Plagiarism Detection and Prevention

·         What plagiarism detection software is available to online instructors?

Just by completing a simple google search you can come up with a number of plagiarism detection softwares. (https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS485US485&aq=1&oq=plagiarism+detection&sugexp=chrome,mod=11&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=plagiarism+detection+software).  These softwares range from free to paid.  There are different versions which have many different functions.  Some of the softwares check the students work against published worked.  While others are more sophisticated and save all students’ work in a database and check assignments against the database. 

·         How can the design of assessments help prevent academic dishonesty?

The design of the assessment can make the difference between whether or not a student is able to cheat.  It will also make the difference in whether or not a student would want to cheat. Assignments that require you to give an example based on an experience you have had or to say how it applies to you personally makes it hard for you to steal someone else idea.  It bring you personally into the assignment.  Also when you remind students to cite the resources they use it help prevent academic dishonest as well. 

·         What facilitation strategies do you propose to use as a current or future online instructor?

By simply questioning someone’s reasoning behind their thoughts you can uncover a lot.  Anyone should be able to tell you why they wrote what they wrote and what their thought process was if the ideas were indeed their own.  It is much harder to explain thoughts that were not yours to begin with.  When the expectation exists that the instructor will be looking for me to support and explain myself.  A person will be much less likely to plagiarize

·         What additional considerations for online teaching should be made to help detect or prevent cheating and plagiarism?

Informing students is of the utmost importance to help detect and prevent cheating.  Setting up the expectation for what is considered cheating or inappropriate is a must in every course.  By setting up the expectation and making it clear you can discern that when someone does cheat it was done purposely.  As stated in the media from this week, many times students cheat without knowing that what they did was wrong.

References:

Palloff & Pratt (2012) Plagiarism and Cheating. Laureate Inc.

Impact of Technology and Multimedia

Technology creates the ability for us to learn at a distance more effectively.  Prior to the internet distance education involved mail.  Technology and multimedia have allowed us to create very interactive learning experience online.  Technology allows us to connect globally.  It allows us to create asynchronous learning online through the use of web cameras and webcasting.  Technology and multimedia have been invaluable to online learning.

The most important things to take into consideration before implementing technology is user friendliness and technology requirements.  The technology being selected should work for all of your students.  When using technology in online classrooms we have to take into consideration that we may have learners all over the world.  Some of our learners may have spotty internet connections which may not allow them to be online for long periods at a time which could affect their ability to use certain tools.  Also it is important for the technology to be user friendly.  Although two pieces of technology may do the same thing one might not be as easy to use as the other.  For example before this semester we used eCollege for our classes and Walden has now switched to blackboard.  While they both do the same thing I much prefer the lay out and ease of use of eCollege over blackboard.

Learning simulation tools are most appealing to me.  I want tools where the people I am training can get a real life experience but not during work.  I want to be able to get real time information on how they handled situations based on what they have learned. 

Integrating technology and multimedia will help create more interactive learning.  Online environments can sometimes seem lonely for the learner.  By properly selecting and integrating multimedia and technology we can overcome those feelings of separation and create real communities of learners that feel a part of their learning experience. According to Mandernach (2009), it is possible that online courses that utilize multimedia to create a more personalized, intimate learning experience may increase student engagement.

References

Mandernach, B. (2009). Effect of Instructor-Personalized Multimedia in the Online Classroom. International Review Of Research In Open And Distance Learning, 10(3),