Detecting and preventing plagiarism in online assessment

Abstract

Assessment is an important area in both teaching and learning. E-assessment is the foremost methodology for assessment in distance learning. This paper presents a method based on client-server architecture that can be used in capturing/preventing plagiarism in online assessments for distance learning centres. Among many possible scenarios of plagiarism, developed system focused on preventing or capturing unauthorised help obtained from online chat forms, websites or other types of communication mediums as well as use of stored text/restricted software. Bench tests show high degree of accuracy in capturing plagiarism scenarios by monitoring the change of grey values observed in edge detected screen shots. During pilot tests, participants attempted activities of plagiarism although the software was designed to prevent the act of plagiarism. The results show 97% accuracy in capturing plagiarism scenarios by the developed software in a restricted Ubuntu Linux environment.