$200,000 grant obtained for Faculty

Simon from the Faculty of Science and IT has successfully obtained a grant for $201,000 under the Office of Teaching and Learning’s (OLT) Commissioned Projects Funding.

The project is being led by Simon and a team of other academics from Monash University, Australia’s National University and University of Newcastle. It will address the disparity between the perception of academic plagiarism in text and the perception of plagiarism in assessments not involving text.

“As a student academic conduct officer, I have long felt that there was a disparity between the general academic perception of plagiarism in text and the perception of plagiarism in other areas,” said Simon.

After the OLT announced funding for commissioned work on April 30, Simon drew a team of people together from participating universities to develop a proposal in less than four weeks. Academics across Information Technology and Design disciplines will team up to lead the investigation which is set to benefit students and staff.

“The work has the potential to benefit staff and students who deal with assessment items not involving text, as it will clarify the situation with regard to plagiarism in these areas, giving everyone a better idea of what is considered academically acceptable and what is not,” said Simon.

The project is set to start in September and will run for a year, with focus groups being conducted at participating universities. A survey will then be developed and trialled at Newcastle, Monash and ANU before being rolled out through other Australian universities. The program is one of four integrity projects being funded by the OLT.

For more information on OLT grant funding, email julie.moulton@newcastle.edu.au