Plagiarism Detection and Prevention

 

·       What plagiarism detection software is available to online instructors?

There are a few plagiarism detection software available to online instructors. Most of them are paid software but there are some free services available, although the checker may not be as thorough on the free versions. I will list a few here.

·       Turnitin: Measures the originality of student work and provides reports. Can be used with most LMS systems. iThenticate is a Turnitin product.

·       Duplichecker: Offers free and paid tools which include the ability to test documents, images, webpages, and paper paraphrasing for plagiarism and grammar.

·       Plagiarism Checker X: Offers and free and paid version. Allows for testing of documents and web pages.

·       How can the design of assessments help prevent academic dishonesty?

Assignments can be designed to test what students know and help them to solve problems instead of just regurgitating information. Dr. Palloff (2010) suggests creating collaborative assessments to discourage cheating because “assessments should mirror real-life situation” (Plagiarism and cheating, 2010) where people collaborate. The assessment design should examine the how (process) behind solving a problem rather than if they know an answer or not. When it comes to assessment scope, the questions should not be “generalized, broad and open; instead, it should be specific and narrow, and that requires some methodical thinking. If the assessment can be answered by merely reorganizing literature and without the need for critical thinking, then students are likely to resort to plagiarism. So we must minimize such opportunities by presenting students with questions that require them to apply their knowledge to new scenarios” (Harte & Khaleel, 2021).

·       What facilitation strategies do you propose to use as a current or future online instructor?

I do not plan to be an online instructor now or in the future. However, if I was, I would structure my courses to be collaborative with group assignments and open-book or essay assessments. I would plan for the assessment to be the result of a course-long project with checkpoints that allow me to see how the learners are taking in the information.   

·       What additional considerations for online teaching should be made to help detect or prevent cheating and plagiarism?

I think that as technology grows, there will be more AI software tools that will help not only instructors to check for plagiarism but to help students with plagiarism as they write. We already see some of this with grammar checkers but that could easily be expanded to include plagiarism checking.

 

The information this week was helpful to me as a student. I gathered examples of what may be considered cheating that I did not know such as using my own papers from previous courses without quoting (myself) could be considered cheating. I find that to be ridiculous because I can’t steal from myself, however, I am aware of it now. Heaven forbid I have the same thought more than once in my life while studying the same material multiple years, gee willikers how could that happen? I also don’t plan to implement instructional strategies in the future because that is not in my line of work as I don’t plan to be an instructor or ISD.

References

Betts, K., Riccobono, M., & Welsh, B. (2013). INTRODUCTION TO THE SPECIAL SECTION ON INTEGRATING ACCESSIBILITY INTO ONLINE LEARNING. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 17(3), 1-5.

Harte, P., & Khaleel, F. (2021, February 3). Designing online assessment to prevent academic misconduct. Retrieved from The Campus: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/designing-online-assessment-prevent-academic-misconduct

Plagiarism and cheating (2010). [Motion Picture].