OAKLAND, Calif., Jan. 3, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Turnitin, the leader in originality checking and online grading, today announced its Spring 2013 schedule of free 30-minute webcasts to help educators improve student writing skills. Several of the initial webcasts will focus on Internet sources students utilize in their writing and best practices in combating plagiarism. Nearly 8,000 educators have registered for the webcasts since they began in January 2012.

To register for a webcast, visit: http://www.turnitin.com/en_us/resources/webcasts.

"Attendee feedback and reception to the webcasts has been extremely positive. With our upcoming schedule, we look to continue to deliver short, timely sessions that help educators better integrate technology in writing instruction and evaluation," said Jason Chu, senior education manager at Turnitin. "For these upcoming sessions, in particular, we will be taking a deeper look at how the internet is shaping student behavior and impacting learning."

Upcoming webcasts include:

• Defending the Blending: The Benefits of the Blended Classroom

Defends the blended classroom by providing examples of increased student interaction and satisfaction, along with a plethora of effective teaching strategies for the hybrid classroom.

• The Sources in Student Writing

Reviews findings culled from an analysis of Internet sources drawn from over 30 million student papers, including a breakdown of the differences between secondary and higher education, the implications of the findings, and best practices for preventing plagiarism in the classroom.

• What's Wrong with Wikipedia? Evaluating the Sources Used by Students

Discusses the connection between student source choices and the development of research and critical thinking skills. Attendees will be eligible to receive a free website evaluation rubric to help students enhance their competencies in evaluating online sources.

• Grading the Top 100 Student Sources

Identifies the top questionable and creditable sites that students frequent and provides suggestions on how to better guide students in conducting appropriate research online.

About Turnitin

Turnitin is the global leader in evaluating and improving student writing. The company's cloud-based service for originality checking, online grading and peer review saves instructors time and provides rich feedback to students. One of the most widely distributed educational applications in the world, Turnitin is used by more than 10,000 institutions in 126 countries to manage the submission, tracking and evaluation of student papers online. Turnitin also offers iThenticate, a plagiarism detection service for commercial markets, and WriteCheck, a suite of formative tools for writers. Turnitin is backed by Warburg Pincus and is headquartered in Oakland, Calif., with an international office in Newcastle, U.K. For more information, please visit www.turnitin.com.

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SOURCE Turnitin