More Effective Assessment: Using Student Presentations with Vietnamese University Students
Main Article Content
Abstract
Assessment effectiveness is an important topic for all educators. This study considers how assessment can be made more effective by addressing plagiarism by students in international undergraduate programs in Vietnam. The study included a change in assessment away from written reports and towards student presentations. 107 Vietnamese students, across two semesters, studying a BTEC HND business management subject in an international program at a large government-run university were assigned to give weekly group presentations rather than write 3,000 word reports. The first semester results indicate that this change practically eliminated plagiarism and improved student learning (measured by grades) by 33%. The second semester added local language tutorial sessions and improved student learning by 70% from the pre-study levels. Additionally, students reported greater satisfaction with the new assessment design.
Keywords:
university students, assessment, Vietnam, plagiarism reduction
References
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[3] D. Liu, Plagiarism in ESOL students: Is cultural conditioning truly the major culprit?, ELT Journal. (2005). https://doi:10.1093/elt/cci043.
[4] P.L. Ha, Plagiarism and overseas students: Stereotypes again?, ELT Journal. (2006). https://doi:10.1093/elt/cci085.
[5] D.K. Ba, Q.D. Lam, D.T.B.A. Le, P.L. Nguyen, P.Q. Nguyen, Q.L. Pham, Student plagiarism in higher education in Vietnam: an empirical study, Higher Education Research and Development, Taylor and Francis. (2016). https://doi:10.1080/07294360.2016.1263829.
[6] D.E. Martin, A. Rao, L.R. Sloan, Ethnicity, Acculturation, and Plagiarism: A Criterion Study of Unethical Academic Conduct, Human Organization. 70(1) (2011) 88-96.
[7] D. Fallis, Toward an Epistemology of Intellectual Property, Journal of Information Ethics. (2007). https://doi:10.3172/JIE.16.2.34.
[8] C. Owens, F.A. White, A 5-year systematic strategy to reduce plagiarism among first-year psychology university students, Australian Journal of Psychology. (2013). https://doi:10.1111/ajpy.12005.
[9] R. Wette, Evaluating student learning in a university-level EAP unit on writing using sources, Journal of Second Language Writing. (2010). https://doi:10.1016/j.jslw.2010.06.002.
[10] R. Webster, Personalizing Learning, Saarbrucken, Germany: VDM Verlag Dr Mueller Aktiengesellschaft & Co KG, 2009.
[11] M. Devlin, Policy, Preparation, and Prevention: Proactive minimization of student plagiarism, Journal of Higher Education Policy
and Management. (2006). https://doi:10.1080/13600800500283791.
[12] D. Pecorari, B. Petríc, Plagiarism in second-language writing, Language Teaching. Cambridge University Press. (2014). https://doi:10.1017/S0261444814000056.
[13] A. Shafaei, M. Nejati, Quazi, A. and von der Heidt Tania, When in Rome, do as the Romans do’ Do international students’ acculturation attitudes impact their ethical academic conduct?, Higher Education. (2016). http://doi:10.1007/s10734-015-9928-0.
[14] J.R. Magnus, V.M. Polterovich, D.L. Danilov, A.V. Savvateev, Tolerance of cheating: An analysis across countries, Journal of Economic Education. 33(2) (2002) 125-135.
[15] Transparency International, Corruption Perceptions Index., Corruption Perceptions Index. (2016). https://Doi: 978-3-943497-18-2.
[16] R. Obeid, D.B. Hill, An Intervention Designed to Reduce Plagiarism in a Research Methods Classroom, Teaching of Psychology. (2017) 1-18. https://doi:10.1177/0098628317692620.
[17] A. Ledwith, A. Rísquez, Using anti‐plagiarism software to promote academic honesty in the context of peer reviewed assignments, Studies in Higher Education. (2008). https://doi:10.1080/03075070802211562.
[18] S. Pritchett, Perceptions about plagiarism between faculty and undergraduate students, Alliant International University, 2010.
[19] Y. Chen, C. Chou, Are We on the
Same Page? College Students’ and Faculty’s Perception of Student Plagiarism in Taiwan, Ethics & Behavior. (2017). https://doi:10.1080/10508422.2015.1123630.
[20] T. Hutcheson, A Suggestion for Using Oral Presentations To Reduce the Incidence of Plagiarism in Business Courses, Australasian Journal of Economics Education. 6(2) (2009) 44-63.
[21] P. Tharenou, R. Donohue, B. Cooper, Management Research Methods, England: Cambridge University Press, 2007.
[22] T.W. Maxwell, Assessment in higher education in the professions: action research as an authentic assessment task, Teaching in Higher Education. 17 (2012). https://doi:10.1080/13562517.2012.725220.
[23] B. Green, Understanding and researching professional practice. Rotterdam: Sense, 2009.