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Turnitin Updated
Back on December 1, OAT enabled an upgraded Turnitin LTI in all Canvas courses. The new interface only affects newly Turnitin assignments that use the full Inbox as well as copied assignments of that type in new courses.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I create a Turnitin assignment?
There have always been two ways to connect a Canvas assignment to Turnitin: 1) plagiarism review plugin or 2) full Inbox LTI. The newly updated method only affects the full Inbox LTI type. In that approach, instructors create new Turnitin assignments from the 'three-dot' menu of the main Assignments home page, as shown below.
Step 1: Click the 'three dot' menu on the Assignments home page of the course. It's no longer necessary to start with "+ Assignment" to create full Turnitin assignments.
Step 2: Choose "Turnitin" from the Assignment menu.
In the Turnitin modal window that appears, instructors configure the details of the assignment, such as total points, instructions, and due date. Additional options can be configured just like the previous method.
What are some benefits of the change to LTI 1.3?
- Simplified work flow to create a Turnitin assignment in Canvas
- Improved Feedback Studio grading and feedback tool for instructors
- Immediate course roster syncing in the inbox to see who has and has not submitted
- Ability to submit on behalf of a student if necessary
Watch a guided overview of the new Turnitin LTI experience!
Note: the guided overview implies that instructors can import existing Canvas rubrics into Turnitin's Feedback Studio. This is not possible. See below regarding using Canvas rubrics.
What changes to existing work flows do instructors need to be aware of?
In new assignments that use the Turnitin full Inbox LTI , student submissions will not show in Speedgrader. Instead, all grading, rubrics, and feedback are expected to occur in the Feedback Studio interface of Turnitin. Scores will be passed back to the Canvas grade book automatically. Students will also be able to review feedback from the assignment's link in Canvas. Note: other LTI 1.3 tools operate this way (e.g. VoiceThread), with grading done inside the tool rather than in Speedgrader.
How can instructors continue using Canvas rubrics and Speedgrader with Turnitin?
Instead of creating a Turnitin full Inbox LTI assignment, this can be done in a standard Canvas assignment by enabling Turnitin Plagiarism Review within the assignment settings. See "Enabling Basic Plagiarism Checking on a Canvas Assignment" for more information. Turnitin Plagiarism Review is not the same type of integration as the LTI 1.3 full Inbox assignment under discussion here.
What will happen to existing assignments using the current LTI 1.1 configuration?
Once a course is copied forward into a new term, previous Turnitin full Inbox assignments will be automatically converted to the new Standard Assignment of Turnitin.
Why is the change happening?
This update provides our campus with the ability to take advantage of new product developments in Turnitin going forward.
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Reminders
A4L Accessibility Hot Tips
Design & Remediation Hot đŸ”¥ Tips
1. Downloading PDFs from Canvas Shells with UDOIT and Submitting for Remediation
AI Video Demo and directions for downloading PDFs from course shells:
Open your Canvas shell, look for 'Check Accessibility With UDOIT' on the left side*, open UDOIT, grant it access to scan your course. After scanning is complete, click on 'Home' at the top and scroll down to find/open the high impact scorecard, click on "PDFs", review your PDFs and download any that present with an error such as "File lacks tags needed for navigation by assistive technologies" or "Image-based file detected."
The error of "File is missing a title element" is very simple to fix on your own so we recommend you stick to submitting those with the more complex errors as listed above.
To submit PDFs for remediation, simply open our TDX form and submit a ‘Accessibility Work Request - On-Demand File Remediation’. Our student team will take care of the technical part! After your files are remediated and returned to you, simply go back to the Course Files tab in UDOIT and individually replace them by clicking "Replace file with an uploaded file" and UDOIT will do the rest for you!
* Students cannot see UDOIT or TidyUp links
2. Be Careful When Using with Tables in Canvas | Tables Are Not For Layout
Tables are sometimes used to create visual layouts on a web page, such as text arranged into two "columns", or to position an image next to a block of text. Back in the early days of the web, this was a common work around for the lack of regular HTML to do fancy page layout kinds of things.
We do not recommend this practice anymore. Tables should be used only for tabular data or content. Using tables to lay out regular page content will cause problems for screen reader users. For example, tables on web pages (i.e., Canvas pages) must have header rows and/or header columns so the screen reader can navigate through the table structure. If you're using a table to do page layout, your "table" doesn't have a structure like that, and that's confusing.
Have questions about how to lay out pages or images without tables? Contact OAT!
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Exam Integrity in the Age of A.I.
Did you know Stan State has a site license for Respondus's LockDown Browser, and it can be required for the completion of any Canvas quiz? If you are concerned about students generating quiz answers by copying and pasting your quiz questions into ChatGPT, then requiring the use of LDB to complete the quiz may worth considering.
What is LockDown Browser?
LockDown Browser is a custom web browser that restricts the user to just their Canvas account. Within a course, LockDown Browser locks down the testing environment for a quiz. It prevents students from capturing screen content, opening other tabs or websites on the Internet unless those sites are part of a quiz question, and using any other programs on their computer. Only after the student submits the quiz are they permitted to quit the browser. At that point, all normal functionality on the computer is restored.
Watch an overview of LockDown Browser
How is LockDown Browser enabled?
- On the settings page of the Canvas course, open the Navigation list and enable the LockDown Browser tool. It will appear as a link in the course navigation (hidden from students)
- Open the LockDown Browser link to view the LockDown Browser dashboard
- Open the configuration arrow for the specific quiz that will require use of the LockDown Browser and click "Settings"
- Enable the LockDown Browser requirement
- Review the "Advanced Settings" if desired
- Click "Save + Close" to complete the set up process. No other changes need to be made to the quiz itself.
What is the student experience?
First, students generally must use a standard laptop or desktop computer to take a quiz that requires LockDown Browser. Mobile devices are not supported except for iPads and then only if the instructor enables that setting (not recommended). All campus computer labs have Respondus LockDown Browser installed.
Second, students will be prompted by the exam to download and launch the LockDown Browser application if they access the quiz using a regular web browser.
When launched, LockDown Browser goes directly to Canvas and the student logs in the same way they do in a regular web browser (including the Duo authentication). The student then opens the course and proceeds to the quiz. The usual "Start the Quiz" button appears and the rest of the quiz experience operates as normal.
Share this student overview video with your class: https://web.respondus.com/lockdownbrowser-student-video/
Things to consider:
- LockDown Browser makes cheating on a Canvas quiz harder and more time-consuming but not impossible. In an unproctored environment, it cannot prevent actions that occur on other devices that students might have in their possession.
- For more control over the quiz-taking environment, consider enabling the webcam recording settings of LockDown Browser, Respondus Monitor.
- Students must have a practice quiz available beforehand. This allows them to get acquainted with the LockDown Browser process. Do not overlook this! Create a simple quiz with one or two questions, and configure that quiz to require LockDown Browser.
- Idea: consider using Canvas's module requirements feature to make the practice quiz a formal prerequisite for taking the real quiz. Learn more.
- Canvas quizzes with LockDown Browser enabled cannot accommodate an "open note" or "open book" quiz policy if those materials are only stored in Canvas. However, specific web domains can be allowed if configured in the LockDown Browser settings. Remember, the point of LockDown Browser is to "lock down" the environment to just the quiz.
Resources for more information
Have more questions? Contact OAT!
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