Recycling an assignment

[Brian Fein]

From dictionary.com:

pla·gia·rism  /ˈpleɪdʒəˌrɪzəm, -dʒiəˌrɪz-/
–noun
1.  the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work.
2.  something used and represented in this manner.

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This is clearly not a case of plagiarism because (1) the author of the original work authorized the use of it and (2) the author of the original work IS THE SAME PERSON THAT'S USING IT NOW.

If this is your grounds for submitting this case to the committee, you should withdraw your complaint immediately.

[Jim Gray]

Here's what bothers me about this entire scenario. 

The forum's reaction to Professor Landshark's behavior is uniformly negative.  Not one single person thinks he is right.  In fact, the consensus is that his reaction is abusive.  Instead of accepting responsibility for this, Landshark only accepts that he might lose in front of a panel review, and that he made a mistake when constructing the syllabus. 

Both my parents are university professors, as are many family members.  My wife taught elementary education for many years.   Given everything I've been exposed to, I'm shocked at Landshark's behavior, and I question his credentials to teach at the university level.   How can a trained educator risk a student's future by taking such actions without careful consideration?  Not only should you withdraw your complaint, you owe this student an apology.

I can only imagine how this student is feeling now, being bullied by a professor and facing serious repercussions.  Perhaps the university should look into your certification.  Based on this story, I find it hard to believe that you are qualified to teach at any level. 

[jtex316]

What I would do:

Talk to the student about it, offline after or before class. Tell him "hey listen, I scanned this using {insert software} and it flagged it, and i found out that you had used this again. I can't penalize you b/c it's against the rules, but be careful b/c this may look strange to another professor if you re-use your own work again - they may not realize you're re-using your own work (vs. using someone else's work)"

I think that's all that you can do here. Don't be one of those professors that thinks the students don't have any other class work or a life (actual job and / or family) to consider. You can't plagiarize yourself, and you can't determine effort that the student put into it outside of class or in another class that you are not teaching - don't ruin or derail this student's academic career by bringing him before some review board.

If you didn't want this specific situation to occur, the responsibility is on you to add it in your syllabus. The student may very well have scanned your syllabus very carefully before submitting this paper. It's not his fault, and it's not your place to do this.

Withdraw your claim now, before students find out about this. Even if you "win", do you think any students would want to take a class with you in the next semester and beyond? Will your college continue to employ you if no students are registering for your classes? Think about that.

[Jim Gray]

Withdraw your claim now, before students find out about this.

Sounds like the student already knows, since he gave the Professor "an earful" and there is a scheduled appeal with the Academic Dishonesty Committee.  It's too late to take back the accusation that the student is "dishonest", all that can be done is to withdraw the complaint and apologize.

What kind of an institution calls the review panel the "Academic Dishonesty Committee"?   Wouldn't Academic Appeals Committee be more appropriate? 

[Sunstroke]

What kind of an institution calls the review panel the "Academic Dishonesty Committee"?   Wouldn't Academic Appeals Committee be more appropriate? 

The few educational institutions I'm familiar with appear to use terms like "Academic Honesty Appeal Committee" or "Academic Integrity Committee" for that sort of process.

[jtex316]

This situation has me intrigued for some reason.

What class is this for? I want to see the syllabus.

[Tenshot13]

This is dick move man.  You're possibly ruining this kids future for nothing.  You can't plagiarize yourself.  Do the right thing and stop this nonsense.

[Jim Gray]

TurnItIn.com alerted me that it was nearly identical to one of the papers a colleague of mine in the English department had scanned in. 

You teach business, right?  What was the assignment that enabled the student to turn in a paper that was written for an English class?  Was it a stretch on the part of the student, or did it meet the assignment requirements?

[Landshark]

You teach business, right?  What was the assignment that enabled the student to turn in a paper that was written for an English class?  Was it a stretch on the part of the student, or did it meet the assignment requirements?

I can't go into too much detail without violating confidentiality but it was an assignment that involved a manager making a financial decision for his business unit that he did not have the authority to make without approval from his immediate superior.  This student apparently had a boss that was in that boat and wrote about it in English class.  The majority of the paper was a word for word match of what he turned in for that English class.  Aside from the recycling of the assignment, the assignment did meet my requirements.

Turns out the chairperson of the Academic Dishonesty Committee for this term (they rotate it every term), is a close colleague of mine, and she let me know today that they're meeting with me on Wednesday.  They meet with me first, so I can explain what I found and get their opinion on it, before meeting with the student.  At that time, I'll have the option of withdrawing the complaint or going forward with it (I can't withdraw it until they meet with me).  If I withdraw the complaint, I must inform the student  that I have done so and give him a fair grade. 

If the committee gives me a similar opinion to what I'm reading here, I'll withdraw the complaint. 

[Brian Fein]

I'm curious what kind of confidentiality applies to a professor/student relationship with respect to the subject of an assignment. 

Especially after you came on here and called the student a plagiarist and asked our opinion... 

I was hoping you'd post a link to the syllabus, too...

[Spider-Dan]

So, wait... Landshark, you're saying that you'll withdraw the complaint only after the committee rejects it?

Isn't this like resigning after you've been fired?

[Phishfan]

^^^ It doesn't sound like they will have made a ruling yet so the analogy is a bit off. It is more like going forward with a lawsuit after meeting a lawyer and they advise you not to.

[SportsChick]

As a current college student, I'd be PO'd if a professor did that after finding out the original work was my own.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

^^^ It doesn't sound like they will have made a ruling yet so the analogy is a bit off. It is more like going forward with a lawsuit after meeting a lawyer and they advise you not to.

If I was that student, there would be a lawsuit in Landshark's future. 

[Landshark]

I'm curious what kind of confidentiality applies to a professor/student relationship with respect to the subject of an assignment. 

Especially after you came on here and called the student a plagiarist and asked our opinion... 

OK.  We're a little off base here.  I'm not saying the student plagiarized because he did write the paper.  However, I consider recycling an assignment a form of Academic Dishonesty (AD is not limited to cheating and plagiarism).  To me, using the same paper for two different courses is like buying two auto insurance policies from two different insurance companies, then crashing your car and filing two separate claims for the same incident. 

If the committee gives me a similar opinion to what's on here after I meet with them tomorrow, I'll withdraw the complaint, and it'll be no harm no foul for the student.