VeriCite is very gone Plagiarism detection tool to be replaced Promises kept

Program continues to aid students

ABDUL ALI Reporter @TheRoundupNews

Free community college provided by The Los Angeles College Promise Grant is helping build the City of Angels into a city of graduates.

The Los Angeles College Promise student enrollment has jumped 25 percent. This will increase the number of community college graduates, university transfer and workforce-ready students throughout our region.

does is package it all so that a student knows where to find it all.” Said Kiekel. “I think that we should make it that easy for everyone to access the programs and services that are available to our students.”

According to Kiekel, not only will the one year of free tuition help students but priority enrollment and a support team are a sure way to help students achieve their goal.

For business management major Michael Stevens the Los Angeles College Promise is a great way to give everyone a chance to succeed in college.

Brahma Blotter

These incidents were reported between 5/12-5/18

Reported by: Alexis Canelo

One effective tool for teachers to find cheaters is online software that detects plagiarism.

Pierce has used such software for years but needs to find a replacement by the end of June.

Last year, it was announced that VeriCite, a plagiarism detection tool used by numerous professors at the campus, would be turned off by June 30, 2019.

“VeriCite has been bought by Turnitin.com, and we were given at one year's notice that Turnitin was getting rid of it,” Distance Educator Coordinator Wendy Bass said.

The new plagiarism detection program is expected to be implemented July 1, Bass said.

Turnitin was another plagiarism software that was being used by Pierce College, but the price for using this tool was bumped considerably.

Bass is going through the different options for a new plagiarism tool to decide what will be the most convenient for professors and the campus.

“We are looking at Proctorio [that] has anti-plagiarism software that's supposed to be created in time,” Bass said. “ And then there was supposed to be one called Sim Check, but it still hasn't been created in time. And that's basically got to be something through Turnitin. com. They basically bought VeriCite and said we're getting rid of it, but we're going to create Sim Check.”

Assistant Professor of Cinema Ken Windrum has used VeriCite since it was first implemented and found it useful even though it lacked accuracy when grading student papers.

“I think VeriCite has gotten better,” Windrum said. “It has improved. At first, it used to be ludicrous. It would give you like 25-30 percent plagiarism for students who had not, and that's not good because you don't want to blame people for something they didn't do. You want to catch the occasional really bad plagiarist.”

Assistant Professor of English Christopher Corning found it challenging to get used to VeriCite when it was first brought in to the Canvas shell too as it didn’t work well with the ‘Speedgrader’ feature.

“However, that issue was resolved within a semester or two,” Corning said. “I was able to create assignments in such a way that I could use Vericite to check for plagiarism while still using the convenient grading tool in Canvas.”

Despite the challenges that professors had with VeriCite, it helped them to detect students who were cheating on their papers.

“VeriCite has been quite useful to me in identifying plagiarism,” Corning said. “Sometimes, students simply do not understand how to incorporate outside sources properly. Other times, students wait until the last minute and simply grab material of the internet just to try to meet the assignment requirements.”

Whichever software Pierce decides to incorporate, professors expect a hassle-free integration that won’t intervene with their grading process.

“I imagine that I will need to adapt to whatever service comes next once VeriCite is gone,” Corning said. “Whichever software we use, I simply hope that the tool retains seamless integration in Canvas so that I can create my assignments, in the same manner, to grade in Speedgrader and also see the plagiarism score alongside the student essay.” slopes.roundupnews@gmail.com

According to lacollegepromise.org the grant has now been extended to help even more college students all over Los Angeles.

The most important aspects of the Los Angeles College Promise are the waived tuition for the first year of college, priority enrollment at LACCD's nine colleges and a dedicated support team providing a wide array of academic and student support services.

According to Crystal Kiekel the Director for the Center of Academic Success, the grant is much more than just any ordinary grant.

“College Promise is much more than a grant, it’s an opportunity to connect students to a network of learners and support,” said Kiekel. “Pierce Promise aims to help students by connecting them to the curriculum, peer networks, and support staff that can help them succeed throughout and beyond their educational journey.”

Kiekel also mentioned how all students can benefit from mentoring, tutoring, events, counseling, and financial aid as well as how the promise grant sheds a light on all those things.

“What College Promise

“I think that it’s an awesome opportunity for everyone to be able to have,” said Stevens. “It gives people a chance to figure out what they want to do for free for that first year and that definitely helps out a lot of people.” aali.roundupnews@gmail.com

While the Los Angeles Promise grant is sure to help many, Wendy Bass the Coordinator for Pierce Online has been working on new grants that are sure to help many as well.

“We have been working on a grant that will give us five new online certificates including routing technologies, public education, task preparation, office communications, and social media,” said Bass.

This will allow students to earn online certificates which can help them earn living wages while finishing up the rest of their classes.

With the Los Angeles Promise Grant in effect along with a variety of many other scholarships and grants available, there has never been a better time to sign up at Pierce College.

For more information on eligibility and other grants along with financial aid information please visit www.piercecollege. edu/offices/financial_aid/.

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•Student Injury

A student was injured during oga class in the North Gym.

Pierce College

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