This week were we asked to consider digital citizenship,
ethics, and netiquette as it relates to our own adult learning
environments. Our task is to investigate
various technologies related to the subject and comment on two of them in our
blogs.
As an adjunct professor at a local university that offers
online courses, and as a student participant of online learning, two concerns I
am very familiar with are plagiarism and cheating on tests. Merriam-Webster (What Is Plagiarism?, n.d.) defines
plagiarism as:
- to
steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own
- to use
(another's production) without crediting the source
- to
commit literary theft
- to
present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing
source
Stephen Downes (2011) further describes plagiarism as “a
breach of trust between the plagiarizer and the reader of the plagiarized
work.” I personally believe that
students do the most harm to themselves when they plagiarize other’s work. They cheat themselves of learning by
formulating their own thoughts and they do irreparable harm to their
reputations when they are exposed. I
have had the personal experience of discovering a fellow student in an online
class plagiarizing an internet document and passing it off as his own. To prevent that from happening in a class I’m
teaching I plan on using the Turn It In software available through my
university (Turnitin, n.d.). When a
student submits a paper in to turnitin, the paper is compared to millions of
internet articles and previous works of other students and scholars. The resulting comparison to the turnitin
database results is a numerical score.
The higher the score, the more likely there may be some plagiarism
occurring. However, there is no direct
connection or absolute score that proves plagiarism has occurred. If, for example, a student uses a lot of
direct quotes and properly sites each one, the score will still be
comparatively high since there was so much common verbiage. In this the student would have to do more
paraphrasing in order to lower their score.
This is important as many schools have a certain acceptable score and
will not accept student work that exceeds it, even if proper citations were
used.
As a professor of online courses, I will require my students
to use turnitin for selected academic papers and discussion posts.
Another concern for many online instructors is preventing
students from using internet resources to help them achieve passing scores on
online tests. According to Bonk (2009),
anyone can learn anything on the internet.
So what is preventing a student who did not study the course materiel
from simply typing the test question into Google and passing the test? In my university, the answer to that question
is Respondus LockDown Browser software (Respondus, n.d.). Respondus integrates with the Blackboard LMS
and prevents the test taker from opening any other website while the test is
open in blackboard. Other features
include:
·
Assessments are displayed full-screen and cannot
be minimized
·
Assessments cannot be exited until submitted by
users for grading
·
Task switching or access to other applications
is prevented
·
Print, Print Screen and capturing functions are
disabled
·
Copying and pasting anything to and from an
assessment is prohibited
·
Screen capture, messaging, screen-sharing,
virtual machine, and network
monitoring applications are blocked from running
·
Right-click menu options and function keys are
disabled
·
Browser menu and toolbar options are disabled
So what is preventing the industrious cheater from using a
different computer to google answers during the test, or from having his smart
girlfriend take the test for him? That
would be the Respondus Monitor. This
feature used webcam technology to monitor the test environment. The result is the instructor’s ability to
virtually proctor a test. The sessions
can even be recorded so the instructor does not have monitor the testing in
real-time.
As a professor of online courses I will use Respondus
software to help prevent cheating on test and quizzes.
Cheers!
References:
Bonk, C. J. (2009). The world is open: How web technology is
revolutionizing education.
San
Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Downes, S. (2011). Free learning: Essays on open educational
resources and copyright.
Retrieved from http://www.downes.ca/files/books/FreeLearning.pdf
Respondus LockDown Browser (n.d.) Retrieved August 13, 2015 from https://www.respondus.com/products/lockdown-browser/
Turnitin Overview (n.d.)
Reteived August 13, 2015, Retrieved from http://turnitin.com/en_us/features/overview
What Is Plagiarism? (n.d.) Retrieved August 13, 2015, from http://www.plagiarism.org/plagiarism-101/what-is-plagiarism/
Ron,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post on the subjects of plagiarism and cheating on tests. Both are definitely issues concerning digital citizenship. It is unfortunately that many students do not take the information found in books or online seriously enough to use it honestly. Apparently, they do not know or care to learn how to use the work of others and reference it. I have seen incidents where one student helps another with an assignment then the next thing you know it is part of their assignment. They fail to put any of their own comments in the assignment just point blank use another student’s work they work hard to obtain. And as far as cheating on class exams, I have actually seen adult learners cheat in a classroom and to say the least I was very shocked! Ribble points out that, “there will always be people who do not follow the rules of society and who engage in activities that run counter to the ideals of society as a whole. In this regard, digital society is no different, As such, consequences are being established for those who act as inappropriate digital citizens – users who steal others’ information, hack into servers, create and release viruses and so on” (n.d.). It is good that educators now have more checks and balances like Turnitin to investigate plagiarism and software like Respondus Lockdown Brower that recognizes cheating on tests. These are examples of smart technologies that keeps integrity in the learning environment. Digital law deals with these types of unethical practices and security issues that is happening in all forms. And since many schools are offering more classes than ever before online educators and students must be aware.
Robin
Reference:
Ribble, M. (n.d.). Digital Citizenship in Schools. (2nd ed.). International Society for Technology in Education. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/docs/excerpts/DIGCI2-excerpt.pdf