Issues Hunt

8/6/2019 Issues Hunt

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Running head: ISSUES 1

Internet Issues in Schools: Plagiarism

Matthew A. Hunt

Georgia Southern University


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ISSUES 2

Internet Issues in Schools: Plagiarism

Policy #1: Troy High School Fullerton California

URL:

http://www.troyhigh.com/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=81219&type=d&termREC_ID=&pR

EC_ID=150020

APA Citation:

Troy High School. (n.d.). School Policies: Troy High School. Retrieved July 11, 2011, from Troy

High School:

http://www.troyhigh.com/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=81219&type=d&termREC_ID

=&pREC_ID=150020

Summary:

Troy High Schools internet policy informs students that they are responsible for their

actions when using the internet. Specifically, as the internet policy relates to plagiarism, students

are told within the policy that they are responsible for following all copyright laws and crediting

those who have created the information utilized from the internet. The internet policy also

mentions that students that fail to follow the policy will be disciplined. As a reminder to students

of the internet use policy, the school has posted copies of the penal code used in the area for the

unauthorized access to computer, computer systems and computer data.

Policy Strengths:

The main strength of this policy is that it lays the foundation to punish any student that

commits any type of internet related plagiarism by leaving the policy open-ended. By informing

the students that they are responsible for their actions, I believe that the policy will make


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students think about their actions while using resources gathered from the internet, in regards to

copyright laws and crediting the information they obtain.

Another positive aspect of the policy is that it mentions the use of the penal code to

inform students that plagiarism is not just a school rule and applies within the public domain.

This being said, by posting the penal code anywhere students have computer access, the school

has done its part in making sure the students understand that they will be punished for any

computer misuse or plagiarism.

Policy Weaknesses:

T

he internet policy mentions that students that do not follow the rules set by the policy

will be disciplined based on the schools academic honesty policy. However, when the academic

honesty policy of the school was researched, only one bullet was related to plagiarism and did

not mention the use of cutting and pasting internet work of anothers and using it as ones own as

being considered plagiarism. The policy must include this information because of the

technological age in which we live. On a daily basis, whether it is at home or at school, students

are utilizing the internet to gather information and produce written and other forms of graded

work. Without the mention of methods that could be used to plagiarize from the internet, the

school is producing a policy with a lot of gray areas.

Another area of weakness present within the policy is that it is too vague and leaves the

reader with many questions. While I believe that leaving the policy open-ended will allow for

more students that plagiarize from the internet to be punished, one could assume that students did

not understand the policy because it was not well explained. Troy High School should do a better

job of explaining the expectations the school has on the use of the internet to plagiarize by


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including more up-to-date methods of plagiarism like buying a research paper from the internet

or copying and pasting anothers work within their own.

A further issue that I discovered while reasearching Troys internet usage policy is that

the policy is not completely in one area of the website. As I clicked on the numerous links

available to view the policies of the school, I noticed that one link discussed the use of computer

labs within the school and mentioned copyright laws and plagiarism. In order for the students

within a school to fully understand the policies they are expected to follow, they have be

organized. In my opinion, computer lab usage should have been discussed in conjunction with

internet use so that students would know exactly what is expected of them. While this might be

considered an issue of website development, if the school is using the website to inform parents

and students of its policies, this issue must be resolved.

Policy #2: Virginia Beach City Public Schools

URL: http://www.vbschools.com/policies/6-64_1r.asp

APA Citation:

Virginia Beach City Public Schools. (n.d.).Policies and Regulations: Virginia Beach City Public

Schools. Retrieved 11 2011, July , from Virginia Beach City Public Schools:

http://www.vbschools.com/policies/6-64_1r.asp

Summary:

The Virginia Beach City Public Schools policy for plagiarism and copyright informs

students that the users of their computer systems will not plagirize and gives the definition of

plagiarism. This policy also states that students will use proper methods of giving credit to the

person that created it. In addition, the policy also states that students must respect the

copyrighted works of others and gives the definition of copyright infringment. The policy


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informs students that sometimes copyrighted works have specified requirements in order to use

the information and if this is the case, then the user should follow those requirements. Lastly, the

policy advises students to request the use of anothers work if they are unsure if they are allowed

to use the work.

Policy Strengths:

The strength of the Virginia Beach City Public Schools policy on plagiarism and

copyright is that it helps the students understand exactly what plagiarism is by providing the

definition. After reading this policy, any student should be able to determine whether they have

gained their information in an appropriate way. By providing the defintion of copyright

infringement, this policy is also helping students understand that there is a correct way to use

anothers copyrighted work. Often times, students may understand that they are to give credit in

order to use anothers work, but they may not understand that some work is protected by a

copyright.

Policy Weaknesses:

While the Virginia Beach City Schools plagiarism and copyright policy has a copule of

strengths, it also has some weaknesses. First, instead of describing the appropriate ways in which

students can recognize that they gained information from another person, it states, Users will

use proper methods of attribution. The average student would not be able to understand that

statement and since this policy geared toward the students within the school system, it is

important to ensure that each and every one understands the language of the policy.

A second weakness of this policy is that it is rather short and could go into more detail in

the description of plagiarism and copyright infringement. Again, this policy is geared toward the

students within the school district and must be written in a way that they can understand. As


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educators, we are expected to use methods to ensure that our students understand what we teach.

I believe that the writers of the policy should have taken this into consideration when developing

this policy on plagiarism by providing the students with examples of what is and is not

plagiarism. Examples of copyright infringement could also be used to ensure that the students

reading the policy would understand. Another weakness within this policy is that it does not offer

the students a way to recognize copyrighted material. While this may not be an obvious

weakness, I believe that students would benefit from seeing the symbol that represents

copyrighted material.

Policy #3: Florida Virtual Schools

URL: http://www.walton.k12.fl.us/schools/wvs/Admissions%20agreement.pdf

APA Citation:

Florida Virtual Schools. (n.d.). Admissions Policy: Florida Virtual Schools. Retrieved July 11,

2011, from Florida Virtual Schools:

http://www.walton.k12.fl.us/schools/wvs/Admissions%20agreement.pdf

Summary:

The Florida Virtual Schools policy on plagiarism explains that authenticity and

integrity of student work is taken seriously at the school. The policy also explains that a student

should not cut, paste, or plagiarize from content they find on the internet or use the work of their

classmates as their own. The policy emphasizes that the instructors within the virtual school

utilize technology that help them determine the authenticity of student work. Lastly, the policy

demonstrates the seriousness of plagiarism by informing students that anyone who knowingly

allows other students to copy their work or misusing or copying information from the internet

will be punished by being removed from the course.


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Policy Strengths:

The first strength of the Florida Virtual Schools plagiarism policy is that it places an

emphasis on producing ones own work. Within an online environment, many students,

especially younger students, could assume that there are ways to cheat and not get caught. This

policy convincingly explains that the instructors within the school have technological methods of

determining the authenticity of the work that is submitted.

Another strength of the policy is that it is geared toward an online environment, so it

specifically discusses issues that may occur on the internet. An example would be the policy

stating Do not cut, copy, or plagiarize internet content or the work of your online classmates.

While one would assume that an online school would instruct students not to cut or copy

information they find on the internet, it is becoming more important to do this in a traditional

learning environment as well because of the ever increasing amount of technology in which most

students utilize.

Policy Weaknesses:

A weakness of the Florida Virtual Schools plagiarism policy is that it never mentions

that students should not use their parents work as their own. Surprisingly, many students,

especially those in the lower grades believe that having their parents complete their work is

acceptable. While it is necessary within the policy to distinguish between having their parents

help and doing their work completely, I believe that this would be a positive aspect to add to this

policy.

Another weakness discovered within this policy is that it does not address the issue of

copyright laws. While copyright infringement is not the exact same as plagiarism, it is important

for students to consider copyright information when deciding whether or not to use material they


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discover on the internet. In my opinion, any policy that addresses the issue of plagiarism on the

internet must also address the issue of copyright infringement. Without addressing this issue,

students are placed in a situation in which they could be punished by the legal system.

Newly Developed Policy

Internet Plagiarism and Copyright

Important Information and Definitions

y At Feagin Mill Middle School it is important that our students demonstrate their masteryof the Georgia Performance Standards in order to advance to the next grade. This being

said, in order to ensure that our teachers are able to gauge the mastery levels of our

students, it is important that they complete all of their work, without using others work

as their own. Another top priority at Feagin Mill is that our students are prepared to

advance into the 21st

century with the technological skills needed to be a productive

citizen. Therefore, our mission at Feagin Mill is to ensure that our students learn how to

find and use information from the internet in appropriate ways.

y Plagiarism is a serious offense and is punishable by law. In other words, it is importantthat students at Feagin Mill do not plagiarize because it could eventually lead to serving

jail time. Plagiarism is defined by dictionary.com as the unauthorized use or close

imitation of the langauge and thoughts of another author and the representation of them

as ones own original work.

yCopyright laws help protect the work of others. It is illegal to copy anothers work

without their permission. If you notice a symbol with a lowercase c with a surrounding

circle (), the work in which you are viewing is protected by copyright. Whenever you

are in doubt of whether something you find on the internet is protected by copyright laws,


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contact your teacher or gain permission from the author prior to using the information in

any submitted work.

Feagin Mill Middle School Plagiarism and Copyright Policy

y Students at Feagin Mill Middle School will use the appropriate methods for giving creditto information they borrow from others.

y Students at Feagin Mill Middle School will gain permission prior to using copyrightedworks.

y Students at Feagin Mill Middle School are responsible for their actions in regard to usingany information they find online. If a student copies another internet users work by

copying, pasting, or typing word for word, this will be considered plagiarism. If a student

receives an email with the answers to any homework or classwork, this will be

considered plagiarism. If students are assigned an at home project that requires finding

information from the internet and their parents complete the assignment, this will be

considered plagiarism. Buying or selling any assignments on the internet will be

considered plagiarism.

y If a student fails to gain permission or satisfy the requirements to use informationcopyrighted by another person, this will be considered copyright infringement.

y The punishment students will receive for plagiarizing or not gaining the permission toutilize copyrighted works are the following:

1st

Offense: 3 Days ISS

2nd

Offense: 5 Days ISS

3rd Offense: 10 Days ISS and referral to Student Review Board


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References

Dictionary.com (n.d.). Dictionary.com. Retrieved July 13, 2011, from http://www.dictionary.com

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