The Psychology of Bad Teaching

Abstract

The perception that Internet plagiarism by university students is on the rise has alarmed college teachers, leading to the adoption of electronic plagiarism checkers, among other responses. Although some recent studies suggest that estimates of online plagiarism may be exaggerated, cause for concern remains. This article reviews quantitative studies of student plagiarism over the past forty years, as well as academe's generally weak response. It also offers strategies for addressing cyber-plagiarism and argues that faculty should act as educators, rather than as detectives.     

Evaluation of intervention on Chinese graduate students’ understanding of textual plagiarism and skills at source referencing

Abstract

Textual plagiarism is a serious violation of established academic protocols, but it requires considerable writing experience and care to avoid as well. Although student understanding of textual plagiarism and their plagiaristic behaviour in English as a Second Language (ESL) and English as a Foreign Language (EFL) contexts have been quite well researched, few studies have sought to evaluate instructional interventions specifically designed to reduce plagiarism by empowering student writers with a better knowledge of plagiarism and skills at source referencing. To the best of our knowledge, no study to date has ever systematically assessed students’ understanding of plagiarism and their source referencing performance in response to intervention. This classroom-based research, at a university in Beijing, aimed to discover whether a 6-hour block of instruction could facilitate better understanding of plagiarism and appropriate source referencing skills. The results showed that the intervention did generally give students a better appreciation of how textual plagiarism looks and significantly reduced blatant and subtle plagiarism in their writing. However, students’ heavy reliance on original source language did frequently reoccur in student writing if in less clear-cut ways. Some helpful lessons were drawn from this study.     

The Use of the Cloze Testing Procedure for Detecting Plagiarism

Teachers have been long concerned with the problem of detecting plagiarism. This study was undertaken to determine whether the cloze procedure might provide an objective, reliable, and practical method for detecting plagiarism. The objectives of the study were to: confirm that a plagiarism effect on cloze test scores exists; determine whether, if so, it is large enough to be of practical utility in detecting plagiarism; and, assuming a substantial effect is found, ascertain whether its magnitude varied as a function of the subject matter of the topic assigned, native language of the examinee, or race of the examinee. The results of this study comparing cloze test performances by plagiarists and non-plagiarists indicated substantial differences in error rates for these two groups. The data support the original hypothesis that the cloze procedure may be used as a valid and sensitive measure for discriminating plagiarists from non-plagiarists.     

Legacies of empire: from the “religions of China” to the “Confucian heritage” learner

ABSTRACT

In this article, we delve into the characterisation of international students as “Confucian Heritage” learners. To appreciate the implications of such iterative interpellation, we develop a genealogy of Sinology, which is here approached as the discursive effect of a colonial epistemic division of the world into free and democratic West and civilised and yet authoritarian East. In mapping the deployment of such heuristic in the management of international affairs during and after historical colonialism, we moreover demonstrate how the derivative characterisation of international students as “rote”, “dependent”, and inherently “prone to plagiarism” learners has been used to explain racism without race – that is, the epistemic exclusion of international students as a matter caused by factors other than race: lack of socially relevant cultural skills and communication barriers.     

Openness and reciprocity: Indigenous community requirements for hosting university students*

ABSTRACT

Although there is a substantial literature critical of the colonising discourses of higher education in both teaching and learning and research, there has been relatively little commentary about work integrated learning (WIL) from an Indigenous perspective. Currently, the higher education discourse of WIL is dominated by a teaching and learning perspective, which focuses almost entirely on the benefits to the student and/or the educational institution. This leaves the Indigenous community experience invisible and continues to reinforce a neo-colonial relationship between higher education providers and Indigenous people. This article reports the findings of a study undertaken in partnership with the Aboriginal community of Cherbourg in Queensland, Australia, which sought to understand the community experience of students undertaking WIL within Cherbourg. Twenty yarns, undertaken by a research assistant employed from the community, provided the basis for identifying key meanings and requirements of the community in their hosting of higher education students. The recent experience of students by the community was found to be positive with reciprocity, openness and practical benefit over time being central concerns. The study concludes that WIL with Indigenous agencies and communities requires decolonising, temporal and relational frames to be employed in the process of negotiating the purpose and processes of higher education student engagement.     

Helping Each Other: Relations between disabled and non-disabled students on Access programmes

his article highlights issues concerned with the nature of relationships between disabled students and their non-disabled peers in further education. An investigation of the relationships between disabled and non-disabled students is undertaken within a critical ethnographic framework. The interaction between students is located within a wider societal context, with a particular emphasis upon identifying the impact of oppressive social forces. Deaf students, and students with dyslexia are the particular focus of this article as a case study within a wider disability debate. The findings point to a lack of contact between disabled and non-disabled children in primary and secondary education as being an important factor in relationships between these two groups in tertiary education. A variation in experience is highlighted between the different colleges and also different Access programmes within the same institution, which raises questions about notions of fairness and equality within the Access system. Recommendations are made for the recruitment and induction of disabled and non-disabled students leading to a more integrated approach.     

Dimensions of student success: a framework for defining and evaluating support for learning in higher education

ABSTRACT

The capabilities students need for success during and beyond higher education extend far beyond specific discipline skills to include the development of productive mindsets, the management of life circumstances and the way they relate to others and identify with their profession. The provision of support for these capabilities at university can be both diverse in scope and diffuse in delivery. Consequently, the development of streamlined and integrated evaluation strategies to measure the extent to which these capabilities are being successfully delivered can be challenging. This paper describes how one Australian university used a collaborative process to design an evaluation framework for student learning services. The framework, a first for this university, represents the breadth of student support, including a typology of support for learning: connectedness, mindsets, self-management, professional identity and academic capabilities. These terms, coined as dimensions, form the scaffold of university-wide delivery of support for learning initiatives.     

Exceeding expectations: scaffolding agentic engagement through assessment as learning

Background: The active involvement of learners as critical, reflective and capable agents in the learning process is a core aim in contemporary education policy in Australia, and is regarded as a significant factor for academic success. However, within the relevant literature, the issue of positioning students as agents in the learning process has not been fully examined and needs further exploration.

Purpose: This study aims to explore ways in which aspects of self-regulated learning theory may be integrated with the concept of agentic engagement into classroom practice. Specifically, the study seeks to scaffold students’ self-assessment capabilities and self-efficacy by using a formative assessment-as-learning process. The research examines how scaffolded planning, as part of the forethought phase in the Assessment as Learning (AaL) process, influences self-regulation and student agency in the learning process.

Sample: 126 students from school years two, four and six (student age groups 7, 9 and 11 years), and 7 teachers at an independent (co-educational, non-religious) primary school in the Northern Territory, Australia, participated in the study.

Design and methods: Conducted as a one-setting, cross-sectional practitioner research study, the data sources included students’ planning templates, writing samples, interviews with students and teachers and email correspondence with teachers. The data were analysed for emerging themes and interpreted from a framework of social cognitive theory.

Findings: In this study, students were given the opportunity and support to exercise agentic engagement. Findings suggested that, in particular, students who were identified by their teachers as low-achieving and/or with poor motivation, were perceived by the teachers as exceededing expectations by demonstrating relatively greater motivation, persistence, effort and pride in their work than would be the case usually.

Conclusions: The findings from this formative AaL study suggest that AaL has the potential to help scaffold primary students’ development of assessment capabilities.     

Using collaboration to foster academic integrity

Abstract

For students new to higher education, the task of developing their academic writing skills, and particularly the principles and practices of source-referencing, can be daunting. Although institutions and teachers can and do provide positive guidance on this score, all too often students veer into inadvertent plagiarism through lack of confidence and confusion. This case study identifies opportunities through collaborative work to help students approach referencing with greater clarity and confidence. A project with first-year Arts students engaged in collaborative writing encouraged them to attend to their recording and writing-up of source references using individual ‘reading and referencing’ logs and then passing on completed references to their group’s designated bibliographer. Checks on later, solo, assignments by these students indicated that they were less likely to stray into inadvertent plagiarism, whilst feedback from the students themselves pointed towards improved confidence in their academic writing skills and development of study habits conducive to effective self-monitoring.     

Maintaining academic integrity among East African university students

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to examine the extent to which academic integrity is maintained in the academic programmes of three East African university students selected from one of the universities in each one of the three countries. For confidentiality and identification purposes, the universities were labeled A, B and C. The level of academic integrity was interpreted on the basis of the extent to which participants admitted to have engaged in plagiarism and academic misconduct in its various manifestations. The findings clearly indicated that academic dishonesty is widely practised by East African university students. The extent to which this held true varied from one item to another of the sixteen questionnaire statements with the highest score being in items related to plagiarism. Overall, 37% of the students in university C, followed by 32% of students in university A and 24% of students in university B engaged in academic dishonesty. The rate at which academic dishonesty was reported was comparable to what has been reported in other countries including Canada, Ethiopia, South Africa, the UK and USA.     

'In Most Classes You Sit Around Very Quietly at a Table and get Lectured at…': Debates,assessment and student learning

This paper details a collaborative action research enquiry undertaken while both authors worked at the University of Glasgow. It explores the use of class debates as a teaching method in an International Management Honours course as the framing context for developing students' capacity to assess their own and each other's learning through the debates. In addition, issues of assessment for grading purposes are signalled and explored with the students. The collaborating partners in the study were a Management Studies lecturer and a Higher Education Studies lecturer, who worked together on the framework for the debates, reflected on the unfolding process together, and collected and analysed evidence. This case suggests that the debates enabled students to develop a critical view of the topics under discussion and to acquire a number of 'transferable skills', for example, team work. On peer grading, students were ambivalent. While self-and peer assessment appears to work well for formative purposes, summative peer assessment may not be welcomed by students.     

Rebels without a clause: towards an institutional framework for dealing with plagiarism by students

This paper explores why an institutional framework for dealing with plagiarism by students is necessary and it outlines the main ingredients of such a framework that has been developed at Lancaster University. It defines plagiarism as a form of academic malpractice and frames it as a breach of academic integrity. The framework places a strong emphasis on prevention and education, backed up by robust and transparent procedures for detecting and punishing plagiarism. It is informed by a number of core pillars, including transparency, ownership, responsibility, academic integrity, compatibility with the institution's academic culture, focus on prevention and deterrence and support for and development of students' skills. The key criteria in evaluating the usefulness of such an institutional framework are transparency, appropriateness, fairness and consistency.     

Undergraduate plagiarism: a pedagogical perspective

Student plagiarism is a pervasive and increasing problem at all levels of study in tertiary institutions. This study attempted explicitly and implicitly to address issues of plagiarism within the broad context of an academic writing framework in tutorials in a first‐year module at the University of KwaZulu‐Natal in South Africa. Despite these interventions, a quarter of the students were judged to have plagiarised in an essay assignment. The study revealed little deliberate intention to deceive but instead poor understanding of both technical matters such as correct referencing norms that had been addressed in the module and higher‐order issues such as writing as process, knowledge as constructed and the establishment of authorial voice through language and referencing. Lack of real engagement with plagiarism and referencing issues was also a problem, with certain groups of students being more at risk in terms of committing plagiarism than others. It is argued that, particularly in a demographically diverse society, acquiring values, attitudes, norms, beliefs and practices that help prevent plagiarism should be viewed as a long‐term and iterative process.     

A framework to foster problem-solving in STEM and computing education

ABSTRACT

Background: Recent developments in STEM and computer science education put a strong emphasis on twenty-first-century skills, such as solving authentic problems. These skills typically transcend single disciplines. Thus, problem-solving must be seen as a multidisciplinary challenge, and the corresponding practices and processes need to be described using an integrated framework.

Purpose: We present a fine-grained, integrated, and interdisciplinary framework of problem-solving for education in STEM and computer science by cumulatively including ways of problem-solving from all of these domains. Thus, the framework serves as a tool box with a variety of options that are described by steps and processes for students to choose from. The framework can be used to develop competences in problem-solving.

Sources of evidence: The framework was developed on the basis of a literature review. We included all prominent ways of domain-specific problem-solving in STEM and computer science, consisting mainly of empirically orientated approaches, such as inquiry in science, and solely theory-orientated approaches, such as proofs in mathematics.

Main argument: Since there is an increasing demand for integrated STEM and computer science education when working on natural phenomena and authentic problems, a problem-solving framework exclusively covering the natural sciences or other single domains falls short.

Conclusions: Our framework can support both practice and research by providing a common background that relates the ways, steps, processes, and activities of problem-solving in the different domains to one single common reference. In doing so, it can support teachers in explaining the multiple ways in which science problems can be solved and in constructing problems that reflect these numerous ways. STEM and computer science educational research can use the framework to develop competences of problem-solving at a fine-grained level, to construct corresponding assessment tools, and to investigate under what conditions learning progressions can be achieved.     

Copyright Laws and Fair Use in the Digital Era: Implications for Distance-Education Programs in Community Colleges

Practical information on the necessity for community colleges, instructors, and students to understand and abide by the copyright laws is essential. Whether developing, structuring, maintaining, or presenting courses, or instructing students on the development of their own papers, one must be knowledgeable about plagiarism, the Fair Use Act, and the Technology, Education, and Copyright Harmonization Act. Violations of the copyright laws can result in legal fees, awarding of compensation, loss of a position, and prison time.     

The influence of achievement goal orientation on plagiarism

This investigation considered how undergraduate students with different achievement goal orientation profiles view plagiarism. Thai student volunteers (N = 867) completed an achievement goal survey [Niemivirta, M. (1998). Individual differences in motivational and cognitive factors affecting self-regulated learning — A pattern-oriented approach. In P. Nenninger, R. S. Jäger, A. Frey, & M. Woznitza (Eds.), Advances in motivation (pp. 23–42). Landau, DE: Verlad Empirische Pädagogik] and a “Dimensions of Plagiarism” survey [Koul, R. (2007). Dimensions of Plagiarism. Downloaded April 8, 2008 from http://dimensions-of-plagiarism.wikispaces.com/]. Mixed analysis of variance of attitudes towards plagiarism with goal orientation and gender showed several significant findings: high performance oriented students were substantially stricter than low performance orientated students in evaluating all Dimensions of Plagiarism. Low mastery oriented students were stricter regarding the “motive” dimension of plagiarism while high mastery oriented students were stricter regarding the “source” dimension of plagiarism. Significant differences between females and males were observed across the six factors of the Dimensions of Plagiarism survey. These results are interpreted within the framework of social comparison theory in respect to competitive learning environments.     

Calming Fears and Building Confidence: A mentoring process that works

This study suggests that the process of mentoring education students is not reserved for master mentor teachers but can also be done by more advanced students. The author shares her two-year experience of enlisting Master of Arts in Teaching intern teachers to mentor senior-level baccalaureate students during the practicum attached to a 12-hour integrated content block. The qualitative data collected through interviews and open-ended survey questions reveal that the mentoring experience was positive for both sets of students.     

Evaluation of a four-prong anti-plagiarism program and the incidence of plagiarism: a five-year retrospective study

Maintaining academic integrity and preventing students from cheating and plagiarising academic work are challenges faced by higher education institutions. These areas have become even more problematic with the growth of the Internet and readily available information, which increase the temptation for students to copy and paste information directly into academic work. Institutions have turned to various strategies to mitigate these aspects. This retrospective research study examined a four-prong anti-plagiarism programme and its impact on the incidence of plagiarism in a Post-Professional Doctor of Physical Therapy programme. The results showed that, using a combination of a structured education module related to plagiarism, Turnitin plagiarism detection software, implementation of policies and procedures, and support from the institution’s writing centre resulted in significant differences in the rate of plagiarism (P < .001) over the five-year period. The rate of plagiarism in year 1 (0.96%) was 2.7 (95% CI, 1.4–5.3) times the rate in year 5 (0.35%, P = .004). The rates of plagiarism in years 2, 3, and 4 were 0.74, 0.35, and 0.30%, respectively. Using a combination of these strategies may help higher education institutions address episodes of plagiarism and improve academic integrity.     

Substantive editing as a form of plagiarism among postgraduate students in Australia

In university plagiarism policies, and in the research into plagiarism, one form of collusion remains virtually unacknowledged: substantive editing performed by editors. While almost all Australian universities allow postgraduate students to have their thesis professionally edited, substantive editing is prohibited. This article discusses the problems inherent in this arrangement, given that most students and supervisors, and some editors, are not clear on where the line is between the two. Moreover, it is evident that there are a myriad of social and economic pressures that lead to substantive editing being performed even when all three parties are aware that it is occurring. Substantive editing is a particularly insidious form of plagiarism since it has received so little attention by universities, it is seen as less serious than other forms of plagiarism, it requires high levels of vigilance to detect and there are no deterrents in place. This article argues that there are significant numbers of students engaging in this form of plagiarism. This study aims to shed light on this issue by examining the nature, motivations behind and prevalence of substantive editing, while recognising the social context and negative effects of the issue.     

Back translation: an emerging sophisticated cyber strategy to subvert advances in ‘digital age’ plagiarism detection and prevention

Advances have been made in detecting and deterring the student plagiarism that has accompanied the uptake and development of the internet. Many authors from the late 1990s onwards grappled with plagiarism in the digital age, presenting articles that were provoking and established the foundation for strategies to address cyber plagiarism, including software such as Turnitin^TM. In the spirit of its predecessors, this article presents a new, less-detectable method of cyber-facilitated plagiarism known as ‘back translation’, where students are running text through language translation software to disguise the original source. This paper discusses how this plagiarism strategy attempts to subvert academic attempts to detect plagiarism and maintain academic integrity in the digital age, before presenting useful detection tools and then critiquing three classroom plagiarism management approaches for their usefulness in the current digital and educational context.