What plagiarism detection
software is available to online instructors?
The two most commonly used plagiarism
software programs are EVE (Essay Verification Engine) software, and Turnitin.com. My mother
is an instructor for a college and she said that they have been using
Turnitin.com for many years and are happy with it. What I have found through my
research is that bigger colleges either have their own data base/software
program or they subscribe to a major servicer like TI. The basis of these
plagiarism engines is to cross reference prior submissions to their data base.
I think that all schools should use the same engine that is governed by an
educational company similar to the Department of Education. The reason for this
is because then all papers are submitted to one data base and will offer the
biggest sampling of documents/submissions to cross reference. Both the above
mentioned websites compare individual student papers to the databases. This is
done to find and report instances of matching text. Turnitin catches Web
plagiarism and checks sources from students’ bibliographies for plagiarism,
including articles that are unavailable on the Web. Another facet of cross
referencing or anti-plagiarism is the course management systems or CMS that an
institution uses. Angel and Blackboard monitor and set limitations for the
assigned work students do. It may limit time, date, and access points such as
monitoring the I.P. address from which the user is doing the work.
How can the design of assessments help prevent academic dishonesty?
Assessments must have key components built into them clearly outlining rules, regulations and ramifications. If the design of the assessment is built well and the communication is clear and concise the student shouldn’t have any problems understanding the information. Part of the assessment design is the verbiage used in the instructions before the assignment and after the assignment. For online learners, e-assessments offer the same flexibility and feedback that the online course does. Essentially it is an extension of the online course and should be built into it.
How can the design of assessments help prevent academic dishonesty?
Assessments must have key components built into them clearly outlining rules, regulations and ramifications. If the design of the assessment is built well and the communication is clear and concise the student shouldn’t have any problems understanding the information. Part of the assessment design is the verbiage used in the instructions before the assignment and after the assignment. For online learners, e-assessments offer the same flexibility and feedback that the online course does. Essentially it is an extension of the online course and should be built into it.
Plagiarism is still a concern in
academia. According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, To “Plagiarize”
means:
·
to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of
another) as one's own
·
to use (another's production)
without crediting the source
·
to commit literary theft
·
to present as new and original an
idea or product derived from an existing source
One thing I noticed is that when an
instructor creates questions or assignments that require or suggest the use of
real life experiences or scenarios, it helps to reduce the amount plagiarisms
because the information produce by the students is typically unique to them. My
first online course required the use of a proctor for the four tests that I had
for the course. In some instances I believe a proctor is absolutely necessary
but as a result reduces the amount of flexibility associated with the
course. Proctors help to ensure that
students take the assessment at a designated time, without collaborators and
unauthorized materials (Rowe, 2004). Assignments can be designed to incorporate
collaboration, including discussion posts and online group projects (Boettcher
& Conrad, 2011).
What facilitation strategies
do you propose to use as a current or future online instructor?
The video in this week’s resources revealed some great information. One of the important functions of a facilitator, “Is to educate learners about copyright, fair use, plagiarism, and cheating” (Laureate Education, n.d.). Standard operating procedures should be a mandatory requirement imposed by the educational institution such as course requirements, syllabus, and available resources such as Turnitin, citemachine.com, writing centers, peers and more. It is not only on the instructors and educational institutions responsibility to facilitate “clean learning” but also the student must be proactive in finding resources and asking questions for clarification and consistency.
The video in this week’s resources revealed some great information. One of the important functions of a facilitator, “Is to educate learners about copyright, fair use, plagiarism, and cheating” (Laureate Education, n.d.). Standard operating procedures should be a mandatory requirement imposed by the educational institution such as course requirements, syllabus, and available resources such as Turnitin, citemachine.com, writing centers, peers and more. It is not only on the instructors and educational institutions responsibility to facilitate “clean learning” but also the student must be proactive in finding resources and asking questions for clarification and consistency.
What additional considerations
for online teaching should be made to help detect or prevent cheating and
plagiarism?
There questions that require unique individual responses is one way to reduce plagiarism. According to Rowe, “Drawing questions randomly for each student from a pool is one example, helping to is a plethora of methods to detect and prevent cheating and plagiarism. As mentioned before utilizing reorder multiple-choice answers randomly if possible (Rowe, 2004). In my freshmen year of my undergraduate studies our Psychology 100 course had four different versions of the same test. The test were color coded and the questions were reorder so that students could not cheat off of each other. Turnitin and other similar engines are the main source for plagiarism detection for text based submissions.
References:
Boettcher, J. V., & Conrad, R. (2010). The online teaching survival guide: Simple and
practical pedagogical tips. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (n.d.). Plagiarism and Cheating [Video webcast]. Retrieved June 13, 2013 fromhttps://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_2818946_1%26url%3D
Rowe, N.C. (2004). Cheating in Online Student Assessment: Beyond Plagiarism.Retrieved June 13, 2013 fromhttp://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/summer72/rowe72.html
There questions that require unique individual responses is one way to reduce plagiarism. According to Rowe, “Drawing questions randomly for each student from a pool is one example, helping to is a plethora of methods to detect and prevent cheating and plagiarism. As mentioned before utilizing reorder multiple-choice answers randomly if possible (Rowe, 2004). In my freshmen year of my undergraduate studies our Psychology 100 course had four different versions of the same test. The test were color coded and the questions were reorder so that students could not cheat off of each other. Turnitin and other similar engines are the main source for plagiarism detection for text based submissions.
References:
Boettcher, J. V., & Conrad, R. (2010). The online teaching survival guide: Simple and
practical pedagogical tips. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (n.d.). Plagiarism and Cheating [Video webcast]. Retrieved June 13, 2013 fromhttps://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_2818946_1%26url%3D
Rowe, N.C. (2004). Cheating in Online Student Assessment: Beyond Plagiarism.Retrieved June 13, 2013 fromhttp://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/summer72/rowe72.html
No comments:
Post a Comment