Academic Honesty,Assignment Management,

Final Results Processing:An Integrated Approach Using Blackboard

Rick Warr, Stephen King, Colin Williamson

Presenter Introductions:

Rick WarrBusiness School IT Projects and Services Manager

Chairperson of the Academic Honesty Working Party

Colin WilliamsonBusiness School IT BlackboardAdministrator

Stephen KingeLearning ManagerBusiness School Office of Learning and Teaching

Where the Business School is now?

• Blackboard 9.0 service pack 6• Processing Of Results System – and supporting

building blocks• Academic Honesty System – plus TurnItIn and

supporting building blocks• Sophisticated use of Organisations for teaching• Every Unit of Study is imported in it’s current

state to Bb 4 times a day• All academics use Blackboard

Student Results ProcessingBusiness Problem

• 18,400 student results per semester – massive• .txt file required by student record system -

legacy• Results in no fixed format - inconsistent• Reliant on human error detection and fixing –

human error• Person doing the checking were admin assistants -

governance• One mistake, whole batch needed to be reprocessed

– workflow• No management reporting - control

Student Results Processing(Processing Of Results System)

1. Assessor completes Final Mark & Grade in GradeCenter

2. Business rules apply before submitting for approval

3. Electronic approval with management reporting

4. Error free results posted to student records system

Student Result ProcessingOutcomes

• “processing error” rate was reduced from 30% to 0%

• i.e. 5,520 results did not require re-processing

• Overall management reporting

• Central Result Processing Manager says “a really good system, I don’t have to worry about checking your results and sending them back”

Academic HonestyBusiness Problem

• More students whose first language is not English – different demography

• Technology makes plagiarism easy – standards diminished

• Administration easier if assignment submissions are consistent format – traceability

• Greater need to promote good academic practice - education

• Greater need to control good academic practice – detection & procedure

Academic HonestyEducation Module

Academic HonestySystem

1. Students complete and pass an Academic Honesty Education Module in Bb – compulsory

2. All text assignments electronically submitted to TurnItIn

3. Assessors are provided reports from TurnItIn to assist in the detection of plagiarism

4. Detection cases are referred and processed by the Director of Academic Appeals

Academic HonestyResults

• 10,145 Business School students have passed the Academic Honesty Education Module

• Tools are available to assessors for easier plagiarism detection

• Detection rates increased as expected with better detection tools

• Business School demonstrates it is taking Academic Honesty seriously

S1 2009 S2 2009 S1 2010 S2 20100

100

200

300

400

500

600

Detected Dishonesty Cases

Detected Dishonesty Cases

Adoption of SystemsBuilding on Innovation

Project Management NotesEssential Fundamentals for Success

• Clarity and acceptance of objective – “the collective understanding of the better place”

• A supportive Sponsor – “authority and funding”• A project working party/steering committee –

“governance by key reps”• A collaborative inclusive approach – “good

communication”• Flexibility to adapt new strategies – “ability to

pick a winner and not flog a dead horse”• Sustained attention and commitment – “just plain

hard work and sustained focus”

Questions?

• Thank you for your attention

• Handouts are available that provide more detailed description of PORS and the ACADEMIC HONESTY SYSTEM

• We would appreciate your feedbackrick.warr@sydney.com.au