Collaborative Unit on Digital Citizenship

Copyright vs. Plagiarism

Summary Report
Lauren Sinclair Hyers

Online Classroom Impact Overview

The learning module was designed to teach 6th grade students at
Pierce County Middle School the importance of following copyright laws and
the responsibility they have as a citizen to not plagiarize. The online learning
module was created with the help of a keyboarding teacher, Denise Brown,
for her 6A class. The unit was originally centered on the idea of plagiarism,
which then lead to copyright being the main focus. A total of twenty-four
students created a presentation using Prezi or ThingLink showing the
importance of copyright and plagiarism.
Collaborating with a colleague outside the science department was a
new task for me. While planning, we decided to keep the topic simple, but
meaningful. The module activities were adjusted to enhance the delivery of
the content. Denise and I worked closely together to create a module that
was technology based, but engaging. Ten hours of instructional planning
were included during the module. The most challenging issue we ran into
while creating the unit was time. Denise could only allow three days for this
unit due to her other teaching requirements (standards). She was very
gracious to allow me to work with her. She did agree copyright and

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plagiarism are two huge issues in middle school. The online learning module
was set up in SchoolRack because of the ease of access. We thought to use
Google Classroom, but the students seemed to want something new. As
students are always looking for the new thing, I found two videos the
students had not viewed before. The videos were used as the hook are
very engaging and informational. The students watched the videos several
times and began singing the songs while working on their presentations. The
students were given options on how to deliver their presentation (through
Prezi or ThingLink), but the majority chose to use Prezi. In my opinion, the
students are more familiar with Prezi, so this aided in their decision.
The students were well-behaved throughout the entire unit. Denise
does a great job with classroom management. Students worked with a
partner of their choice to create the online presentation. The students
willingness to work was critical to the success of the learning module. The
students began the module by taking a pretest and watching the hook
videos individually. Then were then able to work with a partner to review the
instructional PowerPoint I created. The following day the students took an
individual quiz over plagiarism. They were to email the results to me. This
seemed to be an issue for several students. There were technical difficulties
we could not fix. Denise wrote those students scores down and sent them to
me. Luckily, this was the only issue we had throughout the learning module.
The majority of the students presentations were completed correctly and

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very attractive. In my opinion, the student enjoyed the online learning
module and working at their own pace.

Pretest, Online Quiz, and Presentation Data

Table 1: Individual Assessment Data
Student

Pretest

Online Quiz

Presentation

90

100

20

80

95

60

100

100

60

100

100

20

80

100

70

90

90

95

90

80

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20

80

100

10

20

70

95

11

40

100

85

12

80

70

13

20

90

100

14

20

90

90

15

40

70

90

16

90

75

17

20

80

100

18

80

85

19

80

100

90

20

80

85

21

20

70

95

22

20

90

95

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23

40

100

100

24

60

85

Table 2: Assessment Group Data

Group Pretest Mean %

Group Online Quiz Mean %

Group Presentation Mean%

20.8%

84.58%

91.66%

Analysis and Interpretation of Data

The data results proved the students knowledge about copyright and
plagiarism grew tremendously. The presentation required the students to
answer the exact questions that were on the pretest. The students showed a
70% growth. It is my opinion that the online learning module was a success
with one minor issue.

Recommendations for Revisions

As with any learning experience there are always ways to improve.
Several students asked for sample presentations on copyright and

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plagiarism. This would have been an asset to the students with
accommodations. The second recommendation I have for the unit is to open
the unit up to more presentation tools for the students to use. This would
make for a much better day of presentations and allow the students to
explore new web 2.0 tools. Finally, I would increase the length of the unit.
Some students could have used a few more days for researching and
creating their presentation.