Interviews

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Agree or Disagree Statements

Objective: Introduce key themes and spark discussion.

• Instructions:
  • Provide students with statements such as:
    • “Using AI-generated text is plagiarism.”
    • “You can’t plagiarize your own work.”
    • “Plagiarism only happens in schools.”
  • Students move to an “Agree” or “Disagree” area of the room and justify their choice.

Here are more possible statements:

1. “Using AI tools like ChatGPT is a form of plagiarism, even when cited.”
2. “Paraphrasing too closely to the original text is just as bad as copying word-for-word.”
3. “Plagiarism is a result of laziness rather than a lack of understanding.”
4. “Students should be allowed to use AI freely as long as it improves their learning.”
5. “Teachers are responsible for teaching students to avoid plagiarism, not catching them.”
6. “It’s unfair to expect students to always know where the line is between inspiration and plagiarism.”
7. “Digital tools like plagiarism checkers unfairly punish students for minor mistakes.”
8. “AI-generated content can be considered original if it’s used creatively by students.”
9. “AI tools could potentially promote more academic honesty if used correctly.”
10. “Teachers should allow students to use AI as a tool, but only with clear guidelines on proper attribution.”
11. “The concept of plagiarism is becoming more complex in the digital age, making it harder to define clearly.”

Here are some words and expressions that appear in the video:

Here are some words and expressions that appear in the video:

plagiarism (noun): copying someone else’s work or ideas without permission or giving credit
– Plagiarism is against the rules in most schools.
– The student was warned about plagiarism after submitting her paper.

paraphrase (verb): to restate something in your own words
– The teacher asked the students to paraphrase the article.
– It’s important to paraphrase correctly to avoid plagiarism.

citation (noun): a reference to the source of information used in your work
– The essay included a citation for every source used.
– Proper citation helps give credit to the original author.

intellectual (adjective): related to thinking, knowledge, or the mind
– Writing essays helps develop intellectual skills.
– She had an intellectual discussion with her teacher about the topic.

verify (verb): to check if something is true or accurate
– Always verify your sources before including them in a paper.
– The teacher verified the student’s work to ensure it was original.

Now, watch the interview and answer the comprehension questions. You can also turn on the automatically-generated captions for the video once you start it.

Randall: In this video, Aubrey, let’s talk about the topic of plagiarism. And I think especially in today’s world with AI technologies emerging, my thought is, number one, what is plagiarism and how to avoid it? And I don’t mean how to avoid not getting caught, but what are some thoughts on what you would consider, “Oh, this is definitely plagiarized” and this, “Nah, maybe not so much.” “And this . . .” These are the things that people should be aware of. Thoughts on that?

Aubrey: Well, I will come out first and say, I don’t know a lot about how AI and stuff works in schools now. I have definitely seen posts online where people have just copied and pasted things directly from ChatGPT, and you can tell it because at the very beginning of the paper it says, “Oh, I can’t write your assignment for you. But here’s an example.” And then they copy the whole thing in, which is just silly. Plagiarism, though obviously you don’t want to just copy someone’s work because . . .

Randall: Okay.

Aubrey: . . . there’s that intellectual property reasons. There’s the reasons where you have to actually know things. But on the other hand, like this is something I struggled with in school because I’d read a source and I’d be like, “Well, that’s what I need to say. I don’t see why I need to reword it, but I have to reword it. And I can’t just quote my entire paper from different quotes, even if I cite it.”

Randall: Right. So you’re talking about learning the judicious use of paraphrasing or something like that.

Aubrey: Yeah. I feel like we teach that a little too much where it’s like, okay, I just paraphrased a Wikipedia article. You know, another thing that can happen is when you’re in academic settings, some people don’t know until they get in trouble that you have to cite your own work. I have a friend who was published pretty early on, and she got called to the dean’s office for plagiarism because she plagiarized her own paper.

Randall: Yeah, and I think that happens, and I think teachers . . . , when I see something like that, when I see that not that particular case, but I think that is one where I see that as a language teacher, I see a student in class, you know, writing at level work, and then all of a sudden I see them turn into something that is like, “Whoa, like level 29!”, you know, syntax and critical thinking and, and all of these type of things. That’s where for me, it should be the beginning of a conversation with that student. In other words, yeah, I probably noticed that the student probably got some assistance so forth, but I found that when I approach students, number one, I have to clearly define the boundaries of what is okay and what is not okay. And even in my classes, I ask students and I tell them, “These are the boundaries in which you can use different AI technologies” in their work, as long as they give reference to it and they follow the parameters which I set.

Aubrey: Yeah, I don’t even know what that would look like.

Randall: Well, I mean, you just mentioned about, you know, one example with a friend who, you know, was just learning, maybe not aware of, you know, some of these boundaries is again, but I think we both agree that plagiarism of just completely lifting ideas and claiming that they’re yours. I think that’s important, whether it is some type of brand name or whether it’s, you know, something even in a love letter or whatever it might be. We have to be really careful, especially like in marketing, if you find a phrase and then you lift the phrase and then produce some t-shirts, you know . . .

Aubrey: Yeah.

Randall: . . . without giving attribution.

Aubrey: Well, this brings up a thing like with influencers, there are people I follow online. This is especially bad on TikTok, where people will clone their pages and take their content like there’s a creator I follow. She’s not verified because on TikTok it’s really hard to get verified. So she has a few copycats who take her work, and I know one of them, like she herself has like 500,000 followers, and this other account has like 70,000 followers.

Randall: Wow.

Aubrey: And they’re just taking her content, but because she’s not verified, she can’t do anything about it.

Randall: Well, and that’s happened with me for my content as well as people have lifted it and claimed it was their own and then monetized it.

Aubrey: Exactly.

Aubrey: [Alright.] And it’s hard for the consumer too, because, like, it’s hard to know when that’s happening to a creator

Randall: Oh yeah. And then there are cases when someone has written me and said, hey, I want my money back. And I said, “What are you talking about?” “Your app doesn’t work.” And I said, “I don’t even have an app.”

Aubrey: Yeah.

Randall: And then I find out that someone has lifted my own recordings, even with your voice . . .

Aubrey: Yeah.

Randall:  . . . and then claimed it to be their own content and then monetize it and sell it. And for some reason it’s not working for someone. And then they come back to me and then blame me for . . .

Aubrey: Yeah.

Randall: . . . you know, a defective product when it wasn’t mine in the first place. It was, the content was,

Aubrey: Yeah.

Randall: but I didn’t design whatever faulty product they made. So . . .

Aubrey: Yeah, exactly.

Randall: Well, we could talk a lot about this, but thank you very much, Aubrey, for sharing some of your thoughts on the idea of plagiarism. I’m sure that this is going to be an issue that is going to be more and more discussed and allowing people to understand better how to stay within the ethical and intellectual property rights of others as well.

Intermediate Level

1. Why do you think some students choose to plagiarize instead of doing their own work?
2. What do you think is the difference between paraphrasing and plagiarism? Can you give an example?
3. If you accidentally plagiarized something, what would you do to fix it?
4. Randall talked about setting boundaries for using AI in assignments. What boundaries would you suggest for your own classroom?
5. Why do you think it’s important to give credit to someone’s work? How does it feel if someone doesn’t give you credit?

Advanced Level

1. Aubrey shared how her friend was accused of plagiarizing her own work. Do you agree that self-plagiarism should be treated the same as copying someone else’s work? Why or why not?
2. Randall mentioned AI can elevate a student’s writing beyond their usual level. Should teachers use tools like AI detectors to monitor students’ work, or does that invade trust?
3. What are the ethical challenges of using AI tools like ChatGPT in creative or academic writing? How can these challenges be addressed?
4. Aubrey brought up content theft on platforms like TikTok. How should social media companies handle cases of stolen content, especially for unverified creators?
5. Do you think the definition of plagiarism needs to change in the digital age with AI and content-sharing platforms? Why or why not?