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A Message about Service Interruptions from CEO, Chris Caren
Dear Customers,
I am writing to address the recent interruptions in service you have experienced when using Turnitin’s products. I appreciate you taking the time to contact our Sales, Customer Success, and Support teams about the issues that you have been encountering. They have been surfacing your frustrations and concerns to me directly. I want to let you know that I hear you, and I am actively working with my leadership team to improve your experience with Turnitin.
Apps and Resources for Students on the Spectrum
April is World Autism Month, helping to spread awareness about a disorder that affects around 1 in every 160 children worldwide. While there is still so much that can be learned about Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), new resources and technology for students on the spectrum continue to support their growth and learning. Below are a few of the best apps and resources to help families and educators in the Autism/Asperger community.
Top Ten Reasons to Love a Library
Did you know that Americans check out more than 2 billion items each year from their public libraries? It’s true! Over 68% of the people in this country have a library card. In celebration of National Library Week here in the United States, we’ve crafted the Top Ten Reasons to Love a Library.
Plagiarism and Robotics
Though humans have sought ways to automate common tasks for thousands of years, the science of robotics is still a fairly new field. The term “robot” was coined in 1920 by playwright Karel Capek and the first industrial robots began to make their appearance in the 1950s.
However, despite its young age, robotics has become one of the most important fields of research. When combined with artificial intelligence, it has the potential to revolutionize nearly every aspect of our lives.
But, for all of the importance of robotics, there has been, surprisingly, very little conversation about plagiarism and copying in the field. Conversations about plagiarism and citation in robotics are complicated not just by the relative newness of the field, but by the nature of robotics itself.
Turnitin Academic Integrity Summit: Contract Cheating
Turnitin is hitting the road! We’re alarmed by the rise of contract cheating, and we need your help. Have you or your faculty ever suspected your students of contract cheating? How often do you think it is occurring? How are you responding to these allegations? The Turnitin Academic Integrity Summit aims to address these questions and help inform the future of contract cheating management.
The Power of Presentation Skills
Cultivating confidence and calm when speaking to an audience is important for students and teachers alike. Public-speaking ability can make the difference between a successful presentation and a throwaway, with only a few adjustments needed to tip the scale. Below are a few helpful tips for students and educators in honing the power of presentation skills.
5 Tips to Make the Most Out of Student Writing Data
With teacher and class level data now available in Revision Assistant’s Administrator Usage Report, you have even more writing performance data at your fingertips. But simply obtaining high-quality quantitative information is only half the battle when it comes to leveraging data for decision-making and instruction. Now that you have objective and consistent data on student writing progress at the district, school, teacher, and class level, what can you do next?
Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Plagiarism
In 2016, the Washington Post used an artificial intelligence reporter, Heliograf, to write some 300 reports from the Rio Olympics. In 2017, the newspaper used it to write some 850 other reports, which combined for more than 500,000 clicks.
As impressive as Heliograf may be, its main skill is taking data-driven stories, such as high school football games or election stories, and crafting short blurbs about them. In general, these are stories that the newspaper would not or could not have assigned to a human reporter but nonetheless wanted to include in their publication.
Still, if an AI writer is good enough to draft articles for a major newspaper, clearly it’s just a matter of time before students are able to use AI authors to help them complete assignments the same way some turn to essay mills or other ghost authors now.
But while the day may come when a student uses an essay bot to crank out a paper for class, that day is likely a long way off right now.
Math Lessons and Journaling
An increasing number of math instructors are utilizing writing, specifically math journaling, to enhance student learning. From Pre-K to graduate school, educators see the benefits of cross-subject lessons that encourage students to reflect on their mathematical processes. With writing, they think more deeply about the steps they took to solve a problem, the mistakes they may have made along the way, and how they can approach similar or different challenges down the road.
Fearless Female Authors
The courage, strength, and resilience of the female spirit are extraordinary. In celebration of International Women’s Day—and to kick off US National Reading Month—Turnitin has compiled a list of just a few of our favorite fearless female authors. These women and their stories have inspired us, empowered us, and guided us on our journey in many meaningful ways. Take a look below at the names and books that have been shared and loved throughout our company. Who knows? You might end up expanding your reading list and finding your own inspiration and courage.
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- VeriCite and Turnitin are joining forces
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- Now What? Tips for College Students on Next Steps
- Getting Organized: How Tech Can Help
- Reading and Writing About Civil Rights
- Get Centered in 2018