Turnitin – An educative tool for identifying and preventing plagiarism

1. Turnitin – An educative tool for identifying and preventing plagiarism E. Marcia Johnson, WCELfest, The University of Waikato, December 2008

2. Overview • Background to the study • The Turnitin (Tii) trial • Description of the research project • Data collected and preliminary findings • Broad implications of using electronic plagiarism detection software • Final thoughts WCELfest, December 2008

3. Background • Text-based assessment items are widely used across tertiary environments, and dissertations, research reports, and theses are usually presented in text form. • Much has been published internationally in recent years about high levels of plagiarism in such text-based assessments. • It is now generally accepted that the Internet and other electronic resources provide the majority of plagiarised text-based material. • Thus, many universities have encouraged staff to become increasingly active in detecting cases of plagiarism and making formal complaints of misconduct through student disciplinary channels. WCELfest, December 2008

4. Background • During 2008, the Student Discipline Committee, through an ITS-funded project, examined the possibility of using an electronic plagiarism detection tool (Turnitin). • I was invited to be project manager of a cross-campus, cross-disciplinary team, the purpose of which was: • To decide whether or not to trial Turnitin broadly across campus; • To determine how Turnitin could be accessed by staff and students (assuming a positive response to the previous point); • To trial Turnitin in a range of papers, from a variety of Schools to see how it functioned; • To develop strategies, training, and documentation for assisting staff who opted to trial the Turnitin software; • To make recommendations to the University about a possible roll-out of Turnitin to any staff who wanted to use it. WCELfest, December 2008

5. Background • We were dedicated to developing a holistic approach to dealing with plagiarism issues, not to implementing an electronic plagiarism detection tool as a punitive device. • The software tool was considered as just one way to deal with the plagiarism, but clearly issues such as assessment practice, students’ academic literacy skills, and students’ life-skills were also important. • At the beginning of the project did not assume that we would go ahead with a cross-campus Turnitin trial. • We spent almost six months determining how Turnitin could be implemented in the most robust fashion and how we would support both staff and students. WCELfest, December 2008

6. The Turnitin Trial • We decided to implement Turnitin as a plug-in to Moodle. • This provided a relatively straightforward way for students, from any location, to submit assessed work and for lecturers to obtain Turnitin reports. • Specialised programming of the plug-in, documentation, staff training, specialised text for paper outlines, etc. all had to be completed within about a 5-week window. • Volunteer lecturers had to be chosen to trial Turnitin and to participate in the research study. • The trial ran throughout ‘B’ semester 2008. WCELfest, December 2008

7. Research Project • We obtained agreement from 10 participants in the trial to participate in the research study. • Participants were interviewed three times during the semester, using a semi-structured interview form. • Data were collected using a voice recorder and note-taking. Each interview lasted from 40-60 minutes. • Interview 1 (early in the term) - to determine staff knowledge of, compliance with, and feelings about the University’s plagiarism policy. Why were they in the trial? • Interview 2 (mid-term) - to determine staff perceptions of setting up Turnitin and initial student responses. • Interview 3 (after term completion) - to summarize staff perceptions of Turnitin use. WCELfest, December 2008

8. Interview 1 - Knowledge of Plagiarism Policies and Practice at the University • Why had the participant volunteered to take part in the Tii trial? • Were participants familiar with the University’s policies and regulations regarding plagiarism? • Did participants know what options were available to them if they detected plagiarism in a student’s assignment? • How did the participants see Tii fitting within the University’s general approach to plagiarism? • How easy was it to implement Tii within the Moodle environment? WCELfest, December 2008

9. Interview 1 - Knowledge of Plagiarism Policies and Practice at the University • Why had the participants volunteered? • Six of the participants wanted to use Tii, particularly in first year papers, to catch students so that they could teach them how to properly reference and paraphrase; some participants were very clear that they had no intention of using Tii as a punitive tool. • Three of the participants wanted to use Tii because they felt that cheating was an equity issue - it wasn’t fair to the students who had done the work themselves. They felt it would save them time. • One participant was curious and just wanted to see how Tii worked. • Educative tool • Tool to preserve academic honesty / time-saver WCELfest, December 2008

10. Interview 1 - Knowledge of Plagiarism Policies and Practice at the University • Familiarity with policy • 4 staff were very familiar with the University policy on plagiarism • 3 staff were familiar with policy • 3 staff were only mildly familiar with policy • Understanding of options if plagiarism detected • 5 staff felt that there were many options, including up-skilling of students (educative) • 5 staff felt that there were no options; the student’s work needed to be sent directly to the Student Discipline Committee (equity) • Some of the latter staff stated that consistency in dealing with students was essential. WCELfest, December 2008

11. Interview 1 - Knowledge of Plagiarism Policies and Practice at the University • Ease of use of Tii within the Moodle environment • All staff, even those who had never used Moodle before in their teaching, found the technical side easy. • Training materials were helpful and clear; workshops were helpful and clear. • Technology was not an inhibitor (at least not for getting started). WCELfest, December 2008

12. Interview 2 - Reflections on the Paper in Progress • Have Tii reports highlighted that some assignment types are more vulnerable than others to plagiarism? • How would they change their approach to assessment? • What types of feedback have students given to the use of Tii? • Have there been any problems interpreting the Tii reports? • Have there been any stressful moments using Tii? WCELfest, December 2008

13. Interview 2 - Reflections on the Paper in Progress • Assessment issues • All participants understand that “the essay” as an assessment type is vulnerable to plagiarism but it’s essential at tertiary level. • However, there were some interesting comments about what to do. • Conduct a greater proportion of assessment tasks under test conditions. • Restrict the number of resources to which a student may refer in the assignment (and name them). There was varied opinion about this – it could solve one problem (plagiarism) but create another (limit opportunities to read, think, and synthesize information). • Include more smaller assignments, practical exercises. • Provide better academic skills training and use Turnitin. WCELfest, December 2008

14. Interview 2 - Reflections on the Paper in Progress • Student feedback / stressful moments / reports • Staff had few stressful moments, but students had many. • A number of students had trouble figuring out how to upload assignments, the correct format for files, how to generate and attach assignment receipts, how to upload an edited version once an assignment had been deemed ‘final’ (for example). • There was no negative student feedback about the use of Tii. • There was some anxious feedback about the fact that Tii would be used. • For the most part the interpretation of reports was straight-forward as they’re colour-coded. Lecturers understood that they also needed to go back and check the original assignments based on the reports. WCELfest, December 2008

15. Interview 3 - Reflections on Using Turnitin • What worked well / what features could be improved for an overall roll-out? • What are the main resourcing issues? • What was the overall reaction of students? WCELfest, December 2008

16. Interview 3 - Reflections on Using Turnitin • What worked well / improvements needed • Comments so far have focused on technical aspects of the Tii plug-in to Moodle. • Basically these are the types of issues that one wants to identify and correct in a trial and before a wide-scale roll-out. • Well-documented “frequently asked questions” would be helpful. • An online discussion forum where staff could pose questions and share experiences would be helpful. • Information-sharing workshops (“this is what happened in my paper”) would be very useful. • Consistency, training, documentation, and one-on-one support. WCELfest, December 2008

17. Interview 3 - Reflections on Using Turnitin • Student reaction • Students reacted well and staff received no complaints. • The Student Union rep was very keen to implement Tii. • Resourcing issues • Staff training / student training are essential • Support for staff and students when they have problems using Tii • Software issues re: the plug-in must be solved by specialist programming for which there will be a cost • Excellent and readily available documentation needed • Systems needed to standardize how reports are interpreted and what actions are appropriate. WCELfest, December 2008

18. Implications of a Tii Roll-out • The general feeling was that Tii needs to be available to all academics, but on a voluntary basis. • Better training and support materials need to be available, particularly for students. • Regular and intensive academic skills preparation must be available to students, and particularly at first year. This includes, for example, how to paraphrase and reference, and also what the consequences of plagiarism are. • Holistic, coordinated support across campus is an absolute requirement. This includes, for example, the Student Discipline Committee, Student Learning Support, the Waikato Centre for E-Learning, the Library, and liaison with lecturers in the different Schools. WCELfest, December 2008

19. Some Final Thoughts about Tii • Students must have ample opportunities to read and think deeply at tertiary level; but they also need to acquire the academic and computer literacy skills to be able to do so. • Electronic plagiarism detection software is a good tool to assist in the development of students’ academic skills competence, but it needs to be used early and backed up with learning support when problems are identified. • No trial participant viewed Tii as a punitive tool, but it was viewed as a tool to ensure equity and academic honesty. • Better staff awareness around plagiarism regulations and the range of options available when students are found to have plagiarized is essential. WCELfest, December 2008

20. Questions and Comments? WCELfest, December 2008

21. The University of Waikato Private Bag 3105 Hamilton, New Zealand 0800 WAIKATO www.waikato.ac.nz Dr E. Marcia Johnson Associate Director, Waikato Pathways College Student Learning Support marcia@waikato.ac.nz WCELfest, December 2008