Technology-facilitated Cheating

The impending release of Apples new

iWatch has many educators thinking about
the potential for technology to facilitate
breaches of integrity. Miniature cameras, tiny
ear-piecesm, and other rapidly evolving
communications technologies make it easier
than ever for students who wish to cheat to do
so. What is talked about less often, however,
are the choices we have regarding how to
respond most productively to these
innovations with our primary goals of
teaching and learning in mind.
Rather than focusing on preventing students
from using technology to cheat, our time
would be better spent thinking of ways to
utilize learning methods that are less
vulnerable to hacking than our current
testing systems. Information-rich, yet low tech
assessments, such as individual oral exams,
while time-consuming, often yield better
information about what has been learned
while at the same time reducing the likelihood
of cheating.
Persuading students that cheating isnt in
their best interests, while also challenging,
may also yield better results than trying to
out-tech students, which, in addition to
being ineffective from a teaching and learning
perspective is also a race that most professors
dont want to spend precious time and energy
to run.
~Teddi Fishman
ETHOS
A Monthly Publication of the International Center for Academic Integrity Featuring Summaries of Integrity News + News from the Center
Quote of the Month
Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what
it takes to sit down and listen.
-Winston Churchill

UNCs Whistleblower Accused of Plagiarism on Thesis

By: John Newsom News-Record.com 08/15/2014
The long tendrils of UNC-Chapel Hills athletics and academic
scandal have reached all the way to Greensboro. Mary Willingham,
the whistleblower and former learning specialist at the university,
received her masters degree from UNCG. Now, she faces accusations
of plagiarism. The News & Observer of Raleigh reported on Monday
that people posting on the Inside Carolina message board dissected
Willinghams masters thesis over the weekend and found what they
said were passages apparently cut and pasted from other sources.

On Tuesday, UNCG spokesman Paul Mason confirmed that
Willingham received her masters degree in liberal studies from the
university in 2009. To get that degree, she wrote a thesis titled
Academics & Athletics A Clash of Cultures: Division I Football
Programs.

As a higher education institution with high standards for academic
excellence and integrity, we take allegations of academic misconduct
very seriously, Mason wrote in an email. We review reported
incidents thoroughly and take appropriate action in accordance with
university policy.

UNCGs academic integrity policy says plagiarism representing
someone elses words as your own is punishable by a grade of F on
an assignment or expulsion from the university. But the policy
doesnt address university graduates, and its unclear what
sanctions, if any, UNCG can impose on a former student. Mason said
he couldnt say if UNCG received complaints about Willinghams
thesis or if the university would investigate plagiarism claims
because the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act
protects the privacy of most student educational records
http://www.news-record.com/news/schools/article_00c660b6-1d10-
11e4-b36c-001a4bcf6878.html
Department of Defense Oversees Walsh Investigation
By: Matt Volz Great Falls Tribune 07/29/2014
The Department of Defense has taken the unusual step of
overseeing a plagiarism investigation conducted by the
U.S. Army War College against Sen. John Walsh of
Montana, the colleges provost said. The department will
decide whether discipline is warranted based on the
recommendations of the schools academic review board,
Provost Lance Betros said.

Normally, that decision is reserved for the schools deputy
commandant. It is extremely rare, if not unprecedented, for
the Defense Department to intervene in a student
misconduct case, he said. Because this is a member of
Congress who is a military veteran, we have been given
instructions from DOD that they have jurisdiction in this
case, Betros said.

The college referred the case to its academic review board
after a New York Times story last week showed Walsh, a
Democrat, used others work without attribution in a
2007 research paper required for a masters degree

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/story/news/politics/2014/07/29/defens
e-department-oversee-walsh-plagiarism-investigation/13328189/

From the Director

AUGUST 2014


SCU Academics Articles
Retracted
Julie Hare TheAustralian.com 7/18/2014
A former SCU academic who
specializes in intellectual property
has had multiple journal articles
retracted for plagiarism. The case of
Angela Adrian was posted by
academic fraud watchdogs Ivan
Oransky and Adam Marcus on their
Retraction Watch website.

Adrian is an expert in intellectual
property law, a former editor of the
International Journal of Intellectual
Property Management, a legal
scholar whose resume boasts more
degrees than a protractor, wrote
Mr. Marcus on the website. She is
also a serial plagiarist.

Dr. Adrian did not respond when
contacted by The Australian. A
spokeswoman for the university
said Dr. Adrian had been employed
at SCU but no longer worked there.
She said that because of privacy
laws she could not divulge to the
HES how long Dr. Adrian had
worked there, when she had left or
the circumstances of her departure.

Retraction Watch says two papers
published in 2006 and 2007 had
been retracted for plagiarism, as
had a 2010 paper titled Could a
small town in Romania bring
Australia to its cyber-knees? Not if
they accede to the EU Convention
on Cybercrime

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-
education/scu-academics-articles-retracted-
over-plagiarism-claims/story-e6frgcjx-
1227022199895?nk=bc4db241e730ef8542495
d9a46bcfcca



Announcements Academic Integrity and
Security: Positive and
Proactive Approaches
Cape Town, South Africa
September 18-19, 2014

The International Center for
Academic Integrity and partner
organizations Melrose Training
and Turnitin will be hosting the
first Regional International
Conference on Academic
Integrity.

The event, titled Academic
Integrity and Security: Positive
and Proactive Approaches, will
be held at the Protea Sea Point
Hotel in Cape Town, South
Africa on September 18-19, 2014.

Without integrity, research
cannot be trusted, academic
credentials cannot be relied
upon, and degrees and diplomas
lose their value. To guard
against that, it is necessary for
us to articulate and enact the
values that underpin educational
standards and practices.

This conference will help
participants identify and
recognize threats to integrity
that may undermine or interfere
with institutional effectiveness
and then develop positive and
proactive approaches to
cultivating communities of
integrity that include faculty,
students, and staff.

For details, visit
www.AcademicIntegrity.org!

Ethos Staff:

Aaron Monson: Editor

Teddi Fishman: Executive Editor
The International Center for Academic Integrity grants permission to duplicate and
distribute this newsletter physically or electronically, so long as it is duplicated
and/or distributed in its entirety and without alteration.
Please note that this publication features summaries of and links to
original works that are subject to copyright protection. ICAI does not
claim ownership or credit for any original works found within.
This publication is sponsored by:
CAI-L@clemson.edu



Upcoming Events!

2
nd
Academic Integrity Conference
Universidad de Monterrey, Mexico
September 25-26
http://www.udem.edu.mx/Esp/Noticias-
Eventos/Pages/Eventos/2014/febrero/congr
eso-integridad.aspx

On the Same Page
Academic Integrity Symposium
MacEwan University / University of Alberta
Edmonton, Canada
October 18-19
http://www.academicintegrity.ca/

Virginia Academic Integrity
Working Group
University of Mary Washington
Fredericksburg, Virginia
November 1-2
http://vaiwg.umwblogs.org

ICAI Southeast Regional Consortium
Annual Conference
Kennesaw State University
Kennesaw, Georgia
October 27-28
http://ccpe.kennesaw.edu/icai/
____________________________


www.facebook.com/AcademicIntegrity


http://www.twitter.com/TweetCAI