Hi all, I don’t use Grammarly, but I hear that a lot of people find it useful. I am also hearing that some instructors/universities find its use problematic. Several years ago, a student that I knew was not a good writer was accused of plagiarism by another instructor. She claimed that her nearly flawless papers were written with the help of Grammarly. I am curious to know if you encourage or prohibit Grammarly in your classes and if your department or university has a policy concerning its use.
My summation of this thread:
naturally, opinions are for and against:
pros –
it helps/forces students understand the need to proofread
partially replaces the very initial work of instructor
cons –
algorithms/technology are/is not perfect
it does not replace a living person (sic!!!)
e.g. it detect passive voice, but does not teach the replacement
how essay mills operate and how academic fraud websites can lead to more serious cybersecurity threats. It’s a wild ride through falsified app reviews, shoddy workmanship and a rabbit hole of malicious activity.
I am ringing the alarm.
We have now found >400 papers that all share a very similar title layout, graph layout, and (most importantly) the same Western blot layout.
This is a massive #PaperMill of (what we assume) fabricated data.
Educators are in an arms race these days against an industry that seeks to profit by helping students cheat. Some websites offer to write papers for students, others sell access to past tests by individual professors, and others will even take entire online courses for students, as a kind of study double.
question to Tricia: the aggressiveness of the Websites. radio silence by governments, universities.
is there a data on contract cheating: data from Australia, UK. 7 Mil students worldwide engaged in contsure
punitive vs preventive practices.
students being educated for that matter faculty.
stakeholders: students, faculty (accreditation), parents, administration. what the forces in place to keep in check the administration/
how does the education happen in a world where the grade is the king and the credit is the queen?
If i organize a workshop on cheating noone attends; overworked
not magic bullet. more communication and awareness. teaching and learning issue. in the business of certifying. integrity is essential to the certification program and teaching and learning, otherwise it cannot be graded. lost from the core mission.
clear and better policies: what is the role of the faculty in the process. when teaching and learning is not sufficient and needs to move to allegations.
Instructional designer: online is easier to cheat.
++++++++++
How the ‘Contract Cheating’ Industry Has Gotten More Aggressive in Recruiting Students
Will teachers use @Google‘s new anti-plagiarism tool to target cheaters—or tee up teachable moments about fair use and proper citation?https://t.co/1pDnqutyNt
Will teachers use @Google's new anti-plagiarism tool to target cheaters—or tee up teachable moments about fair use and proper citation?https://t.co/1pDnqutyNt
Ed-tech historian and critic Audrey Watters, for example, said plagiarism-detection software in general frames all writers as potential cheaters, undermining the trust that is essential to strong student-teacher relationships. She said the companies making the software tend to accept as given that most writing assignments are so cookie-cutter that students can reasonably consider copying someone else’s work a viable strategy.
My note: the paragraph above reflects my deep personal belief and most of the information and notes in this blog regarding the “automation” of plagiarism detection
Do we need to pay for services such as Turnitin? Are there comparable services for free? Do we need services such as those ones or we rather have faculty and students educated on plagiarism and faculty trained to detect plagiarism? Is it supposed to be a “mechanical” process or educational activity?
These questions following a posting of today from the Educause Blended and Online Learning Group
Are any of you using a non-Turnitin plagiarism checker that you’re happy with (besides Google or Grammarly’s free service)?
Thanks,
Jenn Stevens (she, her, hers)
Director, Instructional Technology Group
403C Walker Building
Emerson College | 120 Boylston St | Boston, MA 02116
(617) 824-3093
At Ursinus, we use PlagScan, which is affordable and meets our needs.
We haven’t been able to get it to fully integrate within our LMS yet but hopefully we will be able to soon.
Christine Iannicelli
Instructional Technology Librarian
Library and IT
Library 124
Phone: 610-409-3466 ciannicelli@ursinus.edu
At University of Wisconsin – Superior – we have stopped offering proctoring for students. Faculty, however, have come up with a way for online testing. They ask student to use Kaltura tto record their face and part of the test and then post the video in the dropbox.
The proper solution to plagiarism in our nation’s schools is education and vigilance. Students should understand the role of academic integrity inside their own work, and be held accountable when they are not in accordance with academic policies and honor codes. Self-plagiarism, incorrect citations, no citations, or even word for word copying must be taught to students on a regular basis. Updates to both MLA and APA are ongoing as well; therefor, even graduates must stay current with how their citation methods change overtime.
My response to this LInkedIn entry:
Here is most of the information, I have collected on plagiarism, academic integrity, academic dishonesty. I added also Joshe’s opinion LinkedIn entry: https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=plagiarism
My firm conviction through the years is that for-profit such as TurnitIn are a smoke-screen, opportunists, which are trying to bank on lack of organized approach toward educating students and ourselves about the increasing nebulous areas of plagiarism (due to the increasing digitization of our work). It is in their interest to use scare tactics and try to convince us that computerization is the answer. Anyone, who had proofread papers for more than two semesters can detect easily the change of style, the lack of punctuation and other little, but significant details in the writing process. Since, the instructor has to read the paper for content anyhow, it is just preposterous to seek multiple-thousand dollars software license to replace the instructor.
The literature shows that the predominant percentage of students committing plagiarism is doing it due to lack of proper explanation and education. I that sense, I support Josh’s choice of words: education and vigilance. My only addition is that the vigilance must be human based, not machine-based. Higher admin shouldn’t squander finances in purchasing more licenses and cutting faculty positions, but invest in well-rounded and capable faculty.