Using audience response technology to teach academic integrity

Abstract

Purpose This paper seeks to explore the successes and challenges associated with teaching first‐year students a session on plagiarism avoidance through the use of an audience response system. Design/methodology/approach An audience response system was used to test first‐year students' knowledge of plagiarism. Quiz questions about academic honesty and plagiarism were administered, and were answered anonymously with hand‐held remote control devices. The reporting feature of the technology was used to gather results of the answers to these questions, which will be used to improve the session in future years. Findings Data gathered from the sessions indicated that this session helped students retain knowledge of plagiarism rules. Comments solicited about the session indicated that the students enjoyed the lesson, that they were better able to recognize problem areas in their own writing, and that the interactivity kept them focused on the lesson. Research limitations/implications The session will have to be repeated over a number of years to determine whether there is a link between it and the number of plagiarism incidents on campus. Practical implications This paper provides a practical and relatively inexpensive approach for teaching academic integrity to large groups of students. An undertaking of this magnitude requires dedicated involvement from an institution's administration. Any correlation between the session and the number of plagiarism cases may never be able to be proved conclusively. Originality/value Audience response technology is not yet widely used in small academic libraries. This paper offers a suggestion for implementing this technology to teach academic integrity in a consistent and effective way to large groups of first‐year undergraduate students.

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