The latest meeting of the Joint Learning and Teaching Forum examined the issue of plagiarism and best practice.
The forum is a joint initiative involving the Universities of Dundee, St Andrews and Abertay which meets on a regular basis to discuss pertinent higher education issues. The most recent meeting, held in St Andrews and featuring a selection of internal and external speakers, dealt with the need to help and advise students about how to properly credit their sources, how to identify plagiarism and legal concerns surrounding the issue.
One of the speakers was Fiona Duggan, manager of the National Plagiarism Advisory Service based at the University of Northumbria. This consultancy provides advice on the issue as well as an online plagiarism detection service which Dundee has already singed up to.
Fiona spoke of the need for universities to make best use of computer technology in order to track down students who plagiarise from material found on the internet. She said, "A computer can highlight areas in an essay or assignment where matches are found with earlier pieces of work. This originality report takes just four hours to produce."
The forum is a forward-looking approach by the three universities to ensuring their approach to matters in both learning and teaching is as effective as possible. Future issues for discussion at the forum's meetings include the implications of the Special Needs and Disability Act, virtual learning environment and staff development.