. Useless for translation, ghost writing, good ‘smoothers’… Still requires academic judgment and academic time Most students do not cheat so time spent is useless

Human Resources Use a wide range of detection strategies. electronicmanual Proactive ‘Should I look carefully at anyone’s work? Using a commercial tool (Urkund, Turnitin, etc) Matching exams and coursework Viva xx% Meta-writing task Keeping the order of submission Reactive ‘Is this really the student’s own work?’ Advanced Google search ‘Properties’ function checking formatting, Using a commercial tool (Urkund, Turnitin etc) changes in language Changes in referencing Changes in formatting, word processing Off the topic Too advanced language or content Inappropriate words, content

Human Resources ‘Detection’ is a process….. suspicion investigation confirmation action

Human Resources Final stages: dealing with cases How much evidence? Classifying the seriousness Matching penalty to the level of breach Keeping records Monitoring and learning from data