TITLE:
Turnitin Adoption and Application at a HEI: A Developmental Approach
AUTHORS:
Juliet Stoltenkamp, Martha Kabaka
KEYWORDS:
Turnitin, Developmental Approach, Lecturers, Policy, Marketing
JOURNAL NAME:
Creative Education,
Vol.5 No.12,
June
26,
2014
ABSTRACT: Issues of plagiarism are mutual debates across Higher Education
Institutions (HEI). As a result, institutions have employed software detection
tools as a measure to deter such unacceptable academic practices. This study
explores experiences related to the adoption and implementation of Turnitin
(Tii) perspective through a developmental approach at a HEI, namely, the
University of the Western Cape (UWC), South Africa, during the period 2010
January to 2013 June . A case study approach was adopted targeting the
lecturers, their assistants and Centre for Innovative Educational and
Communication Technologies (CIECT) Tii support team members. Qualitative
research design was applied. This was in addition to an analysis of data
collected from post-Tii training workshop evaluation questionnaires, and random
email enquiries and responses between lecturers and the CIECT team on Tii
matters. The paper reflects on the slow uptake of Tii by the lecturers, which
is worrisome as the students are dependent on their commitment. The support
team encourages a developmental, rather than a punitive approach. Students need
to be encouraged by their lecturers to submit assignments and subsequently
improve on their academic writing according to originality reports retrieved
from Tii. The researchers hope that these findings would highlight the
importance of the dissemination of an anti-plagiarism document which will
enable plagiarism discourse.