Plagiarism is a
serious issue in today’s educational realm. With the ease of access to information,
the vast amount of resources and the expensive ability to manipulate
information or statements that are available, there is a need by educators to
be diligent in helping students maintain academic integrity (Jocoy &
DiBiase, 2006). With a massive increase and ease of access to information and
detection methods, due diligence is needed on both the educator and the student
to make sure that proper acknowledgement is supplied for ideas, works and
knowledge that is gained from these insights.
How can the design of assessments help prevent academic dishonesty?
Using proper
assessments that increase the motivation for individual thought and research is
a great way to get used to how students write and also their thought processes.
Using discussion forums is also another great way to glean an insight into the
writing styles, verbiage and thought process used by students in an online
environment. Students, especially older students, have specific patterns,
styles and ways of thinking that are prevalent in conversation and that
translates into their writing. By using discussion forums, these patterns can
give a good insight into the way that the learners will present information and
write when the time comes.
What plagiarism detection software is available to online instructors?
In today’s modern classrooms, using tools such as turnitin.com and
EVE (Essay Verification Engine) or Google search engines among others (Jocoy
& DiBiase, 2006) can offer an immediate insight as to ideas, paraphrasing,
or what’s known as copy-and-paste plagiarism (Jocoy & DiBiase, 2006). Using
these tools and the insight gained form knowing your students and their nuances;
plagiarism can be addressed and cut off at the pass.
What additional considerations
for online teaching should be made to help detect or prevent cheating and
plagiarism?
Proper education on
the rules of the fair use act, and academic integrity as well as proper
methods, when and how to cite works or ideas is crucial to the success of
avoiding and combating this issue. Another aspect is understanding the students
backgrounds adds another layer to preventing this action. As stated by Jocoy
and DiBiase, many students are “under pressure to get good grades” as some are
“being reimbursed for the cost of the course based solely under that condition”
(Jocoy & DiBiase, 2006, pg 6). This added pressure my entice many students
to partake in dubious actions, but enforcing the need for proper writing
citations and acknowledgements and offering proper education on how to write
and cite correctly, would potentially alleviate the stress and anxiety that
accompanies writing properly researched papers.
What facilitation strategies do you propose to use as a current or
future online instructor?
The best strategies I
can foresee for online education or distance learning would be the continued
education and encouragement of the learners to promote proper writing strategies
and integrity. As well using tools such as turnitin, Google (or search engines
over all) as well as EVE , could add a layer of protection for the educator on
deciphering what is plagiarized and what is not. Over all nothing will every
replace knowing your students, their abilities and their methods of
expressions. Students who have an interest in learning will change as they
continue in their educational goals to present the best them that they can,
which would include changing their writing style and methodology, and
stretching themselves into new realms to better their ability for expression.
This is the way of a true student. As stated in the Hagakure “no matter what it
is, there is nothing that cannot be done. If one manifests the determination,
they can move heaven and earth as they please” (Tsunetomo, 2002)
Jocoy, C., &
DiBiase, D. (2006). Plagiarism by adult learners online: A case study in
detection and remediation. International review of research in open and
distance learning, 7(1), 1-15. doi: ISSN-1492-3831
Tsunetomo, Y. (2002).
Hagakure: The book of the samurai. Boston, MA: Shanbhala Publications
