 |
 |
Mid-Atlantic Regional Technology in Education Consortium
1301 Cecil B. Moore Ave.
Ritter Annex 9th Floor
Temple University - CRHDE
Philadelphia, PA 19122
800-892-5550
215-204-5130 (fax)
General Inquires:
Laurence Peters
Judith Stull
Technical Assistance:
Barry Mansfield
Professional Development:
Joan Pasternak
|
|
 |
 |
Temple University Center for Research
in Human Development and Education |
|
|
In a study that examined preservice teachers’ predictions and understanding of students aged 10–14, researchers found that significantly more students than predicted by the preservice teachers would find it acceptable to copy a part of text from the Internet. Judged on Turiel’s 3-point framework of moral reasoning, most teachers felt that students would make their judgments within the second domain of societal/conventional norms, which “include contextual concepts of rules and laws, permission from figures of authority, obedience, and punishment” (Nixon, Burnam, & Yasmin, 2004, p. 4). While very few students would rationalize their actions within the first or moral domain—“representing . . . universal concepts of justice, fairness, honesty, and kindness,”— most reported rather within the third or personal domain. The personal domain is described in terms of “moral reasoning that is not based on universal or societal concepts of right and wrong but reflects personal and individual beliefs about acceptable behavior” (Nixon, et al. 2004).
|
|
| |
Catch Me if You Can
Schools are ”fighting fire with fire” by using technology tools to catch plagiarists. Many schools and universities use a host of software solutions that claim to detect thus deter plagiarism. However well intentioned this strategy may be, does it go far enough to the root of the problem? On the other hand, can we as educators identify certain flaws within ourselves as partners-in-crime?
It may be argued that the rise of the Internet has exposed the flaws of educational institutions in terms of their unwillingness or inability to improve or modernize educational techniques. How many children continue to receive the same tired old assignments their parents and grandparents got—from doing a book report, to reporting on the causes that led to the Civil War, to picking a famous American and writing his or her biography? One must examine to what extent these types of assignments not only make it easier for students to quickly find, copy, and paste their work but actually encourage students to plagiarize?
|
