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.

Details on the Official Turnitin plugin

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.

The new integration planned

I have started writing a new Turnitin integration which is basically in proof of concept stage, and it seems that some funding may be availble from some NZ organisations to get this completed soon!

The aim is to develop a 3rd party plugin for Moodle 1.9 and the later commit it to Moodle 2.0

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

The integration will allow us to add the option for Turnitin submission to Moodle Modules that handle file submissions.

After a student has submitted a file to the module, it passes that file to Turnitin, gets an originality score, and link to a full originality report that will be displayed to whoever that module is configured to display the information to. Eg: on creating an assignment in moodle, a teacher will be able to elect to use Turnitin, and "what" to do with the reports generated. - they may choose to show the originality score but not the full report or a combination to the student.

A new Capability moodle/course:enableturnitin will be created (given to teachers by default) that allows them to "enable" Turnitin submission in their assignment/forum etc.. This is so that you can assign this role to a select group of people if needed. (good for running a pilot!)

These are some of the areas which we could add the turnitin submission to, but not all of them will be available in the initial versions of the integration.

• single file upload assignment type
• advanced file upload assignment type
• online assignment type
• all files attached to forum posts
• other modules that allow file uploads
• modules that allow submission via the HTML editor

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!