Plagiarism-tracking software: instructors' perception of software use vs. actual purpose of software
RIS ID
79750
Abstract
Academic dishonesty has been a serious issue in higher education for centuries. From cheating in tests and exams to asking peers to write reports, to stealing others' work (plagiarism), students have done it all. However, of all the dishonest behaviours that students indulge in, instructors find that plagiarism ranks high as a very difficult challenge to manage. Add to this the advent of information communication technology, and it has become even harder to track student plagiarism as technology has made it easier for students to copy, collusion and paste effortlessly. In response, industry and instructors have jointly introduced plagiarism detection software that may curb plagiarism among higher education students. However, where literature has studied the effectiveness of such software in reducing plagiarism instances among students, proposed success stories, even student perspectives of such software, there lies a persistent problem with the implementation of such software - that of instructors' understanding and use of such software which may not always highlight the software's actual purpose. This paper looks at the perceptions of instructors on the use of plagiarism-detection software and how they actually use the software while grading their students' assessments and detecting plagiarism.
Publication Details
Khan, Z. Reza. 2013, 'Plagiarism-tracking software: instructors' perception of software use vs. actual purpose of software', TARC International Conference: Innovation and Transformation in Learning and Teaching, Tunku Abdul Rahman University College, Malaysia, pp. 63-69.