By Sara Lauren Purifoy

Taylor Memorial Library (TML) launched the Plagiarism Active Learning (PAL) Program at the beginning of Spring 2021 to support Centenary University’s commitment to preparing students for professions of critical thought and purposeful action. Developed and co-led by Instruction Librarian Sara Lauren Purifoy and Student Success Specialist Abbie Davis, the PAL Program offers students struggling with academic integrity an opportunity to explore the ramifications of misrepresenting scholarly/academic work in a safe environment. By offering this program in collaboration with the Academic Success & Advising Center (ASAC), TML has provided students with an intervening option for achieving success focused first on examining the individual and situational factors that may contribute to cheating behaviors to promote growth rather than immediate punishment.

A conversation between TML and ASAC staff about student plagiarism set the program idea in motion October 2020. Student plagiarism trends and possible intervention frameworks were discussed. Considering the current realities of remote teaching and learning during the COVID-19 Pandemic, “students believe cheating is easier or more prevalent in online courses,” especially when they do not know how plagiarism is defined by Centenary University’s Academic Code of Conduct (Adzima 2020). While both TML and ASAC offer student workshops and other learning opportunities for promoting academic and information-use integrity both in and outside the classroom throughout the academic year, it is widely recognized across both departments that the students in most need of these services are those least likely to attend.

To better reach students who would benefit most from intervention, the PAL Program was developed as a referral program only. To refer a student to the Program, a faculty member or member of Academic Success on behalf of the Academic Review Board must fill out the PAL Referral Form conveniently located in Pharos. Pharos is Centenary University’s retention software; all instructors can access and use it to report students in need of additional assistance. In addition, the student in question should be made aware that the form is being filled out. Once the form is submitted, it is sent to the Academic Review Board in the Academic Success Center for review and filing. If a first infraction, the Academic Success Center will refer the student to a PAL Coordinator via the Pharos email communications system to schedule a meeting. Students who have multiple infractions will be brought in front of the Academic Review Board for disciplinary action. PAL meeting sessions currently take place virtually over Microsoft Teams video conferencing and are scheduled using Microsoft Bookings. When a meeting is scheduled, it automatically populates within both the PAL Coordinator and student’s school calendar with built in reminders. The one-on-one meeting explores what it means to plagiarize, cheat, and misrepresent academic work. Together, student and PAL Coordinator work through examples and strategies that can be used to improve academic efforts and avoid committing future academic offenses. By the conclusion of this meeting, the student is required to complete an exercise demonstrating their understanding of plagiarism.

Before the launch of the PAL Program, students would immediately go before the Academic Review Board for a first plagiarism infraction and simply be issued a warning to not do it again without any guidance on how to do so. This process sometimes resulted in a second infraction. In contrast, the PAL Program acts as an intermediary disciplinary approach focused on learning from mistakes, understanding real-world consequences of plagiarism, and offering suggestions for improving time-management skills. Over the coming semesters, TML and ASAC hope to see a decrease in plagiarism campus wide.

Luckily, as of the writing of this article, only one student has been referred to the Program since its launch in January 2021. The PAL meeting is currently being scheduled. 

References

Adzima, K. (2020). Examining online cheating in higher education using traditional classroom cheating as a guide. Electronic Journal of E-Learning, 18(6), 476–493.

PAL Program LibGuide. Taylor Memorial Library, Centenary University. https://libguides.centenaryuniversity.edu/instruction/PALprogram

Sara Lauren Purifoy is the Instruction Librarian at Taylor Memorial Library, Centenary University. She can be reached at sara.purifoy@centenaryuniversity.edu or on her website, saralaurenpurifoy.com.