4th Asia Pacific Conference on Educational Integrity (4APCEI)

DIGC101 Academic Integrity

Laura Wheatley et al. — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:00:00 PDT

3rd prize in the 'Win a prize for plagiarism' competition. 2.09 minutes long video, hosted on YouTube. A streaming copy is included below, along with a link under 'Link to full text' above.

The Plagiarism Project

Tom Marks et al. — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:00:00 PDT

2nd prize on the 'Win a prize for plagiarism' contest. 50 second long video, hosted on YouTube. A streaming copy is included below, along with a link under 'Link to full text' above.

Food for Thought

Melissa Appleby et al. — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:00:00 PDT

1st prize in the 'Win a prize for plagiarism?' competition, illustrating ideas about academic integrity. 53 second long video, hosted on YouTube. A streaming copy is included below.

“We know it when we see it” is not good enough: toward a standard definition of plagiarism that transcends theft, fraud, and copyright

Teddi Fishman — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 15:00:00 PDT

Many of the assumptions that inform the ways we respond to issues of plagiarism are based in laws and traditions that pertain to stealing or to copyright. Laws about stealing, however, assume key concepts that are at odds with the conceptual realities of plagiarism. The notion of taking something, for instance, carries with it the concomitant idea that the rightful owner is deprived of the use of that thing. Laws about copyright are similarly derived from the notion of a physical text being duplicated to make additional (physical) copies to be sold, implying that if copyright is violated, the rightful owner suffers (financial) harm. Neither set of laws appropriately addresses plagiarism, however, which can occur without depriving the author/owner of the work or the right to profit from it. This paper will differentiate the elements of plagiarism from those of theft and copyright violations, and attempt to define plagiarism in terms that accurately describe its essential elements.

Plagiarism, ethics and education: where to now?

Wendy Sutherland-Smith et al. — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:30:00 PDT

Agreement within tertiary institutions about the most effective ways to deal with plagiarism continue to be fraught with tension. Institutions often opt for multiple means of deterrence, including electronic and human detection; revamped policies and procedures to increase deterrence and instigating an overall increased awareness of academic integrity issues within the academic community. One approach focuses on ethics as a vehicle in overcoming plagiarism. Universities add compulsory ‘ethical’ units or segments within existent subjects to ‘cover’ plagiarism and other issues of academic integrity in programs. However, how is this approach operating in practice? Are students sustaining notions of ethical practice throughout their courses of study and into the workplace? This session seeks to tease out some of the current ‘ethical approaches’ to plagiarism and collaboratively examine what appears to be working or not working and why. In particular, common academic practices will form a focal point for discussion, in terms of the notion of ethical engagement with students.

Electronic portfolios: balancing learning and assessment

Gail Ring — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:30:00 PDT

In 2006, our university instituted a requirement that all undergraduates create and submit a digital portfolio as evidence of academic and experiential mastery of academic competencies. The rationale for this ePortfolio Program is to build a mechanism through which core competencies (Written and Oral Communication; Reasoning, Critical Thinking, and Problem Solving; Mathematical, Scientific, and Technological Literacy; Social Science and Cross-Cultural Awareness; Arts and Humanities; and Ethical Judgment) can be both demonstrated and evaluated. Although the ePortfolio was originally implemented as an assessment tool, its broader educational function is to make students' college education more meaningful and to assess the integrity of the educational process.

Research apprenticeship: is this the answer to inadvertent plagiarism in undergraduate students’ writings?

Ursula McGowan — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:30:00 PDT

To deal with inadvertent plagiarism, a conceptual framework based on an apprenticeship model for undergraduate education is proposed here. It aims to provide students with guidance, feedback and time to develop (1) an understanding of the rationale for the requirement of referencing conventions in university education and (2) tools for lifelong language learning and skills in emulating the writings of the experts in their disciplines.

Managing university reputations

Peter Curtin — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:00:00 PDT

There has been a failure to recognise the effects of commercial pressure on university administration, and a failure to recognise the different and incompatible goals of commerce and education. To the extent there is conflict and competition between the goals of education and commerce, short term commercial considerations seem to be paramount. Reputation management which brings short term commercial success includes suppression of dissent and criticism, and the covering up of misconduct and wrongdoing in universities. Reputation management which allows dissent and criticism leading to the exposure of wrongdoing, and then allows reform of university administrations, results in longer term improvement in the achievement of educational goals. A long term reputation for integrity may come at a short term commercial price. The competition for Asian students studying abroad has resulted in the compromise of standards of university integrity, and has spawned some spectacular financial losses on overseas campuses.

A space odyssey: the implications of moving the writing center into the virtual world

Barbara Ramirez — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:00:00 PDT

For decades, traditional writing centers have offered tutoring services in face-to-face environments, but with the growing popularity of distance education, many students now need online access to tutoring. To meet this need, some writing centers are exploring the idea of “virtual” tutoring. As we explore options using virtual environments such as Second Life for this purpose, we are confronted with a range of questions about changes in the dynamics of the tutoring process, many of which concern academic integrity.

Taking action on academic integrity at one Australian university

Julianne East — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:00:00 PDT

Despite all the work put into writing policies to reduce academic misconduct, all the writing of guidelines for how to acknowledge, and all the declarations of how academic integrity is valued, few Australian universities could say with confidence that they have a holistic, integrated approach to dealing with academic misconduct and academic integrity. One Australian university, for example, has a well-written policy which clearly outlines lecturer responsibilities, yet that university has not monitored whether staff are aware of these responsibilities and if they are implementing them. Given the heavy workload of lecturers, why would lecturers seek out policy and/or bother to carefully read it when it seems peripheral to their research and teaching? Engaging lecturers in the topic of academic integrity requires more than a good policy and a check list. Through a distributed leadership initiative, an action research project in one faculty of this university was set up to engage lecturers in taking on their responsibilities in ways that are appropriate for their practice. In this paper I review the actions taken by the lecturers and reflect on the progress of the project.

Reminiscences of the University of Sydney psychology department’s discipline-focused education of young John (1958-65) under O’Neil’s god professorial reign (1945-65): Academic freedom, fairness in evaluation, and educational integrity

John Furedy — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 12:30:00 PDT

This paper is a modification of and some additions to an oral paper given in 2008 to philosophers and psychologists most of whose current thinking is along the lines of a post-modern, instrumentalist approach to knowledge and higher education. The paper’s (long) title shamelessly plagiarizes from the title of the book by the much more eminent Donald Horne. The approach I advocate, and look back to (perhaps with glasses that are somewhat rose tinted) is one that characterized O’Neil’s department. The approach was pre-modernist in a number of differentiating respects that included complete academic freedom, education rather than indoctrination, and fairness in the evaluation only of academic performance rather than of personal beliefs and attitudes. These conditions, rather than those of such features as “inclusiveness”, I argue, are necessary for integrity in higher education. These are also the conditions which are largely satisfied in competitive elitist sports and games, especially in Australia.

The effectiveness of plagiarism detection software as a learning tool in academic writing education

Brad Stappenbelt et al. — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 12:30:00 PDT

Plagiarism detection software (or more accurately, text-matching software) is commonly employed in a punitive capacity, detecting plagiarism after assignment submission. As an alternative to this approach, online plagiarism detection software was adopted as a learning tool for students instead. A trial was conducted in the foundation unit of the professional development component of the engineering degree at the University of Western Australia. Prior to the use of plagiarism detection software as a learning tool, efforts to instruct students regarding proper referencing and paraphrasing did not result in commensurate decreases in the levels of plagiarism detected. Many student assignments submitted displayed at the very least careless source acknowledgement. As part of the trial, students were given individual access to the software to self-assess their work as often as required prior to submission. The plagiarism detection algorithm assignment-originality statistics across three substantial written assignments throughout semester revealed continual and substantial improvement in student ability to avoid plagiarising. Through the use of this software, students were facilitated to learn how to properly acknowledge sources and improve their paraphrasing. This was accompanied by a dramatic decrease in the reportable incidence rates of plagiarism. Student perception of the use of plagiarism detection software in this capacity was also very positive.

Embedding academic integrity at the University of Wollongong

Pauline Lysaght et al. — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 12:30:00 PDT

This paper provides a preliminary report on a project designed to determine how effectively values associated with academic integrity have been embedded in the learning and teaching environment at UOW. Five key values have been formally identified at UOW: honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility. These values are based on those espoused by the Centre for Academic Integrity (CAI) at Duke University in North Carolina and are recognised as central to academic honesty. Academic staff at UOW, charged with responsibilities for shaping educational policy and implementing, monitoring and reviewing processes that support the development of academic integrity across the student population, have taken part in the project. Through their responses to surveys and focus group discussions, a broad understanding of academic integrity and the ways in which it may be supported is emerging.

Pursuing mediocrity: academics should be ashamed

C. Nick Kalman — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 12:00:00 PDT

Compared to students, the big cheats are academics. They show gross prejudice in hiring decisions, and anything else relevant to advancement. Second-raters need not fear for their future: they just need to polish their bootlicking. Don’t complain unless you want to be a loser in this competition.

Embedding Copy Detection Within an Automated Submission System For Programming Assignments

Gordon Lingard — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 12:00:00 PDT

To address the problem of computer programming students copying and colluding on assignments, since 2003 a system has been developed and utilised at the University of Technology, Sydney that embeds copy detection information within the logs of a submission system used by the students to submit assignments. This creates a detailed audit trail that allows for the determination of who has created and who has copied code. Beyond that, the information can be mined to see how student networks form to exchange information.

How is research on academic plagiarism in China conducted? A preliminary investigation of the recent change in the style of writing in an academic journal

Fande Liu — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 12:00:00 PDT

This paper reports on the findings from a study on an academic journal – Academics in China. The journal, launched in 1986, is representative of academic journals in China in the field of the humanities and social sciences. It deals with the issue of academic plagiarism and other forms of academic corruption. By analysing articles about academic plagiarism published in this journal in 1999, 2000, 2004 and 2008, it provides statistics and analysis on the perception of Chinese academics about plagiarism within Chinese academe. It found that open discussion about academic plagiarism and other academic corruption in China dramatically increased after 2000 as: (1) the number of articles dealing with academic plagiarism in this period increased dramatically compared to the previous period, and (2) more authors were concerned about this issue than they were before 2000. Although much concern has been raised about this issue since the mid 1990s, no empirical study seems to have been conducted on plagiarism by Chinese academics.

Academic Co-creative Inquiry: Creating Inclusive Processes for Learning

Ksenija Napan — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 11:30:00 PDT

This paper focuses on an innovative way of teaching and learning inspired by cooperative inquiry. Cooperative inquiry is usually used as an empowering research methodology for participatory transformation and is deeply engaged with the human condition. This paper reports on its modification within a hierarchical tertiary education setting through a process named ‘Academic Co-creative Inquiry’ where teachers and students through a collaborative process co-create the context and the content for the course and mutually assess its effectiveness. The focus of this study is a Spirituality and Social Practice course within a Masters of Social Practice programme at Unitec, New Zealand. A co-creative inquiry of this kind resulted in a very high engagement of students, remarkably positive feedback about the course, very high standard of assignments and an increased collaboration between students. Peer and self-assessment, especially peer assessment from practitioners in the area of students’ practice, contributed to integration of theory, practice and experience and proved to be useful not only for students but for peer assessors as well. Students reported about personal integrity that developed during this process and emphasised the importance of the context of inclusiveness that was co-created where all voices were heard and where a range of alternative views were appreciated and explored for the purpose of learning about respecting difference. A summary of findings from this unusual and truly collaborative, student centred, inclusive and inquiry based approach is presented and critically analysed.

Links are not enough: using originality reports to improve academic standards, compliance and learning outcomes among postgraduate students

Grace McCarthy et al. — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 11:30:00 PDT

Training students on the interpretation of originality reports generated by an electronic evaluation tool can assist with the reduction of unintentional plagiarism. An initial trial by the Sydney Business School, a postgraduate faculty of the University of Wollongong, has demonstrated that a proactive approach, based on pedagogical principles, can have a positive impact on the improvement of student writing skills when compared to a retributive justice approach reliant on a student’s ability and initiative in accessing internet support resources. This paper argues that higher education should not rely on links to internet based information, policies, and systems, to educate students in highlighting the seriousness and consequences of allegations of plagiarism. The trial at Sydney Business School supplemented the use of an electronic plagiarism detection tool with instructions given by the lecturer, related to the subject assessment tasks, and discussions both on the benefits of using originality reports and how to use these reports effectively to improve students’ writing, thus providing positive motivation and consistent academic support and guidance. This paper proposes that this more proactive ‘informed’ approach can ultimately achieve better results for students, academics, and institutions.

Dialogue and Disputation: Towards an Ethics of Academic Discourse

Susan Robinson — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 11:30:00 PDT

This paper considers how to harmonize the demands of good scholarship with professional and ethical courtesy towards our colleagues in written and unwritten academic work. In the nineteenth century, W.K.Clifford and William James introduced the notion of an ethics of belief: a set of quasi-moral rules governing the formation of opinions. Using the Clifford/James debate plus J.S.Mill’s discussion of freedom of speech as points of departure, this paper takes some first steps towards formulating an ethics of argumentation: a set of principles governing the ways scholars critically dialogue with the views of others. Candidates for such principles in the philosopher’s or logician’s repertoire include the principle of charity, playing author’s or devil’s advocate, and injunctions against attacking ‘straw man’ arguments. The paper considers how to reconcile our duties towards certain intellectual positions with our duties to those persons proposing these positions.

The role of the university Academic Integrity Advisor

James Lee et al. — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 11:00:00 PDT

Queen’s University is a comprehensive, research-intensive, but highly decentralized institution located in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. As part of a new institutional paradigm embracing the broader, proactive principles of academic integrity, a new university role was created, known as the Academic Integrity (AI) Advisor to the Vice-Principal (Academic). Focusing on three key areas – awareness, education, and policy and procedures – the Advisor has broad responsibility for AI policy development, information gathering and sharing, and for promotion of the values of academic integrity. Free from the challenges of handling specific cases, the AI Advisor can focus on establishing best-practices in the three key areas, by drawing on the research, experiences, and analysis of other institutional practices from the Canadian and international environments. Numerous university-wide initiatives targeted at students, instructors and faculty members, and administrators, have brought together a variety of institutional partners to raise the profile of AI across the university. By building on a principle of broad institutional inclusion, this position thus provides a dynamic lens through which a variety of academic-integrity issues faced within and by universities, both centralized and decentralized, can be discussed and effectively addressed.