Using TurnitinUK to help design out Academic

MisconductMargaret Home, Dianne McNabMARCET, L&LSMichelle WalkerSubject & Liaison, L&LS

Holistic and preventative approach Best Practice TurnitinUK developed as part of the

preventative toolkit Programme, Subject and School

responsibilities – UG, PG, PGR:• Anticipates consistent approach

Developing practice with collaborative partners

Northumbria Context

Most important issue is to prevent academic misconduct where can, by designing out

University expresses regulations through ARNA

Guidelines for Good Assessment Practice:◦ Principle of students’ responsibility to

demonstrate to staff that the work they submit for assessment is their own

Appendix 6: Academic Misconduct/Plagiarism

Northumbria Context

Preventing Academic Misconduct ensures students• Have opportunity to develop understanding of

expectations of UK Academic community• Develop skills in academic practice, such as

writing skills, citation and referencing using Endnote

Design Assessment Practices resistant to academic misconduct

Academic Misconduct: Designing Out

Use TurnitinUK formatively to foster learning climate• Introduce as early as possible into the academic

programme• Case studies show this approach can improve

student skills

Academic Misconduct: Designing Out

TurnItInUK – what is does

Compares submitted work to its database◦The Internet (current and archived

pages)◦Papers submitted by other students◦A wide range of academic journals

Generates an Originality Report showing any matching text

“Similarity Index” indicates percentage of non-original text

◦Simply a tool to help find sources that contain similar text

◦Doesn’t prove (or disprove) plagiarism – no magic number!

But:

Fully integrated with Blackboard Assignments are added to a content

area on your module site Choose assignment options

according to method of use/approach◦ Formative A for teaching◦ Formative B for learning◦ Summative C for checking

View Originality Reports via the TurnitinUk link in Control Panel

How it works

The Assignment Inbox

Staff Get Help tab on Blackboard MARCET Training Sessions: Practical

Turnitin; Endnote Referencing. Details available from MARCET Web Pages: http://www.northumbria.ac.uk/marcet/

Books in MARCET about plagiarism Library & Learning Services, Subject

Specialists

Resources to support staff

Library and Learning Services can offer a range of materials which can be used to support students

Overview of plagiarism Provide Powerpoint slides demonstrating how to

submit and interpret the originality report Turnitin student guide modules

Turnitin Referencing Plagiarism

Adding Value & Support to Turnitin

Formative use in induction module NX0420 Introduced in a lecture

Overview of Plagiarism Demonstration of how to submit and also interpret

the reports Help and Support via student handouts, Skills Plus

modules and ask4help enquiry service shown to students

Crucially added into blackboard together with the Turnitin submission

Help and support embedded alongside the task

Case study – NBS postgraduate

Turnitin is a compulsory part of the submission of the dissertation

A new Turnitin submission is set up for this attached to Dissertation Preparation and Research Methods NX0422

Help and support again integrated alongside the task

Reinforced by the lecturers via announcements

Case study – NBS postgraduate

Turnitin has been rolled out to NBS PG Marketing programmes in Singapore

Library supporting materials play an important role in giving the same level of support to home and collaborative venture students

Developments

Deliver sessions in modules at staff request Work collaboratively with staff to provide

material to support staff to deliver sessions to students

Work in partnership with staff to create new materials on plagiarism

Able to provide supporting materials to add to blackboard alongside the Turnitin submission giving more support when students need it

How your Information Specialist can help you

The range of materials which can be used to support students

Overview of plagiarism by Quick Quiz Demonstrate how to submit and interpret the originality

report (Powerpoint slides) Turnitin student guide (paper and online) modules (online)

Turnitin Referencing Plagiarism EndNote bibliographic software

Northumbria Skills Programme (face to face) Library Ask4Help service (variety)

Adding Value & Support to Turnitin

Wish they had been introduced to the system earlier

Students expect all staff to use the system Student comments:‘As an international student it was helpful to

see what exactly I was expected to cite in order to get a better mark’

‘Semi-involves the student in the marking process, gives you a different point of view and I think you do better work’

Students’ views

Staff found self-submission by students beneficial ‘more convenient if script already has an OR’

Staff used system to develop understanding‘A positive experience for students as many

engage with it…and will change their writing as a result’

‘Student feedback has demonstrated that it has made them more informed and less tolerant of plagiarism’

‘Made the students more aware of the need for honesty and originality’

‘Many students feel they are information literate but Turnitin may show otherwise and makes them realise how important writing and referencing skills are’

Staff views

Thank youAny questions?