Recycling an assignment

[Fau Teixeira]

wouldn't it be closer to tailoring a suit by hand and then wearing it to 2 weddings instead of 1 .. it's not like it isn't your suit

[jtex316]

I hope you never get hired at FAU, where I'll be going to school starting this summer.

I can't believe your logic - re-using your own paper for a separate class is like committing INSURANCE FRAUD for you??

How is quoting oneself "dishonesty"? Did the student not cite himself in the "Works Cited" portion of the paper? That's not being dishonest - that's being resourceful. And don't even try to give me the "Well, in the real world, your boss blah blah blah..." stuff - we re-use material and re-use content that we have produced ALL THE TIME because it's A. resourceful and B. time-saving.

The other thing I can't believe is your notion of "No harm, no foul". You've already committed an egregious infraction, in my opinion, and the student already knows that you're trying to put him before some sham of a committee. Even if they laugh you out of the room tomorrow and completely dismiss this entire thing, that student (and every other student in that class) will have lost complete respect for you - and word gets out fast as to which professors to avoid come registration time - which is going to be coming up in a few weeks for the Summer / Fall, actually.

Good luck Landshark - you're going to need it.

[Brian Fein]

You never did answer my questions:

Do you re-use the same syllabus every semester?

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

I took several courses of the same subject in both high school and college

Such as Economics, Spanish, Physics, US History etc. I am not including math in this because calculus was a continuation of the math in high school not a repeat of the some or all of the same topics as was the case with some other classes. 

One several occasions something such as the following occurred:  I did not read the college textbook assignment and when the  test was administered I answered the questions based on what I remembered from high school.   On one economics quiz in which I did not do the required reading and missed both of the lectures on the covered material I got the highest grade in the class.   I would have to assume by Landshark's logic I cheated on those exams. 

[Sunstroke]

I was really hoping to see a link to that syllabus... What ever happened with that request?

[Lee]

Listen, I hope you don't feel too bashed here Landshark.  At least you had the balls to post about your situation.  All I can do is hope you learn from this incident.  Regardless of your own opinions, there are always consequences for your actions (some of which are completely unforseen).

Lastly, you also never answered my question.  Have you, yourself, ever used a paper or other work-product that you created for more than 1 class?

[fyo]

I was really hoping to see a link to that syllabus... What ever happened with that request?

I assume, and hope, that Landshark will continue to stay far away from providing anything even remotely specific about the case.

[Sunstroke]

^^^ (glove save...and a beauty!)

Like others, I was just curious about how it was worded to allow for this sort of confusion to take place. Is there anything you can think of about a course syllabus from a public college that you would consider either "specific" or proprietary?

[Landshark]

I have a few degrees under my belt.  I have the staggering student loan(s) to prove it.  I've never taken the exact same paper and turned it in twice (I'm not sure how anything from my BA would transfer, example, to my BSRN), but I have used pieces of prior work in multiple ways. 

It's not wrong.  It's not lazy.  It's not dishonest. 

If the work is / was / were strong enough to transcend one specific study to another line of study that is completely different from the initial one (example English to Business), that student should be lauded for his / her strong work on the paper versus...whatever it is that is happening.

I echo Lee.  Not trying to bash.  Something just feels very off here.  I am assuming that you posted this to create dialog in the first place.  Sometimes that dialog is going to differ from what you want to hear.  I hope you take all side here as constructive.

Then maybe you can relate a bit.  Let's say you've written a piece of work, then submitted it to two different publications and expect to get paid twice for the same piece.  That's my sentiments. 

To answer Brian's question, yes, the same syllabus is re-used every term, with evaluations at the end of the summer term.  The courses are pretty straightforward across the board regardless of who is teaching them.

To answer Lee's question, no, I never did that when I was in college.  Back then, it was a lot easier to recycle assignments, or even worse, buy a paper written by another student and turn it in for a different course (or the same course taught by a different professor).  The Internet and TurnItIn.com did not exist then. 

As for SunStroke and Jtex, I cannot and will not post a link to the syllabus as it is both proprietary information and has my name on it (not a good idea in my profession). 

Now to answer the million dollar question.  I met with the committee members earlier this morning.  A few of them have worked at other schools that specifically prohibit using the same paper for more than one assignment/class.  However, GCCC does not, and neither does any Florida Community College.  The majority of them felt that while this is close to academic dishonesty, technically the student did not violate any rules because he actually did write the paper originally.  Therefore they recommended that I withdraw the complaint and I concurred.  They also suggested what some of you mentioned (that I state specifically in my syllabus that I expect each assignment to be of original quality). 

The student has my class tomorrow and I will inform him of the situation and grade his paper accordingly. 

[StL FinFan]

Don't most people submit work to different publishers?

[Tenshot13]

The student has my class tomorrow and I will inform him of the situation and grade his paper accordingly. 

Does this mean you're going to give him a shitty grade because the paper was recycled or are you going to grade the paper on its own merit?

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

As for SunStroke and Jtex, I cannot and will not post a link to the syllabus as it is both proprietary information and has my name on it (not a good idea in my profession). 

What college has a policy that keeps syllabus private, but allows a professor to discuss pending student disciplinary action freely on the internet?

My guess is none.

Can anyone think of single reason not to email a link to this thread to the president of GCCC?  I am sure there can't be more than one teacher with a pending issue of paper recycling in front of the appeals committee, so the president should have no trouble figuring out which of his employees is violating student confidentiality duties.     

[jtex316]

This thread is getting more bizarre by the post...

Let me just post something that is on the bottom of every FAU and Palm Beach State College email that I receive - take it for what it says, I guess:

Please note: Due to Florida’s broad open records law, most written communication to or from College employees is public record, available to the public and the media upon request. Therefore, this e-mail communication may be subject to public disclosure.

[Brians Stalker]

I am really surprised at how many people are outraged at what Landshark did.  I am in school right now, and this is addressed in our Academic Integrity Policy.  I thought based on the reactions here that it was rare, but just a quick Google search makes me think that this is a pretty standard rule.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

I am really surprised at how many people are outraged at what Landshark did.  I am in school right now, and this is addressed in our Academic Integrity Policy.  I thought based on the reactions here that it was rare, but just a quick Google search makes me think that this is a pretty standard rule.

If in your school the Academic Integrity Policy addresses and forbids this practice than at your school doing so is a violation of your schools Academic Integrity Policy.  And I have no problem with a school or individual professor having a policy regarding this.  However, the policy needs to be stated upfront and not ex post facto.