2008 Woodie Awards
HuskyCT Receives Updates
New Features Coming To Site In Summer
Anna Kapranova
Issue date: 4/3/08 Section: News
While a large number of UConn students are familiar with HuskyCT, it is a resource that might not be utilized by much of the student body. Currently, HuskyCT offers a number of services that allow teachers to post grades, assignments and even lectures for their classes. However, not all faculty members use HuskyCT for their classes, and not all students remember to regularly check the sight.
New features to HuskyCT software - coming this summer - aim to change that.
"I don't usually use HuskyCT for any of my classes," said Aaron Cipollina, a 2nd-semester mathematics major. "The most I use it for is to print out assignments, if at all."
It is not surprising, considering that not all of the faculty use HuskyCT or use it for more than review notes.
The new HuskyCT will allow faculty to post grading rubrics, use roster tools and citation checkers. Makers of HuskyCT hope the program will become a more integral part of the UConn education. The update will allow students and teachers more interaction through blogs, journals, and peer review options. Students will not only be able to check for assignments and chat on the side, but also create online class journals, add pictures to profiles, and blog about class discussions, according an article in the University of Connecticut Advance.
The new HuskyCT options may get more teachers participating and creating pages for their courses.
Perhaps the most important new addition to HuskyCT for the faculty, as well as the students, is Safe Assign. Safe Assign will allow both the student and the teacher the ability to check submitted papers for proper citation against other submitted or online works. In short, it aims to prevent plagiarism.
Some faculty members are optimistic about Safe Assign and its potential impact on grading.
"Plagiarism is a real problem and Safe Assign will help discourage it and help faculty identify it," said Rebecca Beebe, a graduate student teaching this year's anthropology 100 class.
Even students are pleased with the new addition, as it could save them time checking their own citations for the correct format.
"The strictness of what plagiarism is is ridiculous. Kids are spending more time citing papers than writing them," said Joseph Huff, a 2nd-semester psychology major.
"Safe Assign could be quite helpful, because there are only so many ways a paper about Thomas Paine can be written and any accidental similarities need to be picked out," agreed Cipollina.
"Most students have cheated or plagiarized at some point or other, whether they realize it or not. It is more serious in some cases than in others, but nonetheless, it does happen," Cipollina said.
A schedule of workshops on these HuskyCT enhancements is available on the instructional resource center Web site.
Contact Anna Kapranova at
Anna.Kapranova@UConn.edu.
New features to HuskyCT software - coming this summer - aim to change that.
"I don't usually use HuskyCT for any of my classes," said Aaron Cipollina, a 2nd-semester mathematics major. "The most I use it for is to print out assignments, if at all."
It is not surprising, considering that not all of the faculty use HuskyCT or use it for more than review notes.
The new HuskyCT will allow faculty to post grading rubrics, use roster tools and citation checkers. Makers of HuskyCT hope the program will become a more integral part of the UConn education. The update will allow students and teachers more interaction through blogs, journals, and peer review options. Students will not only be able to check for assignments and chat on the side, but also create online class journals, add pictures to profiles, and blog about class discussions, according an article in the University of Connecticut Advance.
The new HuskyCT options may get more teachers participating and creating pages for their courses.
Perhaps the most important new addition to HuskyCT for the faculty, as well as the students, is Safe Assign. Safe Assign will allow both the student and the teacher the ability to check submitted papers for proper citation against other submitted or online works. In short, it aims to prevent plagiarism.
Some faculty members are optimistic about Safe Assign and its potential impact on grading.
"Plagiarism is a real problem and Safe Assign will help discourage it and help faculty identify it," said Rebecca Beebe, a graduate student teaching this year's anthropology 100 class.
Even students are pleased with the new addition, as it could save them time checking their own citations for the correct format.
"The strictness of what plagiarism is is ridiculous. Kids are spending more time citing papers than writing them," said Joseph Huff, a 2nd-semester psychology major.
"Safe Assign could be quite helpful, because there are only so many ways a paper about Thomas Paine can be written and any accidental similarities need to be picked out," agreed Cipollina.
"Most students have cheated or plagiarized at some point or other, whether they realize it or not. It is more serious in some cases than in others, but nonetheless, it does happen," Cipollina said.
A schedule of workshops on these HuskyCT enhancements is available on the instructional resource center Web site.
Contact Anna Kapranova at
Anna.Kapranova@UConn.edu.
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