Turnitin at Oxford

The Oxford Turnitin User Group meeting took place on 8 December 2016. Philippa O’Connor (Deputy Director, Education Policy Support) informed the group about the University’s new plagiarism strategy. She also talked through the resulting changes to procedures for dealing with poor academic practice and interpreting Turnitin reports: Policy and Guidance for examiners and others involved in University examinations. The new procedures came into effect on 1 October 2016.

Jill Fresen (Turnitin support and training, IT Services) informed the group that the Turnitin suppliers have released a new (beta) version of Turnitin (called Turnitin Feedback Studio). The new version has a better interface, and improved functionality (especially for online marking using GradeMark).

Once Feedback Studio is enabled at the institutional level, individual users will be able to switch between Turnitin Classic and Feedback Studio. IT Services plans to enable Feedback Studio from Hilary Term Week 1 (16 January 2017). Communications will be circulated at that time. In the meantime, this video gives a preview of the improved interface:

Video: Key differences between Turnitin Classic and Feedback Studio.

If you  have any questions, please contact turnitin@it.ox.ac.uk

Please join us at the next meeting of the Turnitin User Group:

Date: Thursday 8 December 2016
Time: 2:00 – 3:30 pm, followed by refreshments
Venue: IT Services, 13 Banbury Road

Book now to secure your place.

Our guest speaker will be Philippa O’Connor, Deputy Director, Education Policy Support who will talk about the latest University rules and regulations for online submissions and the use of Turnitin. Adam Marshall will discuss the WebLearn-Turnitin integration and the forthcoming new version of Turnitin called Feedback Studio.

There will be time for questions and discussion. We hope you will be able to join us and look forward to seeing you there.

Visit the staff support site on Plagiarism awareness: https://weblearn.ox.ac.uk/info/plag
Join the Turnitin User Group site in WebLearn to access previous talks and receive email notifications: https://weblearn.ox.ac.uk/info/plag/tiiug

Any questions? Email us at turnitin@it.ox.ac.uk

UPDATE: 12 January 2017
Turnitin has advised that work on the new integration has been postponed due to staff changes and other constraints in both Turnitin and the Canadian university that is leading the work. Oxford staff need take no action. The change to the underlying software is unlikely to take place in the foreseeable future.

In previous communications, we advised Oxford Turnitin users that the Turnitin company will be withdrawing their current Sakai (WebLearn) integration, which will require our central WebLearn team to implement an alternative integration. The initial planned withdrawal date was 31 December 2016.

However, Turnitin have changed their plans and decided to delay the withdrawal of the current integration. We have not yet had confirmation of a new withdrawal date, so can only assume that the current functionality will continue for the foreseeable future. We expect that the Turnitin providers will need to give plenty of notice to institutions before implementing the envisaged switchover.

We apologise for any confusion. If you have any questions, please contact turnitin@it.ox.ac.uk

Our previous blog post (dated 28 July 2016) described upcoming changes to the WebLearn-Turnitin integration, with an expected termination of the old system on 31 December 2016. The Turnitin providers informed us on 11 August that, due to the needs of various institutions, the old integration will NOT be withdrawn on 31 December 2016; they have not provided any alternative date at this stage.

We expect that the Turnitin providers will need to give plenty of notice for institutions to handle the future switchover. Oxford Turnitin users don’t need to do anything in particular in the meantime. We will inform you of all applicable dates as soon as they become known.

Contact us with any questions: turnitin@it.ox.ac.uk

Join us to find out about the various avenues available for using the plagiarism awareness software, Turnitin.

Date: Tuesday 15 March 2016
Time: 14:00 – 16:00 including tea and biscuits
Venue: IT Services, 13 Banbury Road

Booking: http://courses.it.ox.ac.uk/detail/TTEP

Agenda:

• A member of the Saïd Business School will share their practice with us, and we will share ideas in an informal way.
• Experience the new University-approved online tutorial for students about avoiding plagiarism.

Join the Turnitin User Group site in WebLearn – it offers a collection of resources and will add you to the group email list: https://weblearn.ox.ac.uk/info/plag/tiiug. Audio recordings of previous meetings are also available on this site.

Any questions? Contact us: turnitin@it.ox.ac.uk

Dear Turnitin users at Oxford

We received the message below from the Turnitin suppliers. Note that no action is required at the moment – this is simply advance warning that those of you who access TurnitinUK through their website will need to use a different route after they implement the domain change. Those of you who use Turnitin via WebLearn will need to take no action.

From the Turnitin suppliers (received 6 Jan 2015):

As you are a TurnitinUK user we are writing to advise you that Jisc, the registrar for the domain submit.ac.uk, have requested that we move the service to a new domain no later than mid-May 2015. [Deadline since extended to 31 Dec 2015.]
It is important to note that we will not be switching across to a new domain just yet. If your account users access TurnitinUK direct through our website please continue to log into the TurnitinUK service as normal via www.submit.ac.uk
You should see minimal disruption to the service, and there is nothing you need to do just yet.  More information regarding the switchover will be supplied in the coming weeks.

Kind Regards

Turnitin Team

News from the Turnitin suppliers:

‘Guides.turnitin’ is almost here!

Turnitin will soon launch a new platform to store all product resources conveniently in one place.
This new platform, Guides.turnitin, will provide users with:

• Easily accessible, specialised product manuals that are tailored specifically for administrators, instructors and students
• Comprehensive integrations manuals
• The ability to rate content in terms of suitability and helpfulness, ultimately making ‘Guides.turnitin’ more effective

What administrators and instructors may find most exciting is that this platform will allow you to create bespoke product information packs, ensuring you have only the documentation that is relevant to your specific institution, and how they personally use Turnitin.

Guides.turnitin has been created for the user and influenced by the user, providing comprehensive support documents which are stored securely and updated in real time. More information about ‘Guides.turnitin’, as well as a link to the new system, will follow in the coming weeks!

In the meantime if you have any questions regarding the system please email
guides@turnitin.com.

[This blog post is directed to members of Oxford University]

We are working towards clarifying plagiarism policies and the use of Turnitin at the university. One of the most helpful things is to talk to others from other faculties and schools, and compare notes. The Turnitin User Group is a perfect place to do so – both in the online WebLearn site, and the face-to-face meetings that are held once per term: see https://courses.it.ox.ac.uk/detail/TTEP

Link to Turnitin User Group site:
https://weblearn.ox.ac.uk/portal/hierarchy/info/plag/tiiug/

There is a new forum for us to post important questions that we need to take further – see image below. In the Forums tool on the site, click on the topic of your choice and then ‘Start a New Conversation’ in order to make your voice heard.

Please post your questions in the Forums tool in the User Group site listed above. We can then take up a consolidated list  of questions with decision makers in the university. Thanks in anticipation for your input and ideas.