Dealing with plagiarism in Norway

Jill has an interesting post about plagiarism in her department that I'd like to discuss a bit ... I completely agree that I think we need to be strict and very consistent about plagiarism. and (hope) that I (if not 100% of my colleagues) are being similarly strict and feel the same way: Imagine what we teach students if we allow them to plagiarise their work?.

I love this idea:

If the student is found to have plagiarised, the exam will be annulled and the student may be barred from taking exams at any university in Norway for one or two semesters, depending on the gravity of the plagiarism and how advanced the student is.

Barring them from other universities for major offences seems like a great idea. Perhaps we could manage something similar with a system of questions on a mandatory academic reference? Otherwise I imagine the problem would be too large to handle.

She also expresses how I felt when I first became aware of blatant copying in my modules, but says it more eloquently than I:

Most of all I've discovered my own fury when confronted with plagiarism, though. They think I'm stupid not to see through this? How dare they waste my time like this? Why on earth would I put effort into doing a good job as their teacher when this is all they think learning is worth?

Thanks for such an encouraging post & let's keep on doing the right thing...

Adobe + Macromedia

Today Macromedia announced that, pending government & stockholder approval, Adobe will buy Macromedia. It looks like an interesting opportunity for both companies -- Dreamweaver > GoLive? Fireworks + Photoshop? Flash + PDF? Flash + SVG?!

Update: Excellent funny from Illiad ;-)

No WiFi at Kings?

I cannot believe King's College, London, are happy to host a web conference yet won't help the organiser with an internet connection and/or WiFi! The near-London institution where I work seems to be ahead in this respect...

Bad Meteorology

Every one involved in teaching atmospheric or environmental science should read this page: Bad Meteorology. Admittedly, the author is trying to give us better explanations so he seems to be nit-picky at times, but a better explanation can more easily lead to comprehension than a technically OK but obscure explanation.

Rude young men

This from one of our administrators:

Just had my first instance of rude young guy who wouldn't look me in the eye turned up 2 hours late for his interview and then when I was trying to explain why he would have to wait for an interview turned his back on me with the comment I don't talk to women.

To paraphrase the Conservatives It's not racist to refuse to give university places to rude, misogynistic scum. (Or do we have a quota?) Seriously: How incredibly, insufferably rude! He wants to be a pharmacist but his prejudices already violate the RPSBG's Code of Ethics and Standards (my emphasis below):

Key responsibilities of a pharmacist

...At all times pharmacists must act in the interests of patients and other members of the public, and seek to provide the best possible health care for the community in partnership with other health professions. Pharmacists must treat all those who seek their professional services with courtesy, respect and confidentiality. Pharmacists must respect patients' rights to participate in decisions about their care and must provide information in a way in which it can be understood.

so I dearly hope we didn't offer him a place, or (evilly) that we did and can beat some sense into his narrow-minded, prejudiced skull over the next 4 years or-so.

Update: After some quick peer pressure where a student on the same interview session had a word, the young man apologised to the adminstrator ... all credit to him for being brave enough to do-so & kudos to the other student(s) for speaking out.

Mobile users ready to hang-up

Getting a new customer costs 10 times as much as keeping an old one, a lesson that should be posted on every helpdesk on the planet. None more-so than T-mobile, my current provider who will not give me an upgrade allowance despite having the same phone & contract for nearly 2 years...

UK iTunes pricing

Well I for one would appreciate paying in the UK the same 45p that iTunes charges in Canada...

Update: from VNUNet Apple is still under investigation by the Office of Fair Trading for its European iTunes pricing.

Groan ... my aching body

Note for the future: Don't play squash for the 1st time in 12 months (I won ... yay!) then have a few drinks, get dehydrated and expect non-aching muscles. D'oh!

AJAX Not just a buzzword

Seen it on discussion lists but until now not understood it: ajax: a new approach to web applications is a good explanation. A very cool approach to web app design ... and we have 2 new modules that are crying out for it: one on XML and the other entitled Advanced web design techniques, so look out! students, here comes XMLHTTPrequest ;-)

Progressive enhancement & Ajax from Adactio -- excellent idea. (And in XHTML application/xhtml+xml too ... nice!)

XHTML

I've wanted an excuse to add an XHTML post <grin> and this clear explanation from The Autistic Cuckoo of the way browsers use the HTTP Content-type and DOCTYPE web pages should supply is it: Doctype Declarations and Content-Type Headers.

Planning Structural HTML

It's great to see such a straightforward explanation of how one might think about structuring an HTML page with CSS in mind as this: The Early Bird Catches the CSS: Planning Structural HTML. One criticism -- whilst <div> elements are probably very useful for beginners to separate the structure of the site and as hooks for descendant selectors, I can't think of many reasons why the navigation <ul> elements need individual <div> containers. It's simpler and leaner to give the <ul>'s an ID and the advantages mentioned:

The nesting of div elements, as in this example, allows you more options for CSS rules to present what is structurally just two lists. There could be a presentation rule for #navcontainer, and another for #globalnav?For example, the #navcontainer rule might center the div in a column, while the #globalnav rule might left align the text of the centered div. And, of course, there can be rules for the presentation of #globalnav ul or #globalnav li that use this structural context. The rules for the list in #subnav could be completely different in terms of presentation.

can be achieved equally well with ID's on the <ul>'s. Are there any other reasons for the <div>'s? (Hackery to make IE work?)

Funny stuff from Google: Google Gulp

Responsible billionaires with a sense of fun? Google Gulp <grin>

Argh! Gas leak...

We had a gas leak outside our house, discovered and reported at 10PM, Transco were there before 11PM and the second crew to dig up the pavement are here now, pnematic drill pounding away! All credit to them for being respnsive, but it is midnight on a sunday ... me and the rest of the street need our sleep <yawn>