Category: Student Culture

In their 2001 study of term-long undergraduate group projects Bourner et al. defined “passengers” as an impediment to team functioning, referring to students who made little contribution to group work, choosing to “ride along” on the efforts of fellow students (Bourner et al., 2001). Last winter I also observed this problem as a TA in a second-year history course where term-long group projects, involving some shared team grades, accounted for the majority of students’ evaluation. Poor research skills coupled with questionable perceptions of work expectations seemed to me to be the origin of student disengagement, rather a conscious evasion of responsibility. Continue reading “Passenger” Problem and Internet Use in Undergraduate Group Projects — Danielle Terbenche

The plagiarism detection software Turnitin will be available to all University of Waterloo instructors as of September 2009. It was piloted in the winter and spring terms of 2008 by the School of Accounting and Finance. Continue reading Plagiarism and Turnitin at UW — Scott Anderson