Using Academic Integrity Tools

This video describes strategies and tools for ensuring academic integrity for online tests and papers. We use LockDown Browser, LockDown Monitor for tests and Turnitin for plagiarism detection.

Watch the video here: (length = 4:04)

Resources Referenced:

Description of Respondus LockDown Browser

Description of Respondus Monitor

Turnitin Resource page for teachers

Help and Documentation: Turnitin Help

Transcript

In this video I'll explain a couple of strategies and tools for encouraging academic integrity in online classes. Now, we'd all like to think that students don't cheat, but there are some things we can do to discourage dishonesty and ways to check for plagiarism. Of course, all of our students are perfect angels, but we just thought this information might be helpful for some of our competitor schools.

First, I'll talk about online test-taking, then I'll talk about checking papers for plagiarism with Turnitin. You can fast-forward to this time for the Turnitin section.

At Biola, for online classes, we generally try to avoid having tests, since it's relatively easy for students to inappropriately use notes while taking a test online. Instead, we like to use other kinds of student assessments. Alternatively, you could use tests, but make them open-book tests where students are allowed to use books and notes. And you could make it a timed test, so they would still need to be familiar with the material, since it would take too long to look up each answer.

In addition, you can use the "Shuffle Answers" and the "Question Group" features to discourage students from sharing answers. The "Shuffle Answers" option mixes up the answers to multiple choice questions each time the test is taken. And with "Question Groups" you can have sections of the tests with a large pool of questions, from which just a random sample are chosen for each test. With these options, each test is slightly different.

If you do need to do an online, closed-book test, you could require students to use the LockDown Browser. To do this, click LockDown Browser, then click on that test, and choose "Settings." From there, you can require LockDown Browser. What this means is that students will need to download and install a special application onto their computer in order to take the test. This application is a web browser that can only open up the Canvas web site. It takes over the whole screen, disables copy and paste, disables print screen, and doesn't let users switch to another window. The idea is that they can't look up any answers on their computer while taking the test. And this is great, if it were 2006.

These days, students have phones they could use while take the test. Also, LockDown browser doesn't prevent users from using printed material or books.

The Respondus Monitor product is an attempt to prevent that kind of cheating. It requires students to have a webcam, and records them the entire time they're taking the exam. You can require them to show a photo ID, and require them to use the webcam to prove that their desk doesn't have notes on it, and even require that their face be visible at all times. After the test, teachers can review the thumbnails of these recordings to check for cheating.

Since our access to Respondus Monitor is limited, we can't really offer it to all classes. Talk to your Instructional Designer if you believe your class really needs it.

It seems to me that even with LockDown Browser and Monitor, students could find away around these restrictions. And that's why we try to use open-book tests or just avoid them altogether.

Next, I'll show you how to use Turnitin to check for plagiarism in papers submitted on Canvas. First, create the assignment normally, adding a name, description, and points. Then save it. Next, add the rubric. It's important to add the rubric first, before setting up Turnitin, since you can't add it afterwards. Once you've added a rubric, edit the assignment again, and now change the "Submission Type" to be "External Tool." Click "Find," then Turnitin. Click it. Then click "Select." We also recommend choosing this option to load this tool in a new tab.

After students have turned in their papers, you will see the Turnitin reports as colored icons in the Gradebook. You can click those, or go to the assignments and click the "Load in New Window" button for more detail.

So what does Turnitin do? It generates a Similarity Report by checking papers against its databases of web content and all other papers ever turned in. It's just looking for matches. It's up to you as the teacher to decide whether something constitutes plagiarism or whether it's properly quoted and cited. There's no magic similarity percentage that means it was plagiarized. You're basically looking for numbers that stand out from the rest. Turnitin has a bunch of helpful documents on their web site for more details.