Entrepreneurs from Tanaka Business School show students why plagiarism doesn't pay

As concerns grow about the breadth of plagiarism in British universities, an eLearning spin-out company from Tanaka Business School, is launching a ground-breaking product to help universities prevent plagiarism.

This new online course, which highlights the dangers of plagiarism, was developed by Epigeum Ltd. in a unique partnership with 16 universities, and will now be available for purchase to other education institutions.

Called 'Avoiding Plagiarism' the product is a 40 minute online course which combines vox-pop interviews with students together with interactive quizzes and simulations. A strong positive message was used as it was felt to be the best medium available for getting the message across to young students. 'In our initial research, we found that students didn't respond well to threats', says David Babington-Smith, one of the founders of Epigeum. 'We needed a positive message that encouraged students to use other peoples work but then reference it correctly. That would actually lead them to get better marks and negate the need for plagiarism.'

'Our aim was to produce something which made students sit up and smile, and actually engage with the issues involved in plagiarism' says Dr Baggy Cox, a Tanaka Business School researcher and co-author of the programme's content. She adds that in the past, 'universities tried to educate students through lengthy handbook guidelines and occasional workshops but we found the message was still not getting through. Few students read the handbook and when a university has over 10,000 students, it is impossible to have enough workshops to reach them all. The online medium of delivery means that we can now reach everybody - even the distance learners.'

The 16 universities involved in this project helped to share the development costs and advised on the course development. Epigeum is currently supported by Imperial Innovations, a spin-out company from Imperial College London, that encourages scientists and lecturers from all of the College's institutions to develop their research into market-ready products.

For further information:
Eoin Bedford
Press and PR Manager
Imperial College London
Tanaka Business School
South Kensington campus
London SW7 2AZ
Email: e.bedford@imperial.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0) 207 594 9154
Mobile: +44 (0) 772 515 9796

Notes to editors

About Imperial College London and Tanaka Business School
Consistently rated in the top three UK university institutions, Imperial College London is a world leading science-based university whose reputation for excellence in teaching and research attracts students (11,000) and staff (6,000) of the highest international quality. Innovative research at the College explores the interface between science, medicine, engineering and management and delivers practical solutions that enhance the quality of life and the environment - underpinned by a dynamic enterprise culture. Website: www.imperial.ac.uk

Imperial College's Tanaka Business School is a world-class provider of business education and research, focusing primarily on innovation and entrepreneurship, finance and healthcare management. The School offers full-time and executive MBAs, Master's programmes in Finance, Risk Management, International Health Management, Actuarial Finance and Management; and a Doctoral programme. Tanaka Business School www.imperial.ac.uk/tanaka

About Epigeum
Epigeum Ltd (www.epigeum.co.uk ) is an eLearning spin-out company from Tanaka Business School. Its co-founders are David Babington-Smith (a graduate of the Full-time MBA) and David Lefevre (eLearning Manager at the School).

The 16 universities in the Development Group include Anglia Ruskin, Brighton, Bath, Birmingham, Birkbeck, Bournemouth, Cardiff, Durham, Edinburgh, Herts, Leicester, Nottingham Trent, Open University, Southampton, Royal Holloway and York.