Turnitin announced today the winners of the 2019 Global Innovation Awards which recognize educators, technology administrators, and institutions who have worked tirelessly to facilitate authentic learning, improve assessment practices, help students to achieve learning objectives, and support institutional strategy.
Turnitin commended the honorees for their commitment to integrity in education as they cultivate originality and academic excellence through their innovative practices and policies.
This year’s overall winner is Dr. Joe Stevens, Principal Lecturer and LLB Course Leader at the Bloomsbury Institute in the United Kingdom. The nature of Dr. Steven’s work and his background as a former police officer demonstrates his commitment to the values of integrity, which transcend the immediate classroom and are fundamental in ensuring that his students are fit to practice law. Joe saw the potential of Turnitin Authorship in aiding both the investigation of academic misconduct cases and overall academic integrity awareness. With a campus-wide Integrity Matters initiative and tools like Turnitin Authorship, he works to ensure that students and faculty alike have a clear understanding of the rising threats to academic integrity, such as the problem of contract cheating.
“In today’s global online learning community maintaining our academic integrity has never been more important in order to allow those who do the work to gain the credit from their effort,” said Dr. Stevens. “We at the Bloomsbury Institute are overjoyed that as an institution we have been able to demonstrate our part in this role. Personally I am humbled and honored by this award which encourages me to continue to develop new innovative ways to both combat and educate on academic integrity.”
Along with Dr. Joe Stevens and the Bloomsbury Institute, nine other winning educators and institutions from Australia; Bangladesh; Colombia; Georgia; Indonesia; Mexico, Nigeria, the United Kingdom, and the United States were commended by Turnitin.
An international panel of academics and previous finalists picked this year’s winners from each of the eight global regions. An overall Global Innovator who has gone above and beyond in their pursuit of excellence was selected from the finalists. In its five-year history, the Global Innovation Awards have recognized over 200 individuals and learning institutions for outstanding efforts and contributions to education with integrity.
See the Global Innovation Awards webpage for winners’ stories and a full award list.