using work from Class A for Class B = academic misconduct?

[lust2hart]

Do you consider it academic misconduct if a student uses an assignment from Class A to complete an assignment in Class B? For example, they're in a business class and a government class and both require a current event report, and they turn in the same paper for both classes.

Does it matter if they change some parts of the paper? 

I believe it is misconduct, but others in my office think it's not as long as it's the student's work. What do you think? 

[smock]

It is considered academic misconduct by some university ethics codes. It can be considered a form of plagiarism. Other universities are more lenient. I've had students ask if they can expand or modify papers from other classes and I usually allow it as long as they produce a substantial amount of new content and fulfil the assignment.

[irishbride2]

Yes.

That being said I did it once in college before I knew it was cheating. I'm so glad I didn't get caught. I really didn't know.

[flamingeaux]

I don't know the laws of academia, but that doesn't seem fair to me. If someone had written an article on "the effects of proper nutrition on a developing brain", would they be prohibitted from submitting that article to both a neuroscience journal and a nutrition journal?

[Jalapeñomel]

Jul 28, 2017 11:13:49 GMT -5 flamingeaux said:

I don't know the laws of academia, but that doesn't seem fair to me. If someone had written an article on "the effects of proper nutrition on a developing brain", would they be prohibitted from submitting that article to both a neuroscience journal and a nutrition journal?

No, you cannot do this. My DH said that the original journal owns that article, and the only way you could publish it twice is to publish on a personal blog with permission from the original journal (and those negotiations must happen with the contract).

[flamingeaux]

Jul 29, 2017 19:15:42 GMT -5 Jalapeñomel said:

Jul 28, 2017 11:13:49 GMT -5 flamingeaux said:

I don't know the laws of academia, but that doesn't seem fair to me. If someone had written an article on "the effects of proper nutrition on a developing brain", would they be prohibitted from submitting that article to both a neuroscience journal and a nutrition journal?

No, you cannot do this. My DH said that the original journal owns that article, and the only way you could publish it twice is to publish on a personal blog with permission from the original journal (and those negotiations must happen with the contract).

Ok.  Well now it makes more sense, and I'm switching sides. Lol.

Although I would be inclined to let him off with a warning if this was the first time.

[UMaineTeach]

Jul 29, 2017 20:22:09 GMT -5 flamingeaux said:

Jul 29, 2017 19:15:42 GMT -5 Jalapeñomel said:

No, you cannot do this. My DH said that the original journal owns that article, and the only way you could publish it twice is to publish on a personal blog with permission from the original journal (and those negotiations must happen with the contract).

Ok.  Well now it makes more sense, and I'm switching sides. Lol.

Although I would be inclined to let him off with a warning if this was the first time.

But I wouldn't think that the professor, college, or university owns my paper. It's my paper. My work. I'm just paying you to review it. Maybe if I use Class A's teacher's feedback to make Class B's paper better it's not cool.

[smock]

Jul 29, 2017 20:29:15 GMT -5 UMaineTeach said:

Jul 29, 2017 20:22:09 GMT -5 flamingeaux said:

Ok.  Well now it makes more sense, and I'm switching sides. Lol.

Although I would be inclined to let him off with a warning if this was the first time.

But I wouldn't think that the professor, college, or university owns my paper. It's my paper. My work. I'm just paying you to review it. Maybe if I use Class A's teacher's feedback to make Class B's paper better it's not cool.

College professors are not just paid to review student work. Assignments are designed to teach certain skills and students are expected to produce original content drawing on the material and skills from that class. The point is not that the professor or university owns the work, the point is that the student is reusing a paper to get out of the work requirements of the class, which is unethical and dishonest.

[Jalapeñomel]

Jul 29, 2017 20:53:10 GMT -5 smock said:

Jul 29, 2017 20:29:15 GMT -5 UMaineTeach said:

But I wouldn't think that the professor, college, or university owns my paper. It's my paper. My work. I'm just paying you to review it. Maybe if I use Class A's teacher's feedback to make Class B's paper better it's not cool.

College professors are not just paid to review student work. Assignments are designed to teach certain skills and students are expected to produce original content drawing on the material and skills from that class. The point is not that the professor or university owns the work, the point is that the student is reusing a paper to get out of the work requirements of the class, which is unethical and dishonest.

Yes all of this. If you disclose this to your prof ahead of time and they agree to take that paper, then ok.

[nsl]

Yes, but below the college level I don't expect that students would know or understand this. Catching a high schooler turning in the same paper for two classes should be viewed as a teachable moment, not an opportunity to sic the honor code on them. Frankly, I'd have a hard time not doing the same with a college freshman or sophomore. Learning from mistakes is part of the educational process.

[whattheheck]

It would depend on the wording in the code of conduct. When I was in grad school the wording was that the work had to be the original work of the student and didn't say it had to be unique to the class. I picked a topic that would work for the year end paper for two classes. Each teacher approved the topic. It was my original work done for each of those classes -I didn't re-use an old paper. At the time I thought it was fine and squarely within the rules. These days . . . I don't know. What does the code of conduct say?

[lust2hart]

Aug 1, 2017 11:45:52 GMT -5 whattheheck said:

It would depend on the wording in the code of conduct. When I was in grad school the wording was that the work had to be the original work of the student and didn't say it had to be unique to the class. I picked a topic that would work for the year end paper for two classes. Each teacher approved the topic. It was my original work done for each of those classes -I didn't re-use an old paper. At the time I thought it was fine and squarely within the rules. These days . . . I don't know. What does the code of conduct say?

Academic misconduct shall include giving or receiving of unauthorized aid on exams or in the preparation of assignments. I'm taking the hard line interpretation of this to say that "unauthorized aid" includes turning in something you've already done instead of creating new work. I actually don't feel that strongly about it myself, but I teach an orientation course to first-semester college freshmen and will encourage my students to take the "better safe than sorry" approach. 

[RoxMonster]

Well, we teach this every single year of HS English class starting freshman year, so I do expect my juniors and seniors to not do this (we sometimes refer to it as "recycling fraud") and they will be penalized for it. Of course, by the time they get to me, they have gone over the different kinds of plagiarism and academic honesty issues at least 3-4 times, and I also go over it again to make sure we are all on the same page. If, at that point, they still choose to try and pull this over on me, they are knowingly being dishonest about turning in the same paper to two different classes. It's also listed in our department's policy about academic honesty.

One of the college English textbooks I use has a really good chapter on the different types of academic dishonesty, and I usually will cite from that even in my other English courses. I have also used plagiarism.org before to go over academic honesty and the ins and outs.

[auroraloo]

Jul 29, 2017 20:53:10 GMT -5 smock said:

Jul 29, 2017 20:29:15 GMT -5 UMaineTeach said:

But I wouldn't think that the professor, college, or university owns my paper. It's my paper. My work. I'm just paying you to review it. Maybe if I use Class A's teacher's feedback to make Class B's paper better it's not cool.

College professors are not just paid to review student work. Assignments are designed to teach certain skills and students are expected to produce original content drawing on the material and skills from that class. The point is not that the professor or university owns the work, the point is that the student is reusing a paper to get out of the work requirements of the class, which is unethical and dishonest.

But if both classes are teaching the same skills, and the content provided demonstrates the requirements have been met, why is that unethical? Is the point to learn and demonstrate the skills, or is the point to make students do lots of work? 

Regardless of specific requirements, as a whole, I think calling this unethical demonstrates one of the issues with education. Work production over learning. 

[RoxMonster]

Aug 8, 2017 12:59:23 GMT -5 auroraloo said:

Jul 29, 2017 20:53:10 GMT -5 smock said:

College professors are not just paid to review student work. Assignments are designed to teach certain skills and students are expected to produce original content drawing on the material and skills from that class. The point is not that the professor or university owns the work, the point is that the student is reusing a paper to get out of the work requirements of the class, which is unethical and dishonest.

But if both classes are teaching the same skills, and the content provided demonstrates the requirements have been met, why is that unethical? Is the point to learn and demonstrate the skills, or is the point to make students do lots of work? 

Regardless of specific requirements, as a whole, I think calling this unethical demonstrates one of the issues with education. Work production over learning. 

I find being dishonest to be an unethical behavior, and in my own personal cases, I have absolutely never had a student come out and ask to do this. They have always tried to pass it off as this being the first time they wrote this essay. And then I notice it just seems off--doesn't quite match the requirements I set forth, something is weird about, so I go digging and find out they reused an assignment from another class. So in that regard, I find it unethical. Not in the sense that "OMG they are an awful human being" but they are not being honest about something, trying to get away with something we have discussed not doing, so no, I don't find that to be above-board.

I also usually have very specific requirements for assignments (I teach English, so my mind immediately goes to essays), so it's doubtful they would have the exact same requirements for another course. Again, what I usually see when this happens, is that, say I assigned an argument essay. Maybe they wrote something that was argumentative for another class, but it's obvious when they turn in the recycled work that it isn't exactly the skills we discussed in class in the way we discussed them. So best case, they probably are not earning an awesome grade on it anyway. The bottom line for me is that, when you're a student in a class, the expectation is you are producing original work for that course and the stipulations and requirements of that course. Part of what I want to see is how they can move through the stages of the writing process--not just the final paper. If they have already written a paper they want to just turn in to me again, I can't see that process. I have no idea what they did for the other class, and in an extreme situation, I have no idea if that is even their work. I didn't see them produce it (much of the writing in my class is done during class time). So for me, it's not just about "work production." It's about the entire writing process, and I would also hope their skills would have advanced from a previous course, and that they could turn in a better product than one they previously did.

[UMaineTeach]

Aug 9, 2017 19:34:17 GMT -5 RoxMonster said:

Aug 8, 2017 12:59:23 GMT -5 auroraloo said:

But if both classes are teaching the same skills, and the content provided demonstrates the requirements have been met, why is that unethical? Is the point to learn and demonstrate the skills, or is the point to make students do lots of work? 

Regardless of specific requirements, as a whole, I think calling this unethical demonstrates one of the issues with education. Work production over learning. 

I find being dishonest to be an unethical behavior, and in my own personal cases, I have absolutely never had a student come out and ask to do this. They have always tried to pass it off as this being the first time they wrote this essay. And then I notice it just seems off--doesn't quite match the requirements I set forth, something is weird about, so I go digging and find out they reused an assignment from another class. So in that regard, I find it unethical. Not in the sense that "OMG they are an awful human being" but they are not being honest about something, trying to get away with something we have discussed not doing, so no, I don't find that to be above-board.

I also usually have very specific requirements for assignments (I teach English, so my mind immediately goes to essays), so it's doubtful they would have the exact same requirements for another course. Again, what I usually see when this happens, is that, say I assigned an argument essay. Maybe they wrote something that was argumentative for another class, but it's obvious when they turn in the recycled work that it isn't exactly the skills we discussed in class in the way we discussed them. So best case, they probably are not earning an awesome grade on it anyway. The bottom line for me is that, when you're a student in a class, the expectation is you are producing original work for that course and the stipulations and requirements of that course. Part of what I want to see is how they can move through the stages of the writing process--not just the final paper. If they have already written a paper they want to just turn in to me again, I can't see that process. I have no idea what they did for the other class, and in an extreme situation, I have no idea if that is even their work. I didn't see them produce it (much of the writing in my class is done during class time). So for me, it's not just about "work production." It's about the entire writing process, and I would also hope their skills would have advanced from a previous course, and that they could turn in a better product than one they previously did.

Shouldn't one of the ultimate goals of your class be to use the skills learned to apply to other papers in life? If I was assigned an opinion piece in your class and the topic of the opinion was up to me, and another class that I was taking at the same time asked for an opinion piece on a specific topic, why would I not choose that paper to write with you in class?

If I read both class paper rubrics and skillfully craft a paper that meets both standards and shows mastery of the objectives for both classes, sounds like I learned something and applied it.

I feel like there has to be a difference between crafting a paper that meets multiple class standards and recycling a paper from 2 years ago. I also feel that recycling a paper from 2 years ago should only suffer the consequence of getting a poor grade and not the penalty of answering to an academic review board and being removed from school.

[auroraloo]

Aug 9, 2017 19:34:17 GMT -5 RoxMonster said:

Aug 8, 2017 12:59:23 GMT -5 auroraloo said:

But if both classes are teaching the same skills, and the content provided demonstrates the requirements have been met, why is that unethical? Is the point to learn and demonstrate the skills, or is the point to make students do lots of work? 

Regardless of specific requirements, as a whole, I think calling this unethical demonstrates one of the issues with education. Work production over learning. 

I find being dishonest to be an unethical behavior, and in my own personal cases, I have absolutely never had a student come out and ask to do this. They have always tried to pass it off as this being the first time they wrote this essay. And then I notice it just seems off--doesn't quite match the requirements I set forth, something is weird about, so I go digging and find out they reused an assignment from another class. So in that regard, I find it unethical. Not in the sense that "OMG they are an awful human being" but they are not being honest about something, trying to get away with something we have discussed not doing, so no, I don't find that to be above-board.

I also usually have very specific requirements for assignments (I teach English, so my mind immediately goes to essays), so it's doubtful they would have the exact same requirements for another course. Again, what I usually see when this happens, is that, say I assigned an argument essay. Maybe they wrote something that was argumentative for another class, but it's obvious when they turn in the recycled work that it isn't exactly the skills we discussed in class in the way we discussed them. So best case, they probably are not earning an awesome grade on it anyway. The bottom line for me is that, when you're a student in a class, the expectation is you are producing original work for that course and the stipulations and requirements of that course. Part of what I want to see is how they can move through the stages of the writing process--not just the final paper. If they have already written a paper they want to just turn in to me again, I can't see that process. I have no idea what they did for the other class, and in an extreme situation, I have no idea if that is even their work. I didn't see them produce it (much of the writing in my class is done during class time). So for me, it's not just about "work production." It's about the entire writing process, and I would also hope their skills would have advanced from a previous course, and that they could turn in a better product than one they previously did.

Can I ask what age you teach? Just curious how levels impact our thoughts on this. 

I don't see it as unethical, I guess. It doesn't seem sneaky to me, it actually seems smart. If something has already completed that shows the students knows the standards, check! I rarely come across this in my teaching, because every unit has a formative cycle with a pre-test, and the work is differentiated from there. (So much work)

It's an interesting questions for sure. 

[RoxMonster]

Aug 9, 2017 20:22:55 GMT -5 UMaineTeach said:

Aug 9, 2017 19:34:17 GMT -5 RoxMonster said:

I find being dishonest to be an unethical behavior, and in my own personal cases, I have absolutely never had a student come out and ask to do this. They have always tried to pass it off as this being the first time they wrote this essay. And then I notice it just seems off--doesn't quite match the requirements I set forth, something is weird about, so I go digging and find out they reused an assignment from another class. So in that regard, I find it unethical. Not in the sense that "OMG they are an awful human being" but they are not being honest about something, trying to get away with something we have discussed not doing, so no, I don't find that to be above-board.

I also usually have very specific requirements for assignments (I teach English, so my mind immediately goes to essays), so it's doubtful they would have the exact same requirements for another course. Again, what I usually see when this happens, is that, say I assigned an argument essay. Maybe they wrote something that was argumentative for another class, but it's obvious when they turn in the recycled work that it isn't exactly the skills we discussed in class in the way we discussed them. So best case, they probably are not earning an awesome grade on it anyway. The bottom line for me is that, when you're a student in a class, the expectation is you are producing original work for that course and the stipulations and requirements of that course. Part of what I want to see is how they can move through the stages of the writing process--not just the final paper. If they have already written a paper they want to just turn in to me again, I can't see that process. I have no idea what they did for the other class, and in an extreme situation, I have no idea if that is even their work. I didn't see them produce it (much of the writing in my class is done during class time). So for me, it's not just about "work production." It's about the entire writing process, and I would also hope their skills would have advanced from a previous course, and that they could turn in a better product than one they previously did.

Shouldn't one of the ultimate goals of your class be to use the skills learned to apply to other papers in life? If I was assigned an opinion piece in your class and the topic of the opinion was up to me, and another class that I was taking at the same time asked for an opinion piece on a specific topic, why would I not choose that paper to write with you in class?

If I read both class paper rubrics and skillfully craft a paper that meets both standards and shows mastery of the objectives for both classes, sounds like I learned something and applied it.

I feel like there has to be a difference between crafting a paper that meets multiple class standards and recycling a paper from 2 years ago. I also feel that recycling a paper from 2 years ago should only suffer the consequence of getting a poor grade and not the penalty of answering to an academic review board and being removed from school.

Well, I never said anything about going to an academic review board or removing them from school, so I am unsure where that is coming from. The policy in my department, as well as at the community college that my dual-credit course is through is a reduction in grade of the assignment.

Also, the bold is not what's happening with my students. It is "Well I wrote this opinion paper last year for So-and-so's class and it doesn't totally match up with what Ms. RoxMonster is asking, but close enough and I don't want to do more work." Sorry, I will never be OK with that. It isn't clever, and also does not seem like the student truly cares about learning, growing, or improving. If the student approached me and said "So I wrote on this topic for another class. Here is how I would improve it now that we went through this lesson in your class, and I would also need to do XYZ to address this part of your assignment. Are you OK with that?" I would be OK with it. But that is not what's happening, nor what I have been talking about in this thread at all. The first scenario is what has happened.

[RoxMonster]

Aug 9, 2017 20:24:15 GMT -5 auroraloo said:

Aug 9, 2017 19:34:17 GMT -5 RoxMonster said:

I find being dishonest to be an unethical behavior, and in my own personal cases, I have absolutely never had a student come out and ask to do this. They have always tried to pass it off as this being the first time they wrote this essay. And then I notice it just seems off--doesn't quite match the requirements I set forth, something is weird about, so I go digging and find out they reused an assignment from another class. So in that regard, I find it unethical. Not in the sense that "OMG they are an awful human being" but they are not being honest about something, trying to get away with something we have discussed not doing, so no, I don't find that to be above-board.

I also usually have very specific requirements for assignments (I teach English, so my mind immediately goes to essays), so it's doubtful they would have the exact same requirements for another course. Again, what I usually see when this happens, is that, say I assigned an argument essay. Maybe they wrote something that was argumentative for another class, but it's obvious when they turn in the recycled work that it isn't exactly the skills we discussed in class in the way we discussed them. So best case, they probably are not earning an awesome grade on it anyway. The bottom line for me is that, when you're a student in a class, the expectation is you are producing original work for that course and the stipulations and requirements of that course. Part of what I want to see is how they can move through the stages of the writing process--not just the final paper. If they have already written a paper they want to just turn in to me again, I can't see that process. I have no idea what they did for the other class, and in an extreme situation, I have no idea if that is even their work. I didn't see them produce it (much of the writing in my class is done during class time). So for me, it's not just about "work production." It's about the entire writing process, and I would also hope their skills would have advanced from a previous course, and that they could turn in a better product than one they previously did.

Can I ask what age you teach? Just curious how levels impact our thoughts on this. 

I don't see it as unethical, I guess. It doesn't seem sneaky to me, it actually seems smart. If something has already completed that shows the students knows the standards, check! I rarely come across this in my teaching, because every unit has a formative cycle with a pre-test, and the work is differentiated from there. (So much work)

It's an interesting questions for sure. 

I teach 11th and 12th grade, and one of the 12th grade classes is a college course through our local CC.

[auroraloo]

Aug 9, 2017 21:33:36 GMT -5 RoxMonster said:

Aug 9, 2017 20:24:15 GMT -5 auroraloo said:

Can I ask what age you teach? Just curious how levels impact our thoughts on this. 

I don't see it as unethical, I guess. It doesn't seem sneaky to me, it actually seems smart. If something has already completed that shows the students knows the standards, check! I rarely come across this in my teaching, because every unit has a formative cycle with a pre-test, and the work is differentiated from there. (So much work)

It's an interesting questions for sure. 

I teach 11th and 12th grade, and one of the 12th grade classes is a college course through our local CC.

And I've always been a MS teacher where grading is a shitshow!