HI Ken,
You may have heard that Fintan and I will be debating the value of the viva for determining allegations of plagiarism at the upcoming Plagiarism Conference... [Hey NLearing, can I have a £20 Amazon voucher now?]
I don't think that anyone would be able to use a viva to determine past knowledge, unless they were Matt Parkman from Heroes, who could read minds. And it's not as unfair as it seems, given that notice would certainly be required and even the "guilty" could cram and revise for the viva. For the "innocent" this would be less onerous, but the side-effect would be a boost in knowledge at the expense of some (arguably unnecessary) stress. Balance of probabilities works both ways. So, there is still the chance that someone could heavily revise and convince lecturers that they "knew" the topic; at which point at least they would have had to learn it, even if not in the usual time scale of an academic year.
You (we? All of us?) really need to let go of the word "cheat". And possibly "plagiarism" as well. How about "copy" as an alternative to the latter; much less judgemental. How about "copywronger" - as opposed to copyrighter - for the former. A mind game, but "cheat" is too emotive for any of us to see the issues clearly. A man who steals to feed his starving kids is, technically, a thief. Yet, the term really no longer applies. There are a whole load of reasons why a student might copy, only one of which is cheating.
I don't think you are in that much of a minority. My worry is that individuals I "know" plagiarised are walking around having learned one of two lessons:
1) It's ok to cheat. You'll get away with it. It's worth the risk, like running a red light.
2) The degree that they now have is worth nothing, as it is built on lies.
Neither is a positive lesson. Both will haunt the graduate well after they cross the stage. THAT is the responsibility we carry. However, I too am just saying the same thing a different way; at least it's paraphrasing, rather than self-plagiarism :-)
Mike
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