The development of the world of technology in online document service or what we usually know as Google Docs from Google Classroom, makes things easier for many people, including professionals, academics, and students. This technology makes it easier for all document-based work to be completed, especially as the addition of collaboration features will create sustainable efficiency. 

Even though Google Classroom technology really makes work and collaboration easier in completing school tasks, there are things we have to be aware of, especially in terms of security and plagiarism. The emergence of security issues and plagiarism certainly raises the question of how students can do their schoolwork safely and avoid various cheating attempts that occur, in order to ensure security, sustainability, and anti-plagiarism.

Therefore, in this article, we will provide several ways to use Google Classroom to create an online document space that is free from plagiarism and safe in order to increase student productivity in completing their assignments.

Before that, we will provide three impacts that would occur if this anti-plagiarism tool was not implemented in Google Classroom and what effect it would have on students who use this technology. 

Three Negative Impacts of Plagiarism

Decreasing Quality of Education

If Google Classroom does not implement anti-plagiarism, students will face serious issues such as a lack of understanding of the context in which they are working in case they plagiarize other people’s work. Besides that, it will also cause a degradation in student’s critical thinking and analysis skills.

Dependence on External Sources

Dependence on external sources will trigger a loss of original ideas by the writer or student who does the work. Even though referring to external sources is a natural and necessary thing to do in the process of doing journal or school work, if students only rely on external sources without developing solutions, it will certainly have a negative impact on them. 

Apart from that, the impact of this dependence will influence their behavior in facing the real world, where those who are accustomed to plagiarism and dependence on external sources will be affected in ways how they deal with solving complex problems, daily issues, or any challenges they will face in the long term future.

Intellectual Property Rights Conflicts 

The serious implication that will emerge if plagiarism continues to occur is that apart from dependence on external sources, it will also create new problems such as profiteering from sources used without permission which can cause complications with intellectual property rights.

Solutions to Create a Safe and Plagiarism-Free Google Classroom

Use Add-Ons in Google Classroom

Quoting from undetectable.ai, adding a plug-in or add-on in Google Classroom can help you see and check whether the work you do contains a lot of plagiarism. This means that the add-on will measure and check whether the wording made by the student contains plagiarism or quoting the source without mentioning the original authors. 

Implementing Add-Ons will make it easier for teachers to spot plagiarism rather than have to check papers manually. The add-ons provide access to a real-life tracker and can give direct advice to the students who commit plagiarism. 

Collaborative Features for Students and Teachers

By using the collaborative feature, users can check the last time changes in Google Classroom, and of course, monitor the edits directly in real-time. The teacher and student can collaborate easily with each other and maintain the originality of articles made by students. It’s actually okay to quote authors from other articles or blogs as long as the student attributes the original source.

Collaborative features also create great bonding with the students who are on the journey of creating articles. As a teacher, one also can provide guidance and objectives on dos and don’ts for cimpleting assignments and how to mention other sources as references.  

Create clear and appropriate guidelines

In order to prevent plagiarism from occurring, it is best to have clear goals and objectives before the work process in Google Classroom. This is needed so that students and teachers achieve clear goals in carrying out work on articles or other papers in order to build an ecosystem free from plagiarism, maintain originality of content, and cite sources without committing intellectual property theft.

Case Study

In March 2024, a plagiarism case at an Indonesian university garnered widespread attention online. According to Detik.com, the incident involved a Faculty of Economics student accused of plagiarizing another student’s work. The case gained traction when the original author shared her story on X (formerly Twitter). She revealed that a friend had taken her assignment, replaced the title with their own name, and submitted it as their work. Upon discovering the theft, the original author decided to expose the incident publicly, leading to its viral spread.

Another example of plagiarism that attracted attention also happened in Indonesia. Tempo Media published the story of The University of Cambridge uncovering plagiarism committed by the lecturer and student from the state-owned enterprise university in Jakarta. X (formerly Twitter) published their story about how the lecturer and student accused by Cambridge committed article plagiarism with ChatGPT in April 2024.

Summary 

When completing the task or assignment, using external sources is not a problem when it becomes a citation. However, if we quote without mentioning the original article or content or are accustomed to plagiarism, this will trigger more serious problems due to including copyright-subjected information without permission. From the two examples above, we can also learn that plagiarism can be caused not just by quoting the sources without mentioning the original author but also by replicating the paper published by the university lecturer or student. This is also one of the plagiarism crimes that can have a severe penalty due to the violation of copyrights and intellectual property.

Additionally, installing add-ons or using tools to check plagiarism is one of the counter actions. Solutions aimed at avoiding plagiarism and promoting collaboration between teachers and students are also alternative methods to prevent cheating and create a safe ecosystem, encouraging students’ development and confidence.