An exploration of the impact of a VLE assignment text-matching tool to improve students’ academic writing

Abstract

Hibernia College delivers blended Professional Master in Education (PME) programmes to students across Ireland. Their backgrounds are diverse: some enter the programmes directly from undergraduate studies, others are returning to education after many years working. Some students have difficulty adopting academic writing conventions such as paraphrasing, quoting, citing and referencing. The College added the URKUND text-matching tool to its Moodle-based VLE in 2018. Its intended use is as a formative tool for students to improve their academic writing (Rolfe, 2011). It generates a text-matching report that students scrutinise and they judge for themselves if they have used another’s material in an improper way – by incorrectly paraphrasing, quoting, citing or referencing. They then have an opportunity to amend their assignment and re-upload. Documentation was provided to students upon its introduction, explaining the capabilities, scope and limitations of URKUND and how to use it. This research on the impact of URKUND used a mixed-methods approach. Three student cohorts had the tool available to them when uploading assignments in spring 2018 and were surveyed after their upload deadline passed. The tool was widely-used and well-received but students also held misconceptions about URKUND’s capabilities. Students also had difficulty in making judgements on their assignment as they were unclear if what the report was showing them was ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. To maximise its potential as a formative tool, a continual re-enforcement of URKUND’s capabilities, scope and limitations would appear to be required. Similarly, it would appear students need support in developing skills to interpret the report and to make judgements on their own academic writing.