Transcript Slide 1

An information literacy approach
to designing out plagiarism
Alison Ahearn
Debbi Boden
Imperial College London
University of Worcester
Aims of the session
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Philosophy
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Assessing out plagiarism
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Does it work?
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Conclusions
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Questions
Philosophy
Information literacy
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Is Information Literacy just something
librarians made up?
Digital immigrants
& natives
Digital immigrants, digital natives &
Millennials
millennials – real
or just more jargon?
Digital citizenship – another government fad?
Digital citizenship
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Plagiarism – HE in a moral panic?
Digital Immigrant, Natives and
Millenials
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Born in the last 25 years
Web 2.0
Multi task:
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Face book
iPod
Writing course work
texting
MSN messenger
Copy and paste generation
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They create their own content, change
content
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Information belongs to everyone
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School attitude
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Confused?
Digital citizenship
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Issues about information not just in HE
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UK government E-strategy
Digital divide
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social inclusion / exclusion
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Mature students
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People need information literacy skills to:
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function in the digital world
to foster lifelong learning
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enormous growth in digital information
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social inclusion / exclusion social inclusion / exclusion
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Internet has made information more accessible?
UK government E-strategy
the digital haves / have not's
digital immigrants / digital natives
people need information literacy skills to:
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function in the digital world
to foster lifelong learning
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‘Around 30-40% (and on some estimates, even 50%) of the EU population still
reap few or no benefits from ICT. The major reasons for this are lack of access
to terminals and networks, limited accessibility of (easy-to-use) technologies,
poor affordability, insufficient motivation, limited ICT skills and competences,
and different generational attitudes to technologies.
Only 16% of persons over 55 have Internet access.
Only around 3% of public web sites fully comply with W3C eAccessibility
standards (http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/accessibility.php), thus hindering access
to web content and services for people with disabilities (some 15% of the EU
population).
In October 2005, Europe overtook the USA in terms of the number of
broadband lines (reaching 60 million), with broadband subscriptions growing by
60%. However, on average only 13% of the EU population can access
broadband services, still far behind the world's leader (25.5% in South Korea),
even though the best performing EU countries ( Denmark , Netherlands ,
Finland ) already match this result.'
EUROPA. Information and communication technology for an inclusive society – Frequently asked questions.
nline] Available from:
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/06/237&format=HTML&aged=1&language
=EN&guiLanguage=fr [Accessed 19th January, 2008].
Young people expert searchers?
‘Our verdict: This is a dangerous myth. Digital
literacies and information literacies do not go
hand in hand.’
2'A ciber briefing paper: information behaviour of the researcher of the future'. UCL. [Online], 11 January 2008.
Available from: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/programmes/reppres/gg_final_keynote_11012008.pdf
Accessed 19th January, 2008].
The information literacy timeline
Learning Outcomes Levels 1 & 2
Understand the nature of a literature
search and why one is needed
Recognise that information is available in
different formats
Levels 1
&2
Information
Know how to use the library catalogue to
locate reading list material, both hard copy
and digital
Digital Resources
Be aware of the digital resources that are
available, how they can be accessed both
from the library and remotely
Research on the
Internet
Feel confident in the use of digital
resources at basic search level
Understand the assignment topic and be
able to identify appropriate keywords
Critical evaluation
Create a basic search strategy
Have an awareness of the ‘pitfalls’ of using
the Internet
Managing information
Know where to find ‘reliable’ information
on the Internet
Recognise the need to evaluate
information critically
Have an ability to paraphrase information
Demonstrate an understanding of what
plagiarism is, and the different types that
occur and how to avoid plagiarising
Understand how to cite and reference
information source
Be able to communicate their findings
Illustrate an ability to build upon previous
information literacy skills
Establish appropriate targets, and
explore the information resources
available
Information
Demonstrate knowledge of the different
types of information that are available
both within in and outside the institution
Recognise that information may be open
to bias e.g. Cultural, political etc
Digital Resources
Levels 2 &
MA/MSc
Research on the
Internet
Have an ability to create a search
strategy with a complex search string
using parentheses, truncation etc
Monitor and critically reflect on overall
strategy
Critical evaluation
Be confident in the use of digital
resources at an advanced search level
Critically analyse, reflect and comment
on conflicting information content
Managing information
Be able to synthesise and construct new
hypotheses
Demonstrate an understanding of what
plagiarism is, and the different types that
occur and how to avoid plagiarising
Learning Outcomes for Level
3 & Masters/MSc
Present and communicate findings in a
clear and concise format with appropriate
citation and references
Be confident in the use of bibliographic
software
Demonstrate knowledge of the different
types of information that are available
both within in and outside the institution
Researchers
Information
Recognise that information may be open
to bias e.g. Cultural, political etc
Digital Resources
Have an ability to create a search
strategy with a complex search string
using parentheses, truncation etc
Monitor and critically reflect on overall
strategy
Research on the
Internet
Critical evaluation
Managing information
Be confident in the use of digital
resources at an advanced search level
Understand what current awareness
service is and the reasons for using
current awareness services
Be aware of the different types of current
awareness services and how to set them
up
Demonstrate an understanding of the
publishing process
Demonstrate an understanding of Open
Access and repositories
Have a good understanding of
plagiarism, IP and copyright from both
their own and students perspective
Be confident in their ability construct new
hypotheses
Learning Outcomes for
researchers
Present and communicate findings in a
clear and concise format with appropriate
citation and references
Be confident in the use of bibliographic
software
Be confident in the use of technologies
which will assist them in communicating
with research colleagues globally
Civilising coursework
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Civil engineering freshers need to
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Discover engineering > maths+physics
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Discover research
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Feel the need for teamwork
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Take responsibility for own learning
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Develop aspirational student ethos beyond marks
Coursework for Civil Engineers
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Numerate but information illiterate
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Need to need their librarians
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Need to need their online library sources
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Need to feel the delight of discovery
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Need to have no one to blame/praise but selves
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Need to operate as team-contributors
The brief
“Further our understanding of engineering in its
non-technical context, using your two
keywords”
 Keyword: Macro team “TRANSPORT”
 Keyword: Middle team “Railways”
 Keyword: Individual (freely chosen) e.g. Africa
Tube trains, Welsh Highland Railway, Safety,
Maintenance, 7/7 bombings, St Pancras refurb
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The task
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Library-led sessions in normal classroom
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Computer lab practicals, quizzes
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Apply info lit learning to research task
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Define own individual topic (critical decisionmaking)
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Write draft, get feedback, revamp, reflect
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Contribute own chapter to a team report
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Attend extracurricular lecture, give 2 presentations
(peer feedback)
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Learning summary, self-critique (own talks), critique
of professional’s presentation
The assessment
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Presumed A-grade
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Justified and discussed
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Eliminates “how do I obtain good marks”
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Inculcates: how do I live up to the good mark?
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Eliminates competition: fosters collaboration
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Focus is on the task, not marks
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Reward is in-built: easy marks, tough task
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REMOVES ANXIETY IN FRESHERS
Do they deserve it?
14 subjects in first year. They WORK!
The effect
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Longitudinal team tasks, culture, ethos
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Attitude of collaboration is normal
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Attitude of research is normal
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Fantastic referencing? No! But easy to point
them back to online module/resources
Fun? Yes!
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Clicker (millionaire quiz…the race, the tension!)
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Films (David Attenborough eat your heart out)
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Structure, detail
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THIS IS HOW YOUR EXAMINERS WORK
“It is about being an engineer”
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student engineers are not student librarians
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Purposeful IL learning in engineering context
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Purposeful IL learning on being a good engineer
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Flag up when this will be used later….
“Your final year project is worth nearly twice all of
your first year coursework combined. Serious
research needs serious information literacy. Get
the skills now, skill up, get serious.”