In less than 24 hours Aussie students can now have an assessment written and submitted without even opening a text book, attending a lecture or logging onto a learning management system. With the new buzz industry of Copy Contracting hitting the underground world of education, students are being tempted to cheat in even more creative ways. Impressive websites that promise production of services from essay writing and short answer question responses, through to bespoke dissertations and theses that are being dangled in front of Australian students every day. These essay mills are promising the reproduction of any assessment content for as little as $130 with a 24 hour turnaround time. Clever reassurance cues such as “Your order is 100% confidential” and “Zero plagiarism guaranteed” guide students into a false sense of security. Others offer emotional encouragement: “We know sometimes you’re having hard times writing your essays or overloaded with so much work”. Copy Contracting has become so normalised in the education sector that investigations have uncovered YouTube stars being paid to promote an academic cheating website based in the Ukraine, in videos with more than 700 million views. Even if students manage to resist the urge to engage Copy Contracting […]
Think Tank series – Student led learning
The VE Design Team is continuing to host its series of think tanks to explore the future of VET and what today’s top educators and learning designers are working on right now. Our fourth gathering, held on 27th August, focused on student led learning. The question we put forward was, “How can we achieve meaningful personalised and student led learning in VET, skills and industry training programs?” Four experts from various organisations joined us: Claude Gomes – Lead Consultant at Reflector Tania Teese – Manager, Teaching and Learning Enhancement at Box Hill Institute Ramon Marmolejos – Co-founder of Emzingo and Learning Design Facilitator at Kaospilots Aimee Gonzales – Senior UX design consultant at Transpire Claude emphasised the importance of knowing one’s audience; how they will unpack the information we provide, and how they will undertake their learning journey. He discussed the benefits of understanding personality types and factoring preferences into the learning design. Claude introduced the Prosci ADKAR Model – a goal-oriented change management model – detailing the five outcomes an individual must realise for change to be successful: awareness, desire, knowledge, ability, reinforcement. Tania reflected upon her understanding of the Box Hill Institute student cohort: They’re […]
