Turnitin Integration

This integration is different from the Turnitin Assignment type developed by IParadigms and supported from Turnitin.com. This integration is being developed by Dan Marsden from Catalyst IT Ltd.

The Turnitin assignment type provided from Turnitin.com is currently quite problematic - it has a range of issues that affect different Moodle versions. They have improved the code in some of the later versions that Turnitin have released, but it still has some major shortcomings.

The biggest issue that people seem to be experiencing recently is difficulty in deleting a Turnitin assignment type from a course. The earlier versions of the Turnitin module were very insecure, and had a range of issues that they have partially addressed. - The approach they have taken has some major flaws as well.

Basically, their plugin just provides single sign-on into their own assignment submission process, keeping the Moodle sites header, and opening their site in a frame underneath. - this means that all assignments are stored in the Turnitin system, and there is no ability to store a grade in Moodle for those assignments. - if you canceled your Turnitin subscription, there is no way in Moodle to retrieve the files submitted either.

Some organisations have implemented the existing module, but have found it has been difficult to support.

I have started writing a new Turnitin integration which is basically in proof of concept stage, however as there is no funding at this stage to continue development it has stalled.

The integration I have been working on has been approved for inclusion in Moodle 2.0 (see the Moodle Roadmap for details) but I plan to release a 1.9 version (and depending on funding a 1.8 version as well.)

My integration works with the existing assignment types in Moodle and basically just adds a tickbox to the existing assignment types to allow submission to Turnitin. then after a student has submitted a file, behind the scenes, it passes that file to Turnitin, and gets an originality score, and link to a full originality report that will be displayed to a student, and in the gradebook for teachers.

This integration will allow any module in Moodle to submit files to the Turnitin API, and be able to return a similarity report, and a link to a full similarity report.

Depending on funding, we will implement this as a teacher selectable option within

• single file upload assignment type
• advanced file upload assignment type
• online assignment type

with a plan to eventually implement this with:

• all files attached to forum posts.
• other modules that allow file uploads.

I'm currently planning to present at Moodlemoot AU and Moodlemoot NZ on the turnitin module - so hopefully it will be finished and released by then!

Couple of notes regarding some potential requirements that I haven't implemented yet:

• need to allow teacher to select whether originality score and/or full report is displayed to the student.
• need to add a capability to allow admins to select which users can enable TII in their modules.