Originality has become hard to define and we constantly see an ever-changing synthesis of existing ideas. What if we are putting together thoughts or ideas that we have researched and synthesized into a new understanding for ourselves? The result may not be original, but it represents a new level of understanding and a validation of learning.
Let’s take a look into art history. Many artists spent days and even years to painstakingly recreate every detail of another artist’s masterpiece. This was considered flattery in the highest form and helped the “copying” artists develop and define their techniques. It was a learning process that was not viewed as a crime but rather a “success” of learning.
In an abstract presented by Ms. Amy Besnoy, at the International Conference on Technology, Knowledge and Society in 2005, this question was posed. Students have easy access to technology “that enables them to dance around academic integrity by cutting and pasting, photographing notes and test messaging test answers to each other, do we throw in the ethical towel or do we, as educators, consider this an opportunity to change our pedagogical approach?”[ii]
Original thoughts are indeed a product of time and effort, much like original music or play-writing. As written words, those original ideas are sacred and when copied or used by others, credit must be given to their creator. I feel the answer to the plagiarism question becomes more about what our society values. Do we reward only the original ideas?
Our educational grading system seems to be more focused on the end result of original ideas. Many college courses determine your course grade (or a large portion of it) using the grade of the final paper or test. The time and learning acquired during your coursework in preparation for that paper/test is only evaluated by your ability to produce an exciting paper or high test scores. This creates a high pressure atmosphere for the student and a win or lose situation.
In contrast, a system of grading that takes into account preparation, research and effort put into learning the course content might be a better reflection of learning and therefore a better way to determine a course grade. Grading in that way would put the concept of plagiarism out of the spotlight as the student would need to show work in progress. It won’t be the end of plagiarism, but it would put the focus on the learning process for the student and not just the end result or grade as the goal.
If you would like to do further investigation on this topic, I recommend the following webinars and websites:
http://plagiarism.org/plag_webinar_college_campuses.html
http://plagiarism.org/plag_webinar_high_schools.html
http://www.2010.techandsoc.com/index.html
[i] Harned, P. & Sutliff, K. (2002) Academic Honesty: Teaching Kids Not To Take The Easy Way Out. Our Children, v27, 4-5.
[ii] Besnoy, Amy (2005-February)”Academic Integrity in a Cut and Paste World: Lost Cause or Pedagogical Possibility?” Presentation at the International Conference on Technology, Knowledge and Society, University of California, Berkeley-San Francisco
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I really enjoyed reading your blog. In your blog you discuss the concept of original thought. I found myself asking the same questions as we were doing this assignment. Does something have to be original to show that we are learning? I agree with you that sometimes this is not necessarily so. Sometimes I feel that the best way of learning is pulling in somebody else’s view and incorporating it with our own thoughts. That way we are learning from others and getting to a new level that we may not have reached on our own. The Internet is the perfect place for achieving this but people must also be mindful of plagiarism and proper citing.
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