Implementing an Online University-Wide Solution to Plagiarism Awareness

1. Implementing an OnlineUniversity-Wide Solution to Plagiarism Awareness R Walker, W Britcliffe & R Papworth E-Learning Development Team, University of York Durham Blackboard Users’ Conference Jan 2009

2. Drivers for a University-wide solution to plagiarism awareness training • Rising number of cases of academic misconduct • Inconsistency in timing / content of academic skills training • Commitment to developmental learning & feedback – as part of wider skills agenda • Wish to establish standardised approach & baseline understanding – to reduce misconduct cases & simplify appeals procedure

3. Implementation approach On-line tutorial: developed by Epigeum, delivered via Yorkshare • all new students at University & those who have committed academic misconduct • all staff with supervisory responsibilities for students (inc PGWT) Targeted at:

4. Implementation approach: York • Compulsory & audited: progression dependent on successful completion of tutorial • Complementary to existing departmental training (f2f tutorials) • Completed prior to first assessedassignment (2008-09) • VLE delivery enabling: • student registration by SITS course code/departmental affiliation • tracking via performance dashboard

5. Contents of the tutorial • Advice on correct referencing & citations • Interactive simulation • Student’s perspective through ‘vox-pop’ interviews • IMS content package • 60 mins self-study: video, quiz, interactive scenarios • Focus on academic context to plagiarism: how to avoid it

6. Integration within Blackboard • Disaggregation of content items – insertion into CMS & repackaging • Master template design: learning units, quizzes & wiki for departmental examples • Web links to departmental referencing page • Personal journal for note-taking / reflection • Transcripts (PDF/Doc) for all resources • Mark reviewed tool deployed & adaptive release to force linear progression through materials • Certificate (HTML) generated after successful completion of final tests

7. Content customisation • Academic context to materials • Examples of plagiarism • Unintentional plagiarism: • paraphrasing; patch writing • Guidance ondepartmentalreferencing styles • Consequences ofplagiarism • Postscript page

9. Usability: Easy to Use ‘Very easy to use & navigate around.’ Student feedback from pilot courses(Autumn term 2007-08)

10. Intelligibility: Easy to understand ‘It explained everything really well.’ Student feedback from pilot courses(Autumn term 2007-08)

11. Value: Usefulness of materials ‘The examples were very useful as you can apply these to your own work.’ ‘It was useful to go back to it, and check things when writing my essay.’ Student feedback from pilot courses(Autumn term 2007-08)

12. What’s next? Next steps: • Spring term review: to reflect on institutionalroll-out (Autumn term 2008-09) • Policy issues: handling joint-honours students Further actions: • Monitoring completion: Grade Centeremail alert facility • Enhancements: subject-specific examples; collusion Future plans: • Intermediate version of materials • Mandarin version addressing cultural issues bound up in academic practice

13. Skills tab on Yorkshare

14. Questions