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Increasing pressure is being placed on governments and legislators in different countries to take action against assignment outsourcing in higher education. Global discussions focus on prohibiting commercial outsourcing providers, such as contract cheating services. Despite evidence to suggest that outsourcing behaviours by students are increasing, and the number/reach of companies is increasing, little research has been undertaken to explore whether legislation will deter or prevent students from engaging in these dishonest behaviours. We investigated the issue of legality with higher education students, asking about their peers and their own assignment outsourcing behaviours, whether they believed such companies were already illegal, or whether they thought they should be illegal. Using quantitative analysis, responses from 7126 international participants were considered. We found that some students outsourced their assignments whether they thought it was illegal or not. Further, the majority of respondents argued that students should be impacted by any legislation, as well as the companies that provide outsourced work. The study presents evidence which should be considered in determining whether any law may have an effect to reduce assignment outsourcing behaviours in higher education students.

Contract cheating is concerning educational institutions across the globe. Current knowledge of student perspectives on contract cheating is primarily informed by student surveys. Little is known about the student experience of being suspected of contract cheating and going through a formal university process. This study reports the findings of a qualitative study at an Australian university with student participants who had faced contract cheating allegations, using semi-structured, in-depth interviews. Five key themes emerged: 1) the most challenging experience of the student's life; 2) not telling their family about the allegation and managing any financial impact themselves; 3) stress and hypervigilance around future assignment submission; 4) rumours and reputational damage including changed relationships with academics and peers; and, 5) staying on track and guiding other students to practice academic integrity. Participants perceived the formal university process as a legal one, which contributed to it being a stressful and challenging experience. This was regardless of whether they had contract cheated or not. Recommendations for academic and support staff centre around ensuring formal university contract cheating processes are primarily a learning experience, from which students can emerge and progress to complete their studies.

Contract cheating happens when students outsource their assessed work to a third party. One approach that has been suggested for improving contract cheating detection is comparing students' assignment submissions with their previous work, the rationale being that changes in style may indicate a piece of work has been written by somebody else. This approach is time consuming, but recent advances in machine learning and natural language processing suggest that it may be well suited to computerization. We trialed an early alpha version of Turnitin's Authorship Investigate tool, which compares students' submissions against their previous work. Twenty-four experienced markers from five units of study were asked to make decisions about the presence of contract cheating in bundles of 20 student assignments, which included 14 legitimate assignments and six purchased from contract cheating sites. We asked markers to determine if each assignment was contract cheating, then provided them with an Authorship Investigate report and let them change their decision. Marker accuracy at detecting contract cheating increased significantly, from 48% to 59% after using the report, with no significant difference in false positives. These findings suggest that software may be an effective component of institutional strategies to address contract cheating.

Much of the burden of undergraduate teaching in Australian higher education institutions falls to sessional staff and postgraduate students. These members of staff assume high teaching loads and administrative management responsibilities. This paper explores the perspectives of two female academics in the unique position of being the subject co-ordinators for large first-year psychology units (around 1600 students) whilst still being doctoral (PhD) candidates. This situation raises interesting issues around the creation of academic identity. Using the metaphor of sinking or swimming in the deep end, we explore strategies to navigate the often turbulent waters of working in academia without drowning in teaching and administration, whilst attempting to stay afloat with doctoral research.

Contract cheating occurs when students outsource assessed work. In this study, we asked experienced markers from four disciplines to detect contract cheating in a set of 20 discipline-specific assignments. We then conducted a training workshop to improve their detection accuracy, and afterwards asked them to detect contract cheating in 20 new assignments. We analysed the data in terms of sensitivity (the rate at which markers spotted contract cheating) and specificity (the rate at which markers spotted real student work). Pre-workshop marker sensitivity was 58% and specificity was 83%. Post-workshop marker sensitivity was 82% and specificity was 87%. The increase in sensitivity was statistically significant, but the increase in specificity was not. These results indicate that markers can often detect contract cheating when asked to do so, and that training may be helpful in improving their accuracy. We suggest that markers' suspicions may be crucial in addressing contract cheating.

Contract cheating sites advertise that they provide high quality, undetectable, bespoke work delivered in a timely manner to students purchasing their assignments. This paper tests contract cheating sites' promises about the products they sell. We built on previous reported research examining contract cheating sites' persuasive features which were mapped into three major dimensions. In this study, we explore how those dimensions are realised in practice. By purchasing 54 assignments from 18 different contract cheating sites across a range of disciplines, we found contract cheating sites' promises flawed. Many sites do not deliver assignments on time, or at all; they provide variable quality assignments (including fail grade work), and do not necessarily respond rapidly to user queries. When markers graded work, 52% of cheated tasks failed to meet the university pass standard. Furthermore, many contract cheating sites retain the right to share personal details with third parties under their privacy clauses and require levels of personal identification that leave users vulnerable. Students need to be aware that contract cheating sites' slick advertising is not necessarily borne out in reality. Universities can draw on this study's findings for student awareness and deterrence campaigns pointing out the risks of using contract cheating sites.

"Almost everyone has difficulty identifying where collaboration stops and collusion begins." (Carroll & Appleton, 2001, p.15) In both policy and practice, collusion is a perplexing area of academic integrity. Students are expected to learn to work collaboratively in university courses, yet are often required to submit assessment tasks as individuals whilst in group-work situations. This paper discusses the tension between "collaboration" and "collusion" in group-work and the consequences for crossing the line. Adopting a theoretical framework from Bourdieu's work (Bourdieu & Passeron, 1971; Bourdieu, 1991) on symbolic power, the notion of legitimate voice and intertextuality, this paper outlines the effects on the academic identities of 17 students found "guilty" of collusion in one Australian university. In addition, 34 staff involved in formal disciplinary procedures were interviewed. The findings indicate that collusion is a fraught notion and not approached systematically across the university, nor with any degree of confidence by staff or students. The delineation between "acceptable collaboration" and "collusion" appears to be founded in shifting sands, with negative attitudes towards collaborative tasks being the main lesson learned by students.

Online education has a presence in most Australian universities, and its uptake has been broadly understood as being driven by external imperatives associated with intensive competition within the global knowledge economy. However, the implementation of online education does not take place uniformly, and tensions can arise as a consequence of the considerable variation in approaches taken by institutions, faculties, departments and individual educators. In this paper, we analyse interview data from five Australian universities to consider how senior administrators, teacher educators and educational designers interpret the drivers of and barriers to online education. Our findings indicate that there are considerable tensions between the economic considerations driving online delivery, the pedagogical approaches embraced by many teaching academics, and the practicalities associated with financial and human resource costs, technological supports and succession planning. We argue that minding the "P"s of purpose, pedagogy and practicalities can be a valuable and productive way forward for addressing ongoing issues of quality and sustainability in online education.

Contract cheating is the purchasing of custom-made university assignments with the intention of submitting them. Websites providing contract cheating services often claim this form of cheating is undetectable, and no published research has examined this claim. This paper documents a pilot study where markers were paid to mark a mixture of real student work and contract cheating assignments, to establish their accuracy at detecting contract cheating. Seven experienced markers individually blind marked the same bundle of 20 second-year psychology assignments, which included 6 that were purchased from contract cheating websites. Sensitivity analyses showed markers detected contract cheating 62% of the time. Specificity analyses showed markers correctly identified real student work 96% of the time. Our results contrast with contract cheating sites' claims that contract cheating is undetectable. However, they should be taken with caution as they are from one course unit in one discipline.

Issues of academic plagiarism in educational institutions are often played out in the public arena. Media reports that "scandals" occur in universities where plagiarism has gone undetected, or unpunished can undermine public faith in the academic integrity of higher education. Antiplagiarism software has been successfully marketed to universities as a means through which to detect and deter plagiarism. One commercially available product, Turnitin, has been embraced and implemented in many educational settings around the globe. Although Turnitin has been heralded as an effective measure to combat plagiarism, little empirical research has been undertaken to examine user perceptions of its effectiveness. This paper details a site-specific case study which explores the perspectives of seven teachers across five faculties at South-Coast University about the effectiveness and usability of Turnitin. The findings indicate that Turnitin assists in detecting passages where text matches other sources. However, the software does not indicate whether plagiarism has occurred or not. That remains the decision of the teacher. Additionally, such software should not be considered a panacea for plagiarism. Students still require explicit teaching of the concept of textual attribution, often with subject-specific examples to understand acknowledgement conventions within academia.

In universities around the world, plagiarism management is an ongoing issue of quality assurance and risk management. Plagiarism management discourses are often framed by legal concepts of authorial rights, and plagiarism policies outline penalties for infringement. Learning and teaching discourses argue that plagiarism management is, and should remain, a learning and teaching issue and press for more student-centred approaches to plagiarism management. Institutions must navigate these competing discourses in their attempts to design workable plagiarism management policies. After outlining plagiarism management contexts from the United Kingdom, Australia and Sweden to provide a sense of international work in the area, this article proposes a learner-centred quality assurance model (adapted from the work of Harvey and Newton (2004)) for plagiarism management. The proposed model refocuses on the learner and classroom practices in quality assurance processes. It offers a framework utilising learning, teaching and internal institutional research on plagiarism management to inform overall university policy.

Research leadership in Australian universities takes place against a backdrop of policy reforms concerned with measurement and comparison of institutional research performance. In particular, the Excellence in Research in Australian initiative undertaken by the Australian Research Council sets out to evaluate research quality in Australian universities, using a combination of expert review process, and assessment of performance against "quality indicators". Benchmarking exercises of this sort continue to shape institutional policy and practice, with inevitable effects on the ways in which research leadership, mentoring and practice are played out within university faculties and departments. In an exploratory study that interviewed 32 Australian academics in universities in four Australian states, we asked participants, occupying formal or informal research leadership roles, to comment on their perceptions of research leadership as envisioned and enacted in their particular workplaces. We found a pervasive concern amongst participants that coalesced around binaries characterized in metaphoric terms of "carrots and whips". Research leadership was seen by many as managerial in nature, and as such, largely tethered to instrumentalist notions of productivity and performativity, while research cultures were seen as languishing under the demoralizing weight of reward and punishment systems. Here, we consider what is at stake for the future of the academic workforce under such conditions, arguing that new models of visionary research leadership are urgently needed in the "troubled times" of techno-bureaucratic university reforms. (Contains 2 notes.)

Australian higher education increasingly relies on flexible modes of delivery as a means of attracting and retaining students in a highly competitive global education market. While education is among those disciplines that have been most actively involved in the shift from face-to-face to online learning and teaching, the transition for many teacher educators is fraught with tensions and contradictions. For some, teaching online is seen as primarily a cost-cutting exercise on the part of universities, and has little to do with improving the quality of student learning. For others, the online environment offers multiple pedagogic possibilities that have yet to be fully explored. Yet others consider online environments as problematic, posing challenges to pedagogic and peer relationships that are generally seen as integral to "good" teaching. This paper draws on an empirical study of teacher education faculties in five Australian universities, and analyses excerpts from interviews about learning and teaching with teacher educators, educational designers and faculty management. We argue that understanding how teacher educators constitute learner and teacher subjectivities through their beliefs about and approaches to pedagogy is crucial to the future of online tertiary education. In particular, we consider how teacher educators' attitudes toward and approaches to online learning and teaching are predicated on their perceived subject positions as either "stimulating" or "simulating" particular kinds of learning interactions.

Universities face constant scrutiny about their plagiarism management strategies, policies and procedures. A resounding theme, usually media inspired, is that plagiarism is rife, unstoppable and university processes are ineffectual in its wake. This has been referred to as a "moral panic" approach (Carroll & Sutherland-Smith, forthcoming; Clegg, 2007) and suggests plagiarism will thwart all efforts to reclaim academic integrity in higher education. However, revisiting the origins of plagiarism and exploring its legal evolution reveals that legal discourse is the foundation for many plagiarism management policies and processes around the world. Interestingly, criminal justice aims are also reflected in university plagiarism management strategies. Although universities strive for deterrence of plagiarism in a variety of ways, the media most often calls for retribution through increasingly tougher penalties. However, a primary aim of the justice system, sustainable reform, is not often reported in the media or visible in university policies or processes. Using critical discourse analysis, this paper examines the disjunction between media calls for increased retribution in the wake of moral panic and institutional responses to plagiarism. I argue that many universities have not yet moved to sustainable reform in plagiarism management. (Contains 2 tables and 1 note.)

Technologically-mediated learning environments are an increasingly common component of university experience. In this paper, the authors consider how the interrelated domains of policy contexts, new learning cultures and the consumption of information and communication technologies might be explored using the concept of technography. Understood here as a term referring to "the apprehension, reception, use, deployment, depiction and representation of technologies" (Woolgar, 2005, pp. 27-28), we consider how technographic studies in education might engage in productive dialogues with interdisciplinary research from the fields of cultural and cyber studies. We argue that what takes place in online learning and teaching environments is shaped by the logics and practices of technologies and their role in the production of new consumer cultures. (Contains 2 figures.)

Plagiarism is viewed by many academics as a kind of Pandora's box--the elements contained inside are too frightening to allow escape for fear of the havoc that may result. Reluctance by academic members of staff to discuss student plagiarism openly may contribute to the often untenable situations we, as teachers, face when dealing with student plagiarism issues. In this article, I examine the dilemmas English for Academic Purposes (EAP) staff face when dealing with student plagiarism in the tertiary classroom. The perceptions of all 11 teachers involved in teaching a first year EAP writing subject at South-Coast University are detailed in light of the university's policy on plagiarism. My research indicates that not only is an agreed definition of plagiarism difficult to reach by members of staff teaching the same subject, but plagiarism is a multi-layered phenomenon encompassing a spectrum of human intention. Evaluating the spectrum can lead to differences in the implementation of university plagiarism policy, the result of which embodies issues of equity. The aim of the article is to encourage policy-makers and academic staff to acknowledge the concerns about implementation of plagiarism policy. Collaborative, cross-disciplinary re-thinking of plagiarism is needed to reach workable solutions.

Because access to new technologies is unequally distributed, there has been considerable debate about the growing gap between the so-called information-rich and information-poor. Such concerns have led to high-profile information technology policy initiatives in many countries. In Australia, in an attempt to 'redress the balance between the information rich and poor' by providing 'equal access to the World Wide Web' ( Virtual Communities, 2002 ), the Australian Council of Trade Unions, Virtual Communities (a computer/software distributor) and Primus (an Internet provider) in late 1999 formed an alliance to offer relatively inexpensive computer and Internet access to union members in order to make 'technology affordable for all Australians' ( Virtual Communities, 2002 ). In this paper, we examine four families, one of which had long-term Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) access, and three of which took advantage of the Virtual Communities offer to get home computer and Internet access for the first time. We examine their engagement with ICT and suggest that previously disadvantaged family members are not particularly advantaged by their access to ICT.

Concentrates on cases of family engagement with information communication technologies (ICTs) at a very local level. (EV)

Explores the unique reading strategies needed for the World Wide Web. Considers additions needed in the repertoire of teaching reading strategies when computers are the medium. Argues that Internet technology has had a significant impact upon reading strategies, resulting in a need to reshape thinking about classroom reading practices. (SG)

Describes how the Internet was used for online interaction in a 10-week English-as-a-Second-Language course. Students were highly motivated and seeking eventual admittance to undergraduate programs through successful completion of International English language Testing System (IELTS) examinations. (Author/VWL)

Examines the complex connections among literacy practices, the use of information, and communication technologies (ICTs) and disadvantage. Reports findings of a year-long Australian study, which investigated ways that four families use ICTs to engage in formal and informal literacy learning in home and school settings. (BT)

Increasing pressure is being placed on governments and legislators in different countries to take action against assignment outsourcing in higher education. Global discussions focus on prohibiting commercial outsourcing providers, such as contract cheating services. Despite evidence to suggest that outsourcing behaviours by students are increasing, and the number/reach of companies is increasing, little research has been undertaken to explore whether legislation will deter or prevent students from engaging in these dishonest behaviours. We investigated the issue of legality with higher education students, asking about their peers and their own assignment outsourcing behaviours, whether they believed such companies were already illegal, or whether they thought they should be illegal. Using quantitative analysis, responses from 7126 international participants were considered. We found that some students outsourced their assignments whether they thought it was illegal or not. Further, the majority of respondents argued that students should be impacted by any legislation, as well as the companies that provide outsourced work. The study presents evidence which should be considered in determining whether any law may have an effect to reduce assignment outsourcing behaviours in higher education students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By concentrating on cases of family engagement with information communication technologies at a very local level, this paper tries to illustrate that issues related to 'access' and social disadvantage require [...]

Within psychology, interest in simulation has grown, with publications on role‐play and objective structured clinical examinations emerging. This study examines the impacts of simulation‐based education on students' clinical competence and confidence when compared with traditional case‐based education. The perceived alignment between simulation‐based education and clinical practice is also considered. Twelve first‐year clinical psychology students participated in this mixed methods study. Participants completed two objective structured clinical examinations, during which their clinical competence was rated using the Global Rating Scale and Cognitive Therapy Scale—Revised. Following the first examination, participants were randomly allocated to the simulation‐ or case‐based education conditions, where they engaged with video simulations or written case study, respectively. Clinical competence was then assessed post‐intervention, and consenting participants completed a follow‐up focus group. Post‐intervention, those in the simulation‐based education condition rated their confidence in applying knowledge learnt to real‐world settings higher than did those in the case‐based education condition. The simulated‐based education group also showed increased competence as rated on the Global Rating Scale and Cognitive Therapy Scale—Revised; however, this improvement was not greater overall than that observed in the case‐based education group. From a qualitative perspective, several themes emerged, including a "disconnect" between case‐based materials and clinical practice and the importance of explicit instructions in guiding student learning. From a student perspective, simulation‐based education is preferred over case‐based education as a clinical education approach. However, there is no clear evidence that simulation‐based education enhances clinical skill performance over and above case‐based education. KEY POINTS (1) Students in the simulation‐based education condition rated their confidence in applying knowledge learnt to real‐world settings significantly higher than those in the case‐based education condition. (2) Students engaging in simulation‐based education prefer explicit instructions regarding the learning objectives of activity to guide their learning (3) While students regard simulation‐based education more favourably than they do casebased education, as yet there is no clear evidence that simulation‐based education enhances clinical skill performance over and above case‐based education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contract cheating is concerning educational institutions across the globe. Current knowledge of student perspectives on contract cheating is primarily informed by student surveys. Little is known about the student experience of being suspected of contract cheating and going through a formal university process. This study reports the findings of a qualitative study at an Australian university with student participants who had faced contract cheating allegations, using semi-structured, in-depth interviews. Five key themes emerged: 1) the most challenging experience of the student's life; 2) not telling their family about the allegation and managing any financial impact themselves; 3) stress and hypervigilance around future assignment submission; 4) rumours and reputational damage including changed relationships with academics and peers; and, 5) staying on track and guiding other students to practice academic integrity. Participants perceived the formal university process as a legal one, which contributed to it being a stressful and challenging experience. This was regardless of whether they had contract cheated or not. Recommendations for academic and support staff centre around ensuring formal university contract cheating processes are primarily a learning experience, from which students can emerge and progress to complete their studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asynchronous discussion boards have been increasingly used to engage teams of interprofessional learners in interactive and reflective discourse. Facilitation of this interprofessional discourse is critical, yet largely unexplored. The Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework provides a lens through which facilitators' contributions on asynchronous discussion boards can be explored. The aim of this study was to apply the CoI framework teaching and social presence indicators to an online asynchronous IPE facilitation environment to determine if they comprehensively describe the kind of contributions made by IPE facilitators in two types of interprofessional team discussions. Directed content analysis based on the teaching and social presence indicators from the CoI framework was used to analyse seven facilitators' contributions to four asynchronous team discussion points (two key dimensions and two case study discussions). Sixteen of the 31 teaching and social presence indicators, along with a new indicator (feedback on assessment tasks), comprehensively described the facilitators' contributions. Many of the teaching presence indicators were used in a greater proportion of the key dimension discussions than in the case study discussions. This study demonstrates that the teaching and social presence indicators of the CoI framework are a valuable way to describe the contributions made by facilitators to asynchronous interprofessional team discussions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contract cheating happens when students outsource their assessed work to a third party. One approach that has been suggested for improving contract cheating detection is comparing students' assignment submissions with their previous work, the rationale being that changes in style may indicate a piece of work has been written by somebody else. This approach is time consuming, but recent advances in machine learning and natural language processing suggest that it may be well suited to computerization. We trialed an early alpha version of Turnitin's Authorship Investigate tool, which compares students' submissions against their previous work. Twenty-four experienced markers from five units of study were asked to make decisions about the presence of contract cheating in bundles of 20 student assignments, which included 14 legitimate assignments and six purchased from contract cheating sites. We asked markers to determine if each assignment was contract cheating, then provided them with an Authorship Investigate report and let them change their decision. Marker accuracy at detecting contract cheating increased significantly, from 48% to 59% after using the report, with no significant difference in false positives. These findings suggest that software may be an effective component of institutional strategies to address contract cheating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Clinical placement is an essential aspect of student training in professional postgraduate psychology. However, students can be exposed to risk during clinical placement. Further, anecdotal evidence suggests that barriers may hinder formal reporting of adverse events occurring during placement. The objective of this study was to investigate the incidence and nature of psychology students' exposure to risk during clinical placement. This study also sought to explore key stakeholders' perceptions of risks to students engaging in placement. Method: A sequential explanatory mixed‐method design was utilised. The quantitative element of the study involved a questionnaire capturing the experiences of 70 students currently undertaking clinical psychology placement in healthcare services within Australia. This was followed by qualitative semi‐structured interviews with 10 industry‐based stakeholders associated with clinical placements across seven Australian universities. Results: Preliminary evidence indicates that psychology students can experience adverse events while on clinical placement, and that industry‐based stakeholders can also encounter professional risk resulting from student contact. Low uptake of formal incident reports among students was demonstrated. The quality of risk‐related training was shown to vary across the industry, indicating a need for streamlined training approaches to risk management. Finally, strategies to support students and supervisors were raised. Conclusions: Novice students may be inadequately prepared for the risks arising in unpredictable clinical placement milieu. They may also be unaware of their rights and avenues for reporting. Further support and resources designed to equip health services and universities for student exposure to risk during placement is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whilst we have seen a growth in the use of information and communication technologies to deliver interprofessional education (IPE) in the last decade, little has been written about facilitating IPE in the online environment. For the last 10 years, the Faculty of Health at Deakin University has offered a fully online IPE course that has consistently employed facilitators to guide interprofessional teams in both asynchronous and synchronous (real-time) online interprofessional learning experiences. This Interprofessional Education and Practice Guide draws on the Deakin University leadership experience in supporting teams of online IPE facilitators over the last decade, underpinned by prior research and key literature. The key lessons provided in this guide aim to assist others in developing, supporting and sustaining a team of online IPE facilitators to guide asynchronous and synchronous online interprofessional learning experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contract cheating sites advertise that they provide high quality, undetectable, bespoke work delivered in a timely manner to students purchasing their assignments. This paper tests contract cheating sites' promises about the products they sell. We built on previous reported research examining contract cheating sites' persuasive features which were mapped into three major dimensions. In this study, we explore how those dimensions are realised in practice. By purchasing 54 assignments from 18 different contract cheating sites across a range of disciplines, we found contract cheating sites' promises flawed. Many sites do not deliver assignments on time, or at all; they provide variable quality assignments (including fail grade work), and do not necessarily respond rapidly to user queries. When markers graded work, 52% of cheated tasks failed to meet the university pass standard. Furthermore, many contract cheating sites retain the right to share personal details with third parties under their privacy clauses and require levels of personal identification that leave users vulnerable. Students need to be aware that contract cheating sites' slick advertising is not necessarily borne out in reality. Universities can draw on this study's findings for student awareness and deterrence campaigns pointing out the risks of using contract cheating sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contract cheating occurs when students outsource assessed work. In this study, we asked experienced markers from four disciplines to detect contract cheating in a set of 20 discipline-specific assignments. We then conducted a training workshop to improve their detection accuracy, and afterwards asked them to detect contract cheating in 20 new assignments. We analysed the data in terms of sensitivity (the rate at which markers spotted contract cheating) and specificity (the rate at which markers spotted real student work). Pre-workshop marker sensitivity was 58% and specificity was 83%. Post-workshop marker sensitivity was 82% and specificity was 87%. The increase in sensitivity was statistically significant, but the increase in specificity was not. These results indicate that markers can often detect contract cheating when asked to do so, and that training may be helpful in improving their accuracy. We suggest that markers' suspicions may be crucial in addressing contract cheating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Trainees across the healthcare sector contend with ubiquitous risk during clinical placement. This has prompted educative action to enhance student competency in unpredictable clinical environments. The objective of this pilot study was to evaluate the impact of Risk Aware, an online blended simulation‐based learning program, upon student preparedness and confidence for clinical placement. Method: A sequential explanatory mixed‐methods design was utilised to evaluate Risk Aware. The Risk Aware program was trialled on 149 first‐year professional psychology postgraduate students across seven Australian universities prior to their first clinical placement. Repeated measures t‐tests investigated the impact of Risk Aware learning modules upon student knowledge and confidence; descriptive statistics and analysis of frequencies summarised student competency following Risk Aware (N = 120). Follow‐up qualitative interviews explored the nature of student knowledge and confidence, and student impressions of Risk Aware (N = 8). Results: Preliminary quantitative findings demonstrated significant increases in student knowledge and confidence (p < 0.05), and low‐to‐average competence, after Risk Aware. Qualitative results corroborated increases in student knowledge and confidence and pointed to early signs of clinical competency. Student impressions of Risk Aware were generally positive and included suggestions to improve program usability. Conclusions: Findings highlight Risk Aware's capacity to increase students' ability to identify and detail responses to risks arising during placement. Further field testing to ascertain students' application of skills is required. Results will inform program modifications to enhance future Risk Aware iterations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contract cheating is the purchasing of custom-made university assignments with the intention of submitting them. Websites providing contract cheating services often claim this form of cheating is undetectable, and no published research has examined this claim. This paper documents a pilot study where markers were paid to mark a mixture of real student work and contract cheating assignments, to establish their accuracy at detecting contract cheating. Seven experienced markers individually blind marked the same bundle of 20 second-year psychology assignments, which included 6 that were purchased from contract cheating websites. Sensitivity analyses showed markers detected contract cheating 62% of the time. Specificity analyses showed markers correctly identified real student work 96% of the time. Our results contrast with contract cheating sites’ claims that contract cheating is undetectable. However, they should be taken with caution as they are from one course unit in one discipline. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Much of the burden of undergraduate teaching in Australian higher education institutions falls to sessional staff and postgraduate students. These members of staff assume high teaching loads and administrative management responsibilities. This paper explores the perspectives of two female academics in the unique position of being the subject co-ordinators for large first-year psychology units (amund 1600 students) whilst still being doctoral (PhD) candidates. This situation raises interesting issues around the creation of academic identity. Using the metaphor of sinking or swimming in the deep end, rue explore strategies to navigate the often turbulent waters of working in academia without drowning in teaching and administration, whilst attempting to stay afloat with doctoral research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In universities around the world, plagiarism management is an ongoing issue of quality assurance and risk management. Plagiarism management discourses are often framed by legal concepts of authorial rights, and plagiarism policies outline penalties for infringement. Learning and teaching discourses argue that plagiarism management is, and should remain, a learning and teaching issue and press for more student-centred approaches to plagiarism management. Institutions must navigate these competing discourses in their attempts to design workable plagiarism management policies. After outlining plagiarism management contexts from the United Kingdom, Australia and Sweden to provide a sense of international work in the area, this article proposes a learner-centred quality assurance model (adapted from the work of Harvey and Newton (2004)) for plagiarism management. The proposed model refocuses on the learner and classroom practices in quality assurance processes. It offers a framework utilising learning, teaching and internal institutional research on plagiarism management to inform overall university policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research leadership in Australian universities takes place against a backdrop of policy reforms concerned with measurement and comparison of institutional research performance. In particular, the Excellence in Research in Australian initiative undertaken by the Australian Research Council sets out to evaluate research quality in Australian universities, using a combination of expert review process, and assessment of performance against ‘quality indicators’. Benchmarking exercises of this sort continue to shape institutional policy and practice, with inevitable effects on the ways in which research leadership, mentoring and practice are played out within university faculties and departments. In an exploratory study that interviewed 32 Australian academics in universities in four Australian states, we asked participants, occupying formal or informal research leadership roles, to comment on their perceptions of research leadership as envisioned and enacted in their particular workplaces. We found a pervasive concern amongst participants that coalesced around binaries characterized in metaphoric terms of ‘carrots and whips’. Research leadership was seen by many as managerial in nature, and as such, largely tethered to instrumentalist notions of productivity and performativity, while research cultures were seen as languishing under the demoralizing weight of reward and punishment systems. Here, we consider what is at stake for the future of the academic workforce under such conditions, arguing that new models of visionary research leadership are urgently needed in the ‘troubled times’ of techno-bureaucratic university reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Over decades, plagiarism in academic writing has been viewed as a serious issue of academic integrity within educational institutions. Universities are increasingly investing time and capital in raising plagiarism awareness and investigating measures to detect and deter plagiarism. Many tertiary institutions appear to adopt legal and quasi-legal interpretations of criminal law in their plagiarism management practices and policies (Sutherland-Smith, Journal of English for Academic Purposes 4: 83-95, 2005, Plagiarism, the Internet and academic writing: Improving academic integrity, Routledge, 2008). In this paper, semiotic analysis of discourse (Danesi and Perron, Analyzing cultures: An introduction and handbook, Indiana University Press, 1999; Danesi, Messages, signs and meanings: A basic textbook in semiotics and communication theory, Canadian Scholars Press, 2004, The quest for meaning: A guide to semiotic theory and practice, University of Toronto Press, 2007) is used to explore notions of fairness and justice in the language of university plagiarism policies. Through examination of the plagiarism policies of twenty 'top' universities across Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States of America, I argue that, in some cases, approaches to plagiarism management do not appear consistent with outward appearances of justice and fairness. In fact, policies and processes bear closer resemblance to punitive legal outcomes than the broader ethical approaches usually associated with concepts of justice and fairness. Rethinking plagiarism management in terms of ethically responsible relationships within institutional processes and policies is closer to societal notions of justice and a more educationally sustainable practice, which should be reflected in the discourse of university plagiarism policies and processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Values such as justice, fairness, reason, and truth permeate the cultural fabric of societies. A key image of these values in many Western democracies is the legal icon of Justitia or Lady Justice as she embodies notions of justice. Examining such cultural constructions promotes discussion of assumed values and meanings pertaining to iconic representations. Semiotic analysis of Justitia and her compositional elements -- the sword of justice, scales of justice, and blind-fold reveal tensions between the rhetoric and reality of our interpretations of justice. This paper makes explicit the iconic representations of societal values imbued in Justitia and raises questions about the invisible power of cultural reproduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australian higher education increasingly relies on flexible modes of delivery as a means of attracting and retaining students in a highly competitive global education market. While education is among those disciplines that have been most actively involved in the shift from face-to-face to online learning and teaching, the transition for many teacher educators is fraught with tensions and contradictions. For some, teaching online is seen as primarily a cost-cutting exercise on the part of universities, and has little to do with improving the quality of student learning. For others, the online environment offers multiple pedagogic possibilities that have yet to be fully explored. Yet others consider online environments as problematic, posing challenges to pedagogic and peer relationships that are generally seen as integral to 'good' teaching. This paper draws on an empirical study of teacher education faculties in five Australian universities, and analyses excerpts from interviews about learning and teaching with teacher educators, educational designers and faculty management. We argue that understanding how teacher educators constitute learner and teacher subjectivities through their beliefs about and approaches to pedagogy is crucial to the future of online tertiary education. In particular, we consider how teacher educators' attitudes toward and approaches to online learning and teaching are predicated on their perceived subject positions as either 'stimulating' or 'simulating' particular kinds of learning interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Universities face constant scrutiny about their plagiarism management strategies, policies and procedures. A resounding theme, usually media inspired, is that plagiarism is rife, unstoppable and university processes are ineffectual in its wake. This has been referred to as a 'moral panic' approach (Carroll & Sutherland-Smith, forthcoming; Clegg, 2007) and suggests plagiarism will thwart all efforts to reclaim academic integrity in higher education. However, revisiting the origins of plagiarism and exploring its legal evolution reveals that legal discourse is the foundation for many plagiarism management policies and processes around the world. Interestingly, criminal justice aims are also reflected in university plagiarism management strategies. Although universities strive for deterrence of plagiarism in a variety of ways, the media most often calls for retribution through increasingly tougher penalties. However, a primary aim of the justice system, sustainable reform, is not often reported in the media or visible in university policies or processes. Using critical discourse analysis, this paper examines the disjunction between media calls for increased retribution in the wake of moral panic and institutional responses to plagiarism. I argue that many universities have not yet moved to sustainable reform in plagiarism management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]