U N I V E R S I T Y  O F  P I T T S B U R G H

March, 2002 

New Technologies Unveiled

Three new instructional technologies, OpusWeb, Janus, and Turnitin were introduced to University of Pittsburgh faculty at the Teaching Excellence Fair, held November 16, 2001. Staff from the Center for Instructional Development & Distance Education (CIDDE) explained that OpusWeb allows instructors to order media equipment through the Web; Janus facilitates the use of electronic whiteboards in their classrooms; and Turnitin helps to detect plagiarism.

OpusWeb: Helping Faculty Acquire Media Services

OpusWeb gives instructors Web-based, real-time access to classroom media equipment services at the University. “OpusWeb enables faculty and staff to quickly and efficiently order equipment and check the status of those orders on the Web,” notes Michael Arenth, assistant director at CIDDE. “This application will improve our ability to deliver instructional services across the University.”

Opus, an acronym for “Order Processing System for University Media Services,” was developed in-house to assist Instructional Media Services in their mission of providing campus-wide resources and services. Opus is used to manage and order equipment (such as portable computers, LCD projectors, VCRs and DVD players) and to schedule staff for set-up, trouble-shooting, and operation.
OpusWeb is a Web interface to Opus that enables faculty patrons to place and verify orders for instructional services twenty-four hours a day. The Website may be accessed through CIDDE’s homepage
(http://www.pitt.edu/~ciddeweb) using the link for “On-line Forms” and, then, “Media Order Entry.”

CIDDE introduced OpusWeb at the Consortium of College and University Media Centers (CCUMC) 2001 Annual Conference in New Orleans. “The presentation was very well received by our colleagues at similar institutions,” Arenth noted. Media departments in other schools expressed great interest in the system.

Janus: Changing The Way We Teach

Originally intended to address the classroom presentation needs of faculty who use wheelchairs, Janus allows instructors to make annotations on a touch-sensitive panel and display them on a projection screen in their classrooms. This innovative solution addresses an important need in large lecture halls where students might not be able to see notes written on a chalkboard.

Janus’ adaptability impressed the faculty and teaching assistants who attended the Teaching Excellence Fair. It allows teachers to face their audience during their lectures, annotate presentations, highlight important information and, using special software provided by the panel vendor, create an unlimited virtual, whiteboard space that allows faculty to save in-classroom presentations for subsequent uses.

“I was impressed with the way I could add formulas or draw figures to clarify my notes during lectures,” one physics professor remarked during the question-and-answer portion of the Janus demonstrations.

Turnitin: Helping Instructors Prevent Plagiarism

The number of Websites selling papers on all topics, ranging from astronomy to zoology, has increased dramatically in recent years. According to recent BBC and CNN articles, Turnitin, the digital watchdog, flagged 45 of 320 papers submitted to a neurobiology class during one term – even after the professor had announced the use of the program.

David Holzemer, an instructional technologist at CIDDE’s Faculty Instructional Development Lab, sees this software as a way to level the playing field for honest students. “Cheaters not only jeopardize their own education,” he said, “they devalue the work of other students whose work has to compete for grades against these illegal papers.”

The program allows educators to submit electronic student essays for scrutiny. Turnitin takes twenty-four to forty-eight hours to analyze the essays and enter them into a database. The database will subsequently monitor future attempts to access the same paper in later semesters.

The results from the searches are then sent to the educators in the form of a “report.” Text is color-coded and highlighted to indicate sections that are pulled directly from other sources. All outside sources are also conveniently listed for reference. This cyber-sleuth program will save professors countless hours researching suspicious papers. It will also motivate many students to be far more scrupulous in their work.

“Judging from initial reactions, professors will be very happy about this product,” Holzemer said. “One professor at the fair said that he’d actually signed up with Turnitin and was telling other faculty members about the benefits before he realized the University was extending the program to cover all its faculty.” After the trial period, the University of Pittsburgh will use faculty feedback to decide whether to extend the service.

To Learn More About These Technologies:

For more information about Janus and OpusWeb, contact CIDDE’s Instructional Media Services, located in Alumni Hall B-10 (formerly the Masonic Temple) or 412-648-7240, Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
To learn more about Turnitin or to sign up for a tutorial, Pitt instructors may contact Daniel Wilson at 412-624-8755.

Photo: CIDDE Assistant Director Michael Arenth demonstrates SmartBoard.

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