4th Annual University of GlasgowLearning and Teaching Conference

Marking Level 1 and Level 2

Essays via Turntinon an Industrial Scale.

Kevin O’DellJoe Gray

Chris Finlay

Prof. Sir Hermann Prof. Sir Hermann BondiBondi

From the time it learns to talk every child makes a nuisance of itself by asking ‘why?’

To stop this nuisance, society has invented a marvelous system called education, which for the majority of people, brings to an end their desire to ask that question.

The few failures of that system are called scientists.

L2 Essential GeneticsL2 Essential Genetics

Course Issues22 lectures (run twice)2x 2hr lab (run eight times)

400 students on course40 go to honours Genetics40 go to Biochem or MCB

Managing e.mailsManaging marking & feedback

Course Exam: (70%)50x MCQ & 5 from 7 SAQ

Continual Assessment: (30%)Take-home EssayTake-home Problem Test

L2 Essential Genetics L2 Essential Genetics LecturesLectures

549x

1517x

Dr Douglas Wilcox

Essay Topic

One major change to the assessment in 2010-11Students submitted a 500 word essay

1, Your essay should be based on a 2010 news article from the BBC Website.

2, The original article should deal with some aspect of Genetics. 3, The essay should be 500 words long. The 500 words limit does

NOT include figures, their legends and the reference list.4,You should submit the essay via Turnitin.5, The objective of the essay is for you to tell us in more detail

the science (specifically the genetics) behind the story. This may well include finding the original source article of the story.

A, Encourage students to write in a scientific mannerB, Help students appreciate that Genetics is relevant and contemporary

Turnitin: Similarity

Plagiarism & Plagiarism & SimilaritySimilarity

How many ways to say?Huntingtons Disease is an autosomal dominant condition on

chromosome 4

Misspelling/MiscopyingHuntingtons Disease is an autosomal dominent condition on

chromosome 4

Range of similarity scores (in this exercise)0-5% probably a poorly researched essay

15-20% generally the best essays>30% or higher suggests poor technique (plagiarism?)

Turnitin: Feedback

L2 Essential Genetics L2 Essential Genetics ForumForum

400 users

43134 log-insto student forum(up 12000 on

2009)

18356 log-insto staff forum(up 10000 on

2009)

Student Forum Student Forum DiscussionsDiscussions

The main discussion points were:• Practical issues regarding submission of the essay• The significance (or otherwise) of the similarity score• Plagiarism• General questions about what was expected from the exercise• How to get access to marked essays• How they should approach the exercise (finding the source article)• Whether a specific chosen topic was appropriate

Problems & IssuesProblems & Issues

Problems with peak traffic at submission time(Level 1 Biology (650 students) used staggered submission

times)

Its easy to download scores/grades BUT….Difficult to:-Sort essays

Markers’ performanceAnalyse correlations

Electronic SubmissionElectronic Submission

Advantages:Impossible to lose scripts

Legible writing by students and staffWe saved about 2400 sheets of paper

90% of students read feedback within 3 days

Correlation Essay vs Final

Essay Grade vs Final Ranking (1-393)

ESSAY VS overall exam mark

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5

10

15

20

25

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450

overall exam mark