improving national and institutional policies and systems for upholding academic integrity: irene...
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Improving national and institutional policies and systems for upholding academic integrity
Irene GlendinningPrincipal Investigator and project leader: Impact of Policies for Plagiarism in HE across Europe 2010-2013
510321-LLP-1-2010-1-UK-ERASMUS-EMHE
Lead Partner: Coventry University, United Kingdom;
Aleksandras Stulginskis University, LithuaniaCoordinator: Dr Linas Stabingis email: [email protected] Mendel University, Czech Republic Coordinator: Dr Tomáš Foltýnek email: [email protected] Technical University of Lodz, PolandCoordinator: Agnieszka Michałowska-Dutkiewiczemail: [email protected] University of Nicosia, Cyprus Coordinator: Dr Catherine Demoliou email: [email protected] Project Consultant:Jude Carroll, Educational Consultant, UK Project Conference Sponsors:Turnitin / iParadigms / IS4U
Presentation content
• IPPHEAE project• Survey results from across
EU• Survey results from Republic
of Ireland• What role can university
libraries play?• Challenges• Strengths and opportunities• Future research
IPPHEAE Aims and Objectives
• Identify what is being done to combat plagiarism in HE institutions across Europe
• Develop tools and resources• Capture case studies of good practice• Support interventions for preventing /
detecting plagiarism• Recommend ways to discourage, find
and deal with plagiarism and academic dishonesty
• Improve standards and quality in HE institutions across Europe and beyond
Research and Development
ANTON – software tool development
Survey across EU countries10 Case studies – exploitationMaterials, resources developedAnalysis, reportingDissemination
Survey Methodology•Institutions, on-line questionnaires in14 languages
–Bachelor and master’s degree students–University teachers and researchers–Senior managers
•National/senior management Interviews•Student focus groups•Tested survey questions – for reuse
Analysis and comparison:•Academic Integrity Maturity Model (AIMM)
Survey Outputs•Almost 5,000 anonymous responses•Over 200 institutions and organisations•Mixture of quantitative and qualitative data•Separate reports for all 27 EU countries
–Executive summary–Details of research–Analysis of results–Recommendations
•EU-wide comparison of policies using AIMM
Academic Integrity Maturity Model (AIMM)
Students’ views - Ireland• they expect you to critically evaluate but
no one ever taught you to do it. No one ever taught me to write
• I want to learn and write well, but it is difficult to understand what is "common knowledge" and what isn't
• There needs to be more awareness and education about the problem. I admire the work you are doing in highlighting the issue because I have never been educated about it by my faculty or lecturers during my four years in college. I find that worrying, to say the least.
Students’ ideas - Ireland• More frequent but shorter reading assignments
which allow students to get a feel for writing and for them to receive feedback on their own work
• Universal referencing style per faculty (if not university). Mandatory lecture to begin year explaining how to properly reference given on universal basis and not course specific, review lecture at beginning of each year. Handouts that make information easy and accessible, reducing daunting task prospect. New plagiarism expansions in each style to take account of new sources (podcast, youtube lecture series, blogs, articles in random online sources, talk series, in-face interviews etc).
Republic of Ireland Academic Integrity Maturity Model profile
Transparency
Policies
Sanctions
Software
PreventionCommunication
Knowledge
Training
Research
0.00
2.00
4.00
AIMM Irish Republic
AIMM Irish Republic
Overall AIMM score 18.94 / 36, Ranking 4th out of 27 countriesBased on responses from 82 students, 14 teachers, 3 senior/national and 3 student focus groups
Republic of Ireland
Strengths and opportunities• Good appreciation of threats to
academic standards• Special units established at some
institutions• Effective software tools used by
most institutions• Good training for staff and
students, eg PgCert• Expertise utilised and shared
Republic of Ireland
Weaknesses and threats• Maturity of policies varies• Some overconfidence about
effectiveness of policies• Inconsistent application of policies
internally in some institutions• Overestimation of students skills and
knowledge for academic integrity• No national system for oversight
Summary of IPPHEAE findings
• Great differences between countries and institutions– Approaches to quality assurance– Perceptions, awareness – especially what is plagiarism– Policies and procedures
• Maturity of systems– Nationally, regionally, institutionally
• Inconsistency in – Understanding – Accountability for decisions– Processes– Transparency
• Good practice – lots of it • Head in the sand – lots of it• Not everyone accepts there is need for change
Student ResponsesI have received training in techniques for scholarly academic writing and plagiarism issues
Student Responses
The institution where I now study has policies and procedures for dealing with plagiarism
Teacher responses: Are cases of plagiarism handled consistently and fairly?
I believe that all teachers follow the same procedures for similar cases of plagiarism
Student responsesI believe I may have plagiarised (accidentally or deliberately)
40% copied word for word with no quotations, citations, references - Is it plagiarism?
Eg Bulgaria (n=93) 5-57-14-19-4 %
40% copied with some words changed with no quotations, references or in text citations
Eg Bulgaria (n=93) 9-13-11-43-25 %
Findings: Policies and procedures
• Lack of agreement on definitions, policies• National stats in Sweden and Austria, but
…• Focus on plagiarism in research and PhD
students, not bachelor, masters • Link to quality assurance, transparency• Students and most teachers calling for
more student training and information• But not all teachers want CPD, “training”• Separating V Integrating student
guidance• Use of digital tools – teachers, students• Pockets of research across EU
Recommendations for EuropeReduce variation across countries and institutions in:• Agreement on what constitutes plagiarism• National support for institution-wide strategies,
including licenses for digital tools• Accountability and consistency in QA,
assessment grading and academic integrity• Clear and transparent institution-wide policies
and systems• Fairness and proportionality of sanctions• Education and training, staff and studentsNeed to promote• Comparability of statistics to monitor impact• Funding for further dissemination,
developments • Pre-university understanding and practices
Questions for you
• What policies and systems need to be in place for upholding academic integrity in higher education institutions (HEIs)?
• How can university libraries contribute to institutional policies and systems
• What role should national organisations and associations have? eg – Help to encourage improvements– Monitor institutional systems and processes– Support and finance innovation
Challenges to future progress
• What could we change, what would be possible?• Reaching the right people to kick-start change• Gaps: low participation, institutions and countries• Autonomy institutionally and individually• Overworked, underpaid academics, second jobs• Large class sizes, under-investment• Scale of change needed in some places• Complacency, lack of interest• Costs in current economic climate• Fear of identification, exposure• Shoot the whistle-blower mentality• Lack of agreement about how to proceed• Not viewed as a priority
Reflections on research• Very difficult to persuade institutions and
individuals to participate in survey• On-line questionnaires long and
complicated• Most of data collected biased positively –
self-selected participants with something to report
• Institutions with no policies and people oblivious to the problems did not participate
• Low numbers of respondents in some countries means not possible to generalise
• Difficult working with EU partners
What’s next?
• EU-wide report and 27 country reports available: http://ippheae.eu
• Case studies available on request– Examples of good practice in plagiarism
prevention and management– Access to project resources: workshops, quiz
• Applied for further funding via Erasmus+• Disseminate information to people of
influence and try to get buy-in• Interventions, workshops seminars• Scope for more research and analysis of
existing data and use of research tools