Using Technology to Promote Academic Integrity

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Using Technology to Promote Academic Integrity

• Educational Technology Brown Bag
• 8 October 2007

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In the News

• Indiana University School of Dentistry
• Students hacked into password-protected files to
  view test materials.

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In the News

• Ohio University
• Multiple plagiarism accusations among graduate
  engineering students, going back several years.

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In the News

• Southern Illinois University
• Dismissal of professor for copying teaching
  statement. News has now centered on claims that
  the university president plagiarized his
  dissertation.

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In the News

• Kaavya Viswanathan
• Harvard student and author of How Opal Mehta Got
  Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life .

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Why Students Cheat at MU
Brand, J. (2005). Academic Integrity at Millikin
University Data Collected from CO456.
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Why Students Cheat

• University of Alberta Why Students Cheat

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Cheating and Ethics at MU
Brand, J. (2005). Academic Integrity at Millikin
University Data Collected from CO456.
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Cheating and Ethics

• Josephson Institute 2006 Report Card Survey of
  over 30,000 High School Students
• 33 copied an internet document within the past
  12 months 18 did so two or more times.
• 60 cheated during a test at school within the
  past 12 months 35 did so two or more times.
• 59 agreed that, In the real world, successful
  people do what they have to do to win, even if
  others consider it cheating (65 males, 54
  females)

Source Josephson Institute of Ethics. 2006
Josephson Institute Report Card on the Ethics of
American Youth Part One Integrity Summary of
Data. Retrieved October 7, 2007, from
http//www.josephsoninstitute.org/reportcard/.
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Cheating and Ethics

• In 2005, the Center for Academic Integrity
  reported that
• 37 of college students admitted copying Internet
  material without attribution (up from 10 in
  1999).
• 77 of college students did not feel that this
  was a serious issue.
• Attitude If I find it on the web, its mine to
  use!
• Institutions with honor codes are up to 1/3 less
  likely to have academic dishonesty problems.

Sources Josephson Institute of Ethics. 2006
Josephson Institute Report Card on the Ethics of
American Youth Part One Integrity Summary of
Data. Retrieved October 7, 2007, from
http//www.josephsoninstitute.org/reportcard/.
Badke, W. (2007). Give Plagiarism the Weight It
Deserves. Online, 31 (5), 58-60. Retrieved
October 7, 2007, from EBSCO Academic Search
Premier.
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Online Paper Mills

• Coastal Carolina University List of Internet
  Paper Mills
• According to the Center for Academic Integrity,
  one popular site received as many as 80,000 hits
  per day

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Tech Tools

• Google Search
• http//www.google.com/
• Enter a few suspect words and use quotation marks

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Tech Tools

• Turnitin
• Since 2005, MU has processed 3,500 papers through
  the system
• Used by 44 of U.S. colleges and universities
• Receives 60,000 student papers/day
• Scans against 60 million web pages, 20 million
  student papers, and 10,000 periodicals

Source Sachar, E. (2006, Oct. 10). Ivy League
Shuns Anti-Plagiarism Tool as U.S. Cheating
Rises. Bloomberg.com. Retrieved October 7, 2007,
from http//www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid20601
103sidaHvAuVssqroEreferus.
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Turnitin
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Next Step?

• Look at integrating Turnitin with the course
  management system (Blackboard or Moodle)

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Crafting Effective Assignments

• Provide explicit guidelines
• Require specific sources (i.e., 2 books, 2
  journal articles, 2 web sites)
• Your friendly librarian is happy to help!!
• Break the assignment out into steps
• Ask students to give a presentation on their
  topic (or try one-on-one consultations)
• Annotated Bibliography

Source Harris, R. (2004). Anti-Plagiarism
Strategies for Research Papers. Online at
http//www.virtualsalt.com/antiplag.htm
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How Technology Can Help

• In Blackboard or Moodle
• Have students post their initial topic to the
  discussion board or forum
• Keep an online research log (what sources they
  found useful and why)
• Use an online journal for reflective purposes

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Resources

• Academic Integrity Articles Web Links from the
  Center for Academic Integrity
• Turnitin Plagiarism web page
• Preventing and Detecting Plagiarism A Faculty
  Guide (Staley Library)