by:
  Michael Donnelly,
  Rebecca Ingalls,
  Tracy Ann Morse,
  Joanna Castner, and
  Anne Meade
  Stockdell-Giesler

  Flying, Finally

Even so, while this means, perhaps, that we're not driving airplanes around on the ground anymore, much of the same attitude seems to encourage using technology simply for the sake of using technology. Because the culture at large seems to proceed on the assumption that "technology" (as we understand it) is always "good" (that is, that is signifies "progress"), our institutions often proceed on the same assumption. Thus, faced with a problem like, say, plagiarism, the institution is inclined to look to technology for a solution. Indeed, our university now subscribes to Turnitin.

New technologies seem to have brought with them a new wave of academic dishonesty; whether this is truly an increase in the amount of plagiarism is unclear, and probably unverifiable. What does seem clear is that plagiarism has taken on new forms (e.g., cutting-and-pasting from Internet sites; papers purchased online), and that while those forms are easier, in many ways, for students to engage in, they are also easier for faculty to track down.

I recall some years ago, as a graduate assistant, browsing the stacks in the library, actually leafing through books on a major U.S. author to find the essay (essays, as it turned out) from which a student had copied her paper. Now, my first recourse is Google; better yet, have the students themselves download their own papers into a policing database.

• Introduction: A Writing Program Director's Dilemma
• Flying, Finally
• The Role of the WPA
• The Problems with PDS
• May the Conversation Continue...
• Dissimulation in the Writing Classroom
• The Devaluing of Growth?
• A Lack of Ethics
• An Ethos of Academic Integrity
• Students Consenting to Turnitin.com: What Are We Asking When We Ask Them to Sign Away Their Work?
• The Concept of Intellectual Property
• Roots of Consent
• Why "Consent" May Not Be Sufficient
• Turnitin.com: A Teaching Tool
• Responsibility for Writing
• A Focus on Revision
• Turnitin: Oversimplified Answer to a Complex Problem
• Skill and Creativity
• Self-Fulfilling Prophesies
• A Stimulus to Creativity
• Engagement and Success
• Conclusion
• References
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