[CALIBK12] Turnitin.com

[Janet Hasbrouck]

I certainly agree with your comments, Connie. I just read an article on Edutopia written by an English teacher about the trials of her first years teaching her students not to plagiarize. You can all read it here at http://www.edutopia.org/student-plagiarism-teacher-strategy
 
It was interesting this year in discussions with our English teachers about Turnitin. They will bend over backwards to help any student who is honestly trying to do the right thing and complete an assignment with his or her own work that meets the teachers' requirements, while remaining tough on students who cheat in spite of the help and instruction given in class. 
 
If I come upon panicked students in the library having trouble submitting work, I first tell them to go talk to the teacher and I will back them up that they were trying to do the work on time. We even added a note to the info teachers hand out at back to school night about not panicking about submitting their work, go talk to your teacher or the librarian and they will help you finish your assignment. Good communication and collaboration seems to be a big part of effectively teaching about how not to cheat or plagiarize, as they are with nearly everything we do here at school.
 
I'm going to pass Doug's suggestion on to my teachers too! Thanks, Doug
 
Janet HasBrouck, Librarian
Arcadia High School

>>> Connie Young <connie_young at khsd.k12.ca.us> 12/2/2008 6:59 PM >>>

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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