Marking the 50-year anniversary of an attempt to legislate against contract cheating in Canada

June 14, 2022

The Society of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE) in Canada has launched a new national Committee on Academic Integrity and Contract Cheating (CAICC). With more than 40 members from universities and colleges across Canada, this committee will focus on how to promote academic integrity and take action against term paper mills and other forms of contract cheating.

In my open access book chapter “Contract Cheating in Canada: A Comprehensive Overview”, I provide details of an attempt to legislate against contract cheating. Bill 174 was brought forward in the Ontario provincial legislature by the Hon. Albert Roy on June 14, 1972. I often wonder how different things would be in Canada today if that legislation had passed.

As I was digging into that research, I looked up Albert Roy and found that after he’d left politics, he went on to practice laws and was later appointed as a judge. He appeared to be doing some work for a mediation consultancy firm, so I decided I’d drop him an e-mail to tell him about how important this attempt at legislation was, even if it failed. I never heard back, and I figured he was just busy.

After our book, Academic Integrity in Canada was published, I e-mailed him again to let him know so he could read about how contract cheating in Canada had evolved and what we were doing to take action against it. I never heard back… So a while back, I decided to be cheeky and leave him a voice mail.

Last week on Wednesday when I was attending the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE) conference in Ottawa, my phone rang just before lunch. I answered and lo and behold, it was Albert Roy calling me back! He let me know that he’d never received the e-mails but was glad that I phoned.

During our conversation I asked if he’d like me to send him a copy of the book chapter in which I’d written about contract cheating in Canada, including the legislation he’d proposed. He said yes and proceeded to give me his mailing address. After he’d finished, I said,

“You’re in Ottawa!”

“Yes,” he replied.

“I’m in Ottawa! I’m here from Calgary for a conference on teaching and learning in higher education!”

One thing led to another and with the permission of the conference organizers, I asked Albert if he’d might have time and interest to drop by my session on Friday morning. (Of course, I figured he’d be busy, off doing whatever it is that retired people do…) To my utter surprise and delight, he said yes, he’d be happy to stop by.

So, on Friday morning, just as he’d promised, Albert Roy showed up to the Ottawa conference centre and we had a few minutes to chat before the session and even agreed to offer a few remarks.

A group photo with Janice Miller-Young, Albert Roy, and Sarah Elaine Eaton
Left to right: Janice Miller-Young, Albert Roy, and Sarah Elaine Eaton. Photo taken at the 2022 STLHE conference in Ottawa on 10 June, 2022.

We snapped the photo above just before my presentation started. At the beginning of the session I was introduced by Julia Christensen Hughes, who co-edited Academic Integrity in Canada: An Enduring and Essential Challenge with me.

I went through most of my slides. (By the way, you can download a complete copy of my slides from the conference here.)

When I got to the slide about the proposed legislation, I told everyone in the audience that we had the honour of having Albert Roy with us to share some of his insights. We’d kept it under wraps and it was a surprise for just about everyone.

Albert captivated us with his recollections of being called a “radical” and a “communist” for proposing legislation that would have made term papers illegal and also for proposing other legislation mandating the use of seat belts.

Beatriz Moya, a PhD student studying with me at the University of Calgary took a video of Albert Roy’s remarks and later gave us permission to share it:

This was truly an historic moment for us and Albert Roy left us all feeling energized and inspired.

On June 14, 2022, exactly fifty years to the day after Albert Roy proposed legislation that would have made contract cheating illegal in the province of Ontario, we will have the inaugural meeting of our new national committee on academic integrity and contract cheating. We chose the date of our first meeting for its symbolism weeks before Albert Roy and I had a chance to speak on the phone. Now, this date is even more symbolic as more than 40 committee members will gather to talk about the future of academic integrity in Canada, how to protect it and how to uphold it.

I will be forever grateful to Albert Roy for the work he did as a politician and also for the inspiration he brought us fifty years later as we continue the work.

If you’d like to show your appreciation to Albert Roy for his efforts to legislate against contract cheating, join the thank you card campaign.

Related posts:

New book: Academic Integrity in Canada

Contract Cheating in Canada: Exploring Legislative Options

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Sarah Elaine Eaton, PhD, is a faculty member in the Werklund School of Education, and the Educational Leader in Residence, Academic Integrity, University of Calgary, Canada. Opinions are my own and do not represent those of the University of Calgary.

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Posted by Sarah Elaine Eaton, Ph.D.

Why you shouldn’t post your teaching dossier online

January 30, 2018

Students and colleagues sometimes ask me if they should post their teaching dossier or portfolio online. My answer is immediate: No!

Those who know me know that I am a big fan of developing a strong online professional presence. I encourage students and colleagues to keep their LinkedIn, Twitter, and other online professional profiles current. But there’s something about a teaching dossier that’s different. I couldn’t put my finger on it until I read an article by White & Conrod (2016) where they tell the story of how their teaching philosophies were plagiarized.

Your teaching philosophy is a key element of your dossier. Developing it is hard work. It involves some deep reflection, brain work and soul-searching. You dig deep into yourself to figure out who you are as an educator, what matters to you and why it matters. Honestly, articulating your teaching philosophy may be the single most difficult element of putting together your teaching dossier. When it’s done, it should be a reflection of who you are and what matters to you as an educator.

Other people may have similar philosophies, but in the end, your statement is about you and your values. It is yours and yours alone.

If you post it online, it becomes easy for others to cut-and-paste what you have shared. These may not be bad people. They may be too afraid or too intimidated to engage in the deep reflection required to develop a philosophy of their own. Who knows? My point is, don’t make it easy for others to steal your teaching philosophy.

Share your dossier selectively, with those who need it, such as employers or those evaluating your teaching. You might also choose to share your dossier with those who would benefit from it, such as students or junior colleagues. That does not mean you have to post it publicly online. You have other options:

Alternatives to posting your teaching dossier publicly online

  1. Share print copies of your work. This may sound old fashioned, but if someone does not require digital access to your dossier and a paper copy works just as well, why not? You might choose to add “Confidential” to the header or footer to make it clear you do not want it to be shared widely.
  2. Save a copy of your work in a digital format that is hard to copy. An protected .pdf isn’t foolproof, but it is an option. Another option is to save your work as a .jpg., but if you choose this route, be sure that the .jpg is high quality and easy to read.
  3. Save your work as a password protected or “read only” online document. Share the password or link with caution.

Again, share selectively and make it clear that your work is not for distribution.

I suspect that some people who are vehement believers in open access or the sharing culture may disagree with my stance on this issue. There are plenty of websites that offer tips about how to post your entire dossier online. Don’t get me wrong. I share lots of my work online, free of charge in an open access format. It may be OK to share parts of your teaching dossier publicly online, such as your previous teaching experience, but not all of it. The key is to think critically about what you want to share and how you choose to do that.

It is important to understand that the more publicly you share, the easier you make it for others to copy-and-paste your deep thoughts, rather than engaging in their own soul-searching journey. If you want to offer others a short-cut and do the hard work for them, that is an option. But if you’d rather not, think twice before posting your entire teaching dossier publicly online.

The point is for you to think critically about who you want to have access to your inner most values about teaching. In my view, your teaching philosophy is a key element of your identity as an educator. Don’t make it easy for others to steal your professional identity.

Reference:

White, M. A., & Conrod, J. D. (2016). Is nothing sacred? Our personal teaching philosophies have been plagiarized. University Affairs. Retrieved from https://www.universityaffairs.ca/opinion/in-my-opinion/is-nothing-sacred-our-personal-teaching-philosophies-have-been-plagiarized/

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This blog has had over 1.8 million views thanks to readers like you. If you enjoyed this post, please “like” it or share it on social media. Thanks!

Sarah Elaine Eaton is a faculty member in the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Canada.

Opinions are my own and do not represent those of the Werklund School of Education or the University of Calgary.

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Posted by Sarah Elaine Eaton, Ph.D.