High school discovers corona plagiarism on school exam
Ten students from Alfrink College in Zoetermeer have plagiarized home-made school exams in economics and chemistry. The school discovered the issue with specially purchased plagiarism checking software. The students can take a re-exam. A number of students deny the fraud, their parents have engaged a lawyer.
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Because of the corona virus, Alfrink College no longer takes exams at school. The students must make these at home. The completed exams are checked with Ephorus, a plagiarism checking program.
Attorney-at-law
At the beginning of this month it turned out that this program found irregularities in various economics and chemistry exams. The school does give the students concerned the opportunity to take a resit, which in this case will be taken at school. A number of students deny having committed plagiarism, their parents have now hired a lawyer.
The students are allowed to take a resit, which in this case will be taken at school
Portfolios
The Ephorus program is already widely used in higher education. A case of three students recently played in higher professional education, each submitting portfolios that corresponded for ninety percent to each other. The submitted work was declared invalid and the students were not allowed to take tests for six months, reports Profiles - the news site of the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences.
Fraudulent
One of the plagiarists appealed because the punishment imposed would be disproportionate. He said there was no "deliberate fraudulent act": the students had jointly submitted work to which each of them contributed.
However, the Appeals Tribunal ruled that the work had been rightly declared invalid, because it is now impossible to judge about 'the ability and knowledge' of the individual students - which was the purpose of the portfolios. But the Board believes that the duration of the sentence is too long. The Examination Board must make a new decision.
