Using Turnitin.com to Eliminate Academic Dishonesty in the Online Classroom

Jane E. O’Brien, GAVS English Department ChairDr. Joe Cozart, GAVS Associate Director of Strategic Planning

Georgia Virtual School

• Georgia Virtual School (GAVS) 2010-2011 enrollments -GAVS Students: 13,822Credit Recovery: 12,413 students

• Desire2Learn is the Learning Management System utilized for all courses, as well as our Credit Recovery Program.

• Turnitin.com is the Plagiarism Tool GAVS integrated into the D2L platform to assist in monitoring student performance.

Using Turnitin.com to Eliminate Academic Dishonesty in the Online Classroom

Turnitin.com: The Integrated Resource Turnitin.com assists online instructors with the facilitation of

the writing process, monitoring students understanding of what constitutes plagiarism in all of its varied forms, and eliminating academic dishonesty.

The Integrated Resource includes:– The Originality Report ®

– GradeMark ®

– Peer Review

Types of Plagiarism

Common forms of plagiarism in the onlineclassroom:• Failure to cite direct references according to the specified

style guide• Copying ideas from another student, work, online source• Submitting a work that is not an original text• Paraphrasing and or copying• Providing incorrect information

Reasons Why Students Plagiarize

Students plagiarize for a number of reasons, including the following:• generally do not understand the topic• ignorance, laziness, or indifference• refrain from planning and “panic”• copying and pasting information is more expedient• lack of skills with citing sources• believe the ideas are “common knowledge”

Preventing Plagiarism

The According to Plagiarism.org, plagiarism can be controlled in the classroom by integrating the following:• most important steps in preventing plagiarism are those

taken to address its causes. • The strategies in this section are intended as guidelines to

help you:• become aware of the reasons plagiarism occurs• identify the different forms of plagiarism• integrate plagiarism prevention techniques into your courses

(“What is Plagiarism”)

Combating Plagiarism: The Originality Report

The Originality Report offers students a side by side comparison of their writing and source matches.

Uses in the online classroom:• A teaching tool• Citing Sources• Using Style Guides effectively• Peer Review Resource• Formative Assessment

Dropbox Image of Student Reports

Sample Originality Report

Best Practices for Eliminating Plagiarism, Georgia Virtual School English, Grades 9-12

Strategies:• Mandatory Video Session on Turnitin.com• Teaching the Writing Process• Continued Instruction of the proper use of MLA format• Modeling approaches to utilizing the Originality Report

effectively• Captivate Video for, entitled “Maximizing the Originality

Report” embedded at the beginning of each course• Faculty Training and/or professional development

opportunities on Plagiarism and Turnitin.com

Eliminating Plagiarism: Prevention Guidelines and Classroom Strategies

Plagiarism Prevention Guidelines:• become aware of the reasons plagiarism occurs• identify the different forms of plagiarism• integrate plagiarism prevention techniques into your courses

(“What is Plagiarism”)Strategies for Online Instructors:• Teach students the difference between summation,

paraphrasing, and directly citing a text• Model/demonstrate how a paper is evaluated, using the

Originality Report and GradeMark® comments.• Encourage students to make “better choices”

Combating Plagiarism Resources

Teaching Proper use of MLA and APA Style Guides:• The OWL at Purdue, Online Writing Lab,

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/• Modern Language Association, http://www.mla.org/• American Psychological Association,

http://www.apastyle.org/index.aspxPlagiarism Prevention and General Commentary:• Plagiarism, http://www.plagiarism.org/Webinars and various instructional tools:• Turnitin.com, http://turnitin.com/static/index.php

Plagiarism, Academic Dishonesty, and GAVS PolicyDr. Joe Cozart

• Academic Dishonesty in the Online Classroom• Plagiarism Policy• Methods of addressing Plagiarism across multiple

disciplines• Georgia Virtual School Student Handbook

Question, Comments?