Google Classroom has been a staple in digital teaching and learning since it was released in 2014. This free web service provides tools for teachers to collaborate with their students, formatively assess progress, send announcements to students and more.
Along with the already complex tools and features in Google Classroom, G Suite Enterprise for Education (GSEfE) customers have an additional feature — Originality Reports. Since students are already submitting their written work using the Assignment tool in Google Classroom, they can now run a plagiarism check of their writing before submitting their final work. The teacher only has to add a check to enable students to use this feature.
The power behind Originality Reports is not simply about catching dishonest students. Rather it empowers students with skills to evaluate and edit while learning how to build upon their ideas and properly incorporate them into their work. Having this on-the-spot tool not only gives students valuable feedback quickly, it helps students be responsible writers and researchers.
Originality Reports are a time saver for teachers, too. Since the student has the ability to run their own Originality Report up to 3 times per assignment, submitted writing should be better. Once writing is submitted, Originality Reports help teachers quickly access authenticity by comparing student work against web pages and books. The tool will highlight potential plagiarism and link to an external source to show the connection — all done within the Google Classroom grading interface.
Here is how Originality Reports work:
The teacher:
- Creates an Assignment
- Clicks to select > Check plagiarism
The students:
- Open and complete the assignment
- Students can run an Originality Report up to 3 times. The reports will show the students any flagged passages. Students are able to improve their writing with the results on the report.
- The students will then submit the assignment
The teacher:
- Opens the submitted assignment. Opens the document.
- On the right-hand side, the teacher views the Originality Report.
Check out my approximately 2-minute video for a step-by-step look at this process: https://youtu.be/cX7z4da4J-4
