Angelica Risquez

Using anti‐plagiarism software to promote academic honesty in the context of peer reviewed assignments

A variety of free and commercial software applications designed to detect plagiarism from Internet sources has appeared in recent years. However, their effectiveness and impact on student behaviour has been assumed rather than confirmed. The study presented here explores the responses and perceptions of a group of first year students at an Irish university after their first contact with anti‐plagiarism software in the context of peer‐reviewed assignments. The results indicate that the use of anti‐plagiarism software led to a decrease in Internet plagiarism and to lower grades being awarded in peer reviews. Additionally, students were found to have a positive attitude towards the anti‐plagiarism software in the context of peer reviewed assignments. Implications for educators on the use of this software are discussed.

Welcome to college? developing a richer understanding of the transition process for adult first year students using reflective written journals

This study investigates the process of adjustment among adult learners by focusing on their own perceptions as they make the transition to higher education in an Irish setting, in order to gain a richer understanding about early university experience. The analysis of the journal-based reflections confirms existing insights about the complexity of the adjustment process, emphasizing that adult students seem to face particular challenges and opportunities that may not prevail among their younger counterparts. The data provides a more personal and subjective picture of adjustment issues than has typically been available to date. The benefits of keeping and using insights from reflective journals are explored and in conclusion a “V-curve” model of mature student adjustment is proposed that suggests a more extreme form of the long established “U-curve” theory derived from organizational literature on adjustment.

‘Thou shalt not plagiarise’: from self-reported views to recognition and avoidance of plagiarism

Throughout much of the literature on plagiarism in higher education, there is an implicit assumption that students who understand plagiarism, who have high ethical views and declare not to engage in plagiaristic behaviour are able to recognise it and avoid it in practice. Challenging this supposition, this paper contrasts students’ self-reported data with their ability to recognise and avoid plagiarism in a proposed case scenario. A questionnaire was adapted from previous literature and administered to a sample of undergraduate first- and second-year students in an Irish university. Results show that self-reported measures are not a powerful predictor of the students’ ability to recognise the practical case as an academic breach, nor to avoid the breach through referencing. This suggests that students’ understanding and awareness of academic breaches would benefit from experiential learning and that higher education institutions should not merely rely on providing statements and definitions of academic misconduct. Also, the results highlight the potential unsuitability of using self-reported measures to study plagiarism, despite their widespread use.

Evaluación de un modelo de orientación tutorial y mentoría en la Educación Superior a distancia

This paper reports a model of tutorial guidance and mentoring in college that has been implemented at the Spanish National University for Distance Education for two academic years, in order to welcome new students and provide them with orientation, thus enhancing the quality of their academic transition and early adjustment. Designed with the distance methodology, the model incorporates the role of the advisor (played by a faculty mentor) and peer mentors (senior students) and combines the use of e-mentoring with face-to-face mentoring. This guidance intervention is organised around the Tutorial Guidance Plan, starting with web-based specific training for those involved. Thus, new students can receive guidance and advice from a personal advisor and a peer mentor for at least their first year at university. The programme was validated using a complex research design to assess the process and product. Data were collected using ad-hoc questionnaires, interviews, diaries, records and discussion groups. The results corroborate the benefits participants gained from this mode of guidance. The evaluations describe students� orientation needs, the evolution of the helping relationship, the points it addressed and the means of communication used. A general assessment of the programme and the satisfaction of participants� expectations is also given. From the assessment of benefits, it is concluded that the model is viable and applicable in distance higher education. Also, the model makes it possible to demonstrate the suitability of this methodology for achieving a flexible mentoring relationship tailored to the needs of each student.

Online student evaluations of teaching: what are we sacrificing for the affordances of technology?

In the context of increased emphasis on quality assurance of teaching, it is crucial that student evaluations of teaching (SET) methods be both reliable and workable in practice. Online SETs particularly tend to raise criticisms with those most reactive to mechanisms of teaching accountability. However, most studies of SET processes have been conducted with convenience, small and cross-sectional samples. Longitudinal studies are rare, as comparison studies on SET methodological approaches are generally pilot studies followed shortly after by implementation. The investigation presented here significantly contributes to the debate by examining the impact of the online administration method of SET on a very large longitudinal sample at the course level rather than attending to the student unit, thus compensating for the inter-dependency of students’ responses according to the instructor variable. It explores the impact of the administration method of SET (paper based in-class vs. out-of-class online collection) on scores, with a longitudinal sample of over 63,000 student responses collected over a total period of 10 years. Having adjusted for the confounding effect of class size, faculty, year of evaluation, years of teaching experience and student performance, it is observed that the actual effect of the administration method exists, but is insignificant.

E-mentoría : avanzando la investigación, construyendo la disciplina

Most electronic mentoring initiatives, despiste of being well intentioned and often well funded, have not been accompanied by research on their success. A few authors have suggested preliminary frameworks to tackle this research gap, often drawing their hypothesis from the literature on computer mediated communication (CMC) and face-to-face mentoring. This article exposes the differences that distinguish e-mentoring from its face-to-face version and focuses on its use on higher education environments. The author partially address previous research questions as proposed by the few publications on the area, and offers insights on new directions for research. The article concludes that e-mentoring must be considered “in its own right” and not compared with its traditional face to face version.

The impact of mobility on the lives and careers of female and male academics in higher education

Abstract Exploring the personal and professional implications of academic mobility, with a special emphasis on the influence of gender, is essential for our understanding of career development in higher education. This chapter focuses on the subjective experiences around career and professional performance of a group of ‘mobilized’ academics. Through data analysis we have found that both gender and cultural factors were mediating in the careers of the participants. Specifically, mobility has an impact on the curriculum and was perceived as a facilitator of career advancement, but also meant costs, especially at personal and family level, but also institutional.

Perfiles motivacionales de elección de estudios en estudiantes universitarios de nuevo ingreso

espanolEste trabajo tuvo como proposito analizar los motivos de eleccion de estudios y establecer perfiles motivacionales diferenciados en estudiantes universitarios de nuevo ingreso en la Universidad Catolica Argentina (UCA). Para ello se diseno y valido un cuestionario ad hoc, estructurado en tres escalas de motivacion: (1) Motivos de superacion profesional y altruismo; (2) Busqueda de prestigio y solvencia economica y (3) Motivos de evitacion. El cuestionario se aplico a la totalidad de los estudiantes de nuevo acceso a la UCA en el curso academico 2013-2014 (1 156 estudiantes de diferentes disciplinas). Los resultados permitieron establecer la existencia de grupos diferenciados de estudiantes y obtener un modelo predictivo de clasificacion destinado al diseno de acciones de orientacion que tengan en cuenta sus motivaciones y necesidades en un contexto determinado. EnglishThis study examines the career choice motivations of first year students in the Catholic University of Argentina (UCA) and describes a classification of the student characteristics that are associated with these motivations. A questionnaire was designed and validated for this purpose. The factor analysis renders three motivational dimensions: (1) Self-fulfilment and altruism; (2) Search for prestige and economic welfare; and (3) Avoidance motivation. The instrument has been applied to the first year cohort at UCA in the academic year 2013/14 (a total of 1156 students from different disciplines). The existence of differentiated student groups resulting from scores in the motivational scales has been demonstrated. The resulting predictive model can be purposed to guide interventions that are mindful of students’ motivations and needs in a particular context.

Engaging students through the VLE: comparing like with like using the #VLEIreland student survey

Virtual learning environments (VLEs) provide the core infrastructure for the digital learning experiences for many students in Irish and international higher education institutions. Hence the student experience and voice offer an important perspective to understand to what extent this proves a strategic choice, and investment of institutional resources and lecturers’ time. However, surveys comparing a diversity of institutions at different moments in time offer serious methodological limitations to data analysis. In this paper, results of the #VLEIreland student survey are presented for four Irish higher education institutions, which were surveyed using the common questionnaire with 3,332 student responses in 2011 and 5,170 when the survey was repeated in 2013. To some extent, this allows us to analyse the data while relatively controlling for institutional influences. This snapshot of students’ use and perceptions at two points allow for tentative trends to be drawn as to any changing patterns over time. The comparison of results indicate a consistent finding of high frequency of use (with almost half using daily in the more recent findings). The VLE thus provides a stable base for sharing learning resources, managing assignments and student communications. The consistency of the findings indicate a certain maturity of use of the VLE, albeit with a continued emphasis on disseminating notes and other learning resources to students. As the student VLE experience is largely determined by their lecturers’ use, a continued emphasis on the development of digital capacity of lecturers (as well as students) is needed.

‘Lessons Learnt’: the student view in the #VLEIreland project

This paper offers an overview of general results and of longitudinal aspects of the data collected to date from student populations which generated from the #VLEIreland project. We argue how results shed light on common misconceptions around VLE usage, and what VLEs can offer from a pedagogical perspective. Building on previously published research results; this paper incorporates a total of 22 data collections, representing almost 24,000 responses, and deals with the general findings and some trends emerging from the data. Overall results year on year have shown that VLEs are used frequently and increasingly by the respondents, but much remains to be done in order to incentivize their use to generate student engagement, and move beyond the use of VLEs as content repositories. While being mindful of the methodological limitations of survey methods relying on self-selection, the breadth and scale of the data gathered across thirteen institutions over a decade offers a degree of reliability, and we attempt to mount a strong challenge to some common myths around the use of VLEs in our discussion.