Need Advise ASAP....

[Saalbunch]

A little background...this is a very small (5 students) OB class. They were told to research the pros and cons of different birth control options as well as patient education. They asked their instructor if they could put it into table format and she agreed. Four out of the five included a reference sheet with a reference on it. Nowhere on their papers was there any in text citations. 80% of their papers were direct word for word out of their textbooks. They all felt that referencing at the end was adequate.

We met with each of these students and I honestly feel that they did not purposely plagiarize. All four admit that it was plagiarism and they have learned a very valuable lesson.

This is where is gets a little trickier...One of the four has had some previous issues. He took a picture of an exam and was smart enough to post it on Facebook. He automatically failed that course and had to repeat it. Another time he plagiarized a paper. We sat down with him and had a very long discussion about this and his actions. As per faculty protocol, he was exited from the nursing program for having two academic dishonesty issues. However, the academic team (not part of the nursing department) decided that they really like him and they overturned the nursing department and allowed him one more chance into the nursing program. When he started back up some of the members of the academic team and the nursing team spent a couple of hours going over stipulations to allowing him back in. One was that there could be NO academic issues.

Well, now that this has happened, he is scheduled to be exited from the program. Once again, the academic team does not feel that it was plagiarism. They feel that since he referenced in the back of his paper that it was an attempt and should not count as plagiarism.

To me, plagiarism is simple and clean cut. Either you write in your own words or you give credit. I am meeting with the academic team tomorrow and I have the backing of the entire nursing department. I just wanted to get somebody else's opinions.

[Whispera, MSN, RN]

Think about what level the students are on. Maybe they haven't had enough APA format work to realize something must be referenced within a paper as well as at the end, until now that they've had to face the consequences. I teach students in their second semester of nursing school. Almost all of them don't do their referencing correctly at the beginning of the semester. It's not that they're trying to plagiarize. It's that they don't understand what's required, and haven't looked it up because they didn't know it was a problem. They just don't have enough experience with it.

Do you feel the student with the past issues knew what he was doing was incorrect or was it an honest mistake? Can he be singled-out if his error was the same as the others?

If you feel they all made an honest mistake, if I was you, I'd require they re-do the assignment and cite references completely and appropriately in order to get a passing grade on their papers. Or, they could be required to do another paper with proper referencing.

Depending on all sorts of things, this might not be grounds for removal from school.

[JBudd, MSN]

I'm with Whispera, he shouldn't be punished more severely than the others; require the papers be rewritten correctly. In our program, any paper that has to be redone must meet all the standards, but will only receive the minimum passing grade (75) for credit purposes. It allows for learning, corrections, but doesn't reward doing a poor job in the first place.

[nurse2033, MSN, RN]

I agree that it kind of depends on how much APA training they have had or feedback they have received. If they have received APA feedback, especially in the form of the citation/ reference system, then I would grade them appropriately. In this case, just based on the percentage of copied material I would grade them very low. The point of a paper is to do research and restate the findings in your own words. This student is not being held to the same standard, he is already on notice that he should be extra careful. He also received extra counseling in that regard. Think of it this way, he is hanging on by his fingernails, and he is still being sloppy. I would free up his future. He is to have NO academic issues, and this is an academic issue, case closed.

I'm also troubled that the academic team is allowed to overrule you. Please let us know the outcome.

[OneDuckyRN]

I agree that it kind of depends on how much APA training they have had or feedback they have received. If they have received APA feedback, especially in the form of the citation/ reference system, then I would grade them appropriately. In this case, just based on the percentage of copied material I would grade them very low. The point of a paper is to do research and restate the findings in your own words. This student is not being held to the same standard, he is already on notice that he should be extra careful. He also received extra counseling in that regard. Think of it this way, he is hanging on by his fingernails, and he is still being sloppy. I would free up his future. He is to have NO academic issues, and this is an academic issue, case closed.

I'm also troubled that the academic team is allowed to overrule you. Please let us know the outcome.

I completely agree. In the program I just finished, he would have been exited from the program permanently after the Facebook incident. The "academic team," whatever they are called at the school I graduated from, would not have interfered with that decision. They set MINIMUM standards for academic honesty, among other things. Individual programs and divisions are free to set more stringent standards.

[LuckyDevil2020, BSN]

In a field where having a high ethical standard is essential this student seems to be failing BIG time and repeatedly. By the time nursing students get into actual nursing classes students should have completed enough classes to be quite familiar with APA formatting. The difference between this student and the others is that while the other students were able to recognize what they did wrong and verbalize understanding of where they went wrong (and I am guessing how to avoid it in the future), this student was not willing/able to acknowledge any error at all.

It's disturbing that he could be kicked out of a program and then reinstated against the departments wishes. Is his tuition check really worth that much to the school?

Any update?

[lub dub]

This is a PATTERN OF BEHAVIOR. This student has to go. It is disappointing that the "academic team" seems unwilling or unable to admit this.

[StevenKan]

We are all empathetic towards our students. There is a saying, "a zebra is a zebra. If your not sure it is a zebra give them time, they will show there true colors." You have a Zebra. Do not enable this sudent into a profession with ethical and legal expectations. Let them go. This action will send a strong signal to other students.

[AOx1]

I hope this went well, OP. Honestly, I would not feel comfortable working at a place where an academic team could so easily overturn departmental procedures. Additionally, "not knowing" isn't a valid excuse. The student should have taken some type of english course in the past. I can see asking "How do I cite this in APA? I've only used MLA," if the students are new to the program. However, this student has already received extensive training on APA and avoiding plagiarism. If "not knowing" were valid, I could violate my hospital's P&P manual and claim "But no one told me!" At a certain point it becomes whether the student should have known. If this decision is overruled by this "academic team," I would consider finding a new place to teach that recognizes that public safety must be our first concern, and not to give out "thanks for playing, everyone's a winner" decisions.

sorry to hear that this academic team values warm, fuzzy feelings over safety. They'd better hope that this student is never standing over their bed as a nurse.