No, no explanation given at all. I suspect plagiarism moral panics may play a part in it. I find it incredibly depressing - especially from a School of Education ....  Rebecca



-----Original Message-----

From: Colin Neville [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 

Sent: 03 December 2012 14:40

To: Rebecca O'Rourke

Cc: [log in to unmask]

Subject: Re: Query about the use of student work exemplars.



Did they offer any reason for this jobs-worth position?  I suspect it connects with the current moral panic in HE about plagiarism.



When I worked at the School of Management at Bradford this issue came up for discussion at a PG Programme Committee when I requested permission to use writing exemplars to show international students in particular what was expected of them - and what was meant by 'critical

analysis': a source of considerable anxiety to many of them.



There were some reservations expressed by teaching colleagues around the issue of plagiarism and, to a lesser extent, around what some saw as 'spoon-feeding'. But the majority of colleagues were only too glad for any assistance that made their assignment reading tasks easier and their students more effective and less stressed by the system.



Amongst the usual conditions about confidentiality, there was a proviso that any exemplar used did not connect with current assignment topics, which was fair enough.



I agree totally that students, post-graduate and undergraduate, particularly those unfamiliar with UK writing practices, benefit greatly from seeing and discussing these in a tutor-led session.





Colin Neville

Trans:it Project

(Resource Development)

University of Bradford

Bradford

BD7 1DP



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Quoting Rebecca O'Rourke <[log in to unmask]>:



> Part of my role involves supporting Academic Writing Development for  

> PG students on a PG Certificate and Masters in Clinical Education.   

> I also run a series of workshops on Academic Skills for all Taught PG 

> students in the School of Education.  I use - with their permission 

> and fully anonymised -  past students' assessed work as I have found 

> that it is the best way to show new students:

> what the disciplinary and discourse differences are between the social 

> science Education and their home scientific and clinical discipline - 

> which might be medicine, pharmacy, nursing or another health 

> profession  what is expected of them in relation to their studies and 

> its assessment how to translate abstract grading criteria into the 

> language and structure of an effective assignment.

> Various activities are built around this material, including marking  

> exercises and tasks to develop a 'recipe' for assignment writing.   

> Examples which are lodged in the VLE are annotated to show where and 

> how they meet module objectives and grading criteria.  The student who 

> gets the highest mark on each module is asked if they will contribute 

> their assignment, with a short account of their process of researching 

> and writing it, to the collection.

> These practices have been highly commended by external examiners, the 

> course director and the students themselves so you can imagine my 

> reaction to a departmental circular from the School Senior Management 

> Team which proposes to regulate the use of these materials in ways 

> which will render them virtually useless.  I have no quarrel with 

> seeking written permission and fully anonymising the

> materials. I am deeply concerned by the opening statement that   

> "only in exceptional circumstances" will such material be made 

> available and that they can only be used if a "representative range of 

> possible responses to the assessment task " are included and that the 

> period of time they will be available to the students will be limited.

> I would be grateful for evidence of support from others on the use of 

> student work exemplars as good pedagogic practice and I would also 

> like to know if any other institutions have taken the same steps as my 

> own and if so, how people have worked with these new restrictions.

> Rebecca O'Rourke

> University of Leeds

>

>







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