The impact that Turnitin&amp;reg; has had on text-based assessment practice*

Malcolm Rees,Lisa Emerson

doi:10.21913/ijei.v5i1.479

Abstract

This article explores the extent to which the use of the copy detection software Turnitin has impacted on, or transformed assessment practice at Massey University. Staff at Massey University have had access to Turnitin since 2004 and during that time they have, to varying degrees, developed a greater understanding of the issues of; authenticity, academic writing skills and subsequently assessment design. It was hoped that the use of Turnitin would have challenged academic staff to think more creatively about approaches to text-based assignments. Structured interviews were conducted with nine staff who have been using Turnitin for some time and who have a good understanding of its capabilities. They were thought to be the most likely to have made changes to their assessment practice. The findings from the interviews show that a strong reliance on detection and the "deterrent effect" has remained. Few staff have considered that alternative or other creative approaches to assessment are a better way of minimising plagiarism.  Two cases studies where alternative approaches have been explored and where improvements have been demonstrated are discussed in detail:  Case study 1 involves enhancing the value of formative assessment by using some of the advanced assignment options in Turnitin namely; resubmission of assignments and students viewing their own reports online.  Case study 2 describes subtle changes to the wording of the summative assessment in a Communications in sciences course that requires students to apply the theory to practice rather than simply reproducing the literature. The second component is the use of the information map or i-map (Walden & Peacock, 2008) which documents the research process that students have used to construct all their assignments.  The paper concludes that to effect a substantial shift in attitude amongst faculty in relation to plagiarism would require more than a single workshop on Turnitin, and that both professional development units and tertiary institutions as a whole need to consider a more holistic approach to issues around plagiarism, assessment and student writing.

Highlights

General approaches to the management of plagiarism by tertiary institutions have been extensively discussed in the last few years, specific examples of how individual institutions are managing the problem, and the extent of the problem, are less well documented
In Australia, for example, the true incidence of plagiarism is unknown (Devlin, 2006), a 2001 study shows that 80% of students report having plagiarised in some form or another during their studies (Handa & Power, 2005; CAVAL collaborative solutions, 2002)
Anecdotal evidence suggested that staff who adopt Turnitin at Massey University are largely motivated to do so by a wish to detect plagiarism and punish offenders (Emerson, 2008); by presenting detection as secondary to developing an educational context, the session aims to develop a broader understanding of the issues around plagiarism and how academic staff can work to avoid opportunities for plagiarism

Summary

Introduction

General approaches to the management of plagiarism by tertiary institutions have been extensively discussed in the last few years, specific examples of how individual institutions are managing the problem, and the extent of the problem, are less well documented. In New Zealand, attempts to quantify the issue are largely anecdotal (de Lambert, Ellen & Taylor, 2006). What is clear is that in New Zealand 19 tertiary institutions including all the universities have licences for, and use, the text-matching tool Turnitin. Such a development suggests that, while there is no coordinated attempt to address plagiarism problems, many tertiary education providers are at least taking some steps towards grappling with this issue

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Conclusion