About Turnitin
Turnitin is a cloud-based solution with capabilities in originality checking and online grading that saves instructors time and provides personalized feedback for learners. Turnitin consists of a Similarity Report feature integrated with Assignment submissions to identify potential cases of plagiarism by automatically comparing submissions to an online database of original content. There is also an Originality Reports which highlight key areas, show a breakdown of matching sources, and provide direct links to the matching content.
Turnitin also offers an add-on online grading and feedback feature integrated into your existing Brightspace assessment workflow. Instructors can add comments, inline text, and highlight sections in file submissions, directly from the Assignments tool. Then, Learners can view the online feedback in User Progress under Grades or Assignments, or in the Grades, Content, or Assignments tools. Consult with your Brightspace sales representative to purchase these add-on capabilities.
Note: The use of Turnitin combined with the special access features in the Assignments tool is not supported. If you set a due date for a user with special access that is different than the due date you set in the Turnitin configuration for the assignement, the Turnitin due date does not change.
Enable Turnitin configuration variables
To enable Turnitin functionality, turn on the following configuration variables:
- d2l.3rdParty.Turnitin.HasPlagiarismPrevention
- d2l.3rdParty.Turnitin.HasGrademark
- d2l.3rdParty.Turnitin.LTI.PaperViewRequestEmail
- d2l.3rdParty.Turnitin.GrademarkAutoTransferDefault
- d2l.3rdParty.Turnitin.LTI.PaperViewRequestUserId
For more information, see 3rd Party configuration variables.
Note: To use extended features of Turnitin, such as exemptions, Grademark, or the grammar checker, you may need to set up additional configuration variables, including:
- d2l.3rdParty.Turnitin.LTI.AccountID
- d2l.3rdParty.Turnitin.LTI.SharedKey
- d2l.3rdParty.Turnitin.LTI.URL
- d2l.3rdParty.Turnitin.HasERater
- d2l.3rdParty.Turnitin.HasGradeMark
- d2l.3rdParty.Turnitin.OriginalityCheckDefault (If you want to separate the Similarity and Online Grading features)
Note: If you do not have the add-on grading or grammar functionality on your Turnitin license, these variables will not work. If you are switching from Legacy API to LTI, these configuration settings are automatically set for you.
To improve the migration process from version 1 to version 2 of Turnitin, the d2l.3rdParty.Turnitin.LTI.PaperViewRequestUserId configuration variable accepts the input of a UserId for a user in Brightspace. This variable expects the input of a valid Brightspace UserId for a user with a valid email address. That email address is used when creating a new course / assignment within Turnitin. Therefore, when a Paper View Request is created for those new assignments, they are sent to the email address of that user.
D2L recommends enrolling that user in a cascading role to ensure that user has access to all available courses that may use Turnitin. This role does not require any specific permissions. Once you setup the new Turnitin variable, instructors can use new assignments or copied folders that use Turnitin version 2.
As for the configuration variable d2l.3rdParty.Turnitin.LTI.PaperViewRequestEmail, the current implementation of version 2 requires instructors to explicitly reactivate Turnitin after initiating a course copy. The reason for this is due to Turnitin's option for paper view requests. Turnitin uses the email address of the person who initially creates the assignment folder to handle these requests.
There is a prompt in the Assignments tool that allows this to be done in bulk for all assignments at once, but in the case of an instructional designer for a frequently-used master course, where it's offered many times by lecturers and TAs as opposed to instructors that are creating new assignments, entering each course to re-enable assignments is not scalable.
Set up IMS role mappings for Turnitin
In order for instructors and learners to use the Turnitin integration, you must map user roles to IMS roles.
- From the Admin Tools menu, click IMS Configuration.
- Map the Learner role to the Learner IMS role, and the Instructor role to the Instructor IMS role.
- Click Save.
After learner roles are mapped, their submissions are sent to Turnitin after being uploaded to an assignment. If you allow students to view their Originality Reports, they can click the icon links to Turnitin on the Submission History and View Feedback pages.
Note: Users with roles that are not mapped to the IMS Configuration Instructor Role receive a warning on the Turnitin tab when editing assignments. To change this language term to include additional information about who to contact if users get this error, in Admin Tools > Language Management, select US English and then search for txtTurnitinNotEnabledForRole. Enter the text you want users to see in the Custom Value field and click Save.
Troubleshooting: Learners are unable to click on Originality Percentage
Learners can select their originality report score to view a report on the Turnitin site if the assignment is configured to allow access. Incorrect IMS Mappings or assignment configurations can prevent users from accessing this information.
- From the Admin Tools menu, select IMS Configurations.
- Ensure the Brightspace learner role is mapped to the IMS learner role.
- Edit the assignment and select the Turnitin tab.
- Ensure that the checkbox to Allow learners to see Turnitin similarity scores in their submission folder is selected.
Enable Turnitin exemption for individual users
You can exempt individual users from having their assignments checked by Turnitin. By default, Turnitin exemption is turned off for your organization.
Do one of the following:
- In the Config Variable Browser, set the value of d2l.3rdParty.Turnitin.AllowExemption to on to enable Turnitin exemption of individual users for all courses in your organization.
- On the Config Variable Browser page for the d2l.3rdParty.Turnitin.AllowExemption configuration variable, click Add Value and either enter or select an Org Unit ID. From the Value drop-down menu, select on. This enables Turnitin exemption of individual users for a specific course.
Configure your LTI integration in Turnitin
There are a few steps you must complete in Turnitin before you can set up Brightspace to use Turnitin. For specific instructions on how to complete these steps, please refer to the Turnitin help; specifically Configure your LTI integration in Turnitin.
- Log into your Turnitin account and ensure you are using the Administrator view.
- Do one of the following:
- If your integration appears as Configured, you can click the integration to retrieve the required fields you'll need to configure Brightspace.
- If your integration appears as Unconfigured, you can click the integration, select the LTI API, and complete the configuration process.
- Make note of the information in the required fields, which are necessary to complete the setup in Brightspace:
- Shared key containing 8 alphanumeric characters (at least one number and one letter).
- Your institution IP Address
- An error callback URL.
- Save your configuration, and proceed with the Brightspace configuration of Turnitin.
Configure Turnitin to update grade information in Brightspace
If an assignment has been evaluated using Turnitin's Online Grading® tool, that information can be sent to the Grade book in Brightspace.
- Complete evaluation of assignment submissions using Turnitin Online Grading.
- Return to the Assignments tool in Brightspace and select the assignment you evaluated using Online Grading.
- Click Evaluate beside a learner's submission, and locate the Turnitin Online Grading score.
- Click Use this score, and then Publish.
Additional information
For additional information, visit the Turnitin User Guides and Support site.