Implications of Student Plagiarism in a Broader Societal Context

According to the International Center for Academic Integrity, more than 60 percent of university students freely admit to cheating in some form. When a student chooses to plagiarize, they are circumventing reading the material or using critical thinking skills in order to draw their own original conclusions and express their thinking in their own words. This means that students are 1) not learning the material and 2) not learning the skills that are only developed through learning which include critical thinking, identifying biases, identifying logical fallacies, problem-solving, the ability to discern objective versus subjective statements, etc. The rise in plagiarism is also correlated with a rise in illiteracy rates. 54% of American adults are only able to read below a 6th-grade level, according to a recent report from the U.S. Department of Education. This percentage continues to steadily increase every year. 

The presenter is a trusted source on the larger societal impact of plagiarism, and his organization aims to solve the problem of academic dishonesty by offering a wide array of plagiarism detection tools.

The presenter will kick off his speech by asking the audience a question centered around plagiarism to garner a real-time representation of how big of a global issue plagiarism is.

The presenter will share the immediate and long-term ramifications of plagiarism in education, including how plagiarism limits the development of essential skills, how to use plagiarism as a learning opportunity, provide insights on AI in education and how it can help students in the learning process as well as present a challenge in terms of originality and academic integrity, and tips on how to restore academic integrity.

During his speech, he will also provide samples of plagiarism and how best to leverage it as a learning moment. Once he finishes speaking, he will engage in Q & As.