INVESTING IN TECHNOLOGY TO HELP UNIVERSITIES TACKLE THE RISE OF ChatGPT
Breakthrough Victoria is backing a Victorian technology company to help universities crack down on plagiarism fuelled by the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) language programs like ChatGPT.
Breakthrough Victoria, an investment company established by the Victorian Government to drive innovation in Victoria, will invest $600,000 in EdTech company Cadmus.
Born out of a research project at the University of Melbourne in 2015, Cadmus is a university software platform used to support learning and assessments, with sophisticated learner analytics that detect the authenticity of students’ work, including the use of ChatGPT and other AI platforms.
Rather than trying to catch academic misconduct at the point of submission, Cadmus monitors the process around student assessment construction. This includes how many hours a student has spent on their assessment and the source from which any third party pasted work came from.
As well as providing universities with an immediate solution to tackle plagiarism, the platform also enables universities to design high-quality, authentic assessments across every academic discipline.
Cadmus has been developed in alignment with the Higher Education Standards Framework and has already been adopted by more than half of Australian universities and a number of leading universities in the United Kingdom.
Universities using Cadmus have reported a 76 per cent decrease in academic misconduct, 91 per cent positive student experience and an 8.5 per cent increase in academic performance and pass rates.
Breakthrough Victoria’s investment is part of an undisclosed investment round that will support the company’s global expansion of sales and marketing.
Quotes attributable to Breakthrough Victoria CEO Grant Dooley
“AI language programs like ChatGPT are creating real challenges for universities. Cadmus is a breakthrough innovation that can solve this problem. With the right support and investment, we believe Cadmus has the potential to help universities across Victoria and globally to maintain academic integrity and improve student outcomes and their learning experience.”
Quotes attributable to Cadmus founder and CEO Herk Kailis
“Given the ongoing impact of digital innovation on traditional teaching and learning practices in higher education, our first-in-market assessment for learning platform plays a pivotal role in supporting institutions to address some of their biggest challenges around student experience, student success, inclusive teaching and learning practices, and academic integrity."
“We’re experiencing rapid growth domestically and in new international markets and this timely investment from Breakthrough Victoria will allow Cadmus to sustain its rapid expansion.