Volume 8, Number 5: February 15, 2002
Thoughts
on Cheating and Technology in the Language Classroom When assigning the
kind of topic that is susceptible to plagiarism, I find it useful to
discuss my expectations and acceptable academic practice. When most
people read such a sentence as that, they expect to hear something about
expectations and practice. But the manner in which we frame assignments
needs some thought, for it can be a proximate cause of the problem.
Assignments that are open-ended, where the student is free to select
her own topic--as long as it is vaguely applicable to the course--are
also more open to plagiarism, since there is so much available on just
about anything on the Internet. After several years of offering the
same course, there is also an accumulation of papers from former students.
Few of us recall all of the papers we have read in the past three or
four years; there is only so much that we can do, and students have
always tried to cut corners under pressure. They do need to hear that
we are concerned about their learning, their intellectual development,
and their future. This is a more meaningful approach in my book, than
to approach writing as a set of rules. It is possible to give assignments
which reduce, if not eliminate altogether, the likelihood that material
will be readily available for "lifting." This is, of course,
more time-consuming and challenging for us, especially from semester
to semester in the same large course. But it is something within our
control.
We at UW-Green Bay have been working with TurnItIn.com for the past eleven months. The responses from the faculty who participated were consistently positive: all of them thought it was wonderful and planned on using it again. The problem we had was that relatively few faculty participated. Combined we had eight faculty who submitted a total of 210 student writings. And this was after repeated attempts to generate faculty interest. The greatest advantage to TurnItIn.com is its ability to head off plagiarism before it takes place. This assumes that faculty tell students about it before they assign a writing. (Like the Doomsday machine in Dr. Strangelove, it's not effective if you keep it a secret.) Interestingly, the only student who definitely plagiarized his report was absent the day TurnItIn.com was described. After our success with TurnItIn.com, we probably will NOT renew our license when it expires in a month--for purely financial reasons. The decision to non-renew was based on cost and the limited number of faculty who participated. Briefly, TurnItIn.com insisted that we purchase a campus-wide license for $3250 or a department-only license for $750. Both these are large increases from the $563 it cost us for the entire campus this last year. (Last year they allowed the Learning Technology Center to purchase a department license to service the entire campus with the department limit of 500 reports per year.) I was bitterly disappointed when our sales rep made her call and told me the news. I don't want to suggest bait-and-switch, but a jump from $563 to $3250 for about 250 student reports a year is tough to justify. In summary: We tried
it for almost a year, the faculty who tried it were extremely pleased,
not many faculty participated, and the new cost structure makes it impractical
for our campus. Editors note:
Andy Speth recently updated TTT on UW-Green Bay's negotiation's with
Turnitin.com. Turnitin finally offered his campus the department-only
license for $750. The new quote is a considerable decrease from the
originally quoted price of $3250, and UW-Green Bay will probably renew
their contract, according to Speth. Still, he says, "This whole
situation--raising the price, refusing to negotiate, offering no viable
option, and then making a reasonable offer at the last minute--is very
problematic in an academic environment. Faculty need to plan, students
need to be told, and all these things need to be done well in advance
... I'll always be wary of them." |
TTT welcomes your feedback! We will occasionally post letters from UW System faculty and academic staff that address issues appearing on our pages. Email your letters to Tammy Kempfert, or send them to Editor, Teaching with Technology Today, 1633 Van Hise Hall, 1220 Linden Drive, Madison, WI 53706. |