International Teacher Education Conference 2014 1

International Teacher Education Conference 2014
The Pedogogical Challenge of Cyber-Plagiarism in Teacher Education
Warren A. Ramos a *
ª Ed. D.,Our Lady of Fatima University, College of Education, Philippine Association for Teacher Education, Phi Delta Kappa
International, Manila Philippines
Abstract
This study employed descriptive survey and correlation design to identify, differentiate and correlate the fourth
year education students’ extent of awareness and the extent of committing cyber-plagiarism. The participants
were 55 fourth year education students and their 10 teachers in an identified university in the Philippines. The
statistical methods used to analyze the data were weighted mean, t-test of independence and Spearman’s r
coefficient of correlation.
The result of the study discussed that majority of the respondents used Google as their search engine in the
internet when doing paper works. The study also revealed that the student- respondents were highly aware in the
forms of cyber-plagiarism. Despite of this remarkable extent of awareness, majority of them also admitted that
they committed the different forms of cyber-plagiarism to a moderate extent. In the survey conducted to the
teachers, they revealed that the students have also cyber-plagiarize very often. The p-value (.142 > α 0.05) for
the significant difference in the extent of cyber-plagiarism behavior as assessed by the students and teachers
revealed that there is no significant difference in the assessment of the respondents with respect to the observed
cyber –plagiarism behaviors of the fourth year education students. The challenging part of the study was the
significant moderate correlation ( r= .554 ) between the extent of awareness and the extent of committing cyberplagiarism
among students. These were supported by the student-respondents perceived reasons of committing
these acts.
The findings of the study led to the recommendation for the teachers and future educators to practice and
implement proposed preventive strategies in cyber-plagiarism using the Anti –cyber-plagiarism in Education
Strategies (ACES ).
Keywords. Pedagogical challenge, cyber-plagiarism, academic integrity, and future educators
Introduction
Every educator has a multiplier effect. Whatever he or she does in the classroom may leave an inerasable
mark on the students’ mind. This in time may greatly affect the students’ awareness, attitudes and action and
may be passed on to many people. Looking into a bigger picture there is an alarming threat for the future frontliners
in education- the students in the College of Education. Education teachers must serve as a role model in all
their actions specifically in writing, submitting and presenting information. They must possess the highest form
of academic integrity in the practice of teaching profession. In other words, teachers and education students
should have the highest extent of awareness and act of academic integrity at all times.
In today’s generation of teachers-to-be, there is a pedagogical challenge in the use of information and
communication technology (ICT) in submitting paper works. Ethical uses of digital resources must be addressed
to education students in order to equip them in battling against cyber-plagiarism. According to Jones (2007),
cyber-plagiarism is an act of cutting and pasting material from an electronic source without paraphrasing,
annotating, and submitting the material as his or her own work. It is one form of criminal act according to
Republic Act 10175 which is also known as the Cyber-crime Law of 2012. Preventing this cyber-plagiarism
behaviors requires the faculty and future educators to recognize that students have myriad of reasons and
different chances to cheat. Different forms and reasons of academic integrity must be addressed to help teachers
redesign the education environment that will minimize the opportunity and benefits of using ICT to cyberplagiarize.
In fact, statistical and anecdotal evidence underscores several disturbing trends, indicating that
cheating at the college level is not only occurring more frequently, but the students are using much more
sophisticated methods for them to prepare and submit their paper works.
E-mail address: jaucian_cruz@yahoo.com
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