VotApedia for Student Engagement in Academic Integrity Education

Abstract

VotApedia is a form of Student Response System (SRS) with features which make it highly applicable to the modern classroom (Maier 2009). Instead of using ‘clickers’, VotApedia allows educators to pose multiple-choice questions (MCQs) via a website which students then respond to using their mobile phone. While SRSs have been used in a variety of disciplines so far (mostly natural and health sciences), their potential for student development activities such as academic skills is, as yet, untapped. In particular, academic integrity education is a low-assessment but highstakes context which lends itself to information-transmission models focussed on the definitions of and punishments for plagiarism, and conveying strategies for avoiding plagiarism or achieving academic writing (McGowan 2005). Therefore, VotApedia aims to increase student engagement in academic integrity learning and specifically allow for the correction of misconceptions, as it has done in other contexts (Fies & Marshall 2006). This paper reports on a pilot study regarding the implementation of VotApedia in a lecture entitled ‘Plagiarism and Referencing’ for international students. The main finding is a positive observed effect on student engagement and specifically the potential for correcting misconceptions. Student responses to questions posed via VotApedia revealed misunderstandings of issues around plagiarism and referencing, especially regarding interpretation of Turnitin reports, and allowed for correction through discussion of these issues. Fifteen student reflections in the form of blogs also indicate high engagement, a high level of appreciation for the use of the technology, and unexpected metacognitive activity among students. Strengths and weaknesses of VotApedia are discussed, as well as possibilities for future research based on this pilot study.