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"As UT-Austin recently replaced its learning management system, it also needed to replace its plagiarism detection software. Schorn therefore conducted the Turnitin test again this March. Out of a total of 37 sources, the software fully identified 15, partially identified six and missed 16. That test featured some word deletions and sentence reshuffling -- common tricks students use to cover up plagiarism."

"Students are heading back to campus. And when they finish writing that first paper of the year, a growing number will have to do something their parents never did: run their work through anti-plagiarism software. One company behind it is called Turnitin. And the database it uses to screen for potential plagiarism is big. Really, really big."

"Teachers If you are a teacher interested in checking your students' work for copied material, you can use the list below where you can find the Top 10 FREE Plagiarism Detection Tools for Teachers."

Google Docs makes it much easier for me to spot and track down plagiariam. First my students share their work with me when they begin a new assignment and I can watch their progress daily. The new preview feature makes this very easy and I often find myself flipping through student papers to check on progress and see who I need to work with soon. Students know I do this and they know I expect to see progress.

"You have no doubt worked hard to become a physician and scientist. I know that you have published many research papers. It just doesn't make sense. Whether the pressure to publish is so intense, or whether the culture where you work is relatively permissive such that plagiarism is not taken as seriously, or whether getting caught seemed unlikely-it is hard to imagine why you would take this chance."

"Adding plagiarism to an article is one of the quickest ways to make a Wikipedian angry. It undermines the integrity of Wikipedia - contributors only have the right to release their own work under our free license - and it takes a lot of work to clean up. And as a community of writers, we take original authorship very seriously."

"The $1.8 billion (£1.3 billion) sale of Turnitin has highlighted the growing power of the company that produces plagiarism-checking software used in universities across the globe, and raised questions about its business model."

Using Google Images or copying a photo from most websites is much like plagiarism. Hopefully, by educating each other, we can avoid mistakes like this one and promote fair use of photos and other media on the web.

The result, should the trend continue, might not be a learning management system, but what analysts call a "learning ecosystem." Not a black hole where content is dumped at one end of the semester and grades at the other, but an open platform where faculty members are free to browse and embed the tools they want to use -- for example quizzes from Khan Academy, plagiarism detection from Turnitin or a homegrown solution -- regardless of whether they logged into Learn or Sakai, and regardless of whether their system has its own, similar tool.

"Instructors often kick off a discussion board assignment by asking each student to respond to an assigned reading. To prevent plagiarism, some learning management systems are set up, either by the platform or by policies of the institution or instructor, to only reveal the full contents of a discussion thread after a student has already posted."

"The learning experience that you offer your students may still be unknown, unintentional, or misunderstood; nevertheless, you are offering an experience. An e-learning course with 77 content tabs, for example, may evoke a feeling among your students of being overwhelmed, just as presenting the plagiarism policy as the homepage of your course (you know who you are) may elicit a rigid first impression. This is where we can learn from the curators of the theme park experience-by meticulously curating a course to include enough "thrill" for our accelerated student and enough "support" for our remedial student, while still leaving enough room for every student's self-expression."

"Academia has lots and lots and lots of systems in place for assuring that credit is always given where credit is due. If you're writing a paper, there are particular ways to cite internet sources-- even tweets and Facebook posts. But what about on the internet? We know we're supposed to cite sources, but a standardized system hasn't developed, and in the meantime, you could face a lawsuit if you steal someone else's work, even by accident."

This is a dialogue between Teach, an adjunct philosophy instructor at a public university in New York, and Cheat, who has authored over 100 papers for pay.

(Also read the comments) "When I ask the faculty whose courses require onsite testing why they require it, the answer is nearly always a concern about cheating. In a classroom or a proctored testing center, they argue, most cheating can be either deterred or caught; online, though, students can get away with a lot.  Academic integrity matters, so they just can't bring themselves to go fully online."