The weekly newsletter for Fed2 by ibgames

EARTHDATE: July 3, 2011

Official News page 7


REAL LIFE NEWS: HOW TECHNOLOGY CAUGHT PLAGIARISING PROF

by Hazed

When the Faculty of Medicine dean gave his speech to the graduating class at the University of Alberta recently, it didn't exactly go as he planned.

The problem was that he'd lifted large chunks of his speech from a medical school graduation address that had been delivered last year at Stanford University.

Well, plagiarism in education is a big problem, but it's usually the students who are guilty not the staff!

Dean Philip Baker might have gotten away with it, if it wasn't for those pesky kids - and their smart phones. As he was speaking, some of the students recognized the phrases he was using, so looked them up on the web using their phones. They found the original speech on the New Yorker website, and were able to follow along as Baker recited it.

Busted!

Baker has now written a letter of apology to the students, claiming that although the theme and much of the content was similar to that given by Dr Atul Gawande, the words had simply "inspired me and resonated with my experiences."

Let's see if that excuse works next time a student is accused of copying an essay off the internet.

Source: http://www.globaltvedmonton.com/events/any/4937399/story.html


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