Part 2: 1000 words (50%)
Present a plan for your project. This should include:
OERs on plagiarism, citation, referencing and paraphrasing already exist, but they often 'stand outside' English or EAP courses and can be very negative in tone. I would like to create a bank of lessons and activities that will enable EAP teachers to 'meld' existing topics (grammar, listening, reading, writing and vocabulary) with advice about plagiarism and intellectual propery.
- a plan for preparation and initial research stage of the project (Units 1–6) (10%) I will need to find and analyze samples of online and offline resources on plagiarism for EAP teachers. I will also need to select software which will allow me to create a webpage and interactive exercises
- the topic and scope of investigation. Tackling plagiarism amongst undergraduate students, particularly those who speak English as a second language. Worldwide, since 1980. I will not limit myself to any particular region, as plagiarism is an issue for all education institutions. I would like to adopt commucative teaching methodology, so I am unlikely to use resources created before 1980.
- a description of at least four main sources of information you expect to draw on
Raihanah M.M., Hashim, R.S., Arezou, Z., Muhamad, A.M (2011) 'Developing a Critical Response, Avoiding Plagiarism among Undergraduate Students' Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences Vol.18 pp.517 - 521 doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.05.075
TurnItIIn resources, especially this webcast: http://go.turnitin.com/webcast/dr-seuss-
plagiarism
Open Educational Resources on plagiarism, referencing, citation, etc. http://www.readytoresearch.ac.uk/referencing-and-avoiding-plagiarism
Estow, S. Lawrence, E.K., Adams. K.A. (2011) 'Practice Makes Perfect: Improving Students' Skills in Understanding and Avoiding Plagiarism With a Themed Methods Course' Teaching of Psychology 38 (4), pp. 255-258 DOI: 10.1177/0098628311421323
- a rationale for your selection of format (5%) Multi-media presentation. As I expect the OER to employ a number of different media, including animation, podcast and void cast, a presentation using these media would probably be the best way to convey the appeal of the resource to others.
- a description of any new skills that you expect to require (5%) I will need to learn the basics of building a website, as well as creating vodka sts and podcasts.
- an outline of any existing skills that you expect to draw on (5%) I have created interactive quizzes before using Moodle and Articulate, and I expect I will be able to use these skills when creating the website. I have also worked on citation and referencing for several colleges and universities, so I am aware of the errors and problems that tend to arise.
- any areas of uncertainty or risk (5%) One very obvious problem is that different EAP teachers will be using different citation and referencing systems. I will need to find ways to ensure that the resources can be 'tweaked' to take this into account. Also, because quite a few resources already exist on plagiarism, I need to ensure that mine is differentiated in terms of content and method.
Comments
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Anna,this seems a worthwhile topic to me, not one that I am really familiar with.
- If I understand you correctly you want to produce an OER resource for EAP teachers (is that a new acronym for ESOL?) to help them teach students about plagiarism and how to reference, especially so as not to be accused of plagiarism. Perhaps you need a title which makes that clear at a glance?
- the idea of creating a bank of lessons and a website would be quite a challenge if I was doing it. Do you think it is feasible?
- I was particularly interested in the mention of vodka - but I fear that was just a piece of corrective typing!!
- I am thinking of multimedia ; do you think ppt, a podcast and a video cast would be classed as multi-media
- this seems to be quite a fresh idea
- an OER on this topic would seem to me to have a definite audience
I hope these points help!I
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Thanks, John. Those are all very useful points. EAP stands for English for Academic Prposes. It's kind of EFL combined with Study Skills. Yes, I do need to find out more about multi-media presentations. Which media were you thinking of?
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Hi Anna, I think this is a really interesting idea. This probably isn't within the scope of your project, but I thought about the cultural dimension of academic integrity. I was involved in an assessment project with undergraduate students and staff some time ago that gave me insight into international students experiences of assessment. The feedback was that some cultures (i.e. Chinese students) find critical thinking more challenging, as they acquire knowledge through rote learning and are less likely to feel comfortable questioning the "experts". I think this memorisation approach to learning may make plagiarism more of a grey area for these students, so enabling educators to take a more positive, supportive approach to EAP is a great idea. Like John I thought the project sounded ambitious, but that's probably because I've never built a website in my life! Laila