Modules
Letter to College Now Faculty
The resources in this project grew out of our own experiences in College Now. Last fall a student in one of our College Now courses borrowed a classmateís paper and copied it "whole-cloth." The fallout from that case extended beyond the student and the instructor, and the program needed to respond.
College Now is the perfect place to address the important issues of academic integrity. Indeed, what program could be better than one focused on the transition from high school to college, where the stakes are higher and the policies often more sweeping than students realize? The need was even more pressing given the incident in the fall, so instructors in the monthly faculty meeting suggested that a committee gather to create helpful resources for everyone teaching in College Now.
Working with David Gantz, College Now Coordinator, this committee set out to create materials thatóas the cover letter suggestsómight be used flexibly by teachers in the program. We spent several afternoons discussing the design of the modules, taking into consideration the ways teachers might build upon our own recommendations.
We realized during these conversations that educating students about academic integrity and plagiarism is on-going and that many of these activities are expansive. For example, we found our own discussions side-tracked by our growing understanding of the topic and our eagerness to capture all aspects of the issue. Of course it is not possible to represent all our thinking here, but our colleagues who choose to make use of some of this work should realize the tendency within the topic for more questions rather than answers. For us, the chance to ask our own questions and explore the possibilities was part of the excitement of this work, and we believe it can be exciting for our students, as well.
When students begin asking sophisticated questions about the protocols of the subjects we value, we can be satisfied that our lessons have had an impact. We hope your experiences are as valuable for you as they have been for us.
If you have helpful feedback, please share them with us by contacting the Lehman College/College Now office. Thank you.
Jill Macomber, Lehman College/College Now, English (Walton High School)
Mel Maskin, Lehman College/College Now, History (Bronx High School of Science)
Eric Hofmann, CUNY College Now, Program Coordinator
February 2005