The TurnItIn App for iPad
You may have heard that there is a new iPad app for using TurnItIn – including the GradeMark paperless marking tool – available for free from the App Store. This may be of interest to tutors who already have an iPad, and already use GradeMark. It probably isn’t a ‘killer App’ that by itself makes it worth rushing out and buying an iPad.
A key advantage of the app is that you can download the whole class’ assignments to the iPad, and mark them offline, re-syncing when you are back in WiFi range, whereas with the PC version you need to be online all the time.
Almost all of the functionality of the desktop version is available, and some iPad users may find this to be a convenient and quick way of getting marking done in circumstances where it may not otherwise be possible.
The TurnItIn app can be added to all of the Tablets in Teaching iPads, but it will need personal credentials setting up before it can be used.
There are no plans for an Android version.
Setting up such an app with the proper security is always going to be complex, but once set up, the app works very slickly.
Our early experiences indicate:
• The app is set up by default for the US version of TurnItIn, and the iPad setting for the app needs to be changed to TurnItInUK before doing anything else.
• Changes you make can be manually uploaded by re-syncing the iPad, or will automatically be sent if a WiFi connection is available.
• I preferred using the iPad to the iPad Mini because my touches were more accurate and the text was larger and easier to read at the default scaling (you wouldn’t want to have to adjust the display for each assignment you mark, so it’s important that the defaults work well)
• It took 6 ¾ minutes to download 39 essays onto the iPad, so with large cohorts, allow plenty of time for the download.
• If you select the ‘Unlink iPad from TurnItIn’ option, you not only log out of the system, but also delete all of the downloaded assignments. Useful if you are sharing an iPad (does anybody?) but a disaster otherwise.
• Screen rotation (portrait/landscape) works in the normal way. Many screens will re-size using stretch/pinch, but some don’t.
Accessing the submissions
There are two methods of accessing your class’ assignments:
Either
If you are already registered as a TurnItInUK user, you can log in with your email address and TurnItIn password. (Not sure if you’ve been registered already? Use the Retrieve Password link at http://www.submit.ac.uk . If you had a password, you are registered and can use the tool to set a new password. If you are not registered, it will tell you it has failed to find your details.).
Once logged in, you will presented with a list of all your modules, from which you can pick the one with the assignment to be marked.
OR
If you have never been registered as a TurnItInUK user (and most tutors haven’t), you need to:
1. Log into Learn
2. Go to the module
3. Enter the Assignment activity
4. View any one of the submissions by clicking on its Originality Score
5. Once in the Document Viewer, look for a rectangular icon in the bottom left corner. Click the icon to get a 16-character access code for all of the student submissions for this assignment.
6. On the iPad, use this access code to display the submissions for this particular assignment.
7. Because the access code only works once, you’ll need to Sync all the submissions i.e. download them to the iPad, otherwise you’ll need a new access code when you resume marking. If an assignment has multiple markers, each marker will need to get their own access code, and sync the assignments that they have to mark.
Bryan Dawson and Farzana Khandia