Well, hey. Thanks again to you folks north of the border for some rhetoric
that we down here can't seem to muster in the current political climate . .
. (What? He won't sumbit his essay to Turnitin? He must be a terrorist!)
Marcy
---------- Forwarded Message ----------
Date: Friday, January 16, 2004 10:59 AM -0600
From: Eric Crump <[log in to unmask]>
To: TechRhet <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: [techrhet] [ncte-talk] Toronto Star: McGill teen wins battle over
online cheat check (fwd)
fyi
--Eric
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2004 10:25:59 -0600
From: Gloria Pipkin <[log in to unmask]>
Toronto Star
January 16, 2004
McGill teen wins battle over online cheat check
System smears innocent scholars, student says
Turnitin.com examines essays for plagiarism
LOUISE BROWN
EDUCATION REPORTER
A Toronto teen studying at McGill University has won the right to refuse
to put his assignments through a popular computerized
plagiarism-detector, saying it treats students like cheats until they
are proven innocent.
The software, designed to thwart the boom in cheating Web sites, scans a
student's work for stolen passages by comparing it with a databank of
research papers on the Internet.
Turnitin is used by 28 of Canada's 90 universities, although its use is
often voluntary.
Jesse Rosenfeld, 19, had protested having to submit three fall
assignments through the popular copycat filter before having them
marked. He received zero marks for all three.
The second-year course in economic development was one of several
included last fall in a McGill pilot project to try the plagiarism
software, which was designed in 1997 in California.
However, this week, after two months of continued appeals, the professor
reversed his decision and agreed to mark the assignments without the
screening, giving Rosenfeld marks ranging from C-plus to B-plus.
"I'm happy about the marks, but frankly I'm offended that the university
is violating students' rights by using a device that presumes students
are guilty of plagiarism until proven innocent," said Rosenfeld.
"I'm also angry because this software gives universities an excuse to
keep oversized classes and not hire enough professors so they can
actually interact with students and do their own marking."
Under the Turnitin system, the student turns in the essay or lab report
to http://www.turnitin.com, which prepares an "originality report" on
the student's work and forwards both to the professor.
Turnitin then adds the student's paper to its data bank for future
comparisons - something Rosenfeld also opposes, "because it uses
students' work to boost the company's profits."
Joel Duff, of the Canadian Federation of Students in Ontario, said such
high-tech shortcuts are increasingly common at universities stretched
for funds.
At York University and the University of Toronto, students cannot be
forced to use the program, and York vice-president Sheila Embleton said
she thought McGill's about-face was "fair and appropriate."
Moreover, she noted a good professor can spot fraud without cyber-tools.
"If you keep your usual wits around you, you can usually recognize from
other clues when something's not ringing true," said Embleton, adding
only about 80 to 100 of York's 1,200 profs subscribe to Turnitin.
Besides, she said, Turnitin won't catch original essays bought from an
"essay mill" that have never appeared online.
The University of Toronto purchased the service two years ago, after the
number of plagiarism cases nearly tripled between 1996 and 2002 -
largely because the Internet has made it so easy for students to
download other people's research.
Yet some students and even professors say they appreciate the protection
against cheating.
"Professors, frankly, are split on the issue," said Henry Mandelbaum, of
the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations.
While a number use "traditional tools" to weed out plagiarizers - such
as knowing students well enough to tell if an assignment is beyond their
ability - others find a "Google" search will turn up copied material.
However, with the worst faculty-student ratio in the country, Ontario
professors don't often have time to do such checks, Mandelbaum said.
With files from Kristin Rushowy
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/A
rticle_Type1&c=Article&cid=1074208210446&call_pageid=968332188492&col=96
8793972154
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Marcy Bauman
Media Consultant
College of Pharmacy
University of Michigan
734-647-2227
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