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Library Technology and Information

Text Matching Policy

Last updated: 21 March 2023

Introduction

  1. At the University of Gloucestershire, in accordance with our values and our responsibilities as a degree awarding body, integrity in academic practice, including assessment, is taken seriously.  The responsibilities of students and staff are conveyed through the Student Charter.  Our approach is to provide students with guidance and support about academic practice (a formative emphasis), but also to rigorously investigate breaches of our assessment regulations (a summative component).
  1. Online text matching systems are widely used across the HE sector in the UK and worldwide primarily to prevent assessment offences by verifying content submitted for an assessment towards an accredited qualification..
  1. At the University of Gloucestershire, we use an online text matching system developed by Turnitin® UK, and deploy it for the following two main uses:

Summative Assessment and Text Matching

  1. All text based summative assessments submitted online through our Electronic Management of Assessment system will automatically be passed through the Turnitin database.
  2. Tutors will have access to originality reports for any assessment for which they are a first or second marker.
  3. Students will only see the originality report for their assessment if it is investigated as an Assessment Offence.
  1. This policy will be communicated to students at the point of course enrolment, as follows:

‘The University makes use of the Turnitin® UK tool to help academic tutors detect any cases of suspected breaches of the assessment regulations. The system automatically processes student work when it is submitted for assessment, providing academic tutors with access to an originality report if they suspect that re-presentation, inappropriate citation or plagiarism has taken place.

8. In addition, every time a student submits an assessment, they will accept a statement that the work submitted is their own, that the sources used are appropriately acknowledged, and that they agree to the work passing through a text matching system.

Formative Assessment and Text Matching

  1. All students will have access to the text matching system, via the Virtual Learning Environment (Moodle), on at least one compulsory module at each level of study.
  2. The School will determine which modules on every  course should be designated for this purpose
  3. The VLE will allow the addition of this facility at the module level providing an integrated formative tool (known as a Turnitin Check Point) on module Moodle sites.
  4. Instructions on how to add a Turnitin Check Point to a module Moodle site are available on the Turnitin support site for staff
  5. The addition of the Turnitin Check Point will be the responsibility of the module tutors for the modules the School has agreed should be designed for this purpose.

Guidance on interpretation of Text Matching originality reports

  1. As part of the University’s Electronic Management of Assessment all text based summative assessments will automatically be submitted through the Turnitin database and an originality report will be produced.
  2. Originality reports, taken in isolation, do not provide the basis for investigating a suspected breach of assessment regulations.
  3. The use of a text matching system formatively involves students submitting draft text via the Virtual Learning Environment in order to raise their awareness and develop their understanding of good academic practice.  Students’ understanding will be facilitated by in class instruction/guidance on academic integrity, good academic practice and instructions on using and interpreting a Turnitin originality report.
  4. Repeated submission of the same assignment through Turnitin for formative purposes is not recommended as good practice, and might lead students to become over-reliant on the system without understanding the principles underpinning good academic practice.

Guidance on using Turnitin

18. Academic colleagues and professional staff who support learning, teaching and assessment should familiarise themselves with the guidance on how Turnitin should be used to implement the Text Matching Policy (see: Guidance for staff on using Turnitin. Please note: this link is not available externally).

Approved by Academic Affairs Committee – June 2021

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