Using Turn-It-In to reduce Cheating/Plagiarism
I have found the utilization of Turn-It-In to greatly reduce the ability for students to cheat on assignment and research papers. It also assists in catching students who copy and paste material from the internet and plagiarize.
One neat feature that Turn-It-In does is upon submitting an assignment it reviewes to see not only if the students response was copied from the internet but also from other students current/past responses.
This has allowed me to capture many times where a student tries to submit the same research paper for multiple classes and in one circumstance where a student was turning in a paper previously submitted by a student a year ago in a different class.
That is some good clarification of Turn-It-In's value over googling sections of papers which will show plagerism from published sources. I think student's particularily in lower level classes are more likely to engage in paper sharing and re-use.
Andrew, thanks for sharing some of the features of Turnitin. I have used this in the past but was not aware of the features you discussed here; this is great!!
I have been using Turnitin for quite some time and it is a powerful and useful tool in the technology age. While features of the program make it ideal for catching those who lack academic integrity, the results can also be utilized as a teaching aid to help students understand the proper way to compose academic (and work) papers and materials.
Richard Hough
Thank You for your input I didn't that Turn-It-In can deter students from submitting the same research paper in mutli classes.
Hi Andrew,
Thanks for recapping the features of Turn It In. I had used it before as a Master's student a few years ago. It did help me learn how to paraphrase and proof read effectively, and helped overall in taking what I read and making it my own with my own thoughts/assessments.
I currently teach, support, and train online faculty and our platform does not include Turn It In software. The faculty have been googling segments of assignments when something seems suspect. It misses the whole category entirely of students who recirculate/reuse papers. Our platform upgrade in the next 6 months is supposed to include Turn It In software because of all the faculty clamoring for it.
this is a very useful tool, but you have to pay for it. I am usually able to gauge whether the writing is the learner's or not. If I suspect it has been lifted, I highlight the section in question and paste it into Google, and BAM, there it is if it has been lifted. I then copy the lifted portion and paste it directly beneath where the learner has used it with the question: can you help me understand how this might have happened? They don't do it again. And it was free.
I agree Turn-It-In is an effective tool to prevent cheating, and to help the students to become better writers.
The information about Turn-it-In was very informative. However, I was wondering about the cost. Would this be an expense covered by the school or would this be an out-of pocket cost for instructors?
Troy,
Most schools will purchase this for thier instructors you get a discount for a larger license. Check with your school to see if they have this yet.
Shelly Crider
