MSU has a site license for the plagiarism detection service, Turnitin.com. Turnitin has had a number of upgrades and interface enhancements this summer. Here are some of the latest changes:

Languages: Turnitin now supports 10 different languages, including English, Spanish, French, German, chinese (traditional and simplified), Japanese, Korean, Malay Bahasia, and Thai.

Performance Imrpvodements: recent upgrades to the application web servers should result in improvements to both performance and system reliability.

New Features include:

An option to exclude quoted (and bibliographic) material from papers' Similiarity Index for an entire assignment (not just individual papers);

An option to exclude small matches in Originality Reports to help streamline the process of evaluating your students' papers for unoriginal content. Instructors can choose the size of excluded matches as a number of words (such as 8 or 11) or a percentage of all words in the paper (such as 4%);

An expanded Similiarity Index that shows multiple sources for highlighted matches in the Originality Report---not just a single possible source;

Automatic check of user's system capabilities and compatability with Turnitin system requirements;

Improved handling of document submissions and multiple file uploads. This includes: double the size limit for individual file submissions (from 10 MB to 20 MB) as well as an increase in the size of zip files (batch) uploads (from 100 MB to 200 MB); improved user notification for submissions that exceed the maximum size (and guidance to help fix the issue); and a new status bar indicating the status of uploads.

As always, you can use Turnitin with your classes via the Web service or through your myCourses class site. The Center for Teaching and Learning can set up a Turnitin.com workshop for your department! For additional information about Turnitin.com, please contact Dr. Deborah Lee at 325-0810.

It's not too late to sign up for additional myCourses training this month! The following workshops are still available:

Introduction to myCourses (8/20)
myCourses: Grades Management (8/20)
myCourses: Assignments (8/20)
myCourses: Assessment (8/21)

To register for these sessions, visit the Center for Teaching & Learning's workshops and seminars website.

Are you using the MSU Maroon Edition for 2009, A Painted House by John Grisham, in your course? Not sure how to direct the discussion in your class or build assignments around the book? This CTL seminar will offer suggestions and tips for using A Painted House in your class. There's still time to register! The seminar is scheduled for Wednesday, August 26 at 12:00 p.m. in 336 Etheredge. Register here and join us in the discussion of this interesting book!

The Professional and Organizational Development (POD) Network in Higher Education invites submissions for the 2010 edition (volume 29) of To Improve the Academy. Since its inception in 1982, this annual publication has showcased articles demonstrating scholarly excellence in research, innovation, and integration in faculty, instructional, and organizational development. The audience for the volume includes faculty and organizational development administrators and consultants, all of whom work to improve the climate for teaching and learning in higher education. Manuscripts should focus on informing and helping these professionals with their work. They may be research-based, programmatic, or reflective pieces, but those describing new approaches and programs must include evaluative information. Manuscripts must be well written. to enhance the chances of acceptance, they should be professionally edited before being submitted.

Submission Requirements
Maximum length of articles is 20 double-spaced pages in 12-point type, standard margins (1.25" on each side, 1" top and bottom).
Manuscripts must be prepared according to the guidelines in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Fifth Edition (e.g., include running head and page headers; headings not numbered; correct reference format.) Compose a title (up to 12 words) that clearly informs the reader about the content. Include an abstract of 100 words or less. Do not use footnotes. Electronic submissions only.

Submission Process
Please submit two (2) copies of the manuscript as email attachments in MS Word or rich text format:

One complete copy with a title page that includes the names (in order in which they should appear), mailing address, telephones, faxes, and emails of all authors; and one "masked" copy without author name(s), institution(s), or contact information. Identifying information in the text of the article should also be "masked".

Name the two files starting with the last name of the leader author.

Email submissions by December 1, 2009 to Judith E. Miller, Editor, To Improve the Academy 29, j.miller@unf.edu