Blackboard Debuts Anti-Plagiarism Technology for LMS

by Dave Nagel

Blackboard this week debuted a new tool called SafeAssign, which is designed to eliminate plagiarism in student assignments. The service detects plagiarized works in student papers and delivers reports on such incidents through the Blackboard Learning System.

According to the company, "The topic of plagiarism has gained significant attention in recent years with several high profile incidents reported in a range of educational institutions and contexts. Concerns have been raised about the effect this might be having on academic reputation and quality...."

To tackle this problem, SafeAssign checks assignments against databases of published articles and also scans the Internet for materials that might have been plagiarized. The databases the system uses include:

• ProQuest ABI/Inform database, which includes more than 2.6 million articles and is updated weekly;
• Archives of papers submitted to SafeAssign by users; and
• Global Reference Database of papers submitted by students and faculty.

Once the system checks these sources, a report is delivered to the student and/or faculty member for review, including links to the original sources.

Read More:

• Blackboard

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  About the author: David Nagel is the executive editor for 1105 Media‘s online education technology publications, including THE Journal and Campus Technology. He can be reached at [e-mail].

Proposals for articles and tips for news stories, as well as questions and comments about this publication, should be submitted to David Nagel, executive editor, at [e-mail].

Cite this Site

Dave Nagel, "Blackboard Debuts Anti-Plagiarism Technology for LMS ," T.H.E. Journal, 8/15/2007, http://www.thejournal.com/articles/21126

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