Plagiarism Detection and Prevention

This week I will be discussing the challenges we face as online instructors with plagiarism. As information becomes more easily accessible we need to have ways to keep up with plagiarism prevention. Keep reading to find out some key things to watch for if you will be an instructor.

Before we discuss plagiarism detection I want to talk about prevention. As we have heard before the best cure is prevention. As an instructor it is our responsibility to teach the proper way to cite sources and reference material. Never assume that a learner knows how to do it properly. Even if you are instructing an upper level course you should take a day or part of a lesson to teach what you expect as an instructor and what is accepted by acedemia. Things like the type of citations you use and what an example full reference and in text reference looks like are important.

Along with that there are tools that the students can use to help create bibliographies. One I use on a regular basis is Noodlebib. It tells you what information you need to create a proper source and all you have to do is find that information. There are times where plagiarism is unintentional and only happens because the student didn't reference properly. Any problems like this should be avoided.

Then we have those that purposely plagiarize and we need to find them and punish them accordingly. An instructor has acccess to a variety of detection software today. Some of them are EVE, whivh we learned about in our resources this week, and Turnitin. Google can even be used to search for plagiarism. How these work is to input a phrase or paragraphs from a paper into the program, then it searches all available databases for references to the statements. Yes it does give the instructor extra responsibilitiesbut it is important to have an authentic learning environment.

Something else that helps prevent plagiarism depends on the type of assessment an instructor uses. Research papers and heavy writting assignments are easily copied. Things like hands on activities and those rely heavily on real world application and experience are often times more authentic. Not only that mixing up assessment types keeps the class interesting for the students and won't allow for students to always cheat and do things the same way all the time. At least if they are the type that is prone to cheating they will have to come up with different ways to do it.

I feel that it is extremely important to prevent and detect plagiarism. It gets harder and harder to do everyday, but at least we have tools to help us. As with anything if we don't take advantage of the tools we have available to us then we are sure to run into problems and not provide the best possible instruction, which is what we all should strive for.

From researching for my post this week I learned a few things that will help me with my online instruction in the future. It was nice to learn about different software that can be used to detect plagiarism. I am constantly striving to learn about new software. It is my duty as an instructor to constantly learn new skills and strategies that will help learners in the future.

Thank you for visiting my blog and feel free to comment.

Jocoy, C., & DiBiase, D. (2006). Plagiarism by adult learners online: A case study in detection and remediation. International Review of Research in Open & Distance Learning, 7(1), 1–15.

Laureate Education. (Producer). (2011). Plagiarism and Cheating. [Video Webcast]. Retrieved from Walden University eCollege.

Impact of Technology and Multimedia

This weeks blog post is about my experiences creating a course management system. I will reflect upon it and discuss some key concepts and ideas that should be incorporated if you were to create on yourself.

The impact of technology and multimedia in an online learning environment is huge. You could say thiat without both of them online learning would not be what it is today and nearly impossible. I have had minor experiecnes with online learning throughout my life and always knew a little bit about it before. It wasn't until I started at Walden that I really learned the potential it has. Distance learning however has been around for a long time in different forms. I remember a time when distance learning involved either conference calls where you sat with others in a room while you had a teacher from a remote location on video or phone teaching. Another way was to get pre-recorded lectures and watch them on your own time. The changes in technology and forms of expression are constantly changing and what we experience in a distance learning course is effected greatly by what gets taken advantage of in the course. The existance of great technology and multimedia is only as good as the amount it gets used. If an instructor uses the most basic of all technologies to teach an online course then the students will not get the chance to learn new multimedia features and also won't really get the full experience of the course.

Once an instructor plans the technologies they will be using in their online course there are a few considerations that must be taken. One of them is to ensure that the students know how to use the technologies well enough to be successful in the course. That should happen both by explaining through words and videos how to use the technology and also a chance for the learners to use the new software without an evaluation being attached. Also, as we read in our resources, the instructor themselves should keep things simple if it is new to them. Don't expect the students to use or do something that is even beyond your own level of understanding. During one of my classes when I was a teacher I had some experience with using a new feature in a software I had years of experience with. What I did was incorporate the students into the learning process. I made a project of learning how to use the different features and then presenting it to the class. Each student had a different feature to learn. It wen well and the student really learned something new by doing it.

Usability and accessability of technology tools have great implications on online teaching and learning. Not only do you have to ensure that everyone has access to the technology, through online or a dvd/cd, but also that they know how to use it. If you look at software online there are usually many different tools and software that can do the same thing. Some are more user friendly while others are made with extra feature that aren't needed are can get very intimidating. Also software is constantly changing so it is a teachers responsibility to keep what they use constantly updated. If you are trying to prepare learners through training or a future job it is important that they know how to use the latest software.

There are some online tools that I prefer as an instructor and recommend for others to at least try. There are several listed in our resources that I agree a good options. Blogs, and discussion forums are a good way to create communication between all members in a course. Some form of video or conferencing software is a good idea so the learners can get a chance to see their instructor face to face for small periods of time. It makes a better connection between student and facilitator. Some times an instructor may want to create a video that the students can watch at a convenient time either to demonstrate how to do something or lecture on a topic. Some form of direct communication for the student to get ahole of the instructor like email or instant messenging services to have a way to field students questions and comments is almost a must. It is another chance to let the students feel more comfortable in the course.

Thank you for your interest in my blog and I hope you come away from this having learned some valuable information.

Conrad, R., & Donaldson, J. A. (2004). Engaging the online learner: Activities and resources for creative instruction. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Setting up an Online Learning Experience

In this weeks blog post I will be discussing the steps associated with setting up an online course and then reflect upon my experience with it. I hope you enjoy and please feel free to comment on my post.

In my opinion technology is the most important part of an online learning community. Not only do you obviously need technology just to be able to participate in the learning but we see it used in our everyday lives and the more we can master the more skilled we are for the working world. Some possible tools you may see used in online learning are discussion forums, blogs, and document writing software. One problem we find is that there are so many different tools that can be or are used in online learning and someone who is new to online learning can have a hard time with it all. The best solution is to learn one at at time and not worry about all the rest that you have to learn. Also some tools are just recommended and not needed for your purposes. If you feel overwhelmed only use exactly what tools you will need to succeed.

As an instructor it is very important to communicate clear expectations to the learners for each course. Not only can the learners not be as successsful as they would like if they don't know what is expected from them but they may not know what to do at all until it is explained well to them. There are a few different things that you may want to do to help with student understanding. One thing is to present a syllabus with grading procedures and expectations, make sure the students know about it and tell them to look at it. You should also give a good description of all assignments, its a good idea to have someone else interperet it before you presnt it to students. Lastly presenting examples of what you are expected is a great help. I know that it always helped me wen I was taking online courses.

There are a few additional considerations I have found to be important to take when teaching an online course. First is the form of and how much communicatin that will happen in the course. Consider the way fellow students can communicate with each other and how they can reach the instructor. Also as an instructor you need to decide how active and available you will be in the course. If the students have a way to get ahold of you when they need but you never respond back to them it doesn't help. Also if you wait a full week to return students graded papers then they won't get the feedback they need in time to complete future assignments.

There are many things that make the successful launch of an online experience significant. Not only does it look good for all future online courses that the learners take but we want any student to enjoy there classes. It is great to be able to help students learn while them also having a good time. I also have to mention that if you are the creator and instructor of the course then it is a big success for you to have done that.

Actually what I learned most about an online learning environment is the same thing that we have been learning althroughout this course so far. That is that creating a sense of community and closeness between the instructor and fellow peers is an extremely important part of the online learning environment. When I think of teaching an online course, which I have never done before, I first think of it just being important that I introduce the learners and not worry about the sense of community the learners feel. I will be sure to change this thought process in the future if I ever teach an online course.

Boettcher, J. V., & Conrad, R. (2010). The online teaching survival guide: Simple and practical pedagogical tips. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Laureate Education. (Producer). (2011). Launching the Online Learning Experience. [Online]. Retrieved from Walden University eCollege.

Online Learning Communities

This weeks blog entry is about online learning communities and how they effect student learning. I hope you all come away from reading my blog having learned something.

Learning communities greatly increase student learning. Part of the reason for this is that communication among peers seems to be improved in online learning environments. They seem to be more supportive and understand more what each other is going through. Also a lot more personal experience and professionalism seem to go into their learning experiences and presentation of information. As we read, Pratt also agrees.
Something else that is a big impact on student learning is the use of new technology and it has slowly become more and more a part of our everyday lives. When learners are part of a learning community they tend to have to use more new tools and technology which makes them more well rounded and prepared for a career.
Anyone that I know who has taken an online program or been part of a learning community have shown satisfaction. It ranges anywhere from the flexibility of the schedule to introduction into new learning tools and processes.

There are a few elements to online community building that are essential if you hope for it to succeed. The three main ones we learned about from Pratt are people, purpose, and process. I will explain why he says this and why I am in perfect agreement. People are an obvious and easy one to explain. Without people not only will you not have a community but you will also not have anyone to learn or teach in the community. Purpose is just as important because we need to have a reason for setting up the community in the first place and we have to know what we want to teach. I would say the process is last on the list but equally as important. For the learning community to actually be successful there has to be a predetermined method for teaching and presenting of learning tools.

As important as how the learning community is taught is maintaining it. If things are not run right then even the most successful communities can fail. A few ways to go about doing that is to ensure the course has a good facilitator. Once the process is thought up for the community then a competent facilitator is needed. Also a sense of belonging must be felt by the students. There must be ample communication between them. Their success is also dependant on the platform they are using to communicate. The learners need to know how to use the technology that is needed to communicate in the online community.
That brings up another point I wanted to mention about the software and tools used in the community. If the learners are unfamiliar with the tools used in the program and the facilitator fails to teach them properly then the program will not be sustained very well.

The relationship between community building and effective online instruction is simple and obvious. Good communication is key to both community building and effective online instruction. Good community building involves everyone in the community putting in an effort to communicate. Starting with introducing yourself to everyone. Also check in occasionally with everyone and strike up conversation. Lastly, coming from the point of a facilitator, be part of the community yourself. Help make the students feel more welcome by introducing yourself and show that you are a regular person just like them.

Palloff, R. & Pratt, K. (2011). Online Learning Communities. Walden Video Library.

Welcome

Hello everyone. My name is Stephan DiFlorio and I live in Maryland but am originally from NY. I was a teacher and have 3 years of experience behind me that will come in handy throughout this course.

I am currently raising a family and working on getting my Master's so I can pursue a job in higher education. I look forward to getting to know some of you better and hopefully we will get the chance to work together or interact on a daily basis.