Is P the new "Scarlet Letter" ??

From: pleasedontcheat.com 

If you are looking for ideas to combat Plagiarism...look at re-designing your own assignment. At a recent discussion group around Plagiarism, it was acknowledged that most of the plagiarized assignments could benefit from student-centered repackaging. All too often a teacher pre-designs what the students need to investigate and thereby the assignment reflects the teacher, not the student.  This type of assignment is most frequently plagiarized.

Ask the Shadow Scholar:  

• http://chronicle.com/article/The-Shadow-Scholar/125329/ 
• http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/04/education/edlife/term-paper-tips-from-dave-tomar-professional-cheater.html?_r=0  

His story is unbelievable -- Only we do believe it, because we know it's widespread.  We've seen it. We even empathize with a poorly assigned paper that requires very little synthesis and conclusions.  Here are five first steps or simple suggestions, to help combat Plagiarism:  

You may know this, but perhaps some teachers do not.  Or, in our busy-over-burdened educational paradigm, we have not left enough time for coaching, progress monitoring, and guidance so that we can insure that students are actually doing their work and not copy-pasting.  Embedding an element of choice transfers ownership to the student.  If a teacher has "pre-defined" what the topic is (without an element of choice), it is the teacher's assignment and not the student's work.  We are teaching a self-centered generation that wants to "own" their work and doesn't always like to be told what to do.  I trust this is not a news-flash....

eProducts such as Noodletools and Easybib certainly help a student learn how to paraphrase correctly and provide great opportunities for instruction.  However, we know that there is a huge digital divide in some schools.  Whether in a techy or non-techy environment, our goals should be the same: Originality. Thinking. Synthesis.  Original conclusions.  Deep understanding. 

So, is P the new scarlet "S"?  - No.  This generation doesn't care.  There's no shame in Plagiarism....or so they think.  We know better, and need to model why.