@ catinthecity. Yes, I agree with you, but can't we also argue that cutting and pasting is part of the composing process. I know that there has been some research done on the "death" of the research paper because of prolific plagiarism. It makes me think of this website that I recently heard of ( http://hitrecord.org/) where people remix other the work from other artists (writers, musicians, photographers, etc). I think it is relevant to this conversation, because the lines between what is mine and what is yours can be blurred when we share in a digital space - and maybe that is not always a bad thing. On the other hand, we'd be fooling ourselves if we think that we don't need to rethink the ways we teach about citation and attribution. Most of the time when my students are plagiarizing, they are not even aware that they are doing it. (then there is always that one kid who cuts and pastes shamelessly -leaving the URL on the bottom of the page, or not changing the blue font on the hyperlinks!) I'm guilty of not always giving credit, too. I can't count how many times I have pulled an image off the web for a handout or a powerpoint and not attributed its source. Am I wrong to do this? Am I hurting anyone? Are their intellectual property boundaries crossed?
In addition to plagiarism issues, there are issues of student safety and bullying that come into play. It is our responsibility to teach our students to use digital platforms in a responsible way. I always relay a story I heard on NPR to my students - especially to my seniors who are on their way to college. This student at Harvard a while back wrote for the Harvard Crimson (student paper) and he, in his very free-collegekid-explore the world attitude wrote a whole expose on his own sex-life and his experimentation with sexual exploits using craigslist solicitation of strangers. Fast forward a few years and he is now a middle-school teacher. His students start googling his name and find a link to the articles he wrote. He is forced to resign his position. Here is the kicker...He appealed to the Harvard Crimson to take down his story and they refused. It went to court and the ruling was in favor of Harvard. This man would be haunted by this youthful indiscretion forever. Not to say that 50 years ago you couldn't go the library and search out the same information, but the fact that it is now available at everyone's fingertips is what can be somewhat alarming about digital documents. We need to teach ethical responsibilities of engaging in digital writing spaces.
In addition to addressing the ethical issues of plagiarism and student safety, teachers have an opportunity to teach students how to distinguish between credible and non-credible websites. The Internet provides a wealth of information at your fingertips and students should also be prepared to decipher useful websites.
I guess we're all on the same page because bullying and plagiarism were the first ethical dilemmas that came to my mind when preparing to respond to this question. I also thought about teaching students to learn how to evaluate valid sources of information on the web. As far as plagiarism goes, when I taught in CT we subscribed to www.turnitin.com. I found this to be a fantastic resource and a great plagiarism deterrent. Online bullying and sexting have become major issues at my school. Our social workers and deans often have to get involved with bullying that occurs on facebook and when our students send inappropriate images to one another. Currently, we lead an advisory unit on internet safety and bullying. But, I'm always looking for more information or ideas. I really think internet ethics should be a required unit in school. Any other thoughts?
I agree that ethical behavior in digital writing spaces involves several complexities on top of the ones we traditionally consider and I agree on the aspects that you all raised. Incidentally, I am familiar with safeassign (similar to turnitin but in the blackboard platform), I use it and I find it a good tool to integrate the teaching of quoting, referencing and attributing work (if the teaching is successful, it will not become an issue).
I think that safety and privacy issues are extremely complex and we are probably in a transition phase in which we are redefining what privacy is. For safety purposes, it is crucial that we explain to our students the potential and unforeseeable consequences on putting something "out there", at the same time we'd not be acknowledging a shift that is happening in our idea of privacy if we just would censor any publication. I have no answers, but a lot of questions I am reflecting on.
In response to above posts, I feel like cutting and pasting is a skill that the children use regardless and we need to embrace it and teach lessons about appropriate citing practices. In response to plagiarism and cyberbullying all of these must fall under a schools AUP (acceptable use policy) as well as teacher and administrator responsibilites to educate children on the right and wrongs of digital society. Thank you very much for stating that internet safety and cyberbullying should be an interdisciplinary unit in school. I agree 1000%!
I totally agree that these issues of ethics should be a part of the curriculum in schools and taught directly. Reliable vs. unreliable sources, citing sources, using judgement as to what is posted, etc.
It is interesting. I was just discussing with a colleague that I do I see a difference in students awareness of cyberbullying, sexting, internet safety, social media as it has become a topic of conversation in both the discourse of education and public discourse. My nieces, who are six and eight, are being educated about these issues from a very early age.
I remember when ethics was simply making sure that you didn't hand copy paragraphs directly from the Encyclopedia. Ethics is much greater now. There is so much information out there. How do you teach children that their thinking must be their own? How do you teach children that there is such a thing as intellectual capital that has to be respected? How do you teach children that just because there is a screen and perhaps thousands of miles separating you from someone on the other end, that responsible behavior is still required. Just because you are in your room alone--typing--doesn't mean you are alone. Schools must accept the responsibility to teach ethics and discuss the importance of acceptable use policies. It has to be taken a lot more seriously than just getting a signature from a parent and turning it in. If the world wide web and all of its different parameters are going to affect our students and our schools and our lives, then educators are going to have to take on a role of leadership
It is very easy to copy and paste from work on line without giving due credit. Not only with text but image, too.
ReplyDelete@ catinthecity. Yes, I agree with you, but can't we also argue that cutting and pasting is part of the composing process. I know that there has been some research done on the "death" of the research paper because of prolific plagiarism. It makes me think of this website that I recently heard of ( http://hitrecord.org/) where people remix other the work from other artists (writers, musicians, photographers, etc). I think it is relevant to this conversation, because the lines between what is mine and what is yours can be blurred when we share in a digital space - and maybe that is not always a bad thing. On the other hand, we'd be fooling ourselves if we think that we don't need to rethink the ways we teach about citation and attribution. Most of the time when my students are plagiarizing, they are not even aware that they are doing it. (then there is always that one kid who cuts and pastes shamelessly -leaving the URL on the bottom of the page, or not changing the blue font on the hyperlinks!) I'm guilty of not always giving credit, too. I can't count how many times I have pulled an image off the web for a handout or a powerpoint and not attributed its source. Am I wrong to do this? Am I hurting anyone? Are their intellectual property boundaries crossed?
ReplyDeleteIn addition to plagiarism issues, there are issues of student safety and bullying that come into play. It is our responsibility to teach our students to use digital platforms in a responsible way. I always relay a story I heard on NPR to my students - especially to my seniors who are on their way to college. This student at Harvard a while back wrote for the Harvard Crimson (student paper) and he, in his very free-collegekid-explore the world attitude wrote a whole expose on his own sex-life and his experimentation with sexual exploits using craigslist solicitation of strangers. Fast forward a few years and he is now a middle-school teacher. His students start googling his name and find a link to the articles he wrote. He is forced to resign his position. Here is the kicker...He appealed to the Harvard Crimson to take down his story and they refused. It went to court and the ruling was in favor of Harvard. This man would be haunted by this youthful indiscretion forever. Not to say that 50 years ago you couldn't go the library and search out the same information, but the fact that it is now available at everyone's fingertips is what can be somewhat alarming about digital documents. We need to teach ethical responsibilities of engaging in digital writing spaces.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to addressing the ethical issues of plagiarism and student safety, teachers have an opportunity to teach students how to distinguish between credible and non-credible websites. The Internet provides a wealth of information at your fingertips and students should also be prepared to decipher useful websites.
ReplyDeleteI guess we're all on the same page because bullying and plagiarism were the first ethical dilemmas that came to my mind when preparing to respond to this question. I also thought about teaching students to learn how to evaluate valid sources of information on the web.
ReplyDeleteAs far as plagiarism goes, when I taught in CT we subscribed to www.turnitin.com. I found this to be a fantastic resource and a great plagiarism deterrent.
Online bullying and sexting have become major issues at my school. Our social workers and deans often have to get involved with bullying that occurs on facebook and when our students send inappropriate images to one another.
Currently, we lead an advisory unit on internet safety and bullying. But, I'm always looking for more information or ideas. I really think internet ethics should be a required unit in school. Any other thoughts?
I agree that ethical behavior in digital writing spaces involves several complexities on top of the ones we traditionally consider and I agree on the aspects that you all raised. Incidentally, I am familiar with safeassign (similar to turnitin but in the blackboard platform), I use it and I find it a good tool to integrate the teaching of quoting, referencing and attributing work (if the teaching is successful, it will not become an issue).
ReplyDeleteI think that safety and privacy issues are extremely complex and we are probably in a transition phase in which we are redefining what privacy is. For safety purposes, it is crucial that we explain to our students the potential and unforeseeable consequences on putting something "out there", at the same time we'd not be acknowledging a shift that is happening in our idea of privacy if we just would censor any publication. I have no answers, but a lot of questions I am reflecting on.
In response to above posts, I feel like cutting and pasting is a skill that the children use regardless and we need to embrace it and teach lessons about appropriate citing practices. In response to plagiarism and cyberbullying all of these must fall under a schools AUP (acceptable use policy) as well as teacher and administrator responsibilites to educate children on the right and wrongs of digital society.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for stating that internet safety and cyberbullying should be an interdisciplinary unit in school. I agree 1000%!
I totally agree that these issues of ethics should be a part of the curriculum in schools and taught directly. Reliable vs. unreliable sources, citing sources, using judgement as to what is posted, etc.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting. I was just discussing with a colleague that I do I see a difference in students awareness of cyberbullying, sexting, internet safety, social media as it has become a topic of conversation in both the discourse of education and public discourse. My nieces, who are six and eight, are being educated about these issues from a very early age.
I remember when ethics was simply making sure that you didn't hand copy paragraphs directly from the Encyclopedia. Ethics is much greater now. There is so much information out there. How do you teach children that their thinking must be their own? How do you teach children that there is such a thing as intellectual capital that has to be respected? How do you teach children that just because there is a screen and perhaps thousands of miles separating you from someone on the other end, that responsible behavior is still required. Just because you are in your room alone--typing--doesn't mean you are alone. Schools must accept the responsibility to teach ethics and discuss the importance of acceptable use policies. It has to be taken a lot more seriously than just getting a signature from a parent and turning it in. If the world wide web and all of its different parameters are going to affect our students and our schools and our lives, then educators are going to have to take on a role of leadership
ReplyDelete