This might be more of a GQ, but it feels sort of IMHOish to me so I’m putting it here.
Recently I’ve heard (on the radio) an ad for an HP laser printer in which “Timmy” is doing a presentation to his class on outer space.
Essentially “Timmy” has downloaded pictures from the Hubble telescope, some info from the discovery channel, and a picture of the sun from somewhere, printed it all out in his HP laser printer, and is presenting it.
Now, to my way of thinking, that’s a pretty crap presentation. He hasn’t done any of his own work, no research, no discussion, etc, etc. However, it’s been a long, long time since I was in grade school, Jr high, or high school for that matter.
Is this sort of work actually acceptable? Do students not actually have to complete any work on their own? For instance drawing the solar system and printing that out on their HP laser printer? Do they not have to provide any evidence of their own interpretation of information? Can they really just download pictures from the internet, print them out and call it a presentation?
That just seems really, really…easy.
However, like I said, it’s been a long time since I was in grade school.
I can see doing something like that as an adjunct during an oral presentation, but not as the meat of the report itself. I’d assume that Timmy has done some research and written an actual report or notes or something.
Question about ‘plagerizm’ or ‘plagiarism?’ <shudder>
I agree with you assuming that “Timmy” printed an image and did nothing else on the project.
Images can certainly enhance a presentation, but they should be properly attributed to the source. The utility of a printed image in a presentation is not plagiarism.
If ‘Timmy’ had a graphic art assignment and printed an image created by someone else and attempted to claim it as his own, then that would have qualified as plagiarism.
I did not hear the radio ad so I cannot comment on it.
Yah, I knew it was wrong but couldn’t be arsed to change it - that way no one will think I plagiarized my OP… :rolleyes:
Ahem.
As to the ad - it’s basically as I described it:
Teacher: “Here’s Timmy giving his presentation on outer space.”
Timmy: “Here’s all the crap I downloaded from the internet and printed out on my HP laser printer”
Audience: “Wild applause.”
Obviously the point of the commercial is to highlight how great the HP laser printer is and how it can help your kids with school assignments, etc. But the “presentation” really is that lame and I was wondering if HP was taking creative license or if school really is that easy these days.
FWIW I’ve heard other commercials that have the same sort of premise - that is “Technology X will help your child with school” but they seem to gloss over the actual presentation, or have the “child” presenting something and discussing it a little, or something.
Not just “Timmy” the bonehead showing all the, most likely, copywrited pictures that he downloaded from various sites and presented as his homework.
I agree – it all depends. If he hands in the pictures as his report, it shouldn’t be acceptable (it may not actually be plagiarism if he references them properly, though). But if he’s projecting them on the screen while giving a talk about what they are, they’re just illustrations of his points. He should acknowlege the sources, but I’m sure it’d be clear he never took the photos himself.
I think it depends on how old Timmy is and how well he actually summarizes and presents the material.
I know that I’ve got copies of a report on some planet I did in 2nd or 3rd grade. As I recall, it was basically a reading comprehension and writing practice assignment. There was no web to copy/paste from then, so I went and read one book from the library and part of an encyclopedia entry and wrote a summary.
It’s not like we expect kids to do original research at that age. They’re basically just supposed to show that they understand what they read. If they can make it more interesting by printing out pretty pictures, more power to 'em.
That’s right. Timmy gets a D+ at best, and that’s just for being tech-savvy. However, if Timmy had a decent report explaining his downloaded pictures, it’s not a crappy report, either. Flashy doesn’t cut it. You have to bring the goods.
Wow, things have changed in 25 years. In my sophomore year in HS, the History teacher provided “extra credit” for book reports.
I went to the library and copied, word for word, every document I could find about JFK. He gave one point per page, sometimes my writings would stretch to four pages. Absolutely positively cheating. Shame on him for allowing his aides to read and grade these papers. I think it was one of very few classes that I actually got an “A” in.