I came across an interesting article ?Promoting Academic Integrity: Are We Doing Enough In it, the article provides perspectives on atopic that continually pervades and negatively impacts the academic world: plagiarism.
The CADH student handbook describes plagiarism as ?using another individual’s work, in any form, and presenting it as one’s own without acknowledging the author of the original thought, idea, data, language, etc.? (CADH 2015, p. 22).
As an educator and administrator for over 10 years, I have seen many instances of plagiarism. When I first began my career, faculty reviewed the definition of plagiarism with students at orientation and then expected they would not turn in work that was plagiarized. Speaking with student that handed in plagiarized work led us to believe that students did not often understand what plagiarism truly was. Faculty and I came to the conclusion that we needed to teach students how to avoid plagiarism. As a result, we added learning objectives within the curriculum about plagiarism and how to avoid it.
CADH also took the approach that students need to be given the opportunity to learn from their mistakes. Consequences for this conduct are minor the first time and then become more severe and can lead to suspension from the program. To ensure students are provided every opportunity to learn from their mistakes, CADH recently added the learning contract as a corrective measure and process to ensure students learn from their mistakes and avoid future ones. Students are expected to develop a learning contract outlining the actions they will take now to avoid future errors. Because it is student driven, students must take responsibility for their own actions and in future any acts of plagiarism are taken, as intentional and appropriate sanctions will apply.
Reference:
- CADH Handbook (May 2015). Canadian Academy of Dental Health and Community Sciences.
- Weimer M. ( Apr 2015). Promoting Academic Integrity: Are We Doing Enough?Faculty Focus. Accessed September 13, 2015 from:http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-professor-blog/promoting-academic-integrity-are-we-doing-enough/
