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| Really? |
I have sent a strongly-worded email pointing out that this is unacceptable, asking the student to rewrite the post, and saying that I'm not turning the matter over to the honor council only because I realize I asked the student to write the post first thing, so I could put hir in a group, and perhaps (s)he hasn't read the syllabus, with its dire warnings about plagiarism (and immediately turning over all cases of deliberate plagiarism to the honor council), yet.
Any bets on what happens next? Does (s)he drop (still possible without loss of tuition, but not for long)? Protest innocence? Apologize, straighten up, and fly right from now on? (hey, a proffie can dream).
My students have to sign a contract saying they've read the syllabus, understand what what plagiarism is, that they are solely responsible for the paper they turn in, and that the consequence of plagiarism, intentional or unintentional, is failure for the entire course.
ReplyDeleteThere are no exceptions. By the time I've informed them about their failure I have already sent a note to the chair and to administration, and if they start complaining or begging I just bump them up the ladder.
"If you wish to make a grievance about your grade with the university, you have that right," I tell them.
Not one has ever done it. Because they're all guilty as sin. I've got my eye on one right now...a clever one that changes just enough. I'm giving a bit of slack until she gets lazy.
I have mine take the plagiarism tutorial from the University of Indiana at Bloomington (http://www.indiana.edu/~istd/), which generates a confirmation certificate with a similar "I understand and I'm responsible" statement at the end (I tell them that posting a copy of the certificate to our password-protected LMS site is the equivalent of signing it; the sub-dean who handles honor matters very much likes receiving copies of the certificates and the prompt that says they're signing by posting along with honor complaints; makes her job easier, too). And, of course, I require them to read the syllabus, and say that they will be held responsible for it. But posting the plagiarism tutorial certificate to the Discussion Board is the *second* participation-points assignment; the getting-to-know-you post is the *first." It never occurred to me that anybody would try to plagiarize that. Live and learn (or at least become more cynical).
DeleteI know someone that had a student plagiarize her. As in, found something she'd written online, and inserted bunches of it into a paper.
DeleteIdiot just didn't realize who wrote what he was stealing. Or he didn't know the prof's name. Or both.
We're not supposed to just dump on 'em. We are expected to "discuss" what we found and see how well they can think on their feet ("whether the student has a reasonable explanation").
DeleteIt's not entirely silly as a policy; it allowed me, once, to determine that only half of a pair was actually plagiarizing; s/he was stealing files from hir roommate.
On the other hand, the "confront the student first" policy allowed another student, who had rather blatantly copied answers on an exam, to get hir story straight to the point that s/he was able to appeal all the way to the top. Eventually found guilty, though, on the basis of the physical evidence.
Delete@introvert: we're supposed to do that, too (though it's hard to figure out quite how it would work in an online class), and aren't really supposed to use the word "plagiarism" unless we're going to file the formal complaint. In most cases, I already have a conference scheduled with the student anyway, and I use words like "insufficient citation" and "unacknowledged borrowing" along with the big stick -- "present grade on the paper is an F" -- to move the process forward without invoking the p-word (at least not in writing; orally, I will say things like "this is considered plagiarism").
DeleteSo I may have stepped over the line a bit in telling the student the post was plagiarized, but covered myself a bit by not assigning a zero for the assignment -- which isn't worth much in the grand scheme of things -- but instead asking for a revision, and telling hir to review course materials/exercises on plagiarism first. If challenged, I can say I was trying to use it as a teachable moment. In truth, given how blatant the student's actions (borrowing someone else's words to answer the question "what other writing classes have you taken and what have you learned from them") were, I wanted to set a boundary -- you will not do this in this class and get away with it. If it weren't such a minor assignment, I would have had to jump through more hoops (or let it go and keep my eyes open for repeat behavior in more significant assignments -- and yes, I considered doing that, since confrontation on the first assignment can turn into a major time-suck).
Student will protest innocence, continue cheating, drop the course at the last moment.
ReplyDeleteOh, I'd bet on a drop. Especially if it's a typical shortened summer class. But you never know. They often don't "get" the whole borrowing info from the internet idea.
ReplyDeleteI did not submit an incident to our Correctors of Errant Students Office, and deeply regret it. The incident seemed innocent... Student found code accomplishing the assigned problem, submitted said code along with assignment, and initiated conversation with me about said code.
ReplyDeleteI realized later that the submitted code had been stripped of originally-included authorship information, indicating some level of intent/understanding. Said student has continued to err, and if that first incident had been reported (even with a minor penalty), then the current situation would have many more (severe) options, and possibly the student would have recognized the severity of the actions sooner, and wouldn't still be screwing up.
Anyways, my lesson has been to always formally report. Always, even if the penalty I plan to levy is a mere slap on the wrist.
You may be right. If this were in any way a substantive assignment, I *would* report it (of course, our first few substantive assignments are aimed at learning about and practicing citation, so I have a chance to correct innocent and even not-so-innocent errors in those without getting into do-I-report tangles; I just require revisions/corrections, which are built into the assignment flow anyway).
DeleteBut still, it's possible that I should have taken an even harder line than I did (as I wrote above, invoking the p-word directly seemed pretty momentous to me at the time). Time will tell.
Nope. Alan is right. Always report it, no matter how minor. Of course, our current Dean of Students has a pretty low tolerance for academic dishonesty.
DeleteI don't usually go out of my way to look for plagiarism, so if I see something suspicious and it pans out, the student is likely to have been doing it for a while -- if not with me, then with other, less vigilant profs.
My bet: student will ignore any correspondence.
ReplyDeleteA good bet, especially since student didn't acknowledge an earlier email welcoming hir to the class (just posted the introduction, as requested).
DeleteCrickets so far: no reply to email, no LMS activity, no drop.
ReplyDeleteTrue story: student had to submit a proctored writing sample before beginning summer online course. Proctored writing sample had been blatantly copied from the Internet, with links still embedded. Student protested loudly, claimed it was all a misunderstanding, "I would never cheat on an assignment that really counted for anything," blah blah blah. I pointed out that I would have to report academic dishonesty to the Powers That Be, but the class had not technically started yet and there's no mechanism for reporting a student who is not on the roster when the class begins. Instant drop.
ReplyDeleteAargh! And where, pray tell, was the proctor while said writing sample was being produced? Didn't the proctoring setup at least allow for turning off access to the internet?
DeleteAh, the student admits that he's only honest on the important stuff. Good to know.
DeleteAnd the winner is. . . .
ReplyDeleteDropped at the last possible minute to receive a full tuition refund, without answering my email. I can handle that; it's about the best I could reasonably hope for.