Student Eye Publishes Academic Dean of Student's Report on Plagiarism in EWPLI Program

Dr. James Harrigan, the Academic Dean of Students, has prepared a report on academic integrity issues and presented them to the AUI-S Administration and faculty. 

The report which is prepared due to "persistent rumors have circulated which cast significant doubt on the academic integrity of the program {EWPLI}"


Dr. Harrigan, who has recently joined his job as the Dean, says that the reading component of the EWPLI program, should be dealt with carefully.


"Instructor Editions are readily available for sale.  They are expensive, but can be ordered directly from Amazon.com....A quick search of the web site www.filestube.com yields a vast array of resources that students can access, download, and possess.  {and} Once they have done this, they have copies of all of the teachers’ manuals for all of the reading texts used in the EWPLI program," he wrote. 


Dr. Harrigan also reveals that at least several EWPLI students have access to all the exam questions. 


The Academic Dean of Students says that no faculty member was found responsible except for "keeping office cabins locked at all times when no faculty are inside."


Dr, Harrigan doesn't mention in the report if anyone had been punished as a result of the investigations.


Student Eye was the first to publish the news of the scandelous exam.


Here is Dr. James Harrigan's full report:

Academic Integrity Issues in the EWPLI Program

October 20, 2010

In the days following the culmination of the 2010 EWPLI Summer Session, persistent rumors have circulated which cast significant doubt on the academic integrity of the program, particularly the summer offering of Level Four.  These rumors were pervasive in nature, and aspersions were cast into virtually every corner.  After a lengthy and exhaustive investigation into the matter, very clear conclusions can be drawn.  While none of these conclusions indicate the guilt of any individual per se, there are significant, systemic issues which much be addressed in order to assure the academic integrity of EWPLI specifically, and of AUI-S generally.

The Reading Component of the EWPLI Program

Reading is taught at every level of EWPLI.  Until Level Four, reading represents 25% of the program.  At Level Four, it represents 50% of the program.  The text series that is used for all four levels is the Inside Reading series published by Oxford University Press.  This set of books took a good deal of time for AUI-S to select and procure, and was very expensive.  The books include instruction, exercises, and the like, and include student CD-ROMS.

Unfortunately, the Instructor Editions are readily available for sale.  They are expensive, but can be ordered directly from Amazon.com.  Here is a link to the 4^th level text listing as an example:

http://www.amazon.com/Inside-Reading-Instructor-Pack-Academic/dp/0194416232/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1287584810&sr=8-9

While price and difficulty of shipping into Iraq are clearly barriers, there are other means by which students can, and do, access this material and more.

A quick search of the web site www.filestube.com yields a vast array of resources that students can access, download, and possess.  All of this can be done free of charge from any computer connected to the internet.  The following link illustrates what is available at the click of a mouse:

http://www.filestube.com/e0c3599881e24fac03e9,g/Inside-reading-1-4.html

Once these files have been downloaded, students can uncompress and reconstruct the Inside Reading series.  Once they have done this, they have copies of all of the teachers’ manuals for all of the reading texts used in the EWPLI program.  These teachers’ manuals include every answer to every exercise that students are required to complete.  Worse still, they have a copy of the test generator, and access to the bank of test questions from which tests are comprised.  In short, with a fair amount of diligence, students can be absolutely prepared for any eventuality they will face in the reading segment of the EWPLI program, in terms of in-class exercises, homework assignments that are drawn from the book series, and examinations. 

I have downloaded all of the files in question.  While they are far too big to be attached here, they are in my possession and available for viewing at any time.

Ramifications and Other Points of Concern

Given the costs, in terms of both time and money, of acquiring these books, and given that reading is at present being taught in the EWPLI program from these books, we may have to proceed with a deeply compromised system.  I offer no concrete solutions to this problem, as I believe it to be so systemic that any plausible solution will have to include any number of people in both its planning and implementation.  Whatever we choose to do, we must realize that all of the answers to all of the exercises are, in all likelihood, in the possession of a number of EWPLI students.  We should also bear in mind that they have access to all of the prepared examination materials that are provided by the publisher.  At the very least, we will have to write our own examinations.  This will undoubtedly cause an unexpected burden, but I simply see no way around this.  It would behoove us to move away, as quickly as possible, from the exercises presented in the texts in question as well, replacing them with our own similar versions.  There may well be other solutions that can be discussed in the near future as people become aware of the gravity of this situation.

Conclusion

While there is absolutely no evidence of faculty malfeasance or negligence (beyond issues related to keeping office cabins locked at all times when no faculty are inside), a very serious issue nonetheless remains.  It is one that must be solved in order to protect the academic integrity of the institution, and any solution will of necessity have to involve virtually everyone with a stake in the delivery of an honest education.  Students simply cannot be expected to avoid looking at materials that they know to exist online, and once it is clear that some are utilizing these materials, it is equally clear that all will, at least, be tempted to do so in pursuance of their own self-interest.

The genie will never be put back into the bottle in terms of the teacher and test material which is now in the clear.  Any approach that we take as an institution will have to account for this fact.

Sincerely,

James R. Harrigan

Academic Dean of Students