Conference Contributions

Although there are those who argue that Learning Management Systems may cause students to take less responsibility for their own learning, Stellenbosch University (South Africa) has attempted to use Moodle in a way that promotes student autonomy. One such an example is the use of the Turnitin plugin, which allows students to upload their written work in order to point out instances of excessive quoting from source material, quotes without correct punctuation or citations, reliance on a particular source or poor quality sources, incorrect referencing techniques, as well as outright plagiarism. By allowing students to see their ‘similarity index’ and letting them correct these errors before final submission, teachers and lecturers are transferring the responsibility of academic integrity to the students. Staff do, however, need to guide students in interpreting the feedback and must link it to the principles of ethical research and writing, so that students can become more autonomous and confident in their ability to assess their own writing.

Turnitin plugin, upload papers, ethical research, autonomous students