Organising research on university student plagiarism: a process approach

Abstract

This article examines the management of the seemingly ubiquitous problem of plagiarism by students in higher education. An integrated review of the conceptual and empirical literature to date is undertaken in the pursuit of two objectives. First, to provide structure to the scattered knowledge about the topic, which is achieved by developing a process framework of plagiarism management. Second, to identify, group and locate the determinants of each of the major events of the plagiarism management process: the occurrence of a plagiarism instance, its detection and the subsequent actions undertaken in response. Moreover, the framework incorporates the roles of the different actors involved (students, professors and the university) and the importance of the cultural, legal and technological context in which the instances of plagiarism may take place. This process approach aids in the identification of more integrated avenues for further research.     

Beyond school inclusion: secondary school and preparing for labour market inclusion for young people with disabilities in Spain

Research analysing good practices in the area of labour market inclusion for people with disabilities shows that the role of the secondary school is fundamental in improving employment opportunities. The aim of this article is to analyse to what extent secondary education in Spain prepares young people with learning difficulties for later inclusion in society and the labour market. Results from studies into good practices in secondary education have established which educational characteristics to take into account for pupils' transition to working life and the need for the school to lead this process. We contrast these results with the current situation in Spain by comprehensively analysing how current secondary education is facing up to the challenges of labour market inclusion for young people with disabilities. Following this, we propose guidelines for the improvement of educational practices in secondary education so as to foster opportunities for labour market participation, from an inclusive viewpoint, for young people with learning disabilities.     

La lengua escrita en el Ciclo Medio: Parte II

La lengua escrita ha sido una de las grandes olvidadas de las diversas propuestas curriculares de la educación española. Restringida en la mayoría de los casos por el estrecho corsé de las «redacciones», los ejercicios y los exámenes escritos, no es de extrañar que la lengua escrita sea considerada por el alumno como una tarea tediosa y que no tiene nada que ver con su vida de todos los días fuera de la escuela. En este artículo, cuya primera parte ha sido publicada en el n.^o 3/4, se levanta una voz contra ese estado de cosas, y tras una caracterización de los diversos tipos de producciones escritas con que el alumno se enfrenta sin saberlo todos los días, se proponen vías de utilización didáctica no sólo en clase de lengua, sino en las restantes áreas del curriculum.     

Effects of home environment and center-based child care quality on children's language,communication, and literacy outcomes

This study examined the joint effects of home environment and center-based child care quality on children's language, communication, and early literacy development, while also considering prior developmental level. Participants were 95 children (46 boys), assessed as toddlers (mean age = 26.33 months; Time 1) and preschoolers (mean age = 68.71 months; Time 2) and their families. At both times, children attended center-based child care classrooms in the metropolitan area of Porto, Portugal. Results from hierarchical linear models indicated that home environment and preschool quality, but not center-based toddler child care quality, were associated with children's language and literacy outcomes at Time 2. Moreover, the quality of preschool classrooms moderated the association between home environment quality and children's language and early literacy skills – but not communication skills – at Time 2, suggesting the positive cumulative effects of home environment and preschool quality. Findings further support the existence of a detrimental effect of low preschool quality on children's language and early literacy outcomes: positive associations among home environment quality and children's developmental outcomes were found to reduce substantially when children attended low-quality preschool classrooms.     

Cooperating in constructing knowledge: case studies from chemistry and citizenship

This paper looks at three case studies within the teaching and learning of chemistry. Each case considers the effectiveness of group learning activities in terms of the ways in which they enhance cooperative learning. Group tasks are generally undertaken in order to encourage learners to develop their understanding of particular issues, lthough one key disadvantage is that much of the process of the group work is lost as soon as the group disbands. The cases explored here aim to: (i) investigate the development of cooperative attitudes among students, looking for significant learning of scientific concepts, (ii) encourage the development of ethical attitudes, to motivate, and then (iii) empower the participants so that they can build upon the communal knowledge that is generated. In this way learners enhance their levels of partnership and cooperation with other members leading to a fuller and broader understanding of the collaboration required within the values of citizenship education. Using science to educate for citizenship is a growing concern across many countries of the world, in this case illustrated by work in Brazil and the UK.     

La construcción individual del sistema de numeración convencional

Resumen

El sistema de numeración posicional de base 10 constituye un objeto cultural, resultado de un largo y dificultoso desarrollo histórico, que se convierte en un objeto de conocimiento a asimilar por el niño. En este artículo se estudia el proceso de reconstrucción individual de este instrumento intelectual, a través de las producciones gráficas espontáneas de 100 niños de edades comprendidas entre los 6 y 10 años, obtenidas en situación de invención de sistemas de notación de cantidades. Las producciones de los niños, cuyas estrategias recuerdan en muchos casos a las empleadas en los sistemas de numeración históricos, describen una génesis. Esta se extiende desde producciones que no contemplan la estabilidad de los grafismos ni la posibilidad de combinarlos, hasta las que recurren al principio del valor posicional, pasando por producciones de tipo aditivo y producciones que intentan, sin conseguirlo, la transposición del sistema de numeración convencional.     

Separación de palabras (programa correctivo)

RESUMEN

Se describe un programa correctivo destinado a niños con un índice elevado de errores en la unión y separación de las palabras escritas, partiendo de la idea de que cuando esto ocurre es porque el niño no tiene claro el concepto de palabra como unidad. Por ello el procedimiento insiste en que cada niño, a nivel individual, visualice y discrimine auditivamente cada palabra aislada de las otras. El programa consta de ocho pasos, con un índice de dificultad creciente y acumulativo.     

An assessment model for virtual communities of practice: a study in the oil and gas industry

This paper proposes a model to assess the level of maturity in Virtual Communities of Practice (VCoPs). The model is based on a theoretical construction attained from the analysis of previous frameworks proposed in literature. Using this construction, we have proposed eight main organizational, managerial and technological levers to improve the performance of VCoPs. Additionally, the model presents the analysis of four performance metrics obtained from these VCoP management levers. The model presented can be used as a benchmarking tool for analysing how companies perform in their management of VCoPs. After developing the model, we applied it to a benchmarking study of four global oil and gas companies. Our results include a performance comparison among these companies as well as the main practices and technologies they use to achieve success in the management of VCoP.     

Innovation across Europe: How important are institutional differences?

By changing the level of competition and/or affecting the allocation of resources, institutions can play a very important role on innovation activity. In this paper we investigate the relative importance of institutional variation across European countries in explaining differences in their innovation intensity at the industry level. We employ a novel indicator of innovation therefore circumventing the limitations of more traditional indicators. Our results are broadly consistent with previous empirical literature. They show that stringent product and labor market regulation affects innovation intensity negatively, and that more developed credit markets foster innovation. However, the empirical findings also raise doubts with respect to the strengthening of intellectual property rights as a means to stimulate innovation, a result that is in accordance with recent propositions in the literature.