As the academic year draws to a close there are a number of valuable tasks you can do to ensure your content within Blackboard sites are archived correctly.
NB: Once a student has been removed from a Blackboard, their marks, Turnitin originality reports, feedback or submission receipts, Discussion board, Wiki, Blog or Journal contributions will be deleted and cannot be restored.
To avoid undesired early visibility of grades, you must ensure the Turnitin option ‘Reveal grades to students only on Post date?’ is set to Yes. If the Post Date has not passed, simply change the Post date and click on Submit. If the Post Date has passed:
Before you submit the changes Post date, open the optional settings
Scroll down to “Reveal grades to students only on post date?”
This will be showing as No
Select Yes
Then click on submit
For further guidance on checking that student’s cannot see their grades through the Blackboard Grade Centre please see:
As part of growing provision of electronic feedback at Canterbury Christ Church University, External Examiners may be required to access Turnitin for the purposes of moderation. Students submit coursework to Turnitin via our Blackboard Virtual Learning Environment and, depending on the module, school or course; receive electronic feedback on their work.
Note: Moderation arrangements for Turnitin vary between modules, courses and schools. Please refer to your course contact for advice about specific arrangements before accessing Turnitin.
Where possible please use Google Chrome when accessing Canterbury Christ Church University’s Blackboard VLE at: http://learn.canterbury.ac.uk
Login using your Canterbury Christ Church University username and password.
If you do not have a login, your course contact can arrange for a Canterbury Christ Church University computing account for you. If you have a password problem, contact the IT Service Desk at it-service@canterbury.ac.uk or 01227 922626.
Finding the Relevant Blackboard Site
In the My Courses section of the Blackboard homepage you will see the Blackboard site(s) that you have been given access to by the course. This is where the work you will need to moderate is located. You course contact can advise further. Click on the name of the course to enter the relevant Blackboard site. If you do not see the relevant Blackboard site in the My Courses list, speak with the course who can then give you access.
Access Turnitin in the Blackboard Site
Work submitted by students to Turnitin through the Blackboard site can be accessed via the Control Panel. Open the Course Tools menu on the Control Panel and select Turnitin Assignments.
You’ll see a list of all the Turnitin Assignments (submission points) in the Blackboard site. Click on the name of the Turnitin Assignment to open the Assignment Inbox and view submissions.
IMPORTANT Do not click on either the Synch Grades or Delete Assignment
Finding the Relevant Turnitin Assignment
Check with your course contact for the exact name of the Turnitin assignment to look for. Some Blackboard sites contain many Turnitin submission points. If you have a long list of Turnitin assignments, you can find the one you need quickly by using the Findoption in your browser by holding down the Ctrl key and pressing F on your computer keyboard.
A search box will appear that you can use to find the assignment that you are looking for.
Press the Enter key to search for the word you have put in the search box (e.g. ‘collaborative’); the browser will highlight the words that match the search. Click on the arrows next to the search box to find the next occurrence of the word on the web page.
When you have located the assignment that you are moderating, click on the title of it to see the list of students who have submitted their work.
This list can be ordered alphabetically by clicking on the grey bar for Author (student).
Viewing Student’s Work and Feedback
To access a student’s submission and feedback click on the Grade
The student’s paper will open in a new window called the Document Viewer. You can use the magnifier at the bottom of the screen to make the text larger.
IMPORTANT Please do not alter any marks or comments online as this is the student’s assessed piece of work and will affect the integrity of the paper.
Different Types of Feedback in Turnitin
In addition to a Grade, there are various options for presenting feedback comments in Turnitin. Check with your course contact which of these types of feedback have been provided.
Off-script feedback may include summary paragraphs of Text Comments:
Off-script comments may also include assessment criteria-related comments as a Rubric using pre-set level descriptors for each assessment criterion or a Grading Form with personalised comments within each assessment criterion.
Spoken feedback can also be recorded as off-script digital audio Voice Comments.
Why is it I sometimes see fragmented matches pitted through some student’s work in Turnitin?
Turnitin will highlight these small ‘fragmented’ words when it has found similarity to a larger portion of text elsewhere within the student’s work from the same source, and the total of these result in an overall % which is deemed ‘significant’ enough by Turnitin to show.
Please be aware that Turnitin is best at matching larger, more verbatim sections of unoriginal text, it is not a paraphrasing detector. It would not indicate where a student may have paraphrased a series of small sections from multiple sources, then woven these together and not attributed them.
If you believe you may have seen a similar, although not verbatim, sentence / paragraph / phrase in a source which has not been attributed by the student, it may be that there is not an overall match to that source with the student’s work for Turnitin to highlight it. Using an Internet Search engine, such as Google, may help as these search on keywords.
Following a change in our Turnitin licence we now have the ability keep submitted work, marks and feedback in Turnitin live within Blackboard for up to 5 years from the creation of the Blackboard, rather than having to download them outside of Blackboard. We are calling this concept ‘archiving in situ’ and it is done by extending the Turnitin Due date on a Draft submission point within each module Blackboard and adding a notice for staff to this effect.
A pilot of ~170 18/19 and 19/20 modules within the former School of Humanities showed this is more efficient than downloading from Turnitin (factoring in the extra set up steps required in each module Blackboard) and Turnitin have confirmed the information within them will be accessible for the University’s required retention period.
PLEASE NOTE: Archiving Turnitin in situ REQUIRES ACTION – you cannot simply leave each Blackboard as is. See instructions below.
Archiving in situ is OPTIONAL, however ONLY AS AN ALTERNATIVEto downloading and archiving offline. Course teams can decide which is preferable but must do one or the other to meet retention requirements.
Instructions to archive Turnitin in situ – for each Blackboard with marked Turnitin submissions:
Work out the ‘archive until’ date for the Blackboard To meet University retention requirements[1] it is recommended to set this to be the end ofJanuary of the calendar year after students are expected to complete the programme. For example, for a 2020/21 Year 3 Blackboard this will be Jan 31st 2022, then Jan 31st 2023 for Year 2 Blackboard and January 31st 2024 for a Year 1 Blackboard. See also instructions below for students not expected to complete the programme on time.
Set the DUE date on a DRAFT Turnitin submission point in the Blackboard to the archive until date This ensures that no Turnitin submission point within the Blackboard ‘expires’ before that date and the work, marks and feedback will remain live for access until then. Important: only change the Due date – not the Post date – and only on a student Draft (self-check) submission point – never for any with marked work. If you cannot do this on a draft submission point, create a new one called ‘For Archiving’ and set its Due date to the archive until date (this should be a rare exception).
Post a STAFF-ONLY notice to say Turnitin is archived and not to change any Turnitin settings or Roster Sync See below for a suggested template message. The message should include the archive until date and must be clearly visible on the first page you see in the Blackboard (this should be the Welcome page). Ensure only staff can see the message because students can still access the Blackboard themselves. Contact your Digital Academic Developer for advice.
Continue to download work and feedback for students not expected to complete the programme on time Where a student is not expected to complete before the archive until date, for example if they have interrupted, have a year abroad or are repeating a year; you need to continue to manually download for them.
[1] See Retention schedule for documents related to student administration, examinations, validation and review, available from Quality and Standards web pages
Suggested message for staff to add to first page in Blackboard
ATTENTION STAFF: THIS BLACKBOARD IS IN ARCHIVE MODE – DO NOT MAKE CHANGES TO TURNITIN. This has been specifically configured to retain submitted work, marks and feedback within this Blackboard until <INSERT ARCHIVE UNTIL DATE HERE> – the period required by the University retention schedule.
FROM NOW ON YOU MUST NOT MAKE ANY CHANGES TO THE SET UP OF ANY TURNITIN SUBMISSION POINTS IN THIS BLACKBOARD, NOR USE TURNITIN’S ‘ROSTER SYNC’ FACILITY, OTHERWISE STUDENTS’ SUBMITTED WORK, MARKS AND FEEDBACK MAY BE LOST FROM THIS ARCHIVE.
Students can continue to access their work and feedback until the archive until date.
The following guidance is for a non Standard set up, in cases where the Assignment type does not meet Turnitin’s requirements in order to be able to generate a Similarity Report, but where possible will attempt to return a report. If you decide to use this set-up please be mindful that Turnitin may only return a report for some of the submissions which would cause inconsistency and disparity.
If you are needing to set up this type of Draft Turnitin Assignments to support Anonymous Marking please first follow the steps below and then refer to the additional steps guidance to make the specific changes needed.
Assignment title: DRAFT Submission Point ‘X’ Point Value: 0 Select the radio button Allow any file type Start Date: This date should be from the point the first assessment brief is given to students. Due Date: This is the date should be at the point at which the last assessment is submitted for the module including reassessment (usually at the end of the academic year). Post Date: You can select any date after the date you entered for the Due Date.
Select Optional Settings:
Amend the special instructions area as appropriate, for example adding Tutor contact details and edit the text about generating a Similarity Report, as this set-up may not be able to generate a report for every submission:
Finally, ensure remaining settings are exactly as follows;
Allow submissions after the due date? No Generate Similarity Reports for submissions? Yes NOTE: Although YES has been selected be mindful that if the submission does not meet the Turnitin Requirements, Turnitin may not be able to return a report for every submission which would cause inconsistency and disparity.
Generate Similarity Reports for student submission: immediately (can overwrite reports until due date) Exclude bibliographic materials from Similarity Index for all papers in this assignment? No Exclude quoted materials from Similarity Index for all papers in this assignment? No Exclude small sources? No Allow students to see Similarity Reports? Yes Exclude assignment template Ignore Reveal grades to students only on post date? Yes Enable anonymous marking? No Submit papers to: no repository Search Options: tick all 3 options
Screen image of all the Optional Settings for a non Standard Draft Turnitin Assignment which will attempt to return a Similarity Report.
Once the above steps have been completed, and your Turnitin Assignments support Anonymous Marking please follow the link below for the additional steps required:
The following guidance is for a non Standard set up, in cases where a Similarity Report is not needed or where the Assignment type does not meet Turnitin’s requirements in order to be able to generate a Similarity Report.
If you are needing to set up your Draft Turnitin Assignments to support Anonymous Marking please first follow the steps below and then refer to the additional steps guidance to make the specific changes needed.
Draft submission points must be open from the point at which the assessment brief is given to students and remain open for the duration of the module.
In the fields displayed edit or enter:
Assignment title: DRAFT Submission Point ‘X’ Point Value: 0 Select the radio button Allow any file type Start Date: This date should be from the point the first assessment brief is given to students. Due Date: This is the date should be at the point at which the last assessment is submitted for the module including reassessment (usually at the end of the academic year). Post Date: You can select any date after the date you entered for the Due Date.
Select Optional Settings:
Amend the special instructions area as appropriate, for example adding Tutor contact details, and removing the text about generating a Similarity Report:
Finally, ensure remaining settings are exactly as follows;
Allow submissions after the due date? No. Generate Similarity Reports for submissions? No.
The following options, up to ‘Reveal Grades to Students…’can be ignored as we have selected ‘No’ to generating a Similarity Report:
Generate Similarity Reports for student submission: can be ignored. Exclude bibliographic materials from Similarity Index for all papers in this assignment? can be ignored. Exclude quoted materials from Similarity Index for all papers in this assignment? can be ignored. Exclude small sources? can be ignored. Allow students to see Similarity Reports? can be ignored. Exclude assignment template Ignore
Then select the following settings:
Reveal grades to students only on post date? Yes. Enable anonymous marking? No Submit papers to: no repository
Search Options: can be ignored
Then select Submit, wait a few seconds and then select OK.
Once the above steps have been completed, and your Turnitin Assignments support Anonymous Marking please follow the links below for the additional steps required:
The following guidance is for a non Standard set up, in cases where the Assignment type does not meet Turnitin’s requirements in order to be able to generate a Similarity Report, but where possible will attempt to return a report. If you decide to use this set-up please be mindful that Turnitin may only return a report for some of the submissions which would cause inconsistency and disparity.
If you are needing to set up your After Deadline Turnitin Assignments to support Anonymous Marking please first follow the steps below and then refer to the additional steps guidance to make the specific changes needed.
Assignment title: Enter ‘AFTER DEADLINE Submission’ followed by the name of the assessment Point Value: Usually 100 Select the radio button to Allow any file type Start Date: Opens 1 minute after the deadline (Due Date) of the FINAL (on time) submission point. Due Date: This is 5 weeks minus 1 day, after the original assessment deadline and the time should be set at 2pm. Post Date: This is the date that any feedback and grades are automatically released back to the students, which needs to be a minimum of 24 hours after the Due Date. If there is a need to extend the Post Date (e.g. allow more time for marking) the Post Date needs to be changed before the original Post Date passes.
IMPORTANT: If you later change the Post date after it has passed To avoid undesired early visibility of grades, you must ensure the Turnitin option ‘Reveal grades to students only on Post date?’ is set to Yes.
Select Optional Settings:
Amend the special instructions area as appropriate, for example adding Tutor contact details, and edit the text about generating a Similarity Report, as this set-up may not be able to generate a report for every submission and/or whether and when digital feedback will be provided via Turnitin:
Finally, ensure remaining settings are exactly as follows;
Allow submissions after the due date? Yes Generate Similarity Reports for submissions? Yes NOTE: Although YES has been selected be mindful that if the submission does not meet the Turnitin Requirements, Turnitin may not be able to return a report for every submission which would cause inconsistency and disparity.
Generate Similarity Reports for student submission: immediately first report is final Exclude bibliographic materials from Similarity Index for all papers in this assignment? No Exclude quoted materials from Similarity Index for all papers in this assignment? No Exclude small sources? No Allow students to see Similarity Reports? Yes Exclude assignment template Ignore Reveal grades to students only on post date? Yes Enable anonymous marking? No Submit papers to: standard paper repository Search Options: tick all 3 options
Then select Submit, wait a few seconds and then select OK.
Once the above steps have been completed, and your Turnitin Assignments support Anonymous Marking please follow the links below for the additional steps required:
The following guidance is for a non Standard set up, in cases where the Assignment type does not meet Turnitin’s requirements in order to be able to generate a Similarity Report, but where possible will attempt to return a report. If you decide to use this set-up please be mindful that Turnitin may only return a report for some of the submissions which would cause inconsistency and disparity.
If you are needing to set up this type of Final Turnitin Assignments to support Anonymous Marking please first follow the steps below and then refer to the additional steps guidance to make the specific changes needed.
Assignment title: Enter ‘FINAL Submission’ followed by the name of the assessment. Point Value: Usually 100. Select the radio button for Allow any file type. Start Date: This date should be at least two weeks before the Due Date. Due Date: This is the date the assessment is due and the time should be set at 2pm. Post Date: This is the date that any feedback and grades are released back to the students, usually 15 working days / 3 weeks. If there is a need to extend the Post Date (e.g. allow more time for marking) the Post Date needs to be changed before the original Post Date passes.
IMPORTANT: If you later change the Post date after it has passed To avoid undesired early visibility of grades, you must ensure the Turnitin option ‘Reveal grades to students only on Post date?’ is set to Yes.
Select Optional Settings:
Amend the special instructions area as appropriate, for example adding Tutor contact details, and edit the text about generating a Similarity Report, as this set-up may not be able to generate a report for every submission and/or whether and when digital feedback will be provided via Turnitin:
Finally, ensure remaining settings are exactly as follows;
Allow submissions after the due date? No. Generate Similarity Reports for submissions? Yes NOTE: Although YES has been selected be mindful that if the submission does not meet the Turnitin Requirements, Turnitin may not be able to return a report for every submission which would cause inconsistency and disparity.
Generate Similarity Reports for student submission: on due date Exclude bibliographic materials from Similarity Index for all papers in this assignment? No Exclude quoted materials from Similarity Index for all papers in this assignment? No Exclude small sources? No Allow students to see Similarity Reports? Yes Exclude assignment template Ignore Reveal grades to students only on post date? Yes Enable anonymous marking? No Submit papers to: standard paper repository Search Options: tick all 3 options
Once the above steps have been completed, and your Turnitin Assignments support Anonymous Marking please follow the link below for the additional steps required:
