Category: Turnitin

Turnitin and User License Agreement – an update

WordPress User [jbw] E-submission, Turnitin Leave a comment

The Digital Education Team is providing an update on Turnitin and User License Agreements.

You may have heard about concerns regarding Turnitin user license agreements and Generative AI.

When you log in to use Turnitin, staff and students need to accept the terms of agreement to use the platform.

Over the summer, we received a notification from Turnitin that they were updating its license agreement, with the intention that this will be applied to all users (staff and students).

As part of this license agreement, it was proposed that student submissions and staff feedback would be used to train large language models.

We, along with the rest of the sector, had concerns over this. We were unhappy with how Turnitin planned to introduce this update, without warning, and over the security of student work and staff feedback.

Working alongside UCISA, the professional membership body for digital, IT, and information systems in UK higher education, and other universities, we lobbied against this change.

Following this, Turnitin did not introduce the updated license agreement.

You might have seen that other universities are starting to move away from Turnitin. For the year ahead, we are continuing to use Turnitin.

In terms of our own license, we renew on an annual basis, and we are contracted up until July 2027. 

We ran a pilot a couple of years ago to look at the feasibility of moving away from Turnitin, but at that point the tools in Blackboard didn’t meet all our requirements. We do keep a close eye on both text-matching and submission tools in Blackboard to see whether they offer a viable alternative to Turnitin.

We meet our Turnitin Customer Account Manager regularly throughout the year, and we’re able to feedback our concerns and issues. We were in touch with them about the proposed changes to the licence agreement. We also work with sector bodies who lobby and advocate with software vendors on behalf HE institutions.

If you’d prefer not to use Turnitin, Blackboard Assignment has submission and marking tools which you can use – all the guidance is available on our web pages, and we’d be happy to work with anyone who would like to switch to using it. It does offer a number of benefits that Turnitin doesn’t have – for example, multi-part submissions and group assignments. However, there are some limitations – the biggest 2 are that marks aren’t released automatically on a ‘Post Date’ and it’s not possible to submit work on behalf of students.

If you have any concerns about this update, you are welcome to contact the Digital Education Team on elearning@aber.ac.uk.

Digital Education Training

WordPress User [jbw] Blackboard, E-submission, Panopto, Training and Support, Turnitin Leave a comment

Our Digital Education training programme is now available for staff to book onto on the staff booking page

Our training is split across 3 levels:

E-learning Essentials:

Our E-learning Essentials sessions provide a practical introduction to the University’s core digital learning technologies and the policies that support their use. These sessions are ideal for colleagues who are new to a tool, taking on a new teaching role, or looking to refresh their knowledge.

You will gain confidence in using technologies such as Blackboard, Turnitin, Panopto, Microsoft Copilot, and Vevox, as well as learn about key processes that support learning, teaching, and assessment.

Sessions available:

  • Become a Document Pro
  • Introduction to Blackboard Ally
  • Introduction to Blackboard Ultra
  • Introduction to Component Marks Transfer
  • Introduction to Microsoft Copilot for Learning and Teaching Activities
  • Introduction to Panopto Lecture Capture and Teaching Room Equipment (bilingual)
  • Introduction to Turnitin (bilingual)
  • Introduction to Vevox Polling Software

E-learning Enhanced:

Our E-learning Enhanced sessions focus on designing and creating engaging learning activities using digital tools within your own teaching context.

These hands-on workshops will help you explore innovative approaches to learning design, assessment, accessibility, and student engagement, enabling you to make more effective use of the University’s digital learning environment.

Sessions available:

  • Becoming an Alternative Text Pro
  • Design Interactive Online Learning Activities Using Blackboard Discussions and Journals
  • Designing Blackboard Tests
  • Designing Learning and Teaching Activities Using Vevox
  • Introduction to the Blackboard AI Design Assistant
  • Measuring and Increasing Engagement Using Blackboard Tools
  • Peer Assessment with Turnitin
  • Preparing for Your Blackboard Exam
  • Using the Advanced Features of Panopto

E-learning Excellence:

Our E-learning Excellence programme is designed for colleagues who want to create outstanding digital learning experiences and align their courses with recognised best practice.

Based on theBlackboard Exemplary Course Award rubric, these sessions explore the key elements of high-quality course design and effective digital pedagogy. While the sessions are designed as a complementary four-part series, you are welcome to attend individual sessions according to your interests and needs.

Sessions available:

  • Exemplary Assessment Design
  • Exemplary Course Design
  • Exemplary Interaction and Collaboration
  • Exemplary Learner Support
  • Submitting an Exemplary Course Award

We are committed to making our training as accessible and inclusive as possible. If you are unable to attend a session but would like access to the training materials, or if you would like to discuss any aspect of the session format or accessibility requirements, please contact the Digital Education Group at elearning@aber.ac.uk.

We look forward to seeing you at a forthcoming session.

Turnitin in Blackboard Assignment

WordPress User [kaw] Blackboard, E-submission, Turnitin Leave a comment

If you use Blackboard Assignment for your assessment, you may be interested in our latest update. Staff can now use the functionality of Blackboard Assignment whiles also getting a Similarity Report from Turnitin.

This is particularly useful for multi-part assignments and assignment files that are too big to use Turnitin. Like other elements of Blackboard, Assignment is available in Welsh for both staff and students. It also means that you get the benefits of Blackboard Assignment (such as an electronic receipt for students) as well as being able to use the same Similarity Report as other colleagues.

If you already make use of Blackboard Assignment, then we encourage you to try out the new Turnitin feature. Our Guide contains all the information to help you get started. Submission and marking stay the same, but you get the additional Similarity Report alongside your marking.

We’d also be interested in your feedback – during the year, we’ll contact you for feedback on using this new Turnitin integration.

Peer Assessment Tools available in our virtual learning environment

WordPress User [ksg2] Blackboard, E-submission, Interactive Tools, Turnitin Leave a comment

We recently ran our E-learning Enhanced: Using Turnitin for Peer Assessment training session and wanted to highlight the different tools that are available for Peer Assessment across our Digital Education Platform.

Peer Assessment activities have several benefits to students:

  • Allow students to invest in and manage their own learning
  • Shared learning experiences
  • Reflect on learning
  • Consider communication and constructing feedback
  • Develop conversation and collaboration skills
  • Improve academic achievement
  • Share responsibility for learning
  • Develop employability skills around feedback
  • In group scenarios, identify participants’ contributions
  • Quick feedback
  • Building a learning community

For Liu & Carless (2006), “peer assessment and peer feedback … enables students to take an active role in the management of their own learning” (280). 

If you are interested in exploring this topic further, we recommend:

Liu, N.-F. & Carless, D. (2006) Peer feedback: the learning element of peer assessment. Teaching in higher education. [Online] 11 (3), 279–290.

Lynch, R., Mannix McNamara, P. & Seery, N. (2012) Promoting deep learning in a teacher education programme through self- and peer-assessment and feedback, European Journal of Teacher Education, 35:2, 179-197, DOI: 10.1080/02619768.2011.643396

Zhu, Q. & Carless, D. (2018) Dialogue within peer feedback processes: clarification and negotiation of meaning. Higher education research and development. [Online] 37 (4), 883–897.

We have several peer assessment tools that are available:

Blackboard Assignment for Peer Assignments

You can add a Rubric to the assignment – student will see this as part of their submission.

Workflow

  1. Create Assignment and set Peer Settings (see Peer Review for Qualitative Peer Assessments)
  2. Students submit their work as normal (see Blackboard web site)
  3. After Due date and time has passed, students review submissions see Blackboard web site
  4. After the Peer Review Due Date, staff complete marking (see Blackboard web site)
  5. Student view staff feedback, peer feedback and final mark

Note that:

  1. Students won’t be allocated any reviews if not enough assignments are submitted.
  2. Late submissions will be allocated to students. Late submission is allowed automatically as part of the peer assessment process.
  3. Students do not see any names as part of the review process. You should advise all students not to include personal information on their documents.
  4. Students can provide written feedback in the review process but can’t assign a mark (unless this is included in the text feedback box)
  5. You can add a Rubric to the assignment – student will see this as part of their submission and can refer to it while reviewing. However, they can’t use it to mark work.
  6. You can hide peer reviews if you feel the content isn’t appropriate

Turnitin PeerMark

Workflow

  1. Create a Turnitin Assignment and enable PeerMark
  2. Go back into Turnitin Assignment to set up Peer Mark Settings
  3. Students submit to Turnitin submission point
  4. After PeerMark start date, students are able to view another student’s assignment and leave feedback / scores to questions
  5. PeerMark feedback is visible to students immediately
  6. Lecturer needs to allocate a final mark manually

Guidance:

Overview of PeerMark: https://help.turnitin.com/feedback-studio/turnitin-website/instructor/peermark/about-peermark-assignments.htm

Creating a PeerMark Assignment: https://help.turnitin.com/feedback-studio/turnitin-website/instructor/peermark/creating-a-peermark-assignment.htm

Student guidance on Using PeerMark: https://help.turnitin.com/feedback-studio/turnitin-website/student/student-category.htm#peermark

Discussions

Discussions are available in every course in Blackboard – these are a great way for students to engage asynchronously with their peers; they can post comments and respond to each others’ posts.

Workflow

  1. Instructor creates a Discussion
  2. Students contribute to the Discussion
  3. Students respond to other Discussion posts

For further advice on creating discussions, please see below for Blackboard guidance:

Journals

Workflow

  1. Instructor creates a Journal (private between instructor and student)
  2. Students reflect weekly on their contributions to project
  3. Instructor has overview and monitors
  4. Can be used for students to give an idea on group contributions throughout process of peers

Create Journals: https://help.blackboard.com/Learn/Instructor/Ultra/Interact/Journals

Guidelines for students

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1469787416654794 – contains guidance for students. Suggests providing a session for students on how to write feedback.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02602938.2019.1697424

“For peer review in the classroom to be effective, there is clear evidence that the process needs structure, clear and accessible assessment criteria and appropriate scaffolding sessions for students (Mangelsdorf Citation1992).”

https://www.ctl.ox.ac.uk/peer-feedback – includes some useful questions and prompts that could be used to structure feedback.

Peer feedback has been used widely within group assessment work, for example, when it comes to ascertaining student participation, and factoring in group contributions. For an example of a group peer marksheet, see this sample template from Carnegie Mellon University.

Our Academy Forum handout on Peer Assessment provides further information and Aberystwyth University Case Studies.

Turnitin App Retirement

WordPress User [jbw] E-submission, Technical Updates, Turnitin Leave a comment

Turnitin has announced the retirement of their Turnitin app at the end of the year, December 2025.

The Feedback Studio iPad app will be retired and no longer available. Instructors can continue to access Feedback Studio as usual through Blackboard. This includes mobile devices and tablets.

Turnitin are working on developing a New Standard Assignment, so instructors can review and provide feedback on student work from tablets without needing a separate app. We will release comms regarding this new service in due course.

If you have any questions or concerns about this, please don’t hesitate to contact us (elearning@aber.ac.uk).