PLAGIARISM DETECTION AND PREVENTION - EXPERIENCES FROM THE OPEN UNIVERSITY OF CYPRUS

Abstract

The introduction of eLearning led to a number of advancements in student assessment and evaluation. Convent ional methods of coursework submission, evaluation and feedback were substituted by online workflows and were enhanced with plagiarism detection tools to assist educators in evaluating large numbers of coursework . The increasing number of eLearning student s along with the huge amount of freely accessible information on the Internet, require tools and services for educators , to assist the grading of student s’ coursework and check the originality of their work. In this paper, we present the methodology used f or introducing and delivering a plagiarism detection service in the Open University of Cyprus eLearning platform and integrating it with the coursework submission process. Additionally, we describe the challenges faced during and after the implementation a nd the actions taken to train educators in using the service in a proper way. We conclude by presenting an evaluation of the service, both for its educational and technical soundness, along with statistics of its usage during the last four years.