FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND LANGUAGES

OUMH1103: LEARNING SKILLS FOR OPEN AND DISTANCE

LEARNERS
JANUARY 2009 SEMESTER
COURSE ASSIGNMENT (35%)

INSTRUCTIONS TO STUDENTS

1) This assignment consists of TWO tasks to be completed. Answer ALL questions.

2) Your assignment should be typed on A4 paper using Times New Roman font of
size 12 with 1.5 line spacing.

3) Plagiarism in all forms is forbidden. Students who submit plagiarized assignment

will be disqualified.

4) Your assignment must be submitted to your tutor before / on the FOURTH

TUTORIAL.

5) This assignment carries a weightage of 35% of your final grade.

1
QUESTION 1 (22 Marks)

Surveys carried out in the United States and the United Kingdom have shown that the
practice of plagiarism among learners in on the rise (Hart & Friesner, 2004). Discuss
reasons why adult learners resort to plagiarism and suggest logical and practical solutions
to eliminate this problem.

Reference:

Author Hart, M. & Friesner, T.

Title Plagiarism and poor academic practice—a threat to the extension of e-Learning
in Higher Education?
Year 2004
Journal Electronic Journal on e-Learning (EJEL)- Open-Access Database/ Academic
Conferences International- e-journals
Volume/ 2 (1)
Issue
Retrieved http://www.ejel.org/volume-2/vol2-issue1/issue1-art25-hart-friesner.pdf
from

Expectations:

A. Format

1. Introduction (3 marks)
2. Body (12 marks)
3. Conclusion ( 3 marks)
4. References ( 4 marks)

B. Knowledge Building

1. We expect you to read and understand several relevant articles from any relevant
sources (Library, OUM Digital Library, Internet).
2. Please quote at least 4 relevant articles or sources.
3. Please think about the question carefully, discuss online with your tutor and peers
if in doubt.

2
QUESTION 2 (13 Marks)

While searching for information for TASK 1, you found this article on the Internet:

Title of Article: Plagiarism by Adult Learners Online: A case study in detection and
remediation

Year: 2006

Title of Journal/ Volume: The International Review of Research in Open and Distance
Learning, 7 (1)

Writers: Christine Jocoy (California State University, Long Beach, USA and David
DiBiase (The Pennsylvania State University, USA)

Please complete the following task:

(a) Use THREE information evaluation criteria in Topic 9 of your module and state
if the article is relevant to question 1 above.
(8 marks)

(b) Using Microsoft Excel, draw a column chart of the information in a table on page
91 of the article Hart & Friesner, 2004.
(5 marks)

3
Appendix 1: Title Page

FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND LANGUAGES

OUMH1103
LEARNING SKILLS FOR OPEN AND DISTANCE LEARNERS

ASSIGNMENT TITLE

Name
Matric number
NRIC
Telephone number
E-mail address

Tutor’s name:
Learning Centre:

Jan 2009 Semester