Do you have (even the start of) a list of exactly where this is a problem?
I have a similar, yet opposite, problem of wishing to use the choice of Moodle auto-format, Markdown etc. everywhere but only getting raw HTML entry.
I had assumed, incorrectly it seems, that these areas were like this because they were set up to use the WYSIWYG HTML editor.
I'd really like to get this sorted in time for 1.5, perhaps we can kill two birds with one stone, and get WYSIWYG support added at the same time.
This is mostly a browser issue I think. Nearly every modern browser, except of course Internet Explorer, will locate the appropriate installed font if the specified fonts do not contain the required characters.
If you would rather deter plagiarism than spend time detecting it after it happens then I'd recommend the following advice from the Library and Learning Centre at the University of Bath
For academics: effective methods of deterring plagiarism
Detecting plagiarism is reactive, short term, time consuming and can have a negative effect on students. Deterring plagiarism is proactive, has lasting impact and should have a largely positive effect.
Deterring plagiarism:
- Encourage originality - self reflection and individualised responses
- Use unusual topics and formats e.g. website, brochure, project, poster
- Ask for applied knowledge, applying theory X to event Y e.g. 'To what extent has Tony Blair increased the powers of the Prime Minister?' rather than 'What are the powers of the Prime Minister?'
- Ensure students understand referencing and citation practices, especially for online resources
- Assess process as well as outcomes
- Discuss plagiarism with students
- Demonstrate the poor quality of many plagiarised texts
- Teach general study skills (include the Library staff)
- Change assessment/essay topics every year
- Insist on drafts of assignments in advance
- Ensure secure submission and return of assignments
- Reinforce with other assessment methods such as in-class essays, exams, discussions, vivas
- Clarify how much collaboration is allowed in group work, be clear how marks will be allocated (group mark or individual mark?)
- Set up regular plagiarism audits
Clearly services such as turnitin.com may have a role to play in that last bullet point, but generally I think they are a symptom of the plagiarism witch-hunt that is discussed in Beat the Witch-Hunt! Peter Levin's Guide to Avoiding and Rebutting Accusations of Plagiarism, for Conscientious Students available from Peter Levin's Study Skills website
The JISC Plagiarism Advisory Service website, which was set up at the same time as the access to turnitin.com was negotiated (for UK institutions), has some good info on alternate approaches as well. And at least one linked article welcomes the revolution that widespread plagiarism will bring if it eliminates assessment via "decontextualized, audienceless and purposeless writing exercises".
Hopefully Moodle can help people utilise these deterrance measures effectively as well as incorporate detection services.
I would be very careful about managing user expectations regarding this feature. I note that you put secure in quotes, presumably because you know it isn't.
I'm generally of the opinion that a false sense of security is the worst possible outcome. This is particularly true when you are pitting the wits of large numbers of digital natives (i.e. tech-savvy youth) against teachers, generally from an older generation, who may well just believe what they are told.
Speaking from a software development point of view, I disagree with the definition of CMS (Content Management System) given above. First of all, there is no CMS committee deciding what is and what isn't a CMS so there are grey areas and it all comes down to negotiating shared meanings with your audience but for me almost any piece of software that creates a webpage where the main focus is on the 'content' (meaning textual communication) is a CMS.
So at the simple end of the scale you have blogs (though some multi-blog installations can be very complex). Wikis are off in a corner due to their open editing policies but are definitely at least adjacent to CMS's (and possibly KMS). Then you get the mid-scale more 'typical' CMSs like Plone or Drupal, some of which lean towards managing documents and web-publishing workflow, some of which could more accurately be called Community Management System (e.g. Drupal and it's political half-brother CivicSpaces). What the definition you provide talks about, I would classify as an Enterprise CMS to differentiate them from the other kinds.
Moodle certainly draws on the heritage of popular LAMP CMS's though it's learning emphasis put's it out on the margins. I still consider it part of the CMS 'family' and would look to other (primarily open source) CMSs for future directions as much as, if not more than, the big name LMSs.
In the UK the hideously pointless acronym VLE, for Virtual Learning Environment, seems quite popular. Some educators have made a strong push for OLE, Online Learning Environment, with the sound argument that the learning is real and not virtual learning. However, 'virtual' meaning 'computer-related' seems to have become lodged in the public consciousness so I think VLE will continue to be used here.
I'll end, for no good reason, with my favourite quote on CMSs:
There's some interesting perspective on CMS's in the discussion if you follow that link and can stomach all the moaning and astroturing.