[Air-l] turnitin issue

[Mary-Helen Ward]

I'm not sure that an assumption of plagiarism until proven otherwise  
is a violation of human rights - personally I think it's like showing  
your driver's licence when stopped by the police. They're not  
assuming that you are an unlicensed driver, they are simply  
confirming that you are licensed. Similarly, the academic staff are  
not assuming students are plagiarising, they are taking steps to  
protect the integrity of the institution and to increase the fairness  
of the classroom environment. Would you be happy if you missed out on  
a scholarship to a student who had plagiarised? How do you feel about  
your students turning in plagiarised work?

That said, I agree with Douglas that rather than use systems like  
turnitin, I would like to see teachers be more creative with their  
assessments to lessen the possibility of plagiarism.

M-H


On 09/03/2007, at 10:57 AM, Rosanna Tarsiero wrote:

> As a student myself (and online instructor), I never plagiarized a  
> paper,
> and I do know that there are persons that do.
>
> However, the assumption that students need to prove innocent  
> (rather than
> innocence unless otherwise proven) bothers me a great deal.
>
> I would refuse both submitting a paper to turnitin AND doing  
> supplemental
> work. In all honesty, I do hope that some student sooner or later  
> ends up
> suing colleges. Assuming people to be guilty unless otherwise proven
> violates quite a number of human rights.
>
> Rosanna Tarsiero