Abstract
The Werklund School of Education (WSE) has identified an opportunity to study the development of online graduate students’ understanding of plagiarism and academic integrity. The proposed project will explore the impact of an evidence-based online tutorials designed specifically for new graduate students. This study will address questions students have about how to correctly cite and reference sources for their papers, capstone projects and theses. The tutorials will focus on a positive and educational approach to cultivating academic integrity as an integral element of the graduate student experience, moving away from outdated and punitive approaches that do little to bolster students’ confidence in themselves and their abilities.
Previous studies have shown that developing social, cognitive and teaching presence in online courses helps students success but when institutional tutorials are developed the are often done as a static and stand-alone tutorial that do not include interaction with others. The study involves an A/B testing model in which research participants will have their choice of participating in Option A: an asynchronous (on demand) online tutorial or Option B: a synchronous (real time) interactive tutorial facilitated by an instructor. The study will examine online students’ preferences and progress in terms of developing their understanding of plagiarism and cultivating a personal ethic of academic integrity as graduate students. We aim to discover what the differences are between static on-demand tutorial and a real-time facilitated interactive session with an experienced instructor.
Refereed
No
Sponsorship
University of Calgary Teaching and Learning Grants
