Using Computer Simulations and Games to Prevent Student Plagiarism

In this increasingly digital age, student plagiarism is rampant. Roughly half of college students admit to plagiarizing using content found online, directly copying and pasting the work of others. Digital technology and social media have greatly changed the landscape of how knowledge is acquired and disseminated; thus, students must be explicitly taught digital literacy skills and how to correctly utilize information they find online. Computer simulations are an active, engaging, and efficient way of explicitly teaching students about plagiarism and how to avoid academic dishonesty. A number of colleges and universities provide free open source games and simulations, which can be utilized as course assignments or activities in order to explicitly teach students proper citation procedures. This article reviews 10 plagiarism prevention computer games and simulations, with details about each program, including access information.