The Arizona Quality Alliance
presented Rio Salado College with a 2011 Showcase in Excellence award during
the Performance Excellence Awards Banquet held February 7 at the Chaparral
Suites resort in Scottsdale, Arizona.
The award was given to Rio Salado for its Peer-to-Peer plagiarism
detection system, an innovative process implemented by the college to preserve
academic integrity and reinforce ethical behavior and self-reliance in
students.
AQA Performance Excellence Awards recognize institutional
processes that demonstrate an organization's exceptional leadership, strategic
planning, customer focus, analysis, workforce focus or operational focus.
“Participating in the AQA Showcase Award process was
invaluable in promoting quality assurance and relentless improvement, which are
an integral part of the Rio Salado culture," said Dr. Chris Bustamante,
Rio Salado College president. "As a
result of our participation, the college was able to make our Peer-to-Peer Plagiarism Detection Process even more
efficient to fortify academic integrity and better serve our students and the
community.”
The Peer-to-Peer process is designed to identify and report
work that may have been copied from an external source or submitted by multiple
students and then notify faculty for follow up.
In-house development of the plagiarism detection system
means no licensing or service costs and Rio can update the process at any time
without relying on a third-party vendor.
"Being able to make adjustments on the fly without worrying
about licensing hang ups or service costs is a huge benefit of in-house
development,” said Rio Salado Strategic Systems
Coordinator Dan Huston. “It's programs like this that give Rio the agility to
stay ahead of the game."
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Rio Salado College
is one of the largest public online community colleges in the nation serving
nearly 70,000 students annually. Founded in 1978, Rio Salado offers degree and
certificate programs and general education courses. The college also provides
support for dual enrollment, military and incarcerated students, and is the
largest provider of Adult Basic Education in Arizona.
The Arizona Quality Alliance is an Alliance of
Organizations that Promotes and Recognizes Performance Excellence through the
Arizona Performance Excellence Award Program, Feedback for Improvement,
Professional Development Workshops, Benchmarking Tours, Networking
Opportunities, Training to Assess and Evaluate Organizations, and Mentoring
