Using a student response system to help students learn about plagiarism.

The 'Using technology to prevent plagiarism’ project investigated how a variety of technologies might be used to help students further their understanding of plagiarism. This paper will provide an overview of the technologies used in the project but will focus particular on the use made of a student response system (SRS) in large lectures. The SRS has been promoted as a pedagogic tool which can facilitate active learning in lectures by encouraging greater student participation (Nicol and Boyle 2003; Beekes 2006), raising the level of enjoyment (Beekes 2006; Ewing 2006) and providing feedback both to the lecturer and students (Nicol and Boyle 2003). The paper will report on the use of a SRS in sessions designed to provide participants with opportunities to reflect on their own understanding of plagiarism and further encourage them to recognise acceptable and unacceptable practice in writing at university. The SRS on plagiarism is used in a range of contexts. It features in a first year accountancy module which has an early focus on writing, a final year EAP course attended mainly by students from Europe and on a number of postgraduate courses with high numbers of students from overseas. Data collected during sessions suggests that student understanding of plagiarism may be improved. The benefits of the approach in helping to further student understanding of plagiarism are also supported by student feedback both through comments and evaluations. Beekes, W. 2006. The 'Millionaire' method for encouraging participation. Active Learning in Higher Education 7, no.1: 25-36. (doi: 10.1177/1469787406061143). Ewing, A. 2006. Increasing Classroom Engagement Through the Use of Technology. Maricopa Institute for Learning. http://hakatai.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/mil/fcontent/2005-2006/ewing_rpt.pdf (accessed May 13, 2009). Nicol, D. J., and J. T. Boyle. 2003. Peer instruction versus class-wide discussion in large classes: a comparison of two interaction methods in the wired classroom. Studies in Higher Education 28, no.4: 457-473. (doi: 10.1080/0307507032000122297)