Central Oregon Community
College professor Tony Russell
has won a national award
for student feedback. Russell,
COCC humanities professor,
was nominated as a “Turnitin”
finalist for Grading and Feedback
earlier this year.
Turnitin is a software program
used in many colleges
and high schools which allows
students to submit work online
for feedback from the instructor.
Russell said his students respond
well to the software program
and he uses it extensively
for feedback.
The award is given to an
educator who has used Turnitin
to provide “rich” feedback
on student work, save
time grading and streamline
the teaching process. Turnitin
All-Stars recognizes educators
who demonstrate a commitment
to academic integrity,
enhance student learning
by providing more engaging
feedback, or champion the use
of Turnitin at their institution
or district-wide.
In 2014, COCC won the
excellence for Higher Education
award through Turnitin,
according to Russell. That
award was evaluated off of
how institutions used the Turnitin
system over a course of
multiple years, and COCC is
still featured on the Turnitin
website.
Four finalists were picked
for the Turnitin Grading and
Feedback award and the winner
was announced on April
14.
“What interested them was
that I use audio comments
extensively for my students,”
said Russell. “I use positive
motivation to help my students
[and] I developed a way
to manipulate their class stats
so that it tells me how and if
students are improving. I can
tell over the course of the term
if the class is doing better or
continuing to struggle,” said
Russell.
Russell expressed his excitement
to be nominated and
to ultimately win the award.
“It was unexpected. I feel
honored and excited that
COCC will be posted again,”
said Russell, “I feel fortunate
that our institution uses Turnitin
and glad we have their
support,” said Russell.
Marie Nye | The Broadside
(Contact: [email protected])