New feature in Turnitin: Assignment Copy

Turnitin has introduced a new feature called Assignment Copy, which allows instructors to copy assignment setups for re-use.

This feature streamlines the workflow for staff in several ways; for instance, you can:

  • Copy assignment setups from previous years’ courses into brand new courses for the upcoming academic year, with updated dates
  • Create a new set of assignments and then copy those assignment setups into multiple different courses, using the same assignment dates
  • Create one assignment setup as a template and then copy that assignment setup multiple times within a course.

This feature is not limited to instructors who created the original assignment. Any instructors who were associated with the assignment will be able to use it for copying. Please note that staff enrolled in a very large number of courses (over 1200) might experience a slight delay when accessing assignments to copy.

Instructions on how to use Assignment Copy can be found on Turnitin’s website. If you have any queries about using this feature, please email digital-education@bristol.ac.uk.

[Closed] Turnitin service incident, 2 November

Turnitin is currently experiencing an unexpected service incident.

During this time, you may find that you are unable to log in or access reports.

Users accessing these services via Blackboard may also be affected.

Further information is available on the Turnitin status page.

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

Changes to bulk upload for Turnitin similarity reports

Turnitin has just informed us of its decision to cease support for assignment submissions on behalf of non-enrolled students, effective from 19 September. Submission on behalf of non-enrolled students is an integral part of the workflow that allowed instructors to bulk upload Blackboard assignments to turnitinuk.com to generate similarity reports.

From 19 September, student administrators who wish to continue to use this workflow will have to manually associate each submission with an enrolled student, following upload. If this is not feasible – due to large cohort size, for example – we recommend switching to using Turnitin assignments for student submissions, rather than Blackboard assignments. (If the submission requires multiple files per student, you will need two submission points: one via a Turnitin assignment, to generate the similarity report, and another via a Blackboard assignment, to manage the additional files.)

For group submissions, files must be submitted via Blackboard assignments; you will then need to download one file per group using the Marks and Feedback tool. Afterwards, you will upload these files to Turnitin and manually associate each of them with one group member in order to generate a similarity report.

More detailed guides for the options suggested here will be made available shortly.

If your school will be affected by Turnitin’s decision, please contact the DEO to notify us of the number of units that will be affected, by emailing us at digital-education@bristol.ac.uk

[Open] Turnitin intermittent loading error for staff

It has been reported that staff may be experiencing intermittent issues with slowness when opening the Feedback Studio in Turnitin, and receiving errors when attempting to grade or add feedback.

Students making submissions are not affected by this issue.

Turnitin UK is aware of the issue and is currently working to bring the service back to optimum health. We will update this blog with any further developments.

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

[Resolved] Issue affecting marking groups in Turnitin

To fix the issue affecting marking groups in Turnitin, please try refreshing the Assignment Inbox, using the refresh button in the top right-hand corner.

Step-by-step guide:

  1. Click on the Turnitin submission point to access the Assignment Inbox
  2. Make sure the first filter is set to All Students
  3. Click the Refresh Inbox Data button with a circular arrow, in the top right-hand corner of the Assignment Inbox
  4. Try the filter again (if it still doesn’t work, please close and re-open the submission point)
  5. If steps 1-4 do not work, please try accessing Turnitin from within the Grade Centre at least once using “Mark User Activity” (and close and re-open the course if required)

[Closed] Issue affecting marking groups in Turnitin

We are aware of an issue affecting the availability of marking groups when attempting to filter by marking group in the Turnitin inbox. We’re currently in contact with our service suppliers and will be looking to get this resolved as soon as we can.

In the meantime, Markers can locate their students in the unfiltered assignment inbox and select them to carry on with the marking.

[Resolved] Turnitin loading error for instructors

Turnitin has now solved the issue that gave intermittent access to Turnitin, slowness when opening Similarity Reports, and generated errors when attempting to grade or add feedback to student’s submissions. Staff accessing these services may have been affected between 10:19 and 15:31 today, January 16.

Students were not affected by this issue.

If you have any concerns or questions, please contact us.

[Closed] Turnitin loading error for instructors

It has been reported that staff may be experiencing issues with slowness when opening Similarity Reports in Turnitin, and receiving errors when attempting to grade or add feedback.

Students making submissions are not affected by this issue.

Turnitin UK is currently working to bring the service back to optimum health. We will update this blog with any further developments.

If you have any concerns or questions, please contact us

[Open] Turnitin M14: 11 error with PowerPoint submissions

There have been occasional and intermittent errors reported by users when attempting to access PowerPoint files submitted to Turnitin. Affected files cannot be opened within Turnitin and students may not get a digital receipt.

The error typically reads:

Turnitin M14 error message

The Digital Education Office has reported this issue to Turnitin, who are investigating. Currently, they believe it to be related to certain uses of images in PowerPoint, including PowerPoint templates and animations.

The issue can be avoided if students save PowerPoints as PDFs for submission. Students can save work created in PowerPoint as a PDF by selecting “Save As” and changing the file type to PDF.

If you require further guidance, or have any other queries, please contact the Digital Education Office.