Distance education has seen rapid growth over the recent decades. The rapid development of Information Communication Technology [ICT] has been one of the main drivers of this growth in distance education. However, distance education and ICT themselves posts challenges to both students and educators alike. This thesis finds its basis in the problem of high failure rates and quality assurance issues in the Bachelor of Information Technology [BIT] distance degree programme conducted by the University of Colombo School of Computing in Sri Lanka. A Formative Assessment for Distance Education [FADE] model that promotes the development of and assesses higher-order skills in a collaborative online distance-learning environment was designed based on a methodological approach involving design-based research. The main study was focussed on two main problems, plagiarism in distance education [part A] and the use of technology to address the issues of learning and assessment [part B]. Research questions arising from different aspects of the design required the use of multiple methodologies. Issues of plagiarism in technology aided assessment in distance education put forward questions that required the use of a quasi-experiment and a literature survey. The empirical material of this phase of the study comprised of keystroke logs and questionnaire data. The design and evaluation of the FADE model employed a mixed method two-phase sequential explanatory strategy. The empirical material of this phase of the study comprised of questionnaires, observations coding, interviews and examination and registry data. The quasi-experimental data was analysed using a fuzzy logic engine. The questionnaire, observation coding and examination and registry data were statistically analysed and interviews were used to interpret and explain finding. The results of the part A of the study indicate that there are keystroke patterns for individuals that are stable within and across different tasks. However, the results of the literature review on plagiarism suggested the use of both technological and pedagogical approaches to plagiarism. Part B of the study, showed relationships between higher order thinking demonstrated by students and their course results and attitudes.  Collaborative learning skills demonstrated by students showed relationships to the students’ purpose of use of the FADE forum and their experience on the social web. This study finds that both technological tools and pedagogical practices have to be used in conjunction to limit the possibility of plagiarism. With reference to assessment with a focus on the development of higher order thinking, the study indicates that assessment should be based on the student’s perspective, the purpose and aim of the assessment and the assessment environment. Furthermore, the study finds that in distance education collaboration seems particularly important.

<p>The purpose of this study was to investigate plagiarism among undergraduate students at a higher education institution in South Africa. There is evidence from previous studies that plagiarism is increasing world wide among higher education students. The emergence of the Internet has made plagiarizing worse as students can easily copy and paste information from the World Wide Web. This study investigated the occurrence, causes and trends of plagiarism among students in the Faculty of Applied Science at a higher education institution. It also examines student awareness of institutional policies and guidelines regarding plagiarism.</p>

In school, pupils learn to critically relate to sources of various texts. In the course of time they also learn how to make references and cite properly. Yet, alarming reports show increasing cheating and plagiarism in colleges and universities. Plagiarism prevention services are used today in Swedish high schools. We are questioning how this relates to the sociocultural perspective and curriculum view of imitation as a natural part of the learning process, communication and language. Material from depth interviews, with four teachers in the school subject Swedish about their theoretical and practical approach to students' writing process and writing development are used to deal with the issues of this thesis. The results from the interviews are analyzed in relation to a literature study on the subject. Research on the sociocultural perspective shows that imitation is a natural part of the learning process, communication and language. The form of intertextuality that occurs when texts are imitated and voices are borrowed - dialogism - is not only natural but also necessary for all writing development. We seem to be unable to discern the natural role of imitation in students’ writing development among all respondents.

Paraphrasing is taught to postsecondary students to help them avoid plagiarism in their academic essays, but it can be challenging for native speakers (L1) as well as nonnative speakers (L2) of English. To examine these challenges I analyzed 35 paraphrases written by 4 English-Canadian students and 5 Japanese international students at an English-medium community college in Ontario. I evaluated paraphrase quality through a modified replication of Keck’s (2006) analytic method, and I analyzed paraphrase appropriateness through a set of criteria I developed and verified with a second rater. I then analyzed 6 concurrent and post-task reports of 3 L1 and 3 L2 students, who used a variety of paraphrasing strategies. All participants wrote relatively inappropriate paraphrases which did not always correspond with perceived appropriateness. L1 students tended to copy directly from the original text excerpts more often than the L2 students did. Implications for teaching and further research are discussed.

Paraphrasing is taught to postsecondary students to help them avoid plagiarism in their academic essays, but it can be challenging for native speakers (L1) as well as nonnative speakers (L2) of English. To examine these challenges I analyzed 35 paraphrases written by 4 English-Canadian students and 5 Japanese international students at an English-medium community college in Ontario. I evaluated paraphrase quality through a modified replication of Keck’s (2006) analytic method, and I analyzed paraphrase appropriateness through a set of criteria I developed and verified with a second rater. I then analyzed 6 concurrent and post-task reports of 3 L1 and 3 L2 students, who used a variety of paraphrasing strategies. All participants wrote relatively inappropriate paraphrases which did not always correspond with perceived appropriateness. L1 students tended to copy directly from the original text excerpts more often than the L2 students did. Implications for teaching and further research are discussed.

Behovet av att skydda sig mot plagiat har blivit allt viktigare. Med dagens snabba kommunikation och höga teknologisk standard, kan en mer eller mindre liknade eller exakt kopia vara på marknaden efter endast några få dagar. Den som plagierar sparar både tid och pengar. Att formge en tilltalande produkt, tar tid och kostar pengar, vilket gör att den som kopiera utnyttjar det någon annan formgivit och det arbete den gjort. Dessutom sparar den som kopierar mycket tid på att inte behöva marknadsföra produkten. De skydd som finns för produktens form och design, ges genom immaterialrätt som omfattar upphovsrätten patent, varukännetecken samt mönster - eller formgivningsskydd. Alternativ för den som ”bara” vill göra känt att man formgivit något är Svensk Forms Nyhetsregister. I uppsatsen redovisas några produkter som har blivit plagierade. Resultatet av dessa vissa att det är svårt för en mindre formgivare att skydda sin design. / The need of protection against plagiarism has become more important in the last few years.Develeopment of the internet means that a product similar the one you have made can be on the market in a few days. They who make use of plagiarism saves both time and money. That means that a company that uses plagiarism take advantage of the originator who made the product from the beginning. Another benefit that a company that are use plagiarism gets is that they dont need to pay money för marketing of the product. There are both legal and agreed for a products design. These means gives protection for a product and help the founder to get credit for the innovation. An alternative for a person that just wants to present that he or she is the founder is The Swedish Forms new Registration. In the paper a few observed cases of plagiarism has been examined. The result of these cases shows that it is difficult for a small person who has created a product to defend his product against plagiarism. This is due often due to lack of knowledge, expensive legal proceedings and insufficient global watch.

<p>Behovet av att skydda sig mot plagiat har blivit allt viktigare. Med dagens snabba kommunikation och höga teknologisk standard, kan en mer eller mindre liknade eller exakt kopia vara på marknaden efter endast några få dagar.</p><p>Den som plagierar sparar både tid och pengar. Att formge en tilltalande produkt, tar tid och kostar pengar, vilket gör att den som kopiera utnyttjar det någon annan formgivit och det arbete den gjort. Dessutom sparar den som kopierar mycket tid på att inte behöva marknadsföra produkten.</p><p>De skydd som finns för produktens form och design, ges genom immaterialrätt som omfattar upphovsrätten patent, varukännetecken samt mönster - eller formgivningsskydd.</p><p>Alternativ för den som ”bara” vill göra känt att man formgivit något är Svensk Forms Nyhetsregister.</p><p>I uppsatsen redovisas några produkter som har blivit plagierade. Resultatet av dessa vissa att det är svårt för en mindre formgivare att skydda sin design.</p> / <p>The need of protection against plagiarism has become more important in the last few years.Develeopment of the internet means that a product similar the one you have made can be on the market in a few days. They who make use of plagiarism saves both time and money. That means that a company that uses plagiarism take advantage of the originator who made the product from the beginning. Another benefit that a company that are use plagiarism gets is that they dont need to pay money för marketing of the product.</p><p>There are both legal and agreed for a products design. These means gives protection for a product and help the founder to get credit for the innovation.</p><p>An alternative for a person that just wants to present that he or she is the founder is The Swedish Forms new Registration. In the paper a few observed cases of plagiarism has been examined. The result of these cases shows that it is difficult for a small person who has created a product to defend his product against plagiarism. This is due often due to lack of knowledge, expensive legal proceedings and insufficient global watch.</p>

Pasaulyje elektroninių knygų populiarumas sparčiai didėja palyginant su spausdintomis knygomis. Taip yra dėl to kad elektroninės knygos turi visą eilę naudingų savybių. Mokantis, studijuojant ar renkant informaciją, paieška elektroninėje knygoje pagreitina ir palengvina darbą. Elektroninę knygą galima pasiekti bet kuriuo paros metu, būnant bet kurioje šalyje, tik reikia turėti internetinį ryšį. Elektroninių knygų apsauga nuo nelegalaus kopijavimo yra viena iš pagrindinių nepasitikėjimo elektroninėmis knygomis priežasčių. Darbo tikslas Sukurti elektroninių knygų turinio valdymo sistemą. Pagrindiniai šios sistemos kūrimo tikslai yra šie:  Suteikti vartotojui galimybę greitai pasiekti reikalingus informacinius resursus;  Suteikti vartotojui galimybę be papildomų programavimo įgūdžių įkelti naują knygą;  Suteikti vartotojui galimybę koreguoti, atnaujinti ir šalinti sukurtą elektroninę knygą;  Pritaikyti apsaugos priemones, kurių pagalba būtų apsaugotas elektroninių knygų turinys nuo galimų plagijavimo atvejų. Sukurta elektroninių knygų turinio valdymo sistemą leis vartotojui greitai pasiekti reikalingus informacinius resursus, be papildomų programavimo įgūdžių įkelti naują knygą, koreguoti, atnaujinti ir šalinti sukurtą elektroninę knygą. Patalpinta elektroninės knygos informacija bus apsaugota nuo galimų plagijavimo atvejų, paprastas vartotojas negalės nukopijuoti sistemoje esančios knygos turinio. Sukurta elektroninių knygų turinio valdymo sistema bus pritaikyta... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The various projects in schools, the rapidly increasing number of computers and other modern technologies. Currently, schools lack modern digital tools and attractive digital learning (teaching) materials, which is in line with current realities. One of the ways of learning material is a global Web access. Although the World Wide Web tools have a few shortcomings, but for now it is one of the most effective means of developing educational (learning) material. This technology allows us to provide educational materials very vividly, adding graphics, images, audio and video clips. Hierarchical alignment, fork, and the possibility to search by keyword is the quickest way to find the required training (learning) material. The world of electronic books popularity is growing rapidly in comparison to printed books. The reason is that electronic books have a lot useful features. Learning, studying and collecting information, search in online book, faster and easier job. E-Book can be reached at any time of day, stay in any country, just need to have Internet connection. As well as the e-books and other electronic sources is the main problem of academic dishonesty. Academic dishonesty includes plagiarism, copying, data manipulation, and others. The main reasons of academic dishonesty is the distance training, the number of student growth and of student groups growth and so on. Plagiarism is growing because the observed spread of information technology education (learning) environment... [to full text]

<p>The purpose of this study was to investigate plagiarism among undergraduate students at a higher education institution in South Africa. There is evidence from previous studies that plagiarism is increasing world wide among higher education students. The emergence of the Internet has made plagiarizing worse as students can easily copy and paste information from the World Wide Web. This study investigated the occurrence, causes and trends of plagiarism among students in the Faculty of Applied Science at a higher education institution. It also examines student awareness of institutional policies and guidelines regarding plagiarism.</p>

Teachers confront the problem of plagiarism when they give research assignments. These research projects vary according to the way in which the professor, the department and the discipline defines research. To investigate research across the disciplines, I interviewed six professors who teach research assignments in their classes and six students who attempted to complete these assignments during the academic period of summer semester (1993) through fall semester (1994) at Ball State University.Specifically, I observed six disciplines--English, history, philosophy and religious studies, anthropology, physics, and biology--to assess the teachers' procedures for teaching research, and their explanations of how research could go wrong.Six student volunteers were observed throughout their research assignment as they gathered sources, accumulated data, observed experiments, wrote papers and compiled11a Works Cited list. After students completed their research assignments, I requested that each instructor evaluate the assignments and conclude whether it constituted legitimate, effective research. Although all six student researchers had difficulties completing their assignments, by the end of the semester four out of the six produced successful research projects. One student received an F on her project because she plagiarized, while another earned a C because she did not complete the assignment effectively. The students who did well on their research projects exhibited discipline-specific skills and the following general characteristics: the ability to gather sources, focus topics, authenticate sources, employ disciplinary language, adhere to citation and documentation format guidelines, and use computer and lab equipment. Indicators of possible plagiarism in research projects included: students using unspecified format (such as an older MLA format), writing that revealed improvement several skill levels above previous writing, uncited elevated language and phraseology, and a lack of sources in the bibliography. / Department of English