That's both an interesting article, Mike; and a good advert for the
plagiarism industry. I am truly asstonished at how these people are so adept
at justifying their nonsense business philosophies and models: we all KNOW
they do it for the money. Morality and prfessionalism are irrelevant in
those cases.
I think it's clear to everyone on this list that I am a plagiarism cynic in
that I believe things like Turnitin and the other supposed solutions are
completely unnecessary. The article did mention, as I have several times,
the need to know one's students sufficiently well to know what is theirs and
what isn't.
The article mentioned the plight of foreign students whose language skills
might not be that good. Really, how come they are getting in then? How come
they aren't taking additional English tuition/ And so on.
I wonder if any plagiarism departments are more profitabily spending their
time looking at library usage by students and their internet histories
rather than the Heath Robinson solutions that we discuss through this list?
After all, how many students buy all the texts required to graduate and how
many of them subscribe to all the journals similarly needed such that they
don't need to attend the University library? Internet access off campus?
As for the toilet, a baby and reading newspaper articles, erm does that lead
to congratulations?
Let me digress for a little by way of justifying my remark earlier that
morality and prfessionalism are irrelevant. I am currently trying to get the
various GCSE and A Level Examination Boards, the QCA and my MP to agree that
chief examiners should not be allowed to run private seminars with the
students whoe work they will be assessing in June or December for private
gain. Such seminars are widely advertised, well attended and cream off huge
amounts of money for this select band of people. The QCA agrees that such
actions are in breach of the rules but the rules come from a voluntary code
so, hey ho, what can they do? For me the plagiarism industry and the chief
examiner industry are reflections of each other.
Can anyone see the POSSIBILITY that students at University need to
plagiarise because their A level experience has been so corrupted that they
arrive knowing so little in spite of the average 95% pass rate this nation
now proudly boasts.
Duncan
-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Reddy [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 06 April 2007 10:48
Subject: A rather good Guardian article
This is from a few days ago now, but I just read it in the loo; our third
child arrived on Wednesday evening, after a long labour, so reading
newspapers was low priority.
http://education.guardian.co.uk/egweekly/story/0,,2048266,00.html
Entitled "Their Dark Materials", this piece by Jessica Shepherd and Lucy
Tobin is, in my opinion, a very good template for plagiarism reporting in
the media. It reports facts and allows people to make up their own minds. It
allows essay bankers to make their justifications, but illuminates all sides
of the issue. It, ironically, calls into question the use of essays - one of
those justifications - but shows that these essay banks are, I believe,
being parasitic, rather than engaging in genuine debate about assessment and
offering alternatives. It restored my faith in newspaper coverage of the
issue.
Mike
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