Dealing with Plagiarism in schools

Sydney media were reporting this week of a cheating scandal at a high school affecting Year 12 students.

I had heard some "talk" that parents had "complained" about it and perhaps influenced a decision to let off students. I cannot confirm this either.

Whether or not this happened is the issue, but how it is dealt with.

I see it this way.

In an assessment task, a student must demonstrate their own understanding of what they have learnt. That is present ideas in their own words and express their own thoughts and ideas. If they are using a concept, thought or idea that is not their own, they must acknowledge that person/s.

If they fail to acknowledge another person's concept, they are claiming ownership of something that is not theirs. It is like the theft of a physical object from another person.

We have to reward those who can independently express their own thoughts and ideas while giving credit to those who have shaped their thoughts and ideas and also have gone to the effort to locate, select and present their information.

We also have to send a message that passing off another person's work is harmful and does not reflect the persons true knowledge.

There will be some people (including some parents) who may not agree with the deduction of marks especially zero marks. But consider this - did the person who plagiarised their assessment task bother to spend the time to locate, select and communicate their information? In assessing students, we may be assessing knowledge, but also we assess the effort that is put in.

The effort a student puts into their learning says alot about the progress of a student. A student may lack the knowledge of a topic, but if they can present their own work communicating their own thoughts and ideas, the long term gains for the student will be better. The teacher will know how the student is progressing and can lead them in the right direction.

Pandering to parents because it might affect final grades is not the way to approach it. It sends the message that plagiarism is allowed but also discourage the students who have undertaken the effort to present their work from doing so.

Assessment Tasks & Library Services

In Term 2 of 2017,  I enjoyed a session with colleagues where the focus was on improving assessment tasks. One concept that was emphasised was the need to be explicit in assessment of learning.

There are many factors to consider when organising an assessment task like outcomes, task descriptions and marking criteria.

But one thing I have observed is that assessment tasks may require people to use a list of prescribed resources or sources e.g. primary sources in history.

When I was at university, an assessment task would include recommended readings or locations to source your information.

It made me think, should a school be required as part of an assessment policy suggest some resources to aid students in locating, selecting and utilising the right resources plus available library services?

Or at the very least (and helps develop independence with research) is to guide students as to what the library collections offer e.g. Sources on Medieval Europe are located on the 930's shelves in the library.

I have also had the idea too that it should be mandated that students utilise several printed resources as a requirement for an assessment task, given the dependence by many students on just internet sites for their research. It is good to suggest one printed source, but for a challenge, make it three sources.

It is something I would like to do in a full time appointment, work with Teachers and heads of Department to inform students of library services for the assessment task of available resources and support services.

A Letter Writing Template (Self Created Resource) modelled on PEEL

I have had the opportunity to work recently with a group of special needs students at Marist College Eastwood, taking a religion class for five lessons a fortnight.

This week, I am sharing a template that I shared with them on how a person should write a formal letter. I focused on an assessment task that they were working on. For posting purposes, I have made some small modifications e.g. changing names.

I then created a template using a PEEL scaffold where they could draft the letter and then copy and paste each section onto a template.

The great plus of the PEEL scaffold is that I can apply it to any other text type. Feel free to use as needed.