Should I use AI and plagiarism detection tools in my course?

Over the years, many colleges have adopted automated plagiarism detection tools in their Learning Management System to help faculty verify that students are submitting authentic coursework. WPI uses Turnitin Similarity and AI detection tools to achieve this in Canvas assignments. But how do these types of tools even work? Is there value in enabling them in a course?

Yes, using a plagiarism detection tool responsibly to create teachable moments is possible! Some students may come to WPI without a good understanding of plagiarism and how to properly paraphrase and cite in a research paper.

Developing communication around the usage of Turnitin in your class is essential to creating transparency and eliminating confusion on what is permissible in your course. Many plagiarism detectors have AI components integrated to detect AI generated text from AI tools like ChatGPT and Microsoft CoPilot.

When writing, most students intend to use writing assistants (like Grammarly or citation managers) responsibly and appropriately, but they need guidance on what tools are appropriate to use and how to use them. To that end, we’ve outlined some best practices and helpful resources to help instructors use plagiarism and AI detection tools effectively in their courses.

 

Creating Communication & Understanding Around using Turnitin, Plagiarism & AI Detection

• Introduce Turnitin & AI policies in your course syllabus or course overview early as your policies may differ from classes students have had in the past. Explain how these tools can support students in using sources appropriately and your expectations on how they will be used in your course.
• Provide documentation for your students on how to use Turnitin.
  • How to submit an assignment using Turnitin in Canvas
  • How to view a Turnitin report in Canvas
• Create a “practice assignment” or point them to WPI’s open plagiarism site to see what a report might look like when submitting their work.
  • To create a practice assignment in your own course, disable “submission indexing” in Assignment Settings so papers are not included in future comparisons.
• You also have the option in a Canvas assignment to “Show report to students immediately.” This option allows students to see the Similarity Report before the assignment is graded. It encourages them to review their writing and address any issues that may have been flagged as plagiarism or identified as having missing citations.
  • More information on Settings for Turnitin assignments:
    • Exclude from Similarity Reports: Exclude text appearing in the bibliography, quotes or both from being checked for matches when generating Similarity Reports. You can override this setting in individual Similarity Reports.
    • Submission indexing: When a submission is indexed by Turnitin, it is made available for comparison in future Similarity Reports. Who can match against a paper is based on your Turnitin license. On assignment creation, you can decide if papers submitted to your course will be indexed in this way or if you would just like them to receive a similarity report.
    • Generate Similarity Reports: Choose a Similarity Report generation option that best suits your needs:
      • Immediately: A Similarity Report will be generated at the time of submission
      • Immediately and on due date: A Similarity Report will be generated at the time of submission and on the assignment’s due date. We recommend this option as it allows for a collusion check within your class.
• Understand that AI & plagiarism detection is not perfect. It’s just one tool for instructors to help them identify when a student may be using AI-generated text instead of their original work. It is not 100% accurate! From Turnitin’s site: “Our AI writing detection model may not always be accurate (it may misidentify human-written, AI-generated, and AI-generated and AI-paraphrased text), so it should not be used as the sole basis for adverse actions against a student.”
  • Information on false positives in AI detection
  • View full AI detection documentation from Turnitin
  • How to facilitate open conversations about using AI

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out anytime to the Technology for Teaching and Learning team at atc-ttl@wpi.edu.

 

Adapted from Indiana University, Best Practices for Turnitin Assignments and Temple University, Turnitin as a Teaching Tool