Software to stop cribbing a success
SOUTH African higher education institutions using anti-plagiarism software saw a decrease of more than 40%, which led to a rise in the number of papers graded online.
This according to Cape Townbased software provider Eiffel Corp which yesterday said that institutions using online plagiarism-detection services such as Turnitin had shown successes in combating the theft of intellectual property.
Turnitin is a US-based commercial service launched in 1997 used by universities and high schools across the world to identify plagiarism.
A recent study revealed that South African higher education institutions using Turnitin enjoyed a 44% decline and a 3 012% increase in the number of papers graded online from 2010 to 2014.
The research further indicated that higher education institutions in 12 of 15 countries using Turnitin reduced unoriginal content by more than 30%. The majority of content matches from highly plagiarised submissions came from matches to other students’ papers rather than from websites, academic textbooks or journals.
Zeenath Khan, assistant professor at the University of Wollongong in Dubai and leading expert on academic integrity in the region, said: “We cannot play cops and robbers with students. We need to create an environment promoting integrity through holistic measures that every stakeholder accepts and is aware of. Technology is not beyond or outside of this system and students need to see it as a part of the solution, not the problem.” Turnitin has been used at the University of Pretoria since 2008 and during that year 4 354 papers were submitted via the platform. By last year, that number had risen to 150 563. Nearly half the papers in 2008 had similarity scores of 25% and higher, corresponding with material published on the web or assignments submitted by other students.
As high similarity scores might indicate the presence of plagiarism, the university started a drive to increase the originality of assessment papers, inter alia through adopting an academic integrity and plagiarism policy that created channels for educating students about plagiarism. It also introduced repercussions in cases of proven plagiarism. The policy was shared on the library website and to academic departments, and subsequently widely noted and incorporated in assessment instructions across the university.
Professor Wendy Kilfoil, director of the department of education innovation at the university, said lecturers were making more use of Turnitin assignments because of the value and convenience, and students were spending more time and effort on the correct referencing and preparation of assignments after the first submission and resubmission.
“Basically, 70% to 80% of submissions have similarity scores of less than 25%, which means that most students are trying.
“Given that similarity reports are not evidence of plagiarism, an even higher percentage of students are doing their own work with integrity,” said Kilfoil.
Meanwhile, Kenyan health librarian Rosemary Thiong’o received an honourable mention recently in the Turnitin Global Innovation Awards 2017.
She plays a key role in ensuring academic integrity and improving on original work for the Aga Khan University in Nairobi, which offers nursing, midwifery and medical training.”
THE UNIVERSITY ALSO INTRODUCED REPERCUSSIONS IN CASES OF PROVEN PLAGIARISM