Turnitin
Turnitin Flex Workshop Recordings & Updates
- Turnitin now tries to detect AI-generated text – Spring 23
- Using Turnitin in Canvas (video, 77 min.) 1/16/2018 Chat Transcript (txt) In person workshop by Billy Gunn and curry mitchell with simulcast online via Zoom
Turnitin is a cloud-based service for originality checking, online grading and peer review that saves instructors time and provides rich feedback to students. Turnitin is used to support the submission, tracking, plagiarism prevention, and evaluation of student work online. As of March 2024, MiraCosta College upgraded our Turnitin account to include AI writing detection. Turnitin can now provide an evaluation of the likelihood of student writing being generated by AI (artificial intelligence).
It’s a good practice to use Turnitin to support student learning about academic writing through a formative process, and not as a policing tool. The following Dos and Don’ts are from a Turnitin presentation about best practices.
Dos:
- Set clear expectations regarding academic integrity
- Help students understand the relationship and differences between similarity and plagiarism
- Use the Similarity Score formatively
- Ensure that students understand the Similarity Score and what it means about their writing
Don’ts:
- Use the Similarity Score as a “gotcha” or punitive measure
- Conflate similarity and plagiarism
- Use the Similarity Score exclusively as a summative measure
- Implement the use of the Similarity Score without ensuring that students understand what it means and how they can use it to improve their writing
Turnitin is available in Canvas. MiraCosta College has an unlimited license to Turnitin, GradeMark, and Peer Review for all courses.
Canvas integration with Turnitin
Turnitin is available within Canvas in two different ways. As of August 2019, Turnitin says that both of these integration methods will be supported indefinitely. The links below provide more details about how to use each method.
- Turnitin LTI 2.0 for Canvas
- Offers a tighter integration between Turnitin and Canvas within Canvas Assignments.
- The Turnitin experience still “feels” like Canvas.
- For faculty who like to use the Canvas grading tools along with Turnitin’s plagiarism checking capabilities.
- Turnitin LTI 1.0 for Canvas (Classic LTI Version)
- Uses Canvas’s “External Tool” feature to connect seamlessly from Canvas over to Turnitin.
- Users clearly notice that they have gone from Canvas into Turnitin.
- For faculty who like to use Turnitin’s grading and feedback tools along with its plagiarism detection.
Turnitin Help & Support
Turnitin errors are often due to issues with the entire Turnitin service and are not something we control locally. Turnitin has support services for your questions or problems:
Learn More About Turnitin
Professional development opportunities are available from Turnitin:
Turnitin AI Resources
- AI Writing Detection Capabilities FAQ | Comprehensive overview page, updated regularly
- The AI Writing Indicator | Helps faculty understand what they see in the Turnitin report
- Interpreting the AI Writing Score: One Size Does Not Fit All | Further refines understanding of how to conduct a nuanced review of student submissions
- Approaching AI in Your Classroom | Suggestions for faculty to incorporate AI into their coursework
- Turnitin AI Detection: Understanding False Positives | What are false positives? How to address them?
- Academic Integrity Policy in the Age of AI | Considerations for developing your AI policy
- AI Writing Puzzle | Infographic with links to 12 helpful resources
- Recent study conducted by Tyton Partners | ~50% students are regular users of generative AI tools and 75% indicate that they will continue to use these tools even if their professors or institutions ban the technology
- Turnitin AI Detection Known Issues
- For CCLC: Annotated AI Reading List | Resources and materials that are helpful for institutions at all phases of their AI Literacy journey
- Topic-based Solution Workshops – Attend a CCLC workshop on Academic Integrity and AI support with Turnitin’s Customer Success Managers and in-house AI expert, Leann McArthur.
Plagiarism Prevention & Student Intellectual Property
MiraCosta faculty using Turnitin for plagiarism prevention should be aware of these key points from MiraCosta’s administrative procedure on intellectual property:
When an instructor makes use of software that incorporates student works into its database, as is common with plagiarism-prevention software, the use should be governed by the following guidelines:
– Student work may not be submitted to plagiarism-prevention software or other software that incorporates a student’s work into its database without the student’s knowledge.
– Students should be informed in the syllabus that such software is used in the course and that the software incorporates any student work submitted into its database.
– Students should be given alternatives, such as requiring students who do not submit their work to plagiarism-prevention software, to document their references using an annotated bibliography and/or photocopies of the first page of all sources used and/or to write a brief paper describing their research methodologies.