Implementing an Online University-Wide Solution to Plagiarism Awareness R Walker, W Britcliffe & R Papworth E-Learning Development Team, University of York Durham Blackboard Users’ Conference Jan 2009

Drivers for a University-wide solution to plagiarism awareness training  Rising number of cases of academic misconduct  Inconsistency in timing / content of academic skills training  Commitment to developmental learning & feedback – as part of wider skills agenda  Wish to establish standardised approach & baseline understanding – to reduce misconduct cases & simplify appeals procedure

Implementation approach  all new students at University & those who have committed academic misconduct  all staff with supervisory responsibilities for students (inc PGWT) On-line tutorial: developed by Epigeum, delivered via Yorkshare Targeted at:

Implementation approach: York  Compulsory & audited: progression dependent on successful completion of tutorial  Complementary to existing departmental training (f2f tutorials)  Completed prior to first assessed assignment ( )  VLE delivery enabling: –student registration by SITS course code/departmental affiliation –tracking via performance dashboard

Contents of the tutorial  IMS content package  60 mins self-study: video, quiz, interactive scenarios  Focus on academic context to plagiarism: how to avoid it  Advice on correct referencing & citations  Interactive simulation  Student’s perspective through ‘vox-pop’ interviews

Integration within Blackboard  Disaggregation of content items – insertion into CMS & repackaging  Master template design: learning units, quizzes & wiki for departmental examples –Web links to departmental referencing page –Personal journal for note- taking / reflection –Transcripts (PDF/Doc) for all resources  Mark reviewed tool deployed & adaptive release to force linear progression through materials  Certificate (HTML) generated after successful completion of final tests

Content customisation  Academic context to materials  Examples of plagiarism  Unintentional plagiarism: –paraphrasing; patch writing  Guidance on departmental referencing styles  Consequences of plagiarism  Postscript page

Usability: Easy to Use Student feedback from pilot courses (Autumn term ) ‘Very easy to use & navigate around.’

Intelligibility: Easy to understand Student feedback from pilot courses (Autumn term ) ‘It explained everything really well.’

Value: Usefulness of materials Student feedback from pilot courses (Autumn term ) ‘It was useful to go back to it, and check things when writing my essay.’ ‘The examples were very useful as you can apply these to your own work.’

What’s next?  Spring term review: to reflect on institutional roll-out (Autumn term )  Policy issues: handling joint-honours students Next steps:  Monitoring completion: Grade Center alert facility  Enhancements: subject-specific examples; collusion Further actions:  Intermediate version of materials  Mandarin version addressing cultural issues bound up in academic practice Future plans:

Skills tab on Yorkshare

Questions