Category: Turnitin

Turnitin AI detection update

Posted on by digitaleducation

Turnitin has expanded its capabilities to detect the output of AI tools that re-arrange AI-generated text in an attempt to bypass AI-detection tools (sometimes called “humanisers”).

This AI detection update is incorporated into Turnitin’s AI writing report and does not require any changes in your assignment settings. There are no visual changes to the report or the highlighting in the report. Reports generated before August 27, 2025 will need to be resubmitted if you want them to make use of this new capability.

Key changes for assessment workflows in Blackboard Ultra

Posted on by Dan Wilson

As many of you will already be aware, Blackboard Ultra has new and changed functionality that may necessitate changes in some assessment workflows around the University. While we have been actively engaging with school leads and local Digital Education colleagues in areas known to be using the affected workflows, we now ask that everyone reviews their current assessment workflows to ensure that you are prepared for the move to Ultra.

If your school or faculty is considering the use of any of the following assessment tools or practices this coming academic year, please read the relevant sections below.

Turnitin

There are minimal changes to this tool in Blackboard Ultra, but the way in which you access the Assignment Inbox has changed slightly. Please read through the updated Turnitin workflow guidance to see these changes.

Blackboard Assignments (download/upload, offline marking)

There are minimal changes to this tool in Blackboard Ultra, but the way in which you set up the assignment and manage the Gradebook (formerly Grade Centre) has changed. Please read through the updated Blackboard Offline workflow guidance to see these changes.

Continuous improvements are being made to this tool to address some of the issues you may have previously encountered. We will blog about these improvements when they become available.

As a new feature, Blackboard Assignments now include the ability to automatically run submissions through Turnitin to generate similarity reports. However, this practice comes with several limitations that must be considered. Please see the assessment planning page before using this feature.

Blackboard Assignments (non-anonymous, online marking)

There are changes to this workflow regarding setting up the assignment and managing the Gradebook (formerly Grade Centre). Marking has remained largely the same, but the way you access submissions has changed slightly. Please read through the updated Blackboard Online workflow guidance to see these changes.

As a new feature, Blackboard Assignments now include the ability to automatically run submissions through Turnitin to generate similarity reports. However, this practice comes with several limitations that must be considered. Please see the assessment planning page before using this feature.

Blackboard Assignments (anonymous, online marking)

There are significant changes to this practice. If you previously used the Mark with usernames hidden functionality, this is no longer available in Blackboard Ultra. Following feedback from Bristol and other UK institutions, Anthology (Blackboard’s supplier) are working to develop functionality that allows for trust-based anonymity, but any solutions they develop will not be available for this academic year.

The more strict, fully anonymous, Hide student names function in Blackboard Ultra severely limits your ability to manage these assessments and significantly increases the burden on staff and students. The Digital Education Office recommends against using this. Please see the assessment planning page and contact the DEO for a consultation if this is a route you are considering.

If you are still considering which workflow to use, or if you have any questions regarding assessment practice, please don’t hesitate to contact the Digital Education Office (digital-education@bristol.ac.uk) for support. 

New Turnitin AI writing score column in the Assignment Inbox

Posted on by digitaleducation

From 5 August 2025, Turnitin has introduced a new AI writing score column within the Assignment Inbox of the classic Standard Assignment in Feedback Studio. This feature is retroactive and applies to previously submitted work.

The AI writing score column is only visible to instructors on the course. Students do not have access to it.

AI Writing disclaimer
AI Writing disclaimer

Before the AI writing scores become visible, users must first read, scroll down and accept a disclaimer. This will appear the next time you access a Turnitin assignment and only needs to be accepted once. If the disclaimer is declined, the AI score will remain blurred in the submission list.

If you have any questions about this feature, please get in contact with digital-education@bristol.ac.uk.

Scheduled Turnitin Maintenance, Saturday 9 August, 2025

Posted on by digitaleducation

Turnitin have informed us that their services will be unavailable due to scheduled maintenance on Saturday 9 August between 16:00 and 22:00 BST. During this maintenance window, users will be unable to submit or mark papers, or to view marks, feedback or similarity reports.

Further information is available on the Turnitin status page.

Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.

[Open] Gradebook will sometimes not display Turnitin submission statuses

Posted on by digitaleducation

Turnitin has informed us of an intermittent known issue causing the Blackboard Gradebook to fail to sync with Turnitin. More information can be found on Turnitin’s known issues log.

In the meantime, instructors can continue marking as usual via Turnitin’s Assignment Inbox by entering marks there, and also manually in the Gradebook column for affected students. We also recommend using Turnitin’s Assignment Inbox to check for non-submissions, rather than relying on the Gradebook.

We will provide an update as soon as we have one.

[Resolved] ‘Submit on behalf of’ button in Turnitin is currently unavailable

Posted on by digitaleducation

The supplier has notified us that the ‘Submit on behalf of’ functionality in Turnitin’s assignment inbox has been restored.

The incident occurred between 11 April and 17 April. The impact of the issue was limited, and most Turnitin users were unaffected.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused. If you have any questions, please contact digital-education@bristol.ac.uk.

[Resolved] Turnitin delay in similarity report generation

Posted on by digitaleducation

Turnitin has informed us that the issue causing a delay in Similarity Report generation has now been resolved.

Starting at 9.30 AM today, an unexpected service incident occurred in Turnitin causing a delay in the generation of Similarity Reports. The impact of this issue was limited, and most Turnitin users were unaffected. Students were still able to submit work, although they may have experienced a delay in receiving their report.

If you have any questions or concerns about this issue, or if you believe you have been affected, please get in touch by emailing digital-education@bristol.ac.uk.

[Closed] Turnitin delay in similarity report generation

Posted on by digitaleducation

Turnitin is currently experiencing an unexpected service incident, which may result in delays in the generation of Similarity Reports. Students are still able to submit work, but they may experience a delay in receiving their report.

The supplier is aware of the issue and is working to restore full functionality to Turnitin.

If you have any concerns or questions, please contact us by emailing digital-education@bristol.ac.uk.

[Closed] ‘Submit on behalf of’ button in Turnitin is currently unavailable

Posted on by digitaleducation

We are aware of an issue affecting the display of the ‘Submit on behalf of’ functionality in Turnitin’s assignment inbox. The issue has been reported to Turnitin Support Engineers, who are currently investigating.

In the meantime, if you need to upload a paper on behalf of a student, there is a workaround available for non-anonymous assignments: selecting the three dots in the Options column for the student and clicking Upload.

For further details, please refer to the guide to Submitting on behalf of a student.

Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.

Student access to Turnitin submission points – reminders for assessment period

Posted on by digitaleducation

Ahead of the assessment period, we would like to remind you of two issues that may interfere with student access to their Turnitin submission points:

  1. The “Open in New Window” setting in Blackboard for Turnitin submission points
  2. The use of Internet browsers with strict privacy settings (eg Safari with its default factory settings).

For Administrators: Blackboard ‘web link options’ for Turnitin submission points

We recommend that instructors and administrators edit their Turnitin assignments to open in the same window as the Blackboard page, as opening in a new window may be treated as a “pop-up” window and blocked by some browsers. To do this:

  • Click on the chevron next to the Turnitin assignment and select Edit
  • Scroll down to the Web link options section and change “Open in New Window” to “No”

  • Click Submit at the bottom of the page.
  • You will see a pop-up asking if you would like to change the Turnitin submission to open in a new window; click Cancel.

  • You will exit the Edit page; click on the assignment to check that Turnitin opens in the same tab.

For Markers and Students: Internet browsers with strict privacy settings

We are aware that people are sometimes seeing the error message ‘Invalid or missing state’ when trying to access Turnitin. This issue has been reported to Turnitin and is linked to the privacy settings of the users’ internet browser.

Please make the following information available to students and staff in your school, to assist them if they encounter this error.

If using Safari, we recommend that users try accessing Turnitin via Chrome or Microsoft Edge in the first instance, as Blackboard and Turnitin submissions have been successfully tested with these University-supported browsers.

If switching browsers is not a suitable solution for you, we recommend updating your browser’s security settings to enable JavaScript and third-party cookies specifically for accessing Turnitin submission points.

The ‘Invalid or missing state’ message comes up when launching a Turnitin assignment in a new browser window with third-party cookies and/or JavaScript blocked. This issue can be resolved by adjusting the browser’s Privacy & Security preferences by adding “api.turnitin.com” and “api.turnitinuk.com” to the sites that are allowed to use JavaScript / third-party cookies. This change will ensure that Turnitin’s required background scripts are not blocked.

Once you have completed reviewing your browser’s Privacy & Security preferences, please close your active browser and re-open a new browsing session so that any changes can take effect.

If you experience any problems, please contact the DEO via digital-education@bristol.ac.uk.