A workshop on specific tools that help mitigate academic integrity violations. Strategies for pedagogical ways to handle this issue are shared as well. Tools covered include SafeAssign, Respondus Lockdown Browser and Monitor, Remote Proctor Now, and ProctorU.
A workshop on how to work with all students on an equal playing field, including making sure your courses are accessible to students with disabilities.
Assessment: Managing Tests, Projects, and Grade CenterStaci Trekles
A Fall 2015 workshop on how to manage tests, projects, and the Grade Center within BlackBoard. Includes tips on how to develop effective tests that measure what they intend to measure.
A workshop centered around building quality into your courses through thoughtful course design. Discusses the use of rubrics such as the Quality Matters and BlackBoard Exemplary Course rubrics, as well as helps instructors use a blueprint to map out their own course objectives.
A workshop about the ins and outs of assessment, including formative vs. summative assessment, and following each of Kirkpatrick's 4 levels, even in education, to produce higher-quality courses and programs that truly measure what they set out to measure.
A workshop on how to work with all students on an equal playing field, including making sure your courses are accessible to students with disabilities.
Assessment: Managing Tests, Projects, and Grade CenterStaci Trekles
A Fall 2015 workshop on how to manage tests, projects, and the Grade Center within BlackBoard. Includes tips on how to develop effective tests that measure what they intend to measure.
A workshop centered around building quality into your courses through thoughtful course design. Discusses the use of rubrics such as the Quality Matters and BlackBoard Exemplary Course rubrics, as well as helps instructors use a blueprint to map out their own course objectives.
A workshop about the ins and outs of assessment, including formative vs. summative assessment, and following each of Kirkpatrick's 4 levels, even in education, to produce higher-quality courses and programs that truly measure what they set out to measure.
Testing Tools: Qualtrics, BlackBoard, and RespondusStaci Trekles
A workshop on some of the testing and survey tools available at Purdue, including Qualtrics for anonymous surveys, BlackBoard for classroom testing, and Respondus for importing text documents into BlackBoard as tests.
A workshop on designing interaction activities into your online and hybrid courses using BlackBoard and other technology tools including WebEx, Google Hangouts, and Trello. Focuses on Standards 3, 5, and 6 from Quality Matters.
This webinar is Part 2 of a 2 Part series. Part 1 is New Learning Communities: A theoretical Framework by Holly Rae Bemis-Schurtz for the complete experience.
In this webinar, we explore the practical application of newly developing concepts such as elearning ecosystems and connectivism to online teaching and learning. Join me for a behind the scenes look at these concepts in action. Specific technologies with related strategies discussed include Skype, PBWorks, Screencast-o-matic, Voki, Viddler, Animoto, Moblying, Slideshare, and Delicious.
See http://webinars.nmsu.edu for the recording of this webinar and access to free webinars.
Short introductory level presentation showing how screencasting can be used as a tool in the classroom and the tools that you as a teacher need to get started.
Workshop on live and recorded video options for lecture capture, including information about the usefulness of lecture capture in your online/hybrid courses, flipped classroom strategies, and comparisons of popular tools such as Echo360, WebEx, and Camtasia.
This PPT describes the use of SafeAssign as a plagiarism prevention service linked to Blackboard. It will be used as a learning tool for students in Draft mode to teach students about Intellectual Property. Using SafeAssign will deter poor practices of not using proper citations.
Testing Tools: Qualtrics, BlackBoard, and RespondusStaci Trekles
A workshop on some of the testing and survey tools available at Purdue, including Qualtrics for anonymous surveys, BlackBoard for classroom testing, and Respondus for importing text documents into BlackBoard as tests.
A workshop on designing interaction activities into your online and hybrid courses using BlackBoard and other technology tools including WebEx, Google Hangouts, and Trello. Focuses on Standards 3, 5, and 6 from Quality Matters.
This webinar is Part 2 of a 2 Part series. Part 1 is New Learning Communities: A theoretical Framework by Holly Rae Bemis-Schurtz for the complete experience.
In this webinar, we explore the practical application of newly developing concepts such as elearning ecosystems and connectivism to online teaching and learning. Join me for a behind the scenes look at these concepts in action. Specific technologies with related strategies discussed include Skype, PBWorks, Screencast-o-matic, Voki, Viddler, Animoto, Moblying, Slideshare, and Delicious.
See http://webinars.nmsu.edu for the recording of this webinar and access to free webinars.
Short introductory level presentation showing how screencasting can be used as a tool in the classroom and the tools that you as a teacher need to get started.
Workshop on live and recorded video options for lecture capture, including information about the usefulness of lecture capture in your online/hybrid courses, flipped classroom strategies, and comparisons of popular tools such as Echo360, WebEx, and Camtasia.
This PPT describes the use of SafeAssign as a plagiarism prevention service linked to Blackboard. It will be used as a learning tool for students in Draft mode to teach students about Intellectual Property. Using SafeAssign will deter poor practices of not using proper citations.
Using Mnemonics to Engage Students and Improve Recall: The Simersong Story Staci Trekles
A presentation on the creation and use of creative musical mnemonics to improve retention and engagement in difficult subjects such as biology and anatomy. Includes discussion on how videos are created and provided to students, and student reaction.
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning - Data AnalysisStaci Trekles
Discussion of methods and tools to use for data analysis in SoTL projects, including available tools like Qualtrics, BlackBoard, and resources for qualitative analysis options.
A brief view of the Scenario Based Learning and Computational Thinking model of developing lessons created in partnership with a number of universities during the ASSECT NSF grant.
This slide show covers the main points of discussion for the parent and student training for the 1 to 1 laptop initiative which will be launched in January 2010 in our high school.
Assessment tools and strategies to help you align your course objectives to assessments in your courses. When you align objectives well, you can truly find out whether students are learning what they need to learn from your course.
The revised draft (RD2) is the culminating assignment of our second jacvzpline
The revised draft (RD2) is the culminating assignment of our second module, M2 Eyes of the Unseen. This assignment asks you to you to utilize all of the work done with module assignments, class discussions, peer review workshop, and drafting to revise your WD2 into a strong central claim-driven argument and subclaim-driven analysis. Keep in mind that this RD2 will be evaluated according to the "Student Writing Assessment" criteria found at the bottom of our syllabus. The RD2 is due by
11:59pm on Tuesday 3/26
.
Requirements
This revised draft must be a minimum of 1500 (min.) - 1800 (max.) words in length,
not
including the Works Cited.
Please do not include the "Workshop Notes" from your WD2 in this revised draft
.
Be sure to review the Essay Format Guidelines in the "Course Documents" module so that you understand how to properly format your essay; also, utilize all of the worksheets you feel necessary to help you with revising your draft in the "Course Documents" module.
The Central Claim should address what you feel is the overall message is of your documentary film/program about a specific social issue, whether or not you think that message is effective (or not) in terms of inspiring social change, and what the social significance is of that message.
Subclaims should be based on how your selected documentary film/program is using different filmic elements to create that particular message through varying effects on the viewer (see Documentary Film Elements in the "Course Documents" module).
Include at least two quotes (no more than two sentences each) from at least two outside sources and be sure to utilize a MLA in-text citation and Works Cited for that source (or any sources used). Make sure that
one
of these outside sources is an academic/peer-reviewed source (see MLA Citations in the "Course Documents" module).
Note that film titles should be in italics and you should include a Works Cited citation of your film in your Works Cited.
Impacts of Technology in Classrooms
In the last four decades, continuous research has been conducted on the impacts of technology in the lives of people. While no consensus has been reached, it may be argued that in many aspects of society, technology has both positive and negative impacts. Educational institutions have embraced technology to some extent in the management of the academic load of both the teachers and the students. According to a 2012 study, students are more engaged when technology is involved in their education process which results in improved retention of the learned information (Page). Other studies argue that more harm has resulted from the adoption of technology. While this article hypothesizes that technology in education is advantageous as it empowers all individuals involved in the learning process, the paper will address some of the aspects highlighted regarding the adoption and use of technology.
The adoption of technology in education has eased learn ...
THE WEB-BASED EDUCATION JOURNEY: A CONSTANT LIFELINEcscpconf
E-learning has revolutionized our realm in more than just a listable number of ways. But it took
a paradigm shift when it entered the threshold of the varsity system. With the prevailing spoonfeeding
era, are the students really ¬industry ready? We answer that by confirming a fact: webbased
learning has become the oxygen of freshers in the IT Industry instead of the traditional
learning done through graduation. Furthermore, are university enforced e-learning assessment
systems a true representation of a student's proficiency? This paper is a peep into what webbased
e-learning systems are to a student of today's world, by giving an overview of universitylevel
e-learning in India deploying an example from SRM University's organizational
framework. It assesses a key e-learning trend, the implementation of which bridges the gap
between universities and the industry. It is proposed to provide constructive feedback to the elearning
community and shine some light on areas of scope for future developments.
1:1 in the Elementary Setting: One Year LaterStaci Trekles
Going 1:1 can be a rocky road in the elementary setting, with many possible obstacles along the way. In this session, participants will hear the perspectives of elementary teachers through the first to second year of iPad implementation. Successes and challenges will be shared to benefit other schools.
A workshop focused on aligning your course objectives to your assessments and activities planned for your course. Includes a discussion of the value of Bloom's Taxonomy within each domain to help you choose objectives that best match what you want students to learn. Also covers Quality Matters standards 2, 3, 4 and points to the online QM self-review tool.
An introduction to the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) for those who wish to explore the possibilities for scholarly research and publishing.
Model Attribute Check Company Auto PropertyCeline George
In Odoo, the multi-company feature allows you to manage multiple companies within a single Odoo database instance. Each company can have its own configurations while still sharing common resources such as products, customers, and suppliers.
2024.06.01 Introducing a competency framework for languag learning materials ...Sandy Millin
http://sandymillin.wordpress.com/iateflwebinar2024
Published classroom materials form the basis of syllabuses, drive teacher professional development, and have a potentially huge influence on learners, teachers and education systems. All teachers also create their own materials, whether a few sentences on a blackboard, a highly-structured fully-realised online course, or anything in between. Despite this, the knowledge and skills needed to create effective language learning materials are rarely part of teacher training, and are mostly learnt by trial and error.
Knowledge and skills frameworks, generally called competency frameworks, for ELT teachers, trainers and managers have existed for a few years now. However, until I created one for my MA dissertation, there wasn’t one drawing together what we need to know and do to be able to effectively produce language learning materials.
This webinar will introduce you to my framework, highlighting the key competencies I identified from my research. It will also show how anybody involved in language teaching (any language, not just English!), teacher training, managing schools or developing language learning materials can benefit from using the framework.
How to Make a Field invisible in Odoo 17Celine George
It is possible to hide or invisible some fields in odoo. Commonly using “invisible” attribute in the field definition to invisible the fields. This slide will show how to make a field invisible in odoo 17.
Honest Reviews of Tim Han LMA Course Program.pptxtimhan337
Personal development courses are widely available today, with each one promising life-changing outcomes. Tim Han’s Life Mastery Achievers (LMA) Course has drawn a lot of interest. In addition to offering my frank assessment of Success Insider’s LMA Course, this piece examines the course’s effects via a variety of Tim Han LMA course reviews and Success Insider comments.
Welcome to TechSoup New Member Orientation and Q&A (May 2024).pdfTechSoup
In this webinar you will learn how your organization can access TechSoup's wide variety of product discount and donation programs. From hardware to software, we'll give you a tour of the tools available to help your nonprofit with productivity, collaboration, financial management, donor tracking, security, and more.
Read| The latest issue of The Challenger is here! We are thrilled to announce that our school paper has qualified for the NATIONAL SCHOOLS PRESS CONFERENCE (NSPC) 2024. Thank you for your unwavering support and trust. Dive into the stories that made us stand out!
Operation “Blue Star” is the only event in the history of Independent India where the state went into war with its own people. Even after about 40 years it is not clear if it was culmination of states anger over people of the region, a political game of power or start of dictatorial chapter in the democratic setup.
The people of Punjab felt alienated from main stream due to denial of their just demands during a long democratic struggle since independence. As it happen all over the word, it led to militant struggle with great loss of lives of military, police and civilian personnel. Killing of Indira Gandhi and massacre of innocent Sikhs in Delhi and other India cities was also associated with this movement.
The French Revolution, which began in 1789, was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France. It marked the decline of absolute monarchies, the rise of secular and democratic republics, and the eventual rise of Napoleon Bonaparte. This revolutionary period is crucial in understanding the transition from feudalism to modernity in Europe.
For more information, visit-www.vavaclasses.com
Palestine last event orientationfvgnh .pptxRaedMohamed3
An EFL lesson about the current events in Palestine. It is intended to be for intermediate students who wish to increase their listening skills through a short lesson in power point.
The Roman Empire A Historical Colossus.pdfkaushalkr1407
The Roman Empire, a vast and enduring power, stands as one of history's most remarkable civilizations, leaving an indelible imprint on the world. It emerged from the Roman Republic, transitioning into an imperial powerhouse under the leadership of Augustus Caesar in 27 BCE. This transformation marked the beginning of an era defined by unprecedented territorial expansion, architectural marvels, and profound cultural influence.
The empire's roots lie in the city of Rome, founded, according to legend, by Romulus in 753 BCE. Over centuries, Rome evolved from a small settlement to a formidable republic, characterized by a complex political system with elected officials and checks on power. However, internal strife, class conflicts, and military ambitions paved the way for the end of the Republic. Julius Caesar’s dictatorship and subsequent assassination in 44 BCE created a power vacuum, leading to a civil war. Octavian, later Augustus, emerged victorious, heralding the Roman Empire’s birth.
Under Augustus, the empire experienced the Pax Romana, a 200-year period of relative peace and stability. Augustus reformed the military, established efficient administrative systems, and initiated grand construction projects. The empire's borders expanded, encompassing territories from Britain to Egypt and from Spain to the Euphrates. Roman legions, renowned for their discipline and engineering prowess, secured and maintained these vast territories, building roads, fortifications, and cities that facilitated control and integration.
The Roman Empire’s society was hierarchical, with a rigid class system. At the top were the patricians, wealthy elites who held significant political power. Below them were the plebeians, free citizens with limited political influence, and the vast numbers of slaves who formed the backbone of the economy. The family unit was central, governed by the paterfamilias, the male head who held absolute authority.
Culturally, the Romans were eclectic, absorbing and adapting elements from the civilizations they encountered, particularly the Greeks. Roman art, literature, and philosophy reflected this synthesis, creating a rich cultural tapestry. Latin, the Roman language, became the lingua franca of the Western world, influencing numerous modern languages.
Roman architecture and engineering achievements were monumental. They perfected the arch, vault, and dome, constructing enduring structures like the Colosseum, Pantheon, and aqueducts. These engineering marvels not only showcased Roman ingenuity but also served practical purposes, from public entertainment to water supply.
2. Implement various pedagogical strategies to
teach students the importance of academic
integrity
Use technology tools such as SafeAssign and
Respondus LockDown Browser to help
mitigate and prevent cheating and plagiarism
Identify new tools that may be available for
preventing cheating such as Remote Proctor
NOW
3. Concerns about cheating
and plagiarism can be a big
obstacle, and may limit our
choices for assessment
Studies show that students
may cheat less online than
FTF (see
http://www.westga.edu/~d
istance/ojdla/spring131/wa
tson131.html)
Luckily, there are ways to
use technology to help
ensure that students are
doing authentic work
4. There are lots of reasons
why a student might
choose to cheat
Most commonly:
They lack proper
knowledge
The don’t understand
university policies
They don’t understand the
seriousness
The class is too high-stakes
Poor time management
skills
5. For the “amateurs” (more commonly the case):
Copy and paste
Homework and Answer-sharing sites (not always a bad
thing, but can lead to cheating)
Taking pictures with smart phones
For the “pros” (far less common):
Term paper mills
Identity-swapping
Lessons posted onYouTube (it’s true!)
See
http://www.cmu.edu/teaching/solveproblem/strat-
cheating/
6. There are many ways that technology can help
us mitigate cheating:
LockDown Browser
Respondus Monitor
SafeAssign
Remote Proctor Now (new)
Some pedagogical strategies can help as well
Help students with time management
Tighten up the syllabus
Send them to our online course in BlackBoard!
7. Most students don’t set
out to cheat, but when
time becomes the
enemy they often feel
too much pressure
Help students set up
calendars and set aside
time for study
Help students learn to
prioritize
Keep in mind that they
have other classes to
study for, too!
8. Include the Academic
Integrity Policy in your
syllabus
Take time to explain the
policy in class
Ask students to
complete a class
contract at the
beginning of the
semester
If they think it’s
important to you,
they’re more likely to
listen
Purdue Code of Conduct:
http://www.purdue.edu/pu
rdue/about/integrity_state
ment.html
Academic Affairs policy on
Academic Integrity:
https://www.pnc.edu/acad
emic_affairs/wp-
content/uploads/sites/20/2
013/05/Academic-
Integrity.pdf
9. Provide lessons on
ethics, paraphasing,
and time management
Uses short videos and
other attention-
getting strategies
Allows students to
explore what
“academic integrity”
really means at their
own pace
Our Online course is
available for both
faculty and students
10. SafeAssign (BlackBoard assessment to check
student work for plagiarism)
Respondus LockDown Browser (for test-
taking)
Respondus Monitor (for remote automated
proctoring)
Remote Proctor NOW (for remote semi-
automated proctoring)
ProctorU (live proctoring)
11. Included in all assignments in BlackBoard
Checks written work against a database
Drafts should not be sent to the database otherwise final
copies will be “100% plagiarized”
Shows you a score and specific areas that are
questionable
May have false positives – 10% is about the
tolerance for error
You may wish to share your error tolerance determination
ahead of time to avoid panics!
12. Set inAssignment settings -> Submission
Details
Check in Needs Grading or CourseTools ->
SafeAssign
13. Available through the
MyPNC portal
Removes the ability to do
anything else on the
computer except go to
BlackBoard and start a test
Good for lab situations
where everyone is in the
same room together
Does not really mitigate
cheating for those with
access to multiple devices
at home
Download link in
MyPNC or at
http://www.itap.purdu
e.edu/learning/tools/lo
ckdown/
14.
15. Available in BlackBoard – set
within Lockdown Browser
CourseTool
Records the student taking
the test through their
webcam
Automatically walks students
through the preparation
process
You must watch the videos to
review suspicious behavior
Only works with BlackBoard
tests
16. Available at an extra cost, $15
per exam per student, picked
up by your department (ask
for authorization)
Semi-automated – the
student activity and screen is
recorded, but a human
watches the recording and
flags suspicious behavior for
you
Easy to use, integrates with
BlackBoard or works with
other products like Pearson
17. Live proctoring through the
Internet and a student’s
webcam
Incurs a fee of $17-$25
depending on the length of
the exam – students must
pay this fee for each exam
Use only for extremely high-
stakes tests, and be sure to
warn students in the syllabus
that there may be additional
fees for the course
More info:
http://www.pnc.edu/distance
/proctoru
18. OLT resource on cheating:
http://www.pnc.edu/distance/cheating/
Dean of Students incident reporting:
http://www.pnc.edu/sa/report-an-incident/
LockDown Browser information:
http://www.pnc.edu/distance/lockdown-browser-
instructions/
Respondus Monitor information:
http://www.pnc.edu/distance/monitor/
SafeAssign information:
http://www.pnc.edu/distance/safeassign/
Remote Proctor NOW information:
http://www.softwaresecure.com
19. Reach us:
TECH 206 and 298
219-785-5734
pncolt@pnc.edu
Twitter and Facebook: @PNCOLT
http://www.pnc.edu/distance for all
workshop notes, links, and training needs
Editor's Notes
Welcome to Mitigating Cheating and Plagiarism, a workshop concentrating on issues of academic integrity and what you can do to prevent them in your classroom.
Our objectives for this workshop will help you:
Implement various pedagogical strategies to teach students the importance of academic integrity
Use technology tools such as SafeAssign and Respondus LockDown Browser to help mitigate and prevent cheating and plagiarism
Identify new tools that may be available for preventing cheating such as Remote Proctor NOW
Academic integrity is a big issue for many faculty, and it can even prevent some from taking their courses into a hybrid or online format because of fears that technology may give students too many opportunities to cheat on papers and tests. In reality, the research says that students do not really cheat any more in their online classes than they do their face-to-face courses – in fact, some research even suggests that online students cheat LESS than students in live classes (http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/spring131/watson131.html). Nonetheless, it is never a bad idea to help all students understand that you take academic integrity seriously, and that you wish for them to exhibit a high standard of ethics. Tools such as SafeAssign, Respondus LockDown Browser, and ProctorU and Respondus Monitor can help reduce cheating by acting as deterrents as well as “checkers” for cheating. SafeAssign checks student writing against databases of other academic papers, web pages, and other sources. LockDown Browser is a tool best suited for live and hybrid classes, which prevents students going from other places within their systems while online taking a BlackBoard test. ProctorU and Respondus Monitor use the students’ webcam and microphone to watch the student while taking a test and serve as a remote proctor. These may be most useful for high-stakes tests, like final exams, that are to be delivered online.
There are many reasons why a student might choose to cheat on an exam, project, or paper. Some of the most common reasons cited in studies of student academic behavior include:
They lack proper knowledge
The don’t understand university policies
They don’t understand the seriousness
The class is too high-stakes
Poor time management skills
Of these, poor time management and a lack of time for proper study are cited as the top reasons why students cheat. Rarely do students go into a class with the intention of cheating, in fact; it happens over time as they realize that they have not been able to put the proper time in to do well in the course. The likelihood of cheating goes up when a class or specific test is very high-stakes and may “make or break” a student’s performance or ability to continue in a program. On the other hand, there is a fair number of students who are completely honest when they state that they did not know they were cheating, or that they did not know it was not allowed. It may seem like common sense to you and me, but to students who have gone through a high school career where group study and open book tests were frequently the norm, they may not truly understand your policies regarding academic integrity, or how seriously you and the university takes it.
There are of course many ways that students can and have thought of to cheat on exams and projects, including the most common way of copying and pasting from Internet resources, but there are other methods as well. Term paper mills exist where students can purchase a paper, although most of these are already catalogued by technologies like SafeAssign. Homework and answer-sharing sites such as Quizlet and Sparknotes are also available, which are often not in themselves meant to be cheating resources, but students may be tempted to use them in this way.
The more extreme examples of cheating include identity-swapping, where students take exams or complete assignments on behalf of another student. Some may also take pictures with their phones of exam questions and send them to other students – solutions like ProctorU and Remote Proctor Now can take care of this behavior when students are online, but even in class, the enterprising student can use these tricks. Those who are really interested in cheating (the “professionals” as we might call them) will even review lessons posted on YouTube about how to cheat on exams and papers. They are certainly out there to be viewed.
There are a number of tools available that can help catch cheating either before it happens, or after the fact. Either way, you have the tools to combat this issue and instruct students on maintaining good academic integrity. There are also many strategies you can use as well, including providing support and maybe even direct instruction on how to manage one’s time better, set more clear policies in your syllabus, and of course, you can always send students to our online course in BlackBoard. The Cheating and Plagiarism course for students focuses on lessons in time management, what academic integrity is all about, and how to properly paraphrase while writing academic papers. These were all areas that have been identified through surveys and research as places where students have weaker skills, so this course can help improve that.
Time management, as noted previously, is a big problem for many students. Some have not yet learned how to set aside time for study, and others do not have a good idea of how long it should take them to study for the many classes they may be taking. Students often wait until the last minute or find themselves behind because they did not devote their time in the right way. Teaching students how to prioritize and compartmentalize their time will help them with all aspects of their schoolwork, although keep in mind that they do have other classes than yours. It is often difficult for us to consider how long students may need to spend with courses that are not in your discipline, but do your best to guide them to dedicate at least 3-5 hours per course per week outside of class. Urging them to use calendars and planners may be helpful, and a template is available on the student cheating and plagiarism BlackBoard course.
Your syllabus is a great place to start with establishing policies in your classroom. Include the official Academic Integrity policies in your syllabus and take time to explain these in class. You might even ask students to complete a class contract at the beginning of the semester, which might even be a quiz of some kind about what’s on the syllabus and what your policies are. If they agree to a contract and understand the importance of academic integrity that you place in class, they will be more likely to pay attention to it. If you appear to place little emphasis on such policies (even if you really do value them, but just don’t express it!), then students may not be as likely to take them seriously.
You may even go so far as to offer a lesson in ethics and academic integrity in your class. Actually displaying videos and talking about ethics in class brings the subject to light and allows for a conversation about what academic integrity means and hopefully allows you to put to rest any misconceptions your students may have. We have many resources available in our PNC Plagiarism and Cheating Modules in BlackBoard that you may take advantage of – you can even require students to participate in the module and track their progress. Just go to the My BlackBoard tab to review the course for Faculty, and instruct students to do the same for the course for Students.
To prevent cheating and plagiarism, there are several tools available to us, including SafeAssign, LockDown Browser, Respondus Monitor, Remote Proctor NOW. These tools help prevent cheating and plagiarism through electronic means. SafeAssign is integrated into every BlackBoard assignment and allows students to send work to a database that looks for matching sentences and phrases from websites and other similar papers. It returns an originality score to the instructor and if you like, you can let students see their originality report as well. No report is perfect, as there are always some words, citations, and phrases that are picked up, but any score over about 10% would indicate that some plagiarism is taking place, or that students are using too many quotes and not enough paraphrasing.
LockDown Browser prevents students from opening other programs or windows on their computer while taking a test. Respondus Monitor works with Lockdown Browser to take video and audio of the student taking the test. You can then go back to the videos to review and see if anything “funny” was going on. Remote Proctor NOW also records all interactions and has staff look at the videos after the student takes the test, but the difference is that someone from the company reviews these videos and reports any suspicious activity back to the instructor after the fact back to you. Both systems work well for high-stakes testing that needs to be done at a distance. RP Now does incur a fee to the department, of $15 per student per exam at a flat rate. Consult with the OLT and with your department chair if you wish to use this product, which has been adopted by the Purdue system, and is in pilot evaluation here at PNC as of Spring 2016.
SafeAssign checks papers for plagiarism by comparing submitted work to a database that covers almost everything imaginable. It returns a percentage score of how much the paper matches to the database, and even allows you to see the source of the original item when plagiarism is found.
With this in mind, take note that SafeAssign is just a tool, and as such as its failings. It may show you false positives, especially with references and quotes, which increase the percentage score. Typically, most instructors accept 10-15% as a margin of error for submitted assignments checked by SafeAssign – you should still check any paper if you have concerns more carefully, of course, but typically you won’t see “real” plagiarism until you get something over 20%. If you allow students to check their own scores, you may wish to share with them your margin or error tolerance that you have determined, so that they do not get concerned when they see a percentage higher than they expect.
You can add SafeAssign checking to any assignment in BlackBoard. In the past, SafeAssign was a separate type of assignment, but now it is integrated into the normal assignment tool. Just go to the assignment settings/properties under Submission Details to find the Plagiarism Tools checklist. You can choose at this point whether to check with SafeAssign, and whether to allow students to view their ratings as well as whether to exclude it from the global database. This final option is good when your submissions are drafts, and you intend for students to submit another version later on. If the item is included in the database the first time, of course, the second time will come back nearly 100% plagiarized, which of course won’t be accurate!
To check on submissions, you can either return to the original assignment or use Needs Grading - the scores are included in the submissions for grading. You can also go to the Course Tools and SafeAssign to see everything at a glance and review the scores for each student at once.
Respondus Lockdown Browser is a program that allows you to remove the student’s ability to do anything else but get into BlackBoard and take their test. All other applications will be closed and cannot be accessed until Lockdown Browser is shut down. BlackBoard can be set to require the browser to be used, removing the ability for a student to get into the test without using Lockdown Browser.
The download link is available in the MyPNC portal in the BlackBoard tab. The link is also here on this slide as well. Tutorials and other information is available here as well as the download itself.
This is an actual application that students must download, install, and open on their computers in order to use it. If you have students with difficulties in doing these things on their computers, you may want to refer them to the tutorials or walk through it with them at least once.
Also, note that this program is available in most of the labs, and is great for tests you give in person in a lab setting. When students are at home, it is quite possible that they will have other devices available to them, so if your concern is about their ability to take screenshots or otherwise copy questions during an exam, Lockdown Browser will not necessarily stop them from doing this.
To set a test to use Lockdown Browser, go to the Course Tools and the Respondus Lockdown Browser tool. There you will see all of your currently available tests and be able to click the arrow to set whether you would like the browser to be required. Note that this will automatically set a “password” into your original test settings, which does not need to be known by you or students. This is merely a token to be passed between Lockdown Browser and BlackBoard. Do not change this password in the Edit the Test Options settings as this will cause the link between Lockdown Browser and your test to be broken. You can repair it if you accidentally change the password by returning the to Course Tool and clicking the “Fix It” icon that will pop up.
You can set an additional password for the test that students will be required to use in the Lockdown Browser course tool, if you wish to assign one.
Note that this same course tool is also where you may set Respondus Monitor settings for a test.
Respondus Monitor is available within the course tool for Respondus Lockdown Browser. This tool adds an additional measure of security for a test by requiring that students use their webcam and microphone in order to be recorded while taking the test. It works with Lockdown Browser, so by requiring LDB is the only way to require Monitor.
Monitor will automatically walk students through a series of steps to ensure that their camera and microphone are working properly, and in the Course Tool you can preview and select each of these steps for yourself. You can also, from the Course Tool, review the videos that have been captured after students have taken the exam. The entire exam is recorded, and you may choose to watch the entire thing, or skim through. This will allow you to see and/or hear any suspicious activity that may have been going on in the student’s environment while he/she was taking the exam.
Remote Proctor Now is a new system adopted by the Purdue system recently. This is available at an extra cost of $15 per exam, per student. Your department must agree to pick up this cost, but this system will not require students to pay anything to participate.
It works very similarly to Respondus Monitor. The difference is that instead of you watching the videos, someone else at the company watches the videos and flags any suspicious behavior seen for you. You will have a dashboard of videos and flags after an exam is finished that you can review and decide what to do with any “offenders” as needed.
An additional perk of RP Now is that it work with any online testing service. So if, for example, you have students complete tests in a textbook site like MyLab from Pearson, you can still have the tests remotely proctored. Respondus Monitor only works within BlackBoard, so it may limit your options if you use any outside exams.
Contact the OLT if you would like to learn more about Remote Proctor Now.
ProctorU is a live proctoring service performed remotely via webcam and microphone. A student takes a test with a real human on the other end watching them, and their screens, and flags any suspicious behavior. The cost of this service starts around $17 is based the test length. This service can work with any system, including anything outside of BlackBoard, but the cost of the exam must be taken on by the student. At this time the university has no agreement with ProctorU. If you wish to use this system, you should inform students about their need to purchase exam time at the beginning of the semester so that they are prepared. You may also wish to consult with your department chair about the use of this system.
These resources can teach you more about these academic integrity tools. In addition, you are enrolled in a course in BlackBoard that will help you get more familiar with these tools and other strategies. Students are enrolled in their own version of this course, which will be optional for them to go through, but will always be available to them for reference.
Remember, we have many resources available to you to help you through your course design process. Whether you are just getting started with BlackBoard or whether you are a long-time user, there are resources, tips, and personal help available whenever you need it. We’re just a call or an email away, or stop by and see us in TECH 206.