[CALIBK12] Turnitin.com

[Doug Achterman]

I couldn't agree with Connie more. 

In the digital age, how about this tweak:

Have students copy and paste ALL digital passages they're using into a
notes page that includes source information. You could even teach
students to hyperlink their own text to the original passage, so the
reader can shift easily from students' text to the reference.

 

Doug Achterman

Library Media Teacher

San Benito High School

1220 Monterey St.

Hollister, CA  95023

(831)637-5831 ext. 181

dachterman at sbhsd.k12.ca.us

http://www.sbhsd.k12.ca.us/sbhslib/library.htm

********************************************************

School libraries raise student achievement.

 

From: calibk12-bounces at lists.sjsu.edu
[mailto:calibk12-bounces at lists.sjsu.edu] On Behalf Of Connie Young
Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2008 7:00 PM
To: Janet Hasbrouck; wilkmike at earthlink.net; calibk12 at lists.sjsu.edu
Subject: Re: [CALIBK12] Turnitin.com

 

Ok, I must chime in... this is an area I love, and it saddens me that it
is harder for teachers to devote much time to teaching research as a
process: in these days of teaching to the tests, we leave this critical
area of understanding behind. 

 

When I taught English, I could stop most plagiarism before it began. I
simply has students draft the reports in class as much as I could. I'd
take them to the labs to work and watch and guide them. Did it take more
time than many teachers want to give up to produce quality research
papers? Absolutely.

 

Would I teach differently? No. Why not? My students truly learned the
value of properly citiing sources, and I think they (deep down)
appreciated the chance to "get it right," instead of feeling that
pressure to cheat or hurry the work. 

 

Most students don't "want" to be cheaters. I believe that. Maybe I am
naive, but I believe it and I always have.

 

Did a few students still plagiarize. Yes, but the incidents were far
less. 
I loved watching how proud students were of their work in the end. They
had really mastered the learning.


Research is a process. As soon as we stop teaching it as such, we
devalue research itself. 

 

This hurts everyone in the end. I hope to help any student who walks
into my library through any phase of this process he wants help with.

 

Ok, I am off my soap box.

 

Connie Young

Teacher-Librarian

Frontier High School

Bakersfield, CA

________________________________

From: calibk12-bounces at lists.sjsu.edu [calibk12-bounces at lists.sjsu.edu]
On Behalf Of Janet Hasbrouck [JHASBROU at ausd.net]
Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2008 3:55 PM
To: wilkmike at earthlink.net; calibk12 at lists.sjsu.edu
Subject: Re: [CALIBK12] Turnitin.com

Hi Shelee,

 

We use Turnitin, but I don't think this has ever come up. We have had
students, parents and their lawyers try to deny the cheating and
plagiarism when it is detected. If you want to do some research, there
have been several law suits filed by students for this very reason and
the students lost the cases. I think that Turnitin has some links on
their site under news releases or something like that. A Google search
or eLibrary or Ebsco search would certainly give you some articles to
read about the basis of the decisions.

 

Just my thoughts, but I would assume that in the situation you describe,
the student's paper would still be subjected to scrutiny by the teacher
checking for citations, etc, and the use of Google or other search
engine searches of distinctive phrases, comparison to Sparks Notes,
etc., the way we did before we had Turnitin if anything looks
suspicious. We have particularly been gratified when it turns up papers
turned in by siblings, trying to get by with not doing their own work.

 

Our teachers try to always use it in a uniform way. One example is
having all assignments due in Turnitin at 7:30 in the morning. For those
students without Internet access, they can come to the library before
class at 8:00 and submit their work then.

 

Call me someday if you want to talk about this, but I don't know what
else I can offer.

 

Janet HasBrouck, Librarian

Arcadia High School, Arcadia CA

 

 


>>> Shelee Wilkerson <wilkmike at earthlink.net> 12/2/2008 3:17 PM >>>

Does anyone out there use turnitin.com? If you do, have you ever run
into a situation where the student refuses to use it? It was just
brought to my attention that one of our students is refusing to use it
because it is his "intellectual property" and does not agree with their
terms and conditions. If you have run into this how did your
school/administration deal with it? I am just curious. I was cc'd on the
memo to administration and had to laugh. I give them credit for fighting
the fight.

Shelee Wilkerson
South Pasadena High School

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