TurnItIn UK User Group
Manchester, 21/9/11
This was attended by 91 users, many from UK HE, but including schools, colleges and exam boards. A straw poll indicated a roughly 50:50 split between those institutions using Originality Checking as a formative tool for the iterative refinement of coursework (mainly new universities and colleges) and those using it as a summative deterrent/policing tool (older universities and exam boards).
In a review of 45 million submissions to TurnItIn’s Originality Checking software:
- 54% of matches came from academic websites
- 14% of matches came from social networking websites
- 6% came from essay banks
- 13% came from Wikipedia (largest single source)
Future developments to TurnItIn tools
Late 2011:
• Better tools for administrators including password recovery
• e-Rater added to GradeMark to provide spelling and grammar checking.
Spring 2012:
• Ability to grant extensions to students submitting to a TurnItIn Assignment
• Removal of maximum term lengths so archives can exceed 5 years old
• Expanded view of GradeMark rubric so the whole marking grid can be viewed.
• Adding audio and/or video files to feedback in GradeMark
Winter 2012:
• Ability to use iPads or Android tablets for grading
• Ability to translate documents to check for plagiarism from foreign sources.
Later:
• Offline marking
The developers for both the Moodle and BlackBoard integrations are based in Newcastle, not the USA, so we have rapid access to them.
Several users (inc. Lboro) requested a separate account for testing the Moodle 2 integration. This can be set up for us when needed.
Oxford Brookes produced a video aimed at students, so they could interpret their Originality Reports. It may be of interest to tutors – we do not normally allow students to see ORs. It’s on YouTube at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yYf8AihndI
A summary report from Royal Holloway looks at policies relating to students seeing Originality Reports. It is available at:www.rhul.ac.uk/registry/educational-development/e-learning/services/turnitin/Survey-Student-Access-to-Originality-Reports.pdf