Globalization, Higher Education, Plagiarism:
What are the Connections?
This research, conducted by RGASC faculty members Cleo Boyd and Tyler Tokaryk, explores the impact of the discourses of postmodernism and globalization on current pedagogical practices, problematizes some of the common assumptions about plagiarism, presents the results of a survey that polled UTM faculty's perspectives on plagiarism, and concludes by arguing for a new pedagogy for understanding plagiarism.
The presentation entitled "Globalization, Higher Education, Plagiarism: What are the Connections?" provides an overview of this research. The presentation begins by highlighting the variety of conflicting definitions (usually metaphorical) faculty often use when discussing plagiarism with students. It then wonders about the apparent double-standard that seems to exist for faculty and students: collaboration and unreferenced lecture material are rarely grounds for accusing faculty of plagiarism, but the same activities conducted by students would not be tolerated by most faculty members. The second part of this presentation explores the new and emerging contexts of postmodernism and globalization. While the globalized university urges us to see ourselves (and our students) as "academic entrepreneurs" who create and own intellectual property that can be traded in the academic marketplace, postmodernism insists that the "author is dead" and that language "speaks us". In a postmodern classroom, all communication is collaborative and no words can be owned; in a globalized classroom, all communication is private and words can be owned. Our students live in an age of postmodernism and they live in an age of globalization. Our discussion of plagiarism is informed by ideas and values that predate both ages.
The third section of the presentation shares the results of the UTM Faculty Survey. The survey clearly shows that the majority of UTM Faculty (in the departments of CCIT, English & Drama, Geography, Philosophy, and Political Science) believes plagiarism is a problem, but that it is NOT growing. On the other hand, the survey also demonstrates that the vast majority of respondents believe that the globalization of education and the shifting postmodern landscape will exacerbate the problem of plagiarism in the future. In short, the survey suggests current strategies for preventing plagiarism are not solving the problem—we are simply maintaining the status quo. We cannot, of course, stop the tides of globalization and postmodernism, so we need to define and treat plagiarism in terms of these new and emerging contexts.
The final piece of the presentation considers some of the existing pedagogical practices for preventing plagiarism in light of the research findings. These will be elaborated in the second stage of RGASC's research.
Please note that the results of the UTM Faculty Survey included in the PowerPoint Presentation are incomplete. A complete summary of the survey results can be found here. If you would like more information about this research, please contact Tyler Tokaryk by email < tyler.tokaryk@utoronto.ca > or phone 905-828-3858. We would like to thank the delegates at STLHE for their valuable contributions to this discussion and the UTM Faculty members who took the time to complete the survey.
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