08/11/2020

In the News

Written by Courtney Cullen

Keeping academic integrity topics in your newsfeed may be difficult. If you have 10 minutes, here are a few articles you may find interesting:

Contract cheating is in the spotlight after a well attended webinar training by Dr. Robin Crockett of the University of Northampton.The webinar was recorded, and Dr. Crockett’s tips for educators have received an international audience.

Turnitin Originality was featured by Campus Technology as a tool to combat contract cheating by using a mix of text similarity, prior student submissions, and document metadata. As proctoring technology has been a focus of many institutions as they transition to online courses, plagiarism and contract cheating must be considered when discussing academic integrity.

Technology, though, should be only one tool instructors use to prevent cheating. A recent study demonstrated that faculty believe online courses lead to increased levels of academic dishonesty, but previous studies show that students disagree, thinking that cheating happens at the same rate online as it does in person. 

Student’s are not the only ones under fire for plagiarism. A U.S. Congressional candidate from Iowa has been accused of plagiarizing from the incumbent’s campaign website. The candidate, Ashley Hinson, acknowledged the plagiarized pieces, but blames a political consulting firm for the materials. According to the Taipei Times, Kaohsiung City Councilor Jane Lee, candidate for Kaohsiung mayor, has also been accused of plagiarism. This time, for her master’s thesis from National Sun Yat-sen University, which has “opened a Pandora’s box regarding the nation’s academia,” writes Chu Hsueh-ting.

If you have any additional articles, please comment below.

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