4th Annual University of Glasgow Learning and Teaching Conference Marking Level 1 and Level 2 Essays via Turntin on an Industrial Scale. Kevin ODell Joe Gray Chris Finlay

Prof. Sir Hermann Bondi 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 Genetics CourseIssues 22 lectures (run twice) 2x 2hr lab (run eight times) 400 students on course 40 go to honours Genetics 40 go to Biochem or MCB Managing e.mails Managing marking & feedback Course Exam: (70%) 50x MCQ & 5 from 7 SAQ Continual Assessment: (30%) Take-home Essay Take-home Problem Test

L2 Essential Genetics Lectures 549x 1517x Dr Douglas Wilcox

Essay Topic One major change to the assessment in Students 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 manner B, Help students appreciate that Genetics is relevant and contemporary

Turnitin: Similarity

Plagiarism & Similarity How many ways to say? Huntingtons Disease is an autosomal dominant condition on chromosome 4 Misspelling/Miscopying Huntingtons 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 Forum 400 users log-ins to student forum (up on 2009) log-ins to staff forum (up on 2009)

Student Forum Discussions 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 & 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 performance Analyse correlations

Electronic Submission Advantages: Impossible to lose scripts Legible writing by students and staff We 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)