No abstract

This article examines student attitudes towards and perceptions of technological activities in the language classroom. Data collected from students (n ¼ 71) in the French language departments of five Canadian universities were used to examine which technological activities students preferred, whether and to what degree different activities were judged useful, and how frequently students perceived that they were doing these activities. Four trends emerged. First, students find computer-assisted activities useful. Second, students prefer activities that are less mediated, more based on authentic materials and more like activities they do in everyday life, to didactic activities. Third, students tend to prefer and judge more useful the computerassisted activities done individually rather than collaborative activities. Finally, it seems that traditional types of computer-assisted activities such as listening, grammar, and vocabulary exercises are more appreciated and judged more useful than are newer types of activities such as blogs and WebQuests. Concluding remarks offer pedagogical suggestions based on these findings.

In order to improve the teaching and learning situation in the course Electromagnetism for first-year students at the Twente University of Technology, this course has been reconstructed. The main activity in the reconstruction has been directed towards developing means and instructional procedures helpful to the students in learning how to tackle problems in electromagnetism. Therefore a model of the process of solving such problems has been developed and a system of actions and methods appropriate to this problem solving has been derived from the model. On the basis of the learning and instruction theory of Gal’perin this system has been incorporated in the instructional procedures of the course. The results of the reconstructed course as shown in the examination scores have improved compared to previous courses.

Max 150 words. If possible, please submit your abstract in both English and French. When writing an assignment, most students start by searching for information online, which they integrate in their writing and conclude by producing a bibliography for the sources used. They use their informational, writing and referencing skills to do this as well as refer to their plagiarism knowledge to make sure their text is exempt from plagiarism. In this paper, we examined which skills and knowledge students feel the need to further develop in university to prevent plagiarism in their assignments. Professors were also questioned as to their perceptions of their students' skills development during their pre-university studies. Questionnaires were administered in six Quebec Universities to students (n = 1170) and professors (n = 279). Results show that students feel the need for more training while professors expect students to have already mastered the skills and knowledge to prevent plagiarism. Recommendations are made on how to implement better training for students through a program approach. Lors de la rédaction d'un devoir, la plupart des étudiants universitaires commencent par chercher des informations en ligne, qu'ils intègrent dans leur rédaction et terminent en produisant une bibliographie des sources utilisées. Ils utilisent leurs compétences informationnelles, rédactionnelles, et de référencement documentaire et se réfèrent à leurs connaissances en matière de plagiat pour s'assurer que leur texte en soit exempt. Dans cet article, nous avons examiné les compétences et les connaissances que les étudiants ressentent le besoin de développer davantage à l'université pour prévenir le plagiat dans leurs travaux. Les professeurs ont également été interrogés sur leur perception du développement des compétences de leurs étudiants durant leurs études pré-universitaires. Des questionnaires ont été administrés dans six universités québécoises à des étudiants (n = 1170) et à des professeurs (n = 279). Les résultats montrent que les étudiants ressentent le besoin d'une formation plus poussée alors que les professeurs s'attendent à ce que les étudiants maîtrisent déjà les compétences et les connaissances nécessaires pour prévenir le plagiat. Des recommandations sont formulées sur la façon de mettre en oeuvre une meilleure formation pour les étudiants par le biais d'une approche-programme.

The habits of university students today have changed drastically thanks to the technological tools at their disposal and the access to an enormous amount of information on the web, which they can copy, use, and reference in their assignments. Unfortunately, the line has become blurred about what is and what isn't permitted by their professors and their universities, sometimes resulting in students committing plagiarism. Research has shown that many students arrive at university unprepared. They lack the informational skills needed to research and choose the information relevant for their assignments, the writing skills necessary to properly integrate the found information with paraphrases or quotations, or the referencing skills to provide their sources in order to write their assignments with integrity. In this research, we aimed to examine how professors in six different universities viewed their role in the teaching of academic integrity by means of educating students on informational, writing, and referencing skills as well as teaching their students about plagiarism prevention. Forty-nine professors and lecturers were interviewed about their role in the teaching of various skills. Results show that there were four types of information searching assignments required by the professors: searches for published information, searches for authentic contextual information, searches limited to the handouts given to the students and no information research required. Seven roles emerged from the data, from the Ambassador professor who takes full responsibility for the teaching of skills to prevent plagiarism to the Detached professor, who completely dissociates from this responsibility for different reasons. Recommendations are presented on how to encourage professors to adopt the four roles of the "Integrity Ambassador": the intermediary who promotes the discovery of all services available to students; the awakener, who encourage students' appreciation of learning for the sake of learning; the accompanist, who guides and supports students with direct interventions in class so that they develop the skills and knowledge necessary to write their assignments with integrity; and finally, by being a model, the Integrity Ambassador cultivates a climate of integrity in class and in the university, showing how one can lead an academic life with integrity.