Plagiarism Detection and Prevention - Ensuring an Honest Learning Environment Instructors involved in online distance learning are concerned with detecting and combating plagiarism, in particular from web-based sources (Jocoy & DiBiase, 2006). Although plagiarism and cheating in an online learning environment occur at a similar rate, when compared to a traditional face-to-face learning environment, it is more visible in the online environment (Palloff & Pratt, 2012). Not only can an instructor take necessary steps to identify instances of plagiarism by their students, Jocoy and DiBiase (2006) indicate, “Educators have a responsibility to foster and maintain standards of academic integrity”. A key word, for me, in this concept is foster. A student having copied and pasted content from another source, does not imply they see this action or behavior as plagiarism (Palloff & Pratt, 2012). In my future capacity as a instructor of online distance learning courses, I will need to utilized a variety of strategies in order to best ensure instances of plagiarism will be held to minimum levels. Jocoy and DiBiase (2006) present strategies such as:  elevating the knowledge level of students in regards to what plagiarism is; incorporating instructional activities where students can discuss specific instances of plagiarism; incorporate online quizzes regarding plagiarism, in which students must succeed prior to taking the next steps in the course; and offering students an opportunity to revise plagiarized work, if it was their first or second offense. The door must be open to assist and education learners in this regard. Content specific to each course is not the sole determining factor to indicate the success of a student. How a student goes about becoming a better academician needs to be a significant component in educating learners. Academic integrity needs to be of utmost concern, regardless of a course’s content. Instructors can take additional steps in helping to prevent plagiarism by carefully creating and designing their assessment tools. Assessments can be designed such that they enable and encourage students to collaborate with one another, yet discourage cheating (Palloff & Pratt, 2012). In that traditional types of exams are not best suited for online environments, and the online exams should mirror real-life expectations by incorporating collaboration in the formation of ideas, yet requiring students to provide their own thoughts when applying these ideas, (Palloff & Pratt, 2012) an instructor can offer an assessment tool that is less susceptible to plagiarism. Collaboration with one’s classmates, not reproduction of one’s classmate’s work should be differentiated and clear to each learner. The Internet has both, made it easier for students to plagiarize via copy and paste, and made it easier for instructors to detect plagiarized material through the use of search engines finding copied phrases (Jocoy & DiBiase, 2006). Also available are commercially available technology tools such as Turnitin, which utilizes essay databases when identifying plagiarized material (Jocoy & DiBiase, 2006). In my search for additional software tools capable of detecting plagiarized material, I came across the following website provided by Dr. Howard Aldrich, who is a professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. His website is:  http://www.unc.edu/~healdric/soci380/plagiarism.html. At this site, one will find fifteen websites at which they can find various software and technology tools regarding the detection of plagiarism.  When dealing with plagiarism, and instruction should consider various aspects such as:  intentionality, or the extent to which a student intended to plagiarize; the fair use provision established by U.S. copyright law; culpability of the student; and the extent to which the student has developed academic moral, values, and behavior (Jocoy & DiBiase, 2006). To assist an instructor in the education of, identification of, and reaction to plagiarism, many librarians and writing centers are available at the instructor’s respective academic institutions (Palloff & Pratt, 2012). These additional resources should be utilized. In summary, with the knowledge that all students do not fully understand what does and does not constitute plagiarism, along with the many resources and tools available an the instructor, with which to combat plagiarism, the number of incidents, whether they be intentional or otherwise, should decrease, along with a rise in students’ knowledge of the definition of plagiarism. The instructor is not alone in this battle! However, it does require attention! Resources Aldrich, H. (2011, December 24). Web sites for assessing whether students have committed plagiarism. Retrieved February 8, 2012 from http://www.unc.edu/~healdric/soci380/plagiarism.html. Jocoy, C., & DiBiase, D. (2006). Plagiarism by adult learners online: A case study in detection and remediation. International Review of Research in Open & Distance Learning, 7(1), 1–15. Palloff, R., & Pratt, K. (2012). Plagiarism and cheating. Lecture presented for Laureate Education, Inc. Retrieved from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=6290533&Survey=1&47=7270808&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=1&bhcp=1.