During the pandemic, e-learning technologies have been placed under the spotlight. The reason is that the EdTech industry became the key enabler of remote and distance learning. Thanks to applying technology in e-learning, thousands of students around the globe successfully completed the last semester. Chances are, they will continue studying remotely in autumn as well.

Today, the public’s interest in EdTech, e-learning, and educational software is still high. Educators and instructors get acquainted with modern and debated notions, like e-learning authoring tools, LMS, online course development, proctoring and assessment software.

In fact, Google searches for online courses skyrocketed in April 2020, then slightly dropped and remained at 80% through July 2020. One of the most vital e-learning technologies - online plagiarism checkers, such as Unicheck, see a rise in their popularity too. Read on to find out how using an online plagiarism detector can help educators during the fall semester.

The Pros of Using an Online Plagiarism Checker in E-Learning

Do you know why educators favor online plagiarism checker software? The reason is that it has so much to offer. Take a look at what you can do with these advanced tools.

Cross-check papers through open-access and private databases

We’re used to thinking that an online plagiarism checker for research papers isn’t very accurate. Well, that’s only true for tools that check works against websites alone. The best tool is the one that searches for similarities in the text in a wide range of sources.

For instance, Unicheck has impeccable accuracy. Its real-time search covers different data sources. You can check documents for similarity against both the Internet and Unicheck institutional library - the tasks submitted by other students earlier. Also, you can check a paper against a university’s database if your local FTP server is connected to it. Altogether, Unicheck has access to more than 100 billion online web pages through open access and educational databases, as well as the web index.

Integrate an online plagiarism checker into an LMS

Remarkably, most online plagiarism checker tools support integration with popular LMSs (Learning Management Systems), such as Canvas, Moodle, Google Classroom, and others. Paired with any LMS, our software makes the teaching process a lot easier. Just imagine how convenient it is to automatically check for plagiarism right after each paper’s submission, and all within the LMS.

What’s more, having completed the software setup, a teacher can choose different useful options within the LMS. Depending on the LMS, Unicheck allows educators to leave comments and feedback within the similarity report, and even check the students’ papers against each other.

Enhance the learning experience

Some may think that the main purpose of an online plagiarism checker for teachers is to penalize students. But that’s not true. One of the main goals is to help students learn from their mistakes. By exposing academic dishonesty, whether intentionally or not, teachers can encourage students to think for themselves and create original works.

Also, you may gain insight into what some students have difficulties referencing. Knowing that, the instructor can teach the students how to reference, cite quotes, and use the required resources in assignments properly.

On top of that, using an online plagiarism detector will help teachers show the meaning of respecting content created by others. It’s a must-have skill for students’ successful professional careers.

As for Unicheck, it has remarkable features that can enhance students’ learning experience.

Avoiding self-plagiarism - if a student's current paper contains parts from the previous papers within the same course, the system will exclude such self-plagiarism from the similarity score. It still notifies an instructor about which parts of the submission coincide, but won’t consider them plagiarized.

Pre-check of drafts before final submission - students can check the drafts of their papers before the final submission if an instructor enables the student pre-check option.

Indicating referencing and formatting mistakes - the system will show all the in-text citations and references that need improvement.

Raise academic integrity

Academic dishonesty has been one of the main problems of traditional learning for a long time. An International Centre for Academic Integrity survey showed that 95% of surveyed high school students admitted to cheating in some way or form (copying homework answers, plagiarism, or cheating on a test).

With distance learning, maintaining academic integrity has become even harder.

Also, during the quarantine, some academic institutions decided to adopt the “no-detriment” policy. This makes a teacher consider the impact of the pandemic and stress on students while assessing their works. Dr. Irene Glendinning, an academic manager for student integrity at Coventry College, says that scholars use “no-detriment” as an excuse for cheating.

“My fear is that some students may have interpreted this as “anything goes, I’m not going to be penalized whatever I do so it is OK to cheat”. I’m hearing some messages from different universities that this might have happened.”

An online plagiarism checker for students can help to expose academic dishonesty. Modern tools constantly improve their search algorithms and engines to make sure no form of cheating will go unnoticed. For example, Unicheck uses sophisticated digital text modification algorithms and an AI algorithm that verifies authorship. Both technologies offer what many simple plagiarism checkers can’t - finding the inexact matches in the text and the discrepancies across several student’s works. The latter can help the teacher identify instances of contract cheating.

How to Use an Online Plagiarism Checker Effectively

Now, take a look at how teachers can make the most out of plagiarism detection software.

Inform students. Remind students of the institution’s anti-plagiarism policy. Warn them about all the possible penalties and negative consequences. Explain the importance of academic integrity frequently, not just at the beginning of the course. In addition, you can even place the information about cheating in the course syllabus.
Encourage students to speak their own minds. Fostering students’ originality can help you reduce the number of plagiarized papers. A way to do that is by developing assignments oriented towards critical thinking. Since those are extremely hard to plagiarize, students won’t risk trying.
Know your online plagiarism checker’s abilities. Before using a plagiarism detection tool, take a moment to get acquainted with all its features. You can only use it effectively if you know the features and functions the checker offers. Also, take a look at how to interpret the similarity reports.
Check your e-learning course content for plagiarism. For those educators who developed an online course, running its content through plagiarism detection is a good idea. This way you’ll avoid any issues, such as copyright infringement. Also, you’ll become a paragon of academic integrity for your students.

Conclusion

All in all, an online plagiarism checker, such as Unicheck, is a powerful tool in times of e-learning. It helps teachers detect various popular types of cheating and academic dishonesty. Combined with an LMS it saves educators’ time. Most importantly, a thorough search and advanced algorithms make online plagiarism checker software a must-have for fighting academic dishonesty.

So, when you get ready for the fall semester, don’t forget to add an online plagiarism checker to your professional toolkit.