I'm at a new school this fall. I really like my students. They seem like a great bunch. Lively, engaged, thoughtful. Their first paper is due in a couple of weeks. The university has made Turnitin available. I've never used it before, although I've caught my share of plagiarized papers over the years. I now have a Turnitin account, but I have misgivings about using it. I guess because I feel like I am essentially accusing my students of being (at least) potential plagiarists even though I currently have no reason to think any of them are or would be plagiarists. It strikes me as being like overzealous airport security -- treat everyone like a potential criminal in order to (presumably) catch the rare miscreant. But at what cost?
Compounding my sense of unease (or irony) is that I'm teaching an Ethics class.
So, I'm interested in knowing about your experience using Turnitin. Is it worth the effort? Does it work? Do the benefits outweigh the potential harm? Does it make you feel like a mall cop?
~zombie
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