Online Portfolio Manager Includes Writing Tips, Research Sources and Guidelines, a Plagiarism Protector and a Complete Course Management and Assignment Grading System
BELMONT, Calif.--(COLLEGIATE PRESSWIRE)--Jan 12, 2004--As part of its commitment to quality innovation and educational success, Wadsworth, a global provider of teaching materials for English and other humanities disciplines, and part of The Thomson Corporation (NYSE:TOC)(TSX:TOC), today announces the launch of InSite for Writing and Research(TM), the first of its kind, all-in-one electronic portfolio for managing the research and writing process.
Capitalizing on the growing demand for customized, tech-enabled learning tools, InSite allows educators to better monitor the research and writing progress of their students The information-rich, user-friendly InSite is designed to foster greater collaboration between students and instructors while giving both access to a broad array of tools and resources aimed at continually improving the
learning process.
From a personalized instructor home page, instructors can set up their courses, set up curriculum sections, assign passwords for themselves and their teaching assistants, and view statistics on student`s performances. From a personalized classroom homepage they can organize and create assignments, match peer review assignments, and monitor student learning through grammar databases and an originality checker.
Students will find InSite to be a valuable tool in preparing and managing their assignments. From their personalized home page, students can keep track of assignments, conduct peer reviews, access peer reviews of their own work, review their grade portfolio, and submit papers. InSite also provides students with access to InfoTrac College Edition, a complete online research and learning center.
''Online collaboration fosters an informal, open dialogue between instructors and students,'' said Rich Rice, professor at Texas Tech University. ''In my experience, students are more likely to comment in-depth on their peers` papers when reading and reviewing them online. InSite encourages students to focus on their writing both by examining their own skills and by critiquing the writing of others. The true value is in the product`s ability to encourage teachable moments throughout the entire writing process.''
By bringing sophisticated technological tools such as InSite into the classroom, instructors are responding to the demands of an increasingly tech-savvy and disparate student body. In addition, products such as InSite give instructors a broader range of teaching resources as well as tools that help them manage their course duties more efficiently and effectively.
In addition to the personalized instructor home pages, InSite allows instructors to access the Assignment Library, which provides them with pre-built writing assignments and matching peer review assignments. Instructors can set up a course quickly by selecting existing assignments from the library, as well as create and save their own original assignments to the library. InSite also provides instructors with access to the Rubric Library, an online database containing grammar rules and writing guidelines from four best-selling Wadsworth handbooks. InSite tracks the total number of times each rubric is marked on a student`s paper and appropriate remediation quizzes are assigned when the student reaches the threshold of errors as set by the instructor.
At a time when it has become easier than ever to ''copy and paste'' information, InSite is designed to be an effective tool for checking originality. Instructors can customize InSite to compare students` papers against three sources: all other papers previously submitted to InSite, the entire World Wide Web, and InfoTrac College Edition, a widely used online database of full-text articles from a broad range of journals, periodicals and reference works. InSite offers instructors a complete report outlining the percentage of a student paper that contains original material. When a content match is found, the InSite report provides the instructor with the exact location of the existing information whether it is a previously submitted paper, a magazine article or a URL address. The instructor can then verify that the student has cited the source appropriately.
In addition to the collaboration capabilities, students benefit from access to the InfoTrac College Edition, an online tool connecting students to the rich resources of the Gale Group`s many scholarly journal and popular press databases. This fully searchable database offers 20 years` worth of full-text articles from 5,000 diverse sources including academic journals, newsletters, and up-to-the minute periodicals including Time, Newsweek, Science, Forbes and USA Today. InfoTrac College Edition includes InfoWrite, a Web-based training tool designed to help students develop their writing skills. InfoWrite assists students through difficult areas of research writing, such as choosing a topic, composing introductions and conclusions, and crediting sources.
''The rapid overall advances in educational technology are changing the ways in which teaching and learning take place,'' said Susan Badger, president of Wadsworth, which includes Brooks/Cole, Heinle, Schirmer and Duxbury imprints. ''Our goal is to embrace these technological advances by expanding customization and learning options for professors and students, increasing access to information, and streamlining the teaching and learning process. We are proud to offer a unique learning system that meets the present and future needs of our customers.''
InSite was created by iParadigms, LLC, in collaboration with Wadsworth. A 30-day preview of InSite is currently available, and the product will be available for sale with Wadsworth textbooks in the spring. Users will have the option to gain either one- or two-semester access. For more information, a complete demo tour, or to gain access to a 30-day preview, visit https://insite.wadsworth.com.
About The Thomson Corporation and Wadsworth
The Thomson Corporation (www.thomson.com), with 2002 revenues from continuing operations of $7.5 billion, is a global leader in providing integrated information solutions to business and professional customers. Thomson provides value-added information, software tools and applications to more than 20 million users in the fields of law, tax, accounting, financial services, higher education, reference information, corporate training and assessment, scientific research and healthcare. With operational headquarters in Stamford, Conn.,
Thomson has approximately 43,000 employees and provides services in approximately 130 countries. The Corporation`s common shares are listed on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges (NYSE:TOC)(TSX:TOC). Its learning businesses and brands serve the needs of individuals, learning institutions, corporations and government agencies with products and services for both traditional and distributed learning.
Wadsworth (www.wadsworth.com) is a leading provider of higher education textbooks, software and Internet materials for the humanities, social and behavioral sciences, including English, world languages and linguistics. Wadsworth also includes such imprints as Heinle, Schirmer, Duxbury and Brooks/Cole, with higher education textbooks, software and Internet materials for the sciences, statistics, mathematics and engineering.
About iParadigms, LLC
iParadigms, LLC (www.iparadigms.com) is a leading provider of technology for the electronic submission, management and archiving of manuscripts. Its technology to identify matches between submitted documents and any number of sources, including the Internet, is in use by institutions in over 50 nations worldwide.
|
