New iPad App for Turnitin Feedback Studio Features Dedicated Student Access and Enhanced Instructor Tools
New features for iPad® app give students full access to Turnitin Feedback Studio and give faculty in higher ed and secondary grade teachers quick access to resources that help students improve their writing
OAKLAND, Calif. — September 22, 2016 — Turnitin’s Feedback Studio for iPad® app has merged the benefits of mobile technology with the power of learning and engagement through feedback. This release gives students the power to submit papers, analyze similarity reports (to check for originality), and review instructor feedback on the go. An enhanced interface for instructors offers streamlined grading on and-offline. Click to Tweet.
More than ever, students use mobile devices to manage their assignments. With the Feedback Studio app for iPad, institutions can ensure that students are not only able to complete and submit assignments on their iPad, but they also have immediate access to their instructors’ comments, feedback, and grades where and when they need it.
Immediate access to feedback from instructors helps students develop their writing skills. Like many students today, Jacinta Lujano, who is attending Naval Postgraduate School, is always pressed for time. “Feedback Studio for iPad makes it really simple to submit my writings and to get on-the-go feedback,” said Lujano. “It’s really simple and intuitive to use, too. I love it.”
College instructors and secondary grade teachers can use the app to give feedback and make comments on student papers while they are on the go. The interface is cleaner and the process to view accounts and classes is simplified. “I can grade papers anywhere I want on my tablet with the Turnitin Feedback Studio app,” said Cheryl Ashbaugh, communications professor at Robert Morris University. “Not having to carry so much around with me has been great for my back!”
Key features include:
- Free App for Students: Students can now submit and view assignments from their iPad and then view Similarity Reports, instructor feedback, and grades.
- Updated Interface: An updated interface for instructors makes feedback easier to give and review with cleaner, clutter-free screens.
- Grade Offline: Assignments can by synced between iPad app and desktop grading on or off-line.
More information and a live demo of Feedback Studio for iPad will be presented at a webcast on September 29, 2016 at 3:00pm PST. Register for the webcast, “No Feedback Left Behind: Feedback Studio for iPad.”
Users with an active Turnitin Classic or Feedback Studio account can download Feedback Studio for iPad from the App Store®. More information is at http://turnitin.com/en_us/what-we-offer/ipad.
About Turnitin
Turnitin is revolutionizing the experience of writing to learn. Turnitin’s formative feedback and originality checking services promote critical thinking, ensure academic integrity, and help students improve their writing. Turnitin provides instructors with the tools to engage students in the writing process, provide personalized feedback, and assess student progress over time. Turnitin is used by more than 30 million students at 15,000 institutions in 140 countries. Backed by Insight Venture Partners, GIC, Norwest Venture Partners, Lead Edge Capital and Georgian Partners, Turnitin is headquartered in Oakland, Calif., with international offices in Newcastle, U.K., Utrecht, Netherlands and Melbourne, Australia. @Turnitin
iPad, iTunes and App Store are registered trademarks of Apple Inc.
Media Contact for Turnitin:
Jennifer Harrison: (916)716-0636 or jennifer at jharrisonpr dot com
Online Press Kit: http://prez.ly/FPu
Tweet: New features for @Turnitin Feedback Studio iPad app. Full access 4 students. New tools 4 faculty. http://bit.ly/turnitin_ipad #edtech
Summary: Turnitin Feedback Studio releases new features for iPad app. Students have full access.Faculty have more resources to help students improve their writing.
Nepris Raises $1M in New Round of Seed Funding to Build More Connections Between Industry and Education
Nepris is a cloud-based platform connecting educators and industry experts to help bring relevance to the classroom and inspire students towards real-world careers
DALLAS – August 25, 2016 – Nepris recently closed a seed round of funding totaling $1 million, led by the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation (MSDF). Nepris brings together educators and industry professionals in an easy-to-use online community to collaborate and connect through live online interactive sessions where students get to see what they’re learning in the classroom applied to the working world. Click to Tweet.
MSDF invested in Nepris for its ability to make a positive social impact in students’ lives by preparing them for college and career (read MSDF blog post here). While Nepris connections do bring classroom lessons to life and add relevance, the greater impact is often inspiration students find in the professionals and experts whom they meet. These experts encourage students to dream big or to consider careers they may never have known about, like being an aerospace engineer or speech therapist or amusement park designer. Frequently, students ask questions about what college was like or what classes they should take now to help them prepare for college. Many students who previously felt college was unattainable begin to see greater possibilities for higher education and new career paths after a Nepris session.
Nepris co-founder and CEO, Sabari Raja, says this round of funding will be used to achieve the following:
- Redesign the Nepris site to simplify the connection process for teachers and professionals
- Expand Nepris’ work with Economic Development Councils and Workforce Boards giving them a platform to scale industry and education connections at a regional level
- Boost the number of industry offered sessions, known as Industry Chats, which often attract multiple classrooms from across the country
- Reach more rural and lower socio-economic school districts where students have the greatest need
“We have had overwhelming success bringing industry exposure to thousands of students and we are especially excited about having prominent investors like MSDF who will help us achieve our goal of reaching more underserved students in lower socio-economic communities,” said Ms. Raja.
A demographic study sponsored by New Schools Venture Fund and conducted by Empirical Education found that 55 percent of students reached through Nepris are from underserved and lower socio-economic school districts.
Additional funders include Silicon Valley Social Venture Fund (SV2), Investor’s Circle Patient Capital Collaborative, Voqal and other angel investors.
About Nepris
Dallas-based Nepris provides an online platform to connect companies, professionals, and experts to expand education outreach to classrooms while providing teachers a way to reach out to and connect with professionals around the world. Over 65,000 students in 2,200 classrooms have been inspired through Nepris, which brings classroom learning to life in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and the Arts. The finding, connecting, and meeting occurs online through the Nepris community. Sessions include interactive Q&As with working professionals, virtual field trips, project mentorships, and even live Shark Tanks. See Nepris in action at Nepris.com/webinar or sign-up as a teacher or professional at Nepris.com.
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Media Contact:
Jennifer Harrison for Nepris, 916-716-0636 or jennifer at jharrisonpr dot com
Back to School: Turnitin Releases Free Teaching Resources on Effective Feedback in Writing and Plagiarism Awareness
“Rethink Feedback” themed resources help K-12 teachers and higher education instructors teach proper methods of attribution and help improve student writing skills
OAKLAND, Calif. – August 25, 2016 – Improving writing skills and educating students about plagiarism and integrity are priorities for many educators this fall. New resources and tools in Turnitin’s back-to-school program, “Rethink Feedback,” help K-12 teachers and higher education instructors teach proper methods of attribution and improve student writing skills. Click to Tweet.
The free back-to-school resources include:
- In the Loop: Feedback Quiz – This 12-question, online self-teaching tool helps students understand the value of feedback and explains how to get the most from feedback and how to respond to instructor feedback, while encouraging students to separate feedback from evaluative measures like grades.
- Feedback that Makes the Grade – 78% of students say they want feedback from teachers, but how do they feel about the feedback teachers are giving? This infographic lists five tips for fantastic feedback, details how students use and think about feedback, and explains what makes feedback effective in the classroom.
- Aiming for Integrity Analysis – How well do students understand plagiarism? Compiling over 12,500 data points from over 25,000 responses to Turnitin’s Plagiarism Quiz, this report helps educators understand student perceptions of plagiarism and citation methods.
- Plagiarism Spectrum – This infographic defines 10 different types of plagiarism. Each type has been given an easy-to-remember moniker to help students and instructors better identify and discuss the ramifications of plagiarism in student writing. Request posters for classrooms, or download a student handout or the full study.
“Teachers intuitively know—and research supports—that there are best practices to giving feedback to students in writing exercises,” said Jason Chu, education director at Turnitin. “Feedback that is appropriately constructive, specific, actionable, and given at the right time drastically improves how much a student learns about good writing.”
Turnitin has been a leader in promoting and supporting teachers in how to give appropriate feedback leading to improved writing skills. Earlier this year, Turnitin added Revision Assistant to its product lineup. Turnitin Revision Assistant, for grades 6-12 and developmental writing in higher education, extends teachers’ reach by giving students immediate formative feedback during the writing process.
Get more information about Turnitin products and see all Turnitin back-to-school resources at http://turnitin.com/en_us/back-to-school.
About Turnitin
Turnitin is revolutionizing the experience of writing to learn. Turnitin’s formative feedback and originality checking services promote critical thinking, ensure academic integrity, and help students improve their writing. Turnitin provides instructors with the tools to engage students in the writing process, provide personalized feedback, and assess student progress over time. Turnitin is used by more than 26 million students at 15,000 institutions in 140 countries. Backed by Insight Venture Partners, GIC, Norwest Venture Partners, Lead Edge Capital and Georgian Partners, Turnitin is headquartered in Oakland, Calif., with international offices in Newcastle, U.K., Utrecht, Netherlands and Melbourne, Australia. @Turnitin
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Media Contact: Jennifer Harrison for Turnitin, (916)716-0636 or jennifer at jharrisonpr dot com
Turnitin Integrates Formative Writing Tools Into College Board Programs to Support Student Practice
Turnitin and College Board will partner to provide students with productive writing practice opportunities and help develop college ready skills
OAKLAND, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Today Turnitin announced a multi-year extension of its work with the College Board® that will connect its formative writing tools to College Board programs like SpringBoard® in an effort to expand and promote productive student writing practice. The addition of Turnitin’s writing instruction technology, Revision Assistant, will give students more ways to practice and receive instruction that will help them develop the knowledge, skills and understanding that are critical to college and career success. Click to Tweet.
Announced today: @Turnitin Revision Assistant for #writing instruction connected to @CollegeBoard programs
This announcement marks the culmination of three years of collaborative research between Turnitin and the College Board that demonstrates the value of Turnitin’s Revision Assistant technology in evaluating and improving student writing. Turnitin Revision Assistant extends the reach of teachers by providing immediate, actionable feedback to students as they write. Our work together shows that Revision Assistant provides appropriate and helpful feedback on student writing across prompt types and writing styles, including the argumentative, explanatory, expository, and narrative genres.
“The ability to write well is fundamental to college and career success,” said Trevor Packer, senior vice president, AP® and Instruction at the College Board. “Combining the College Board and Turnitin’s learning tools helps students to become better writers through thoughtful, focused, and useful practice.”
“Turnitin’s partnership with the College Board demonstrates the importance of formative writing tools in helping students to improve their writing and to think more critically,” said Chris Caren, CEO of Turnitin. “The broad collaboration with the College Board furthers Turnitin’s mission to support 100 million learners with our formative writing solutions.”
The College Board’s AP and SpringBoard Digital programs are the first programs to feature Revision Assistant integration. SpringBoard Digital includes a version of Revision Assistant that is trained to provide feedback on SpringBoard’s proprietary end-of-unit embedded assessments. Additionally, the College Board has made six AP World History and AP English Language and Composition prompts available within the full version of Turnitin Revision Assistant that is available to school districts nationwide.
In the near future, Turnitin will continue the integration of its education technology into other College Board programs, including Official SAT Practice on Khan Academy®. By the end of 2016, students will be able to use a free, publicly available version of Revision Assistant to help them prepare for the new SAT Essay section.
About the College Board
The College Board is a mission-driven not-for-profit organization that connects students to college success and opportunity. Founded in 1900, the College Board was created to expand access to higher education. Today, the membership association is made up of over 6,000 of the world’s leading educational institutions and is dedicated to promoting excellence and equity in education. Each year, the College Board helps more than seven million students prepare for a successful transition to college through programs and services in college readiness and college success — including the SAT® and the Advanced Placement Program®. The organization also serves the education community through research and advocacy on behalf of students, educators, and schools. For further information, visitwww.collegeboard.org.
About Turnitin
Turnitin is revolutionizing the experience of writing to learn. Turnitin’s formative feedback and originality checking services promote critical thinking, ensure academic integrity, and help students improve their writing. Turnitin provides instructors with the tools to engage students in the writing process, provide personalized feedback, and assess student progress over time. Turnitin is used by more than 30 million students at 15,000 institutions in 140 countries. Backed by Insight Venture Partners, GIC, Norwest Venture Partners, Lead Edge Capital and Georgian Partners, Turnitin is headquartered in Oakland, Calif., with international offices in Newcastle, U.K., Utrecht, Netherlands and Melbourne, Australia. @Turnitin
Advanced Placement Program, SpringBoard, SAT, AP and the College Board are registered trademarks of the College Board.
KHAN ACADEMY is a registered trademark of Khan Academy, Inc. All Khan Academy content is available for free atwww.khanacademy.org.
Contacts
for Turnitin
Jennifer Harrison, 916-716-0636
jennifer at jharrisonpr dot com
Solving a Need for Teachers, Ogment Wins CODiE Award in Education
Curriculum creation and delivery program for K12 educators wins another award for fulfilling a need in education
BURLINGTON, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–When a technology solution really solves a pressing need, those solutions tend to win awards. This is what happened last week when the Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA) announced that Ogment had won a coveted CODiE Award for exceptional education technology products bringing real solutions to schools. Click to Tweet
Ogment is a curriculum creation and delivery program that solves a problem in education today. Writing curriculum and developing lesson plans has become increasingly more complicated than it was only a few years ago. On one hand, the Internet is a boon because of the wealth of resources and information available for teachers to use in building more relevant and engaging curriculum. On the other hand, this same of wealth of resources threatens to bury teachers with the burden of selecting, organizing, and using those resources in lessons that are suitable for their classrooms and aligned to district curriculum maps.
The elegant solution Ogment provides has been recognized by more than just SIIA. In the past few months, Ogment has won three BESSIE Awards, won the CODiE, and was picked as a finalist in the Association of American Publisher’s (AAP) REVERE Awards (winners to be announced in June). Johanna Wetmore, who created Ogment with her team of “edu-neers” at EvoText, was also picked as one of the AAP’s most promising young professionals who are creating educational solutions that are practical and implementable.
The problem Ogment solves is giving educators a way to quickly and seamlessly integrate web content with teacher-created material in the building of multimedia lessons and curriculum. Teachers can take any content from the web including articles, videos, and images, and with one click, pull them into Ogment where they are formatted and cited with Lexile® measures and other helpful teaching information. See Ogment in action.
“To say that this has been a banner year is almost an understatement,” said Ms. Wetmore. “Winning a CODiE is an unexpected and amazing honor especially coupled with wins in the BESSIEs and what we hope will be, a win in the REVERE Awards. We have an incredible team that has really delivered what the educators told us they needed.”
Ogment won in the category for Best Cross-curricular Solution which perfectly aligns with how it applies to any subject area or grade level. “Ogment can be used in any educational setting, grade level, or subject area—it really is a curriculum creation engine that facilitates the process educators go through all the time in creating and delivering inspiring, real-world instruction,” added Ms. Wetmore. It is being used by K-12 school districts throughout the country.
Ms. Wetmore sums it up by saying, “So much of Ogment’s success can be credited to the teachers whom we worked with in developing and pilot testing Ogment. We dedicate this win to them because they are our inspiration and our partners.”
About Ogment
Teachers use Ogment to make lesson planning and development easier. With Ogment, teachers in K12 plan and build lessons from web content, map courses, create assessments, and monitor progress. Ogment “eduneers” are educators, engineers and designers who have been at the forefront of educational technology for the past two decades. Ogment is a subsidiary of EvoText, LLC headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts. To learn more, visit GetOgment.com.
About EvoText
EvoText is an educational software development house that develops custom eLearning solutions. EvoText’s experts have developed several of the most well-known, award-winning eLearning products for basal and supplemental publishers, schools and teachers. EvoText is headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts. To learn more, visit EvoText.com.
Lexile® is a registered trademark of MetaMetrics, Inc. and is registered in the United States and abroad.
Contacts
for Ogment
Jennifer Harrison, 916-716-0636
jennifer@pandopublicrelations.com
EvoText Founder and Ogment Creator is “On the Rise” and Flush with Product Wins for Education Technology
Ogment enables teachers to create multimedia lessons and curriculum and is on a roll with awards recognition in the BESSIEs, SIIA CODiE Awards and AAP REVERE Awards
BURLINGTON, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Johanna Wetmore is having a very good spring. In April, her company’s product, Ogment, won three BESSIE Awards for education technology teacher tools. Ogment was also named finalist in two categories of the SIIA CODiE Awards, and named finalist as an innovative supplementary resource in the Association of American Publishers’ REVERE Awards. Ms. Wetmore was also named to the exclusive AAP list of promising education professionals who are “On the Rise” and demonstrate remarkable leadership and innovation in the education resource industry. Click to Tweet
Ogment was developed by Ms. Wetmore’s company, EvoText, to help educators quickly and seamlessly integrate web content with teacher-created material to build multimedia lessons and curriculum. Teachers can take any content from the web including articles, videos, and images, and with one click pull it into Ogment where it is formatted and cited with Lexile® measures and other helpful teaching information. See Ogment in action.
“We are honored that Ogment is being recognized with so many awards, and I think this is happening because Ogment addresses a true need in education,” said Ms. Wetmore. “Ogment offers a process that makes it faster and easier for educators to build dynamic, real-world lessons, courses and even whole curriculum.”
Details about the awards Ogment has won or been nominated for:
BESSIE: Ogment wins in three categories including educators’ online resources, online teacher productivity tools, and online multimedia tools.
REVERE: Ogment named finalist in the category of supplemental education resources for innovation.
CODiE: Ogment named finalist in two education technology categories including best cross-curricular solution and best instructional solution in other curriculum areas.
About Ogment
Teachers use Ogment to make lesson planning and development easier. With Ogment, teachers in K12 plan and build lessons from web content, map courses, create assessments, and monitor progress. Ogment “eduneers” are educators, engineers and designers who have been at the forefront of educational technology for the past two decades. Ogment is a subsidiary of EvoText, LLC headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts. To learn more, visit GetOgment.com.
About EvoText
EvoText is an educational software development house that develops custom eLearning solutions. EvoText’s experts have developed several of the most well-known, award-winning eLearning products for basal and supplemental publishers, schools and teachers. EvoText is headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts. To learn more, visit EvoText.com.
Contacts
for Ogment
Jennifer Harrison, 916-716-0636
jennifer at jharrisonpr dot com
Turnitin Feedback Studio Launched; Revamp of Flagship Product Puts Focus on Instructors, Feedback, Accessibility
Renamed Turnitin Feedback Studio, new version is focused on helping instructors provide authentic feedback to improve student writing
OAKLAND, Calif. — April 18, 2016 — Today, Turnitin announced a new version of its flagship product with a focus on ease-of-use, accessibility for students, and new mobile features to support instruction in the modern classroom. Formerly known as “Turnitin,” the new version is being renamed “Turnitin Feedback Studio” and will be made available to its two million educators and 30 million students on an opt-in basis beginning today. Click to Tweet.
Turnitin Feedback Studio has been reimagined from front to back with an emphasis on providing instructors tools to give relevant feedback that students will understand and learn from, while also supporting academic integrity. “Worldwide, instructors rely on Turnitin for preventing plagiarism in student writing. Turnitin Feedback Studio goes a step further in helping students become better writers by giving instructors a single place to quickly provide direct, actionable feedback on all aspects of student work,” said Will Murray, chief product officer at Turnitin.
Feedback Studio offers:
- Great feedback, fast. Re-designed user interface brings plagiarism prevention, feedback, and grading into a unified view that helps educators mark faster while making it easier for students to engage with their instructors’ comments.
- Anytime, anywhere learning. Responsive design works on PCs, tablets, and smartphones to support students and instructors wherever they are and however they work.
- Accessibility improvements. Major upgrades make Turnitin Feedback Studio more usable by all students, moving closer to compliance with WCAG 2.0 AA Standards for web accessibility.
- Unparalleled content coverage. Enhanced technology intelligently and rapidly crawls and indexes the most relevant and up-to-date content on the Web, including content hidden behind Javascript, expanding Turnitin’s vast content database in support of academic integrity.
“Turnitin Feedback Studio is a game changer for giving feedback and for the teaching and grading of writing,” said Christopher Swann, English Department Chair at Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School. “Turnitin Feedback Studio not only makes it easier for teachers to do their job, it makes it easier for students to see what they’re doing well and what they can improve on in terms of their writing.” See Feedback Studio in action: http://go.turnitin.com/feedback-studio-demo.
In addition to Feedback Studio, Turnitin offers two complementary products: Turnitin Revision Assistant, which provides instant feedback on student writing, and Turnitin Scoring Engine, which provides automated assessment of student writing.
Turnitin Feedback Studio will be made available to all current Turnitin users and is available on a per-student, annual subscription basis to new customers.
About Turnitin
Turnitin is revolutionizing the experience of writing to learn. Turnitin’s formative feedback and originality checking services promote critical thinking, ensure academic integrity, and help students improve their writing. Turnitin provides instructors with the tools to engage students in the writing process, provide personalized feedback, and assess student progress over time. Turnitin is used by more than 30 million students at 15,000 institutions in 140 countries. Backed by Insight Venture Partners, GIC, Norwest Venture Partners, Lead Edge Capital and Georgian Partners, Turnitin is headquartered in Oakland, Calif., with international offices in Newcastle, U.K., Utrecht, Netherlands, Seoul, South Korea, and Melbourne, Australia. @Turnitin
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Media Contact: Jennifer Harrison for Turnitin, (916)716-0636 or jennifer@pandopublicrelations.com
Summary: Turnitin releases new version of its flagship product, Turnitin Feedback Studio, focusing on ease-of-use and accessibility, and adding new mobile features.
Tags: Turnitin, Feedback Studio, writing, education, k12, higher ed, higher education, university, college, student, writing instruction, teaching, teacher, instructor, professor
Businesswire: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160418006643/en/Turnitin-Feedback-Studio-Launched-Revamp-Flagship-Product
Tweet: .@Turnitin launches Feedback Studio. Flagship product emphasizes giving feedback. New mobile features. bit.ly/feedbackstudio
Turnitin Revision Assistant Named Finalist in Two Categories of Prestigious Education Contest: SIIA CODiE Awards
Judges Commend Revision Assistant for Encouraging Students to Write More Frequently and Develop Their Skills
OAKLAND, Calif. – April 13, 2016 – Turnitin Revision Assistant – a formative writing product from Turnitin that gives students instant feedback as they write – was picked as a finalist in two categories of the 2016 SIIA CODiE Awards: Best Learning Capacity-Building Solution and Best Cross-Curricular Solution. The CODiE awards are considered the premier awards program for the software and information industries and have been recognizing product excellence in education and software for over 30 years. Click to Tweet.
“It’s great that Turnitin Revision Assistant was selected as one of the best education technology products of 2016 by the SIIA CODiE Awards,” said Elijah Mayfield, vice president of new technologies at Turnitin. “Revision Assistant helps students practice and improve their writing, and we were very pleased to see the CODiE judges ‘got it,’ and that they were excited about supporting teachers in their writing instruction.”
“Every year the list of CODIE finalists is a case study of how the ed tech industry is using new technologies in combination with knowledge about how people learn to respond to customer needs. They’re opening doors for learners of all ages,” said Karen Billings, vice president and managing director of ETIN. http://www.siia.net/codie/Finalists
Revision Assistant gives immediate, actionable feedback to students in a way that is easy to understand and is specific to a highlighted portion of text. Students can apply this feedback to each essay revision, improving with each iteration. They can write and revise as many times as they want, and each time Revision Assistant will inform them of the strength of their essay and where they can improve it. A recent educator review at Ask a Tech Teacher called Revision Assistant “the most comprehensive virtual writing assistant available.”
About Turnitin
Turnitin is revolutionizing the experience of writing to learn. Turnitin’s formative feedback and originality checking services promote critical thinking, ensure academic integrity and help students improve their writing. Turnitin provides instructors with the tools to engage students in the writing process, provide personalized feedback, and assess student progress over time. Turnitin is used by more than 26 million students at 15,000 institutions in 140 countries. Backed by Insight Venture Partners, GIC, Norwest Venture Partners, Lead Edge Capital and Georgian Partners, Turnitin is headquartered in Oakland, Calif., with international offices in Newcastle, U.K., Utrecht, Netherlands, Seoul, South Korea, and Melbourne, Australia.
Tweet: Revision Assistant from @Turnitin named finalist in 2 #CODiE16 categories: learning capacity & cross-curricular
Summary: Turnitin Revision Assistant – edtech that supports writing instruction – named finalist in two categories of the 2016 SIIA CODiE Awards.
Tags: Turnitin, Revision Assistant, writing instruction, codie, awards, education, k-12, writing, students, learning, higher education
Wheaton College Overhauls Learning Management System with Schoology
Schoology is selected for learner-centric design, ability to support traditional and online teaching methods, and integration capabilities
WHEATON, Ill. – April 13, 2016 – Schoology, the education technology company that puts collaboration at the heart of the learning experience, today announced that Wheaton College has implemented Schoology as its new learning management system (LMS). The five-year contract makes Schoology available to more than 2,500 Wheaton College students and the institution’s academic, extracurricular and administrative branches. Click to Tweet.
Research from EDUCAUSE reports that while learning management systems are installed at nearly every college and university campus, only half of the professors use their LMSs. Reasons for lack of use include poor integration, difficult interfaces and the inability of many older LMSs to keep up with the sophisticated needs of traditional and online teaching methods. Furthermore according to the research, very few professors use their existing LMSs to engage with students outside of the classroom.
Wheaton College stated that Schoology was a new and more technologically sophisticated LMS able to combine instructional and communication tools into a collaborative learning interface as reasons for selecting the platform. “We are pleased to welcome Wheaton College, an elite liberal arts college with forward-thinking leaders, as a new customer. Wheaton College saw the power and potential of Schoology’s learner-centric design with a more invigorated focus on student engagement, achievement, and retention than the course-centric designs of a traditional LMS.” said Jeremy Friedman, CEO of Schoology.
Schoology connects all the people, content, and systems that fuel education in a platform that’s so easy to use, it’s second nature. The platform offers higher ed institutions time-saving course management, assessment management, in-depth analytics, and flexible standards-based integrations that make it simple to connect other systems. Schoology also provides native mobile apps so faculty can manage their classes on the go and students can stay connected on any device.
“Our students and faculty participated heavily in the selection process for our new LMS. The students were clear that they wanted a platform that was simple to use on any device and powerful enough to be fully adopted by all faculty so that there would be just one LMS for all of their courses and activities,” said Wendy Woodward, Chief Information Officer (CIO) at Wheaton College. “We selected Schoology because of its intuitive learner-centric design, its ability to support our traditional and new teaching methods, and its strong integration capabilities.”
For more on Schoology’s higher ed offerings, visit: http://www.schoology.com/higher-ed
Images and additional assets available at: http://pitch.pe/1S4BTsz
About Wheaton College
Wheaton College (Wheaton, Ill.) is a coeducational Christian liberal arts college noted for its rigorous academics, integration of faith and learning, and consistent ranking among the top liberal arts colleges in the country. For more information, visit wheaton.edu.
About Schoology
Schoology is the education technology company putting collaboration at the heart of the learning experience. Schoology’s education cloud connects the people, content, and systems that fuel education, and provides all the tools needed to personalize education and improve student outcomes. More than 12 million people from 60,000 K-12 schools and universities around the world use Schoology to transform how they teach and learn. Find us online, follow us on Twitter, or join us on Facebook.
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Background and Media Assets
- Learn about technology at Wheaton: http://www.wheaton.edu/About-Wheaton/Technology-at-Wheaton
- More about Schoology in higher ed: http://www.schoology.com/higher-ed
- Interview of Wendy Woodward by Phil Hill: http://mfeldstein.com/wheaton-college-selects-schoology-as-new-lms-in-surprise-decision/
- Wheaton College media center: http://www.wheaton.edu/Media-Center
- Wheaton on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wheatoncollegeil/
Tweet: Wheaton College picks @Schoology LMS, says connects people, content, systems in #highered #edtech
Summary (22 words): Wheaton College picks Schoology to replace existing learning management system. Five-year contract serves 2,500 Wheaton students and academic, extracurricular and administrative branches.
Tags: Schoology, Wheaton College, LMS, learning management system, college, university, higher education, contract, education, college administration
Wire Posting: PitchEngine http://pitch.pe/1S4BTsz or PRNewswire http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/wheaton-college-overhauls-learning-management-system-with-schoology-300250529.html
Turnitin Hosts Writing X Tech | The Writing Mindset April 18-22: Virtual Conference for Educators in K-12 and Higher Ed Covers Topics in Writing Instruction
OAKLAND, Calif – April 11, 2016 – Turnitin Writing X Tech ( #writingxtech ) kicks off April 18 with a five-day virtual conference featuring webcasts on “The Writing Mindset” and how thinking differently about writing can engage students and set them up for success. K-12 educators, college instructors and students can pick from nine different webcasts offered for free April 18-22, 2016.
Turnitin hosts Writing X Tech each year to bring compelling, thought-provoking topics into the discourse about writing instruction. Speakers come from diverse backgrounds and often express refreshing and new ideas that teachers in K-12 and academic instructors from higher ed may not have considered before. These sessions and previous years are archived at Turnitin.com
Topics for Writing X Tech 2016 | The Writing Mindset include:
- Connecting Great Reads to Great Writing – Acclaimed writer, journalist, and writing teacher, Roy Peter Clark, will share his “X-ray reading” approach to help teach writers at all levels how to read with an eye toward learning—and improving—their writing with the help of great literature.
- How to Reach More Readers While Still Looking Smart – Professor Helen Sword, author of Stylish Academic Writing and The Writer’s Diet, debunks the myth that “serious” academic writing must be wooden, wordy, and dull.
- Beyond Integrity: Why We Cite – Go beyond demanding compliance with rules to reframe the conversation around the merits of ethical action, both in proactive teaching and in taking a developmental approach to sanctioning misconduct. Bronx High School English teacher, Michael Goodwin leads the discussion.
- A Picture is Worth a MILLION Words! – Dr. Bernard Robin walks through how he created a digital story using just one picture: a family photograph taken in 1926. He shows how to use internet search tools to deepen explorations that enhance student engagement with topics and ideas in subject areas such as history, economics, advertising, immigration, entertainment, and culture.
- Mimicry & Plagiarism – Join Anita Lundberg of James Cook University for a discussion about the importance of mimicry and modeling for supporting students’ move into unfamiliar discursive communities.
- Teaching the Writing Brain – Join Virginia Berninger and Todd Richards of the University of Washington for a session on how neurology and psychology can have a practical, and significant, impact on how we prepare students for writing, teach writing in the classroom, and work with students with exceptional needs.
- Beyond Thumb Typing – Beth Holland of Johns Hopkins University discusses how mobile devices are impacting tasks associated with writing, and learn about tools, apps, and approaches to transform what’s possible when working with mobile students.
- What’s the Story Behind Why We Write? – Bronx High School English teacher Adam Tramantano traces the ways in which writers sometimes include the story of the writing within the writing and the ways in which we can explore the story of the writing process with students.
- Original Insights. Better Writers. A sneak peek into what’s new at Turnitin. Hear directly from the Turnitin product team about new product developments and the vision for technology tools to assist writing instruction.
About Turnitin
Turnitin is revolutionizing the experience of writing to learn. Turnitin’s formative feedback and originality checking services promote critical thinking, ensure academic integrity, and help students improve their writing. Turnitin provides instructors with the tools to engage students in the writing process, provide personalized feedback, and assess student progress over time. Turnitin is used by more than 30 million students at 15,000 institutions in 140 countries. Backed by Insight Venture Partners, GIC, Norwest Venture Partners, Lead Edge Capital and Georgian Partners, Turnitin is headquartered in Oakland, Calif., with international offices in Newcastle, U.K., Utrecht, Netherlands, Seoul, South Korea, and Melbourne, Australia. @Turnitin
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Tweet: Fresh ways & practical tips to look at #writing instruction for educators #writingxtech http://go.turnitin.com/pr/wxt
20-word Summary: Writing X Tech week: Free virtual conference April 18-22 for K-12 and Higher Ed hosted by Turnitin. go.turnitin.com/pr/wxt
50-word summary: Free webcasts on writing strategies for K-12 teachers and HE instructors, April 18-22 Turnitin Writing X Tech go.turnitin.com/pr/wxt. Topics: neurology and writing, using pictures, mimicry and plagiarism, and writing in a mobile world. Speakers from K-12 schools and universities including Johns Hopkins, University of Washington and Bronx High School.
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Tags: virtual conference, writing, education, Turnitin, teacher, instructor, speaker, author
New Prompts in Turnitin Revision Assistant Give Students Writing Practice for Advanced Placement® Essays
Turnitin’s instructional writing solution, Revision Assistant, now includes six Advanced Placement® Exam prompts so students can practice writing essays for AP® Exams.
OAKLAND, Calif. — March 9, 2016 — Students taking AP® World History or AP® English Language and Composition can now prepare and practice for those course’s exams with Turnitin Revision Assistant, a new formative writing product from Turnitin giving instant feedback to students as they write. The AP® prompts have been made available in collaboration with the College Board Advanced Placement Program® giving Turnitin license to use prompts from the 2013 AP® exams. Based on the data licensed from the College Board, Turnitin created content models and rubrics that are now part of Revision Assistant’s growing library of writing prompts. Click to tweet
The College Board Advanced Placement Program offers high school students the opportunity to receive college credit, advanced placement, or both, through any of its 38 rigorous course exams. The exam prompts that have been added to Revision Assistant are previously released questions that appeared on the 2013 AP® World History and AP® English Language and Composition exams.
“The inclusion of AP Exam prompts into Revision Assistant furthers our goal of delivering great content in a formative writing space that supports instructors in the classroom and helps students improve and excel at writing,” said Elijah Mayfield, vice president of new technologies at Turnitin.
The AP questions being added to Revision Assistant cover interesting topics that engage students. The AP English Language and Composition prompts ask students to:
- Build an argument about memorials and monuments based on multiple sources in a document-based question (DBQ).
- Investigate the concept of ownership and how it relates to one’s sense of self.
- Analyze Richard Louv’s rhetorical strategies in his book Last Child in the Woods (2008).
The AP World History prompts ask students to:
- Describe the struggles for global power within Europe during the mid-eighteenth century based on multiple sources in a DBQ.
- Write about political changes in the Mediterranean between 200 C.E. and 1000 C.E. and their impact on culture.
- Analyze the role of the state in the economic development of Japan and one other country during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
While writing with Revision Assistant, students receive immediate feedback in four areas: clarity and focus, use of evidence, organization and development, and language and style. The feedback is easy to understand, applies to the exact section it highlights and specifies where the essay could be improved. Students can apply this feedback to each essay revision, improving with each iteration. They can write and revise as many times as they want and each time Revision Assistant will inform them of the strength of their essay and where they can improve it.
Revision Assistant, used in over 60 school districts, is a support resource for teachers to extend their reach and have more meaningful conversations with students as they improve their writing. See a video of how Revision Assistant inspires these conversations between students and teachers here.
About Turnitin
Turnitin is revolutionizing the experience of writing to learn. Turnitin’s formative feedback and originality checking services promote critical thinking, ensure academic integrity, and help students improve their writing. Turnitin provides instructors with the tools to engage students in the writing process, provide personalized feedback, and assess student progress over time. Turnitin is used by more than 26 million students at 15,000 institutions in 140 countries. Backed by Insight Venture Partners, GIC, Norwest Venture Partners, Lead Edge Capital and Georgian Partners, Turnitin is headquartered in Oakland, Calif., with international offices in Newcastle, U.K., Utrecht, Netherlands and Melbourne, Australia. @Turnitin
Advanced Placement is a trademark registered and/or owned by the College Board, which was not involved in the production of, and does not endorse, this product.
Schoology Announces Support for the IMS OneRoster API & Integration with Infinite Campus
Leading K-12 education technology company commits to new integration, streamlining data entry and saving time for thousands of educators
NEW YORK, March 2, 2016 – Schoology, the education technology company that puts collaboration at the heart of the learning experience, today announced that it will not only support the IMS OneRoster standard, but also establish the first OneRoster integration with Infinite Campus. The integration will allow for seamless and safe syncing between the platforms.
“Integrating with Infinite Campus has been one of the biggest asks coming from our customers over the past few years. With the new OneRoster API, we’re committed to making this request a reality,” said Jeremy Friedman, co-founder and CEO of Schoology. “By integrating the two platforms, our customers are gaining the ability to streamline much of their work, saving them valuable time by dramatically cutting back on duplicate administrative work. With this time saved, teachers can put their efforts back into the classroom working with their students where it matters most.”
Details on the future integrations are as follows:
IMS OneRoster: The IMS OneRoster API is a subset of the broader Learning Information Services (LIS) standard. By conforming to the LIS and OneRoster specification, vendors such as student information systems can provide a lightweight mechanism for integrating with third-party vendors, such as a learning management system (LMS). Integrations can be as basic as one-way provisioning, or as advanced as bi-directional integration of grades. With Schoology’s adoption of the OneRoster standard, a turn-key integration can exist with any student information system (SIS) that implements the standard.
Infinite Campus: Working with Infinite Campus, Schoology will enable its educators to have streamlined access to critical information. The recent launch of the OneRoster API allows Schoology to access and provision all data related to an implementation (buildings, courses, rosters, users, etc). The API has also been extended to allow grades to be passed back to the SIS from the LMS. This means educators will no longer need to manually access and enter this data from LMS to SIS, but instead will have a consistently connected platform enabling a more streamlined teaching process and increased accuracy between platforms.
“We are excited to see Schoology commit to integrating with Infinite Campus because we know that a strong integration between the systems will save our teachers time and will ensure the consistency of roster and grade data between our systems,” said Eduardo Carneiro, applications engineering manager at Palo Alto Unified School District. “This integration will eliminate the need to enter final grades in both the systems or make updates in both systems throughout the year even when teachers switch sections or new students join a class.”
Schoology is continuously working to make its education cloud the most inclusive learning management system. To learn more about Schoology integrations, see https://www.schoology.com/k-12/interoperability.
About Schoology
Schoology is the education technology company putting collaboration at the heart of the learning experience. Schoology’s education cloud connects the people, content, and systems that fuel education, and provides all the tools needed to personalize education and improve student outcomes. More than 12 million people from 60,000 K-12 schools and universities around the world use Schoology to transform how they teach and learn. Find us online, follow us on Twitter, or join us on Facebook.
Tweet: . @Schoology 2 use IMS OneRoster 2 integrate w/ @InfiniteCampus. Seamless sync roster & grade data. #edtech
Summary: Schoology announced integration with IMS OneRoster and Infinite Campus. Bi-directional integration, seamless syncing of data for schools.
Tags: Schoology, Infinite Campus, OneRoster, education, school, grade, education technology, edtech, learning management system, LMS, SIS, student information system
PRNewswire link: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/schoology-announces-support-for-the-ims-oneroster-api–integration-with-infinite-campus-300229689.html?tc=eml_cleartime
Manor ISD Students Benefit from Samsung Sponsorship: Making Virtual Connections Between Industry Professionals and Schools Through Nepris
AUSTIN, Texas – March 1, 2016 – At Manor Independent School district in the Austin area, students have explored a book bonanza, learned about intergalactic travel, measured sources of energy, built companies, met flying foxes, and watched test tubes explode without setting foot outside their classroom. Thanks to a grant from Samsung Austin Semiconductor (SAS), these sessions and dozens more were made possible by Nepris, a cloud-based technology platform, which connects teachers with experts and working professionals for online live interactions with students.
Last year in a limited number of Manor ISD schools, Samsung pilot tested Nepris, which virtually connected teachers and students with Samsung employees and other professionals. Teachers overwhelmingly commended Nepris for how it opened doors and brought exciting live conversations and virtual tours of faraway workspaces to their students. With the positive feedback, Samsung decided to extend the sponsorship for an additional three years. Now every teacher at Manor has the ability to invite thousands of professionals into their classroom for online interactive sessions.
“We have always supported Manor ISD through employee engagement opportunities, but with a technology platform like Nepris, it provides an avenue for Samsung employees to engage with classrooms more frequently versus once or twice a year during career days or onsite visits,” said Melanie Flowers, human resources development manager at SAS.
Nepris is a community of teachers and professionals who want to collaborate with each other but haven’t been able to connect efficiently and effectively until now. Teachers can request a virtual session with professionals, researchers, experts and companies to bring abstract topics to life, to mentor students on projects or evaluate student work. Companies like Samsung can easily engage their employees by offering mock interviews, virtual tours, and “meet the engineer”-like sessions focusing on STEM and the Arts. Any number of classrooms can sign up easily to participate in these online interactive conversations.
Angela Matthews, chief technology officer of Manor ISD describes Nepris as a way to “tear down the walls.” “Our students are able to experience the world outside Manor ISD. The real world is brought directly to them. The students, whether in first grade or seniors in high school, are able to see the connection of what they learn in the classroom to real world experiences. Having professionals interact directly with the students makes the curriculum come to life.”
“At Samsung, our goal is to open students’ eyes and inspire their inquisitive nature. Through Nepris, Samsung employees can make an impact beyond where we can physically travel. Now, our employees can reach students locally or across the globe with the same amount of effort,” added Mrs. Flowers.
Nepris offers teachers the ability to see archived sessions for free, to sign-up for a license to request sessions of their own, or to participate in industry offered sessions at Nepris.com.
About Nepris
Dallas-based Nepris gives companies, professionals and experts a way to reach out to and connect with classrooms while providing teachers a way to reach out to and connect with professionals. Through Nepris, classroom learning comes to life in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and the Arts. The planning, connecting and meeting occurs online through the Nepris social community. Sessions range from interactive Q&As with working professionals, to virtual field trips, to project mentorships, to live Shark Tanks. See Nepris in action at Nepris.com/webinar or sign-up as a teacher or professional at Nepris.com.
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New Product from Turnitin Launched: Revision Assistant Helps Improve Student Writing, Extends Teachers’ Reach
Pilot studies show students write and revise more often using instant feedback generated by Revision Assistant
OAKLAND, Calif. — January 20, 2016 — Today, Turnitin introduced Revision Assistant, a formative writing tool giving students immediate, actionable feedback on all aspects of student writing. Turnitin Revision Assistant, for grades 6-12 and developmental writing in higher education, extends teachers’ reach by giving students immediate formative feedback during the writing process. Click to Tweet
“Writing is the one subject critical to academic and career success yet is almost entirely unsupported by existing educational technology. Of the hundreds of reading and math applications to support instruction, very few provide meaningful feedback on writing beyond grammar and spell-checking,” said Chris Caren, CEO of Turnitin. “Revision Assistant gives students holistic, specific feedback on their writing in a way that encourages them to revise multiple times.”
Revision Assistant’s feedback is multifaceted and unique. As students write with Revision Assistant, they can request a ‘Signal Check’ which provides a student-friendly visualization of how they are performing on writing traits such as focus, use of evidence, or organization, among many others. Actionable comments appear in the margins of students’ compositions and are tied to sentences highlighted in the text. This feedback emphasizes areas of strength, as well as suggestions for sentence-level improvements. The combination of positive and constructive comments encourages students to continue revising, and in the process, their writing improves. Students can revise and get feedback as many times as they would like before sharing their work with their teacher.
“With Revision Assistant students get the immediate feedback they need to improve their writing.” said Susan Van Doren, an English teacher from George Whittell High School in Zephyr Cove, Nev. “They write more and they revise more. Having that instant feedback of the signal bars challenges them to improve. With Revision Assistant, students submitted the best essays I got out of that class all year.”
In a 2015 study of Revision Assistant with 18 middle and high schools, 164 educators and 3,439 students:
- Ninety-four percent of pilot students revised their work at least once when writing with Turnitin Revision Assistant; middle school students revised, on average, ten times, while high school students revised six times.
- Middle schoolers doubled the length of their essays across revisions when using the system, while high school papers increased by 70 percent.
Turnitin Revision Assistant is currently being used in school districts across the country, including Irvine USD, Corona-Norco USD, Washoe County, San Dieguito Union High School District and Covina-Valley USD.
Turnitin Revision Assistant is available on a per-student, annual subscription basis.
About Turnitin
Turnitin is revolutionizing the experience of writing to learn. Turnitin’s formative feedback and originality checking services promote critical thinking, ensure academic integrity, and help students improve their writing. Turnitin provides instructors with the tools to engage students in the writing process, provide personalized feedback, and assess student progress over time. Turnitin is used by more than 26 million students at 15,000 institutions in 140 countries. Backed by Insight Venture Partners, GIC, Norwest Venture Partners, Lead Edge Capital and Georgian Partners, Turnitin is headquartered in Oakland, Calif., with international offices in Newcastle, U.K., Utrecht, Netherlands and Melbourne, Australia. @Turnitin
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