An Information Literacy and Plagiarism Pilot Project @ The City of Glasgow College

An Information Literacy and Plagiarism Pilot Project

Summary

This case study gives an overview of a pilot project which addresses the need for information literacy skills training for students in conjunction with the use of the Blackboard Safe Assign plagiarism detection tool.

Background

The City of Glasgow College formed in 2010 as a result of a merger between three city centre colleges. It has a staff of around 1,100 and a student body of over 40,000, making it the largest college in Scotland.The pilot stage of the Safe Assign project was conducted by Glasgow Metropolitan College prior to the merger. At the time of the project, the college employed around 500 staff and had a student body of around 18,000.

The Challenge

Both the library and the e-Learning team had received requests from lecturing staff to address the lack of information literacy skills of students, as well as their lack of awareness of accurate referencing. The pilot stage of the project consisted of 1st year HNC/D students who were likely to go on to further study at university with entry during the 2nd or 3rd year of their degree course. It was felt that these students were at a disadvantage in comparison to students who started the degree course in year one and would be lacking in information literacy skills.

The Activity

Around 40 students plus 2 lecturers participated in a pilot project. During a 1 hour guidance slot, the students and lecturers received a 30 minute Information Literacy skills tutorial developed and delivered by the Digital Librarian. This was followed by a 30 minute tutorial on how to submit work online using a plagiarism detection tool (Safe Assign). The plagiarism tutorial was developed and delivered by the e-Learning Technologist.

The Information Literacy skills tutorial covered how to search for information and evaluate resources, and how to correctly reference different types of information. Students were given paper-based notes addressing referencing and information skills. Students were also pointed to the Intute Internet Detective tutorial (an online Information Skills tutorial). This was not used during the face-to-face session as time was limited.

Safe Assign (the plagiarism detection software used) is an in-built tool available as part of the Blackboard Virtual Learning Environment. Safe Assign checks student submissions against a comprehensive range of sources: the internet; the ProQuest ABI/Inform database; and an institutional database (of work submitted by other students at the institution). A report is produced identifying matches found between the student submissions and the databases. A sample Safe Assign report can be found here:
 

 

(last accessed 19/11/10).

During the tutorial, students were asked to copy text from the internet about their favourite film and save it to a text document which they then submitted to a practice Safe Assignment. They were then able to view their own report to ensure they understood how the tool would help their lecturers identify copied work.

It was hoped that by giving students the opportunity to understand how Safe Assign worked, they would not see its use as a covert operation but instead appreciate how the software could be used as a learning tool.

Staff using the tool received training prior to the student tutorial session to ensure they understood the limitations of the tool. Although the software does pick up plagiarism, it is an automated tool and judgment calls still need to be made. The tool does not mark student work for them.

A full evaluation of the project has yet to take place and therefore it is still at the pilot stage although the workshops and software are made available on request. A decision was made not to roll out the project across the college due to the impending merger and the possibility of the Virtual Learning Environment changing, making it likely that a different plagiarism detection tool would be used.

Informal feedback from the staff involved indicates the pilot was successful. The lecturers sought feedback from their students who found the workshop useful although there was mixed feedback about the use of the tool; some students appreciated having the opportunity to practice submitting an assignment via Safe Assign, whilst others found it confusing.

Lessons Learnt

Information Skills can be a difficult area to teach. In an ideal world the tutorial could be re-worked to include more engaging materials and make more use of online resources such as the JISC Digital Media Finding Images Online Tutorial. This is not really feasible in a short 30 minute tutorial but it is useful to be able to point students to online resources which they can access at a later date.

It was felt that it was vital to include guidance on information literacy when using plagiarism detection software.  The report produced by the software still needs to be manually checked and should be used as a guide only. It was also felt that the tool would be most useful when the assignment being submitted was research-based as this provides the most opportunities for accidental or deliberate plagiarism from third-party sources. Where students were required to submit personal or reflective essays the tool was not so useful (although it would still be beneficial to check submissions against the institutional database, to ensure students aren’t copying from each other). Students should always be signposted to the student guide which gives advice on technical issues that could be encountered (such as the requirement to enable cookies).

The pilot was guided by the college eLearning Committee which consisted of the Vice Principal, an Assistant Principal, several Heads of Department, as well as staff from both the library and e-Learning team. The fact that the pilot project was backed by college senior management and formed part of college strategy was considered essential.

It is hoped the project will be rolled out across the newly merged college, however several things need to take place first, including the selection of a VLE. There will be a much larger staff and student body in the new college but it is hoped that this will provide an opportunity to address student induction, IT skills and digital literacy skills.

Useful Links

Self Assign by Blackboard, last accessed 19th November 2010

http://safeassign.com/

The Internet Detective, available from the Intute Virtual Training Suite, last accessed 19th November 2010

http://www.vts.intute.ac.uk/detective/

Internet for Image Searching, available from JISC Digital Media via the Intute Virtual Training Suite, last accessed 19th November 2010

http://www.vts.intute.ac.uk/he/tutorial/imagesearching/

Internet for Audio Resources, available from JISC Digital Media via the Intute Virtual Training Suite, last accessed 19th November 2010

http://www.vts.intute.ac.uk/tutorial/audio/

Electronic Attendance System @ South Lanarkshire College

Electronic Attendance System

Summary

The attendance system at South Lanarkshire College (SLC) is a combination of the following:
1. Honeywell Winpak – Access System for recording attendance transactions.

2. Tribal – SITS Vision Student Records System, which records student enrolment.

3. Novell Identity Management – which provisions the cards from the data in the student records system to the Winpak System.

An in-house software development links all three of the above databases together and writes the ‘confirmed’ transactions to the attendance database.   By trying all these processes together, the e-Attendance Systems allows SLC the ability to create verified attendance reports. These reports are generated and used internally to provide information to inform the bursary processes. Reports are also created and sent to external agencies such as Construction Skills, Employers and schools as required.

About South Lanarkshire College

Formerly spread across three campuses in Cambuslang and East Kilbride, the College marked its 60th anniversary In March 2008 with a move into the new £35m State of the art learning facilities and resources in the Scottish Enterprise Technology Park in East Kilbride. This exciting new campus offers the very best student learning resources in a bright, modern learning environment. A wide range of full time and part time vocational and leisure courses can be studied in East Kilbride or in the outreach classes which are delivered in local and rural areas.

The challenge

The learner population of the College is largely comprised of students who are in
receipt of some form of funding or on day release where there is a requirement
on the college to produce accurate and timely reports for funders, employers,
schools or stakeholders. Most students fall into one or more of the following
groups, all of whom require attendance statistics prior to releasing funding or
other entitlement to students:

• Employed and are on day release.
• On taster sessions from school.
• Funded by national bodies or federations.
• Recipients of Bursaries/hardship loans/child support/travel fund and Education Maintenance Allowance.
• Overseas students on a student visa.

The challenge for the College was to devise an automated system that would
provide weekly reports to external agencies e.g. Construction Skills, Employers &
Schools and internally provide information to inform the bursary processes. SLC
ran the old paper based attendance recording system in parallel with the online
system for a year, but now they are fully electronic.

The activity

The Electronic Attendance System that is now fully employed by South
Lanarkshire College came about as the result of considerable consultation within
the College and the support and encouragement from Senior Management. A
working group was set up at the outset with members comprising of staff from
each of the 3 Faculties – Business, Care and Construction (4 or 5 representatives
because it affected them more). Also in the working group were staff from
Student Services, Funding (Bursary), Information Systems & Support Manager,
Linda Young and Depute Principal Angus Allan.

Meetings were held weekly for 18 months and worked really well, engaging staff
in the design and roll out processes. Some meetings were only 15 minutes while
others lasted over an hour, depending on need. In addition to excellent
consultation and communication, priority was given to staff information sessions
and training in the system. Each of the 3 faculties had the availability of 1 on 1 or
small groups training during system roll out.

As a result of this on-going collaboration and consultation, the Electronic
Attendance System at SLC is a custom made solution, tailored to suit staff across
the college. This bespoke system created in-house by Linda Young and her
Information Systems & Support team, links several databases and records student
attendance while also providing a vital reporting facility from the data gathered.

Using a swipe card system of “Human Interface Device” (HID) proximity cards from Honeywell, this system is able to identify staff and students and allow appropriate access throughout the college. From swipe entry to the car park, swipe access to corridors and to classrooms this linked system effectively tracks and records the movement of staff and students on campus from arrival to departure.

Card readers are positioned at doorways that lead into corridors and near the lecturer’s desk in each classroom. The onus is on the student to swipe their cards as they arrive at class to record their attendance while lecturers are responsible for confirming the student’s attendance or absence on the system. There are different codes used for noting students on work placement, arriving early/late, absent or on directed study leave.

The system covers the curriculum management and attendance modules. At the start of a class, lecturers log into the system and have limited access to student records, in keeping with Data Protection policy. Students’ pictures are on the screen at attendance and serve as a visual check that the person who swiped is indeed the student in the room.

Bursary & Finance payments are triggered by:

1) Register transactions – student swipes card
2) Lecturers confirm on the system that the student is in class and can visually confirm from swipe and student photo on system
3) When confirmed the notice goes to bursary and the student gets paid. The record is then locked and no changes made.

Recording of student location and room allocation:

The system records time & location when swiped pinpointing a student’s location when in class. This has been useful for contacting students in an emergency. In the event of a fire, records would be available of how many students were in certain parts of the building at any given time. A spin off from this system is that it is also a record of room utilization and may allow for better use of labs and rooms available.

Automated withdrawal process or early warning:

SLC are looking to use results from their e-Attendance System as a possible early warning detection to reduce student drop out. The system could be tweaked to flag up students with poor attendance for early intervention and hopefully this will reduce levels of early dropout.

UK Borders Agency:

The College provides reports to UK Borders Agency and there had been some discussion regarding using this system for early detection of overseas students not attending class who are on a student visa.

Time keeping records for ESF staff:

The College are looking to use the time keeping information on the system as evidence for ESF funded courses. Transactions of staff on the system could be tracked and a report generated as evidence that staff were in that class, at that time. This would ease the amount of paperwork required for ESF funded course and would be much simpler to execute.

Weekly Attendance Reports are generated for:

Employers:

Require attendance information on students including late card, employment attendance, class attendance, comments, late back from break.

Construction Skills Training Board (CITB):

Report required for funded students – attendance record spreadsheet for the week is generated for construction skills.

Schools:

Students come in from local feeder schools (Calderglen, Duncanrig, Cardinal Newman High etc.) and attendance records are essential.

End of Session Reports are generated for:

Possible/Actual/Percentage attendance reports for the entire session are created and are sent to:

• Construction Skill
• Employers
• UK Borders Agency for international students
• Scottish & Northern Ireland Plumbing Employers’ Federation (SNIPEF).
• Bursary Report – export to Excel to make bursary payments – child support/hardship funds/travel fund/EMA (Education Maintenance Allowance)
• Students get a record of their attendance for the year.

The speed and accuracy of generating reports has won over even the most technophobic of lecturers in the college. Time consuming paper based recording systems have been replaced by one integrated system that can create attendance and time keeping records for each individual student throughout the year and allows for other information to be added. These may be notes of approved  absence, poor time keeping, late back from breaks etc. These details are required by employers, funders and schools and often had to be recorded and reported each week for individual students and supplied to the various external bodies. They can now be produced and sent in a fraction of the time by the lecturer using the reporting facility on the system.

The Outcomes:

Next academic term the college is looking at allowing students web portal access which will show students their own records, subjects, results and attendance. Any errors in timetabling or credit will be picked up by the students and reported back to ensure they are in the right course with the correct course code and any errors or omissions on the system will be quickly rectified. In addition, students will be able to access to their own e-portfolio of work throughout the year. At present students are given a DVD at the end of the year with all their materials on it, instead of a massive folder of evidence. This coming academic year it will all be stored digitally by the college and students will be able to access their portfolio whenever they choose. SLC invested in solid state disc storage which is widely considered to assure storage is “future proof”.

Useful links

www.south-lanarkshire-college.ac.uk
www.rsc-sw-scotland.ac.uk/best_of_the_west/BoW.htm

Disclaimer

The Regional Support Centre (RSC) supports the development of educational e-learning. We may refer to specific products, processes or services. Such references are examples and are not endorsements or recommendations and should not be used for product endorsement purposes.