George

Well said. The plagiarism debate needs to be much broader than 'detection'. 
Sensible assessment strategies will eliminate much of the kind of thing 
that Turnitin can find. Better referencing certainly helps; and although 
detection software may have a role, it is a small and secondary one.

I really do believe that there are better ways of dealing with cheating 
than (in effect) endorsing the tyranny of technology by buying a bigger 
computer than the student has, and one with a better search engine in it.*

* all content lifted from another reply I made to this list in September 
2006

Paul Cecil
Head of Academic Office
University of Sussex
01273 877755
[log in to unmask]

--On 30 May 2008 20:20 +0100 George MacDonald Ross <[log in to unmask]> 
wrote:

> Since my first meeting with Mike, my views have come closer to his. This
> is a classic example of a mad escalation of detection and punishment
> tools being met with more and more sophisticated methods of avoiding
> detection and punishment. The solution is to organise teaching and
> assessment methods in such a way that plagiarism becomes unthinkable, and
> detection is unnecessary. Come to my session at the conference on 'Why my
> students don't plagiarise: a case study'. As Mike says, our students
> aren't (or certainly shouldn't be) our enemies.
> George.
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: Plagiarism on behalf of Mike Reddy
> Sent: Fri 30/05/2008 18:15
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Non-standard characters to fool Turnitin?
>
>
> Isn't it weird that something known to many of the more technical users
> of the software, but often not discussed because of not wanting to let
> the genie out of the bottle, is then so surprising to other users.
> Several people who regularly present at plagiarism related conferences
> and workshops have been discussing it for some time, but not openly
> because they didn't want to spoil the effectiveness of TurnitinUK. Well,
> now the weaknesses can be aired in public, which should not reduce
> people's use of the software one bit. Sure, it will take some time for
> iParadigms to respond to this particular blip on the predator-prey
> evolutionary radar, but the sky is not falling in. We still have our
> intuition and the ability to take selected phrases and type them manually
> into Google. TurnitinUK just makes certain things easier, like that food
> processor your parents bought for you. Unlike the blender, however, it
> should not be relegated to the kitchen cupboard, but used appropriately,
> with insight and where it does its job best.
> People who are worried or concerned about students using non standard
> characters, and therefore concerned that their detection tool will be
> rendered useless, are both wrong in the long term - the software will get
> wiser, but the ways round it (many still discussed in private and yet to
> hit the mainstream) will always change - and in the short term for using
> it as a crutch! Get with the programme and look at your assessment
> strategies. And if you are up in Newcastle on the 23-25th June come and
> say hello and I will attempt to brainwash you to join my army of
> Offensive Academics, who want to put the "say" back in "essay". We can
> use the weapons of the enemy against them. The first of which is
> realising that there aren't any enemies at all.
> Mike
>
> --
> Dr. Mike Reddy, Future Technology, Games Development and A.I., Department
> of Computing, Newport Business School, University of Wales, Newport,
> Allt-yr-yn Campus, PO Box 180 Newport South Wales NP20 5XR Tel: +44 (0)
> 1633 432452 Fax: +44 (0)1633 432307 Mob: +44 (0)7971 170 199 Email:
> mike.reddy @ newport.ac.uk (remove spaces)
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