Closing Remarks

Sitting at the airport in San Francisco and came across this handy dandy Blogger iPhone app. :D How's that for an introduction?
But seriously, technology integration in the classroom: how have my thoughts changed? I'm not sure that they have, but they've certainly been realized. I'd known that the use of technology in the classroom was crucial to provide the optimal engaging learning environment. Moreover, I'd felt it was doing a disservice to students to not adequately integrate something that is so deeply imbedded in all of our lives.

I feel the same way today, the only difference is that now I feel like I'm actually able to do so. The extent of online resources available to educators today is insurmountable, and it continues to grow exponentially each day. I have learned so much from this class and the knowledge I've gained has allowed me to replace my anxiety with enthusiasm for the days and weeks ahead. I have so many tools to use in all of my classes, and I eagerly look forward to doing so.

As I'd said before, I plan to develop and use my Wix webquest in my 7th grade History class, and I will most likely incorporate my Voicethread lesson plan with my 9th graders as a means for evaluation on The Merchant of Venice. But it's not just the tools that I'm already planning to use- it's the broad knowledge of such resources that makes me feel confident in my ability to incorporate technology into the classroom environment.

Well, we're boarding soon, but I can't stress enough how grateful I am to have had this course. As technologically savvy as I thought I was, I had no idea how much I needed to learn! Hats off to you Mr. Chamberlain- & congratulations on a job well done!

SNHU Lit Review 2

     

In her article, "Can Turnitin be used to provide instant formative feedback?” in the July 2011 edition of the British Journal of Educational Technology, Vivien Rolfe discusses the value of the up and coming academic submission program, Turnitin.  She provides the data of various studies conducted between 2006 and 2009 on the effectiveness of the program in terms of preventing inadvertent and intentional plagiarism, the production of higher quality papers, and as a tool for furthering student comprehension in regards to proper citation and etc.

“More often, plagiarism is not deliberate -- for example, it can be because of the student not understanding what it is (Yeo, 2007) or having a poor understanding of how to correctly cite and reference sources (Ellery, 2008)” (Rolfe, 701).  Accordingly, Turnitin seeks to provide a viable alternative to the crash and burn method of inadequate citation experienced by most early learners. Moreover, it was the intention of developers to enable students to evolve their writing and citation skills with the instant feedback that the program provides. Regarding the effectiveness of the system Rolfe contends: “The current findings indicate that, with guidance, students can use a plagiarism detection system to submit draft assignments and receive instant feedback on their work, with large numbers doing so with no reported problems. The results show that the majority of students chose to view the feedback and claimed that it helped improve their writing” Rolfe, 706).

In her analysis, Rolfe seeks to answer those who argue that such programs encourage a trend of laziness when it comes to bibliographies and textual citations.  She writes: “It is acknowledged that so-called 'generation Y' students are motivated by seeking information rather than critiquing it (Weiler, 2004). Increasingly, universities are addressing the development of student skills through partnerships between programmed teams and library services (Galvin, 2005). The current study suggests that using an online solution (which was viewed positively by staff and students) can be a useful tool for motivating students to improve their literacy skills and, at least, for increasing awareness of their importance” (Rolfe, 707-708).

Rolfe provides an excellent argument for a tool in very little need of defense.  The student-teacher data and popular opinion agree: Turnitin as an extremely effective academic tool.  The program eases the burden on teachers in regards to identifying and addressing issues regarding plagiarism, while at the same time enabling students to identify and address issues on their own.  It was nice to get a broad overview of relevant information & etc., but the content seemed to be a bit rudimentary.  The article is well written for the most part, I did find one error on word choice and improper use of tense, but that was in the midst of data provision rather than the meat of the article itself.  Would I read it again?  Not for pleasure, but it might prove a valuable source in some essay or assignment of the future.

Work Cited:

Title:	Can Turnitin be used to provide instant formative feedback?
Personal Author:	Rolfe, Vivien
Journal Name:	British Journal of Educational Technology
Source:	British Journal of Educational Technology v. 42 no. 4 (July 2011) p. 701-10
Publication Year:	2011

As found on the SNHU online database.