I always thought that for a variety of reasons, not just plagiarism
detection, vivas are extremely valuable - as director of studies, I'm often
asked to confirm in references whether a student has "good communication
skills" - when it is perfectly possible for them not to say a word for 4
years and nonetheless graduate with a first.
Regrettably, my institution rather discourages their use, with some reason
A) it is not possible to have anonymous vivas, (unless you do it like a
"vulnerable witness", behind a curtain and with an actor speaking. This is
made worse by the fact that the more dynamic interaction at a viva would
make it even easier for a biased examiner to give students f a certain
gender/race/age a hard time, without it being too obvious.
B) involving the external is cumbersome: you'd have to videotape the
proceedings (to stay with above analogy, using PACE rules) and this in turn
increase stress for all involved
Burkhard
>
> "Barnett,L" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> I'd appreciate feedback from colleagues on the extent
> to which vivas are still used to clarify whether a student
> actually produced the work they have submitted. Is this no
> longer common practice?
>
> thanks
>
>
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