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Step 1: Download and print the Template for Analysis. Step 2: Do you know what services are available to students given standard or traditional essay assignments? A search for “free essays” brings up all kinds of these services. We have listed just a few of the many free-essay sites for you to browse. Click on http://www.cyberessays.comand http://www.schoolsucks.com and compare the sites, using the template to record your observations.
Step 3: How might we construct learning to ensure that students are not downloading someone else’s thinking? While on the cyberessays site, the essay entitled “Supernatural Forces in Macbeth” interested us as teachers of senior English classes as a topic we might assign. A very quick perusal and holistic evaluation indicated that the quality of this essay was poor. Choose an essay and evaluate it, using the assessment rubric we have provided. How might you use this essay or one like it with a class? (See Additional Notes) Step 4: Joy H. McGregor and Denise C. Streitenberger of the Texas Woman’s University posed the question about students who copy (called scribes) and use others’ information without processing it adequately: “Do Scribes Learn?” Streitenberger and McGregor conducted two qualitative field studies of senior students assigned to do research essays in English classes, one in Alberta, the other in Texas. Several of their findings or insights suggest examination of the role of the teacher, teacher librarian, and direct instruction in assisting students in the research process. Click on this site and note two interesting findings of the study for sharing with your colleagues. Step 5: The previous site also offers web links to on-line writing and research labs, such as Purdue University’s On-line Writing Laboratory (OWL)and Cornell University Library’s questions to help students evaluate the usefulness of information sources. Browse one or two of these sites and record the URLs to recommend to your colleagues as ways of assisting students in their research and construction of meaning. Step 6: Several educational theorists suggest that the problem with cheating is that we as teachers need to re-think what we are asking our students to do and to learn. Click on the linked words to read the background information.
Having read the background information, list five strategies that your
colleagues might use to begin to re-design their instructional programs
to ensure that students are producing insights or constructing knowledge
rather than merely regurgitating existing information. How can we
design “cheat-proofed” learning opportunities?
Step 7: Jamie McKenzie is an expert on educational technology. As a retired superintendent of the Bellingham School District, he now writes and speaks about issues of education technology. You can browse his journal site for many articles: www.fno.org/. The May 1998 issue offers an article entitled “The New Plagiarism: Seven Antidotes to Prevent Highway Robbery in an Electronic Age.” Click on this article and peruse. Choose three antidotes that may be helpful to your colleagues and provide two examples of how they might apply each of these. Another site, “The
Instructor’s Guide to Internet Plagiarism,”
was prepared by a student. He also offers some interesting tips on
how to recognize “downloaded” materials.
Step 8: McKenzie’s 7th antidote focuses on assessment throughout the research process. Much has been written about:
When you are clear about how authentic assessment differs from traditional assessment, use the template for analysis to compare the two and prepare yourself to explain the differences to your colleagues. For much more on rubrics as authentic assessment, click here. Step 9: Webquests were originally designed by Bernie Dodge and Tom March at San Diego State University. You are currently engaged in a webquest. They are an example of learner-focused, teacher-designed activities that promote students’ higher level thinking and meaning making. There are many webquests already available for classroom use. Begin by looking at The Webquest Page where Dodge offers training materials, examples, and collections. Browse the site. Make sure you look under Training Materials to see:
Choose an example of a webquest related to your teaching area and peruse it from the Matrix of Examples. Check to see that it “scaffolds” higher level learning and is designed according to the template. How would you evaluate the webquest that you chose, using the rubric for evaluation? If you want to view more webquest information, you can check Kylie Hanson’s Internet Hotlist on Web-based Learning. How does the teaching strategy of asking students to undertake Webquests ensure that they are engaged in authentic learning? What skills would students need to use if they were asked to create a webquest for their classmates on particular topics? Step 10: Reflect on your learning processes as you completed our webquest. Also consider such questions as: How might students benefit from learning by completing webquests? In what ways is a webquest consistent with the goals of information literacy, authentic learning, and authentic assessment? How have graphic organizers helped you? What role does the teacher or teacher-librarian have in learning activities such as these? How is reflection on the learning processes important? Create a PMI (Plus/Minus/Interesting)
Chart to assess your experience of this webquest or one of the webquests
from Step 9.
Step 11:
Review your current practice and policies used within your department,
school, or District for cheating. What recommendations for change
to practice or policy can you make? How will you ensure that others
on your staff are familiar with the problems and “antidotes” for cheating?
The completed template for analysis should provide you with enough information to work with your colleagues in a professional development context to focus on strategies to overcome increasing student plagiarism from electronic sources. Jamie McKenzie calls this phenomenon the “New Plagiarism”: students electronically shovel huge chunks of information into bins with little processing or original thinking. “What we have,” he writes, “is a societal shift toward glib and facile understanding allied with an archaic school research program … which places little value upon questioning and original thought.” This webquest was an opportunity for independent professional development that you can recommend to other colleagues. They too can examine ways of dealing with cheating and develop ideas about teaching and learning strategies for use with electronic sources.
While this has been a challenge for us as “technology neophytes,” we have learned a lot. In particular, we have had to examine the ways we design and assess assignments for promoting learning and the construction of knowledge.
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We assign 
We focus on products of learning, not processes for 
We do not provide the necessary 
We
do not understand research as a 
