Success Story
How Bucknell University Balanced Cost-Effectiveness with the Need for Transparency During the Rise of Generative AI
The Challenge:
Addressing the AI Shift with Financial Efficiency
Bucknell University realized its long-standing contract with legacy provider Turnitin no longer aligned with faculty needs when teachers reported a sense of helplessness as they struggled to verify the authenticity of student work during the rise of Generative AI. The university needed a modern technology partner that could offer transparent, explainable AI detection and an overall more robust feature set, while simultaneously reducing costs in a flat-budget environment.
The Solution:
Copyleaks Integration with Moodle LMS
By partnering with Copyleaks, Bucknell transitioned to a more transparent, cost-effective tool for academic integrity. The new system addressed faculty anxiety surrounding generative AI by providing clear, actionable data through AI Logic, rather than arbitrary percentage scores. Through a seamless Moodle integration, Bucknell successfully lowered its overhead costs while empowering faculty with a superior toolset to ensure the authenticity of student work.
Background
Bucknell University is a private liberal arts college located in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. For the past five years, the university’s instructional technology strategy has been led by Brandon Karcher, the manager of instructional technology (and incoming director of emerging technology). The department is responsible for leading change and innovation for teaching and learning across the campus, ensuring that faculty have the necessary tools to maintain academic excellence while navigating a shifting technological landscape.
The Process
Driven by a need for due diligence, Karcher and his colleagues began exploring the marketplace for a more flexible and cost-effective partner. They sought a platform that could satisfy strict privacy and security requirements while providing a seamless integration with Moodle LMS.
Copyleaks emerged as the frontrunner, largely due to its status as a premier partner of Moodle US. During the evaluation, the university found that Copyleaks offered a more robust toolset compared to its legacy provider. A major factor in the decision was the platform’s ability to provide more data in its AI Detection scan results through its AI Logic features, moving beyond simple percentages to offer clear explanations of the findings.
Financially, the decision was straightforward: Copyleaks provided a comprehensive feature set at a significantly lower price point, allowing the department to maximize a flat higher- education budget.
The Impact
The transition to Copyleaks allowed Bucknell to present a compelling case to university leadership: superior technology for a fraction of the cost. The impact was felt immediately in two key areas:
- AI Detection Transparency: Unlike the simple percentage score provided by previous tools, Copyleaks offered detailed data and actionable insights in its AI Detection scan results. This empowered both students and faculty to understand a report in depth, moving the conversation from simple policing to pedagogical growth.
- Workflow Efficiency: The teacher scan tool became a useful addition for faculty submitting their own work in preparation for journals or conferences without the need to create fake assignments or risk a paper being permanently indexed in a global repository.
Going to leadership and saying, ‘This is going to give us more tools, more features, and more options to work with student work—and it’s also going to cost less money’—it was a pretty easy decision.
Looking Forward
As Bucknell continues to navigate the complexities of generative AI, the university is looking to further integrate Copyleaks into its student success strategy. By adopting Copyleaks, Bucknell moved away from ambiguous percentage scores in similarity reporting toward a granular report that provides detailed data for both instructors and students. This transparency empowers faculty to apply their own pedagogical judgment to the results, ensuring that detection serves as a starting point for a conversation about original thought rather than a final verdict. The goal remains focused on using technology to support critical thinking, ensuring that as AI evolves, Bucknell’s faculty and students have the tools to maintain academic integrity with confidence.