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Turnitin Blackboard® Direct Integration Administrator User Manual

Updated March 26, 2013 (View PDF version)

Contents

Introduction
Downloading the Turnitin Building Block
Paper Repository Options
Installation & Configuration
Turnitin Direct Tools
Glossary

Introduction

Welcome to the Turnitin Blackboard Direct Integration Manual. The Turnitin Building Block extension gives users of the Blackboard Learning System the ability to use Turnitin products within their Blackboard interface. Turnitin provides plagiarism prevention services, class management and peer review tools, and paperless digital grading products to educational institutions around the world.

The Turnitin Building Block is currently compatible with the Blackboard Learning System Enterprise editions 9.1.1+.

This chapter of the integration manual provides step by step instructions for the installation of the Turnitin Building Block into a compatible Blackboard system.

Important information

Before installing Turnitin Direct 20130129 please be aware of the following

To install the latest version you must

  • Click "Global Settings" on the building block set up screen
  • In the "Global Settings" screen set the Custom Database Objects level to at least the "Prompt each time a Building Block wants to create custom database objects."

The latest version of the Turnitin Direct Building Block makes the transition from an embedded Database to Blackboard's own Database. Because of this, any existing Turnitin Direct assignments you have will need to be migrated to the new location before they are accessible.

To do this:

  • After installing 20130129 access the 'Settings' page for the Turnitin Direct Building Block
  • Click the link 'Migrate data from courses containing Turnitin Direct assignments'
  • Click the button 'Read Legacy Course Batch IDs', which will populate the 'Course(s) to migrate' field
  • Click the Submit button and wait for the migration to complete. (This may take some time, depending on the number of courses to migrate)
  • As noted on the Migrate page, if you have a large number of courses, it may be best to break this operation into smaller chunks of courses to avoid sustained use of system resources
Please note that once installed, existing Turnitin direct assignments will not be accessible until they have been migrated, so it would be best to perform this upgrade at a suitably scheduled time

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Downloading the Turnitin Building Block

The Turnitin administrator must first configure the Blackboard integration before the Turnitin Building Block can be downloaded and installed. The account administrator should log into their Turnitin account at www.Turnitin.com or www.submit.ac.uk for TurnitinUK users.

To configure and download the Blackboard Direct code package, follow these steps:

  1. Log in as the Turnitin account administrator at the Turnitin homepage http://www.turnitin.com or http:// submit.ac.uk for TurnitinUK users
  2. Click on the "integrations" button for the account. If purchased the unconfigured button will appear under the "integrations" column. If the integration has already been configured click on the "configured" button and skip to step 6. If the integration has not been configured click on the "unconfigured" button
  3. Click on "Blackboard Direct" to open up the configuration page. Unconfigured platforms will have an unlit status button. Yellow status buttons indicates a partially configured integration. The green status button indicates a fully configured integration
  4. Fill out the three required fields:
    Tip: The shared key is used during the plug-in installation process within Blackboard. We recommend making a note of the secret key once it has been entered for quick reference
  5. Click "Save" to finalize the Blackboard Direct configuration.
  6. Once the integration has been configured the code packages for Blackboard Direct will be available for download
  7. Click on the "Download" button to the right of the version of Blackboard your institution supports. Save the file in an easy to find location on the computer
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Paper Repository Options

The Turnitin administrator can select the paper repository options within their account to either allow instructors to have access to paper repository assignment options or choose to have all student papers submitted to the standard repository. The Turnitin administrator has three options: enable instructor standard repository options, enable instructor expanded repository options, or submit all papers to the standard repository.

Paper repository options:

  1. Login to Turnitin as the administrator and click on the "edit" icon to the right of the account name
  2. Select one of the three options from the "paper repository options:" enable instructor standard repository options, enable instructor expanded repository options, or submit all papers to the standard repository
  3. Click on "submit" in the bottom left corner of the account modification window to save any changes made
Note: If "submit all papers to the standard repository" is selected from the "paper repository options" pull-down menu, all student papers submitted to the account will be stored in the standard paper repository. If "enable instructor standard repository options" is chosen instructors will be able to set the assignment option to either store student papers within the standard paper repository or to not store the papers in any repository. If "enable instructor expanded repository options" is chosen, instructors will be able to set an assignment options to store student papers in the standard paper repository, in the institution paper repository, no repository, or to allow students to choose between the standard paper repository and the institution paper repository.

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Installation & Configuration

For information on using the Turnitin Building Block as an instructor or student, please view the Instructor or Student Blackboard integration user manuals.

Warning: The Turnitin Building Block must be installed by the Blackboard administrator.

To install the Building Block, follow these steps:

  1. Log into Blackboard as an administrator user
  2. On the administrator home page, click on the "System Admin" tab
  3. On the System Admin page, click the "Building Blocks" link in the Building Blocks section
  4. Click on the "Installed Tools" link
  5. On the Building Blocks page, click the "Global Settings" button at the top of the page
  6. In the "Global Settings" screen set the Custom Database Objects level to at least "Prompt each time a Building Block wants to create custom database objects"
  7. On the Building Blocks page, click the "Upload Building Blocks" button at the top of the page
  8. Click "Choose File" and locate the Turnitin Building Block
  9. Click "Submit" to install the Building Block
  10. You may be prompted to approve changes to the database, if so, click the "Approve" button
The Turnitin Building Block will appear on the list of installed Building Blocks. Next, the administrator must make the Building Block available so that it can be configured. This is accomplished from the Manage Building Blocks page.

From the manage Building Blocks page, select "Set Available" using the Turnitin Direct Assignment for Blackboard pull down menu. After the Building Block is set to available and has been configured, instructors on the account can begin using the Turnitin assignment type in their courses.
Note: To enable tools such as course recycle you will also have to navigate to System Admin > Tools and enable the options for ‘Turnitin Direct Course Recycle and Relink’. 

Note: If the Turnitin Building Block is removed from "available" status, access to all Turnitin assignments and features for all users of the Building Block on the Blackboard installation will be disabled until the Building Block is returned to "Available" status.

To configure the Building Block, follow these steps:

  1. Click the Settings menu item in the Turnitin Direct Assignment for Blackboard pull down menu
  2. On the configuration page, enter the following required information: the Turnitin account ID, and the Turnitin Shared Key*
  3. Select the Turnitin API URL. For UK only users select https://submit.ac.uk/api.asp and for all other users select https://api.turnitin.com/api.asp
    Note: For information on how to set up your shared secret key please go back and follow the steps under To configure and download the Blackboard Direct code package, follow these steps
  4. Choose whether to use GradeMark from the "Enable GradeMark" drop down menu. If your account has purchased GradeMark select "Yes"
  5. Choose whether to enable an institutional repository. Only enable this option if you have expanded repository options enabled for your account. Read the Paper Repository Options section for instructions on how to enable expanded repository options
  6. Select whether to enable Anonymous Marking. Anonymous Marking is only available for TurnitinUK users. The default is "No"
  7. Select whether to enable Translated Matching. (Only enable this if you have Translated Matching enabled on your Turnitin account)
  8. Select whether to enable Continuous Submissions.
  9. Select whether to use e-rater® grammar check. Only enable this if you have e-rater enabled on your Turnitin account
  10. Select whether to enable email notifications. The Default is "Yes." If set to "No," students will no longer receive notification emails from Turnitin (They will, however, still receive submission receipts)
  11. (optional) To add a custom, text-only disclaimer that will be shown when users submit papers to Turnitin assignments through Blackboard, enter the text of the disclaimer in the "Notice" field
  12. Select the language that will be used within the Turnitin plugin.
  13. To add a new language pack click on the "Add" link. To update a language pack click on the "Update a Blackboard Direct Language Pack."
  14. Click the "Choose File" button and then locate the language pack. Once the language pack is selected click "Submit."
  15. There are two options for the "Default action for copied/imported courses" option: "Relink Turnitin Direct Assignments" or "Recycle Turnitin Direct Assignments."
    The Relink Turnitin Direct Assignments option retains the existing Turnitin class and user submissions when a course is archived or copied that contains Turnitin Direct assignments. Note: This means there will potentially be two courses pointing to the same Turnitin Class / Assignments, meaning any changes or submissions made to one will affect the other. If you simply wish to re-use a class containing Turnitin Direct assignments, please see the Recycle option.
    The "Recycle Turnitin Direct Assignments" option will take the existing Turnitin direct assignment data in a course that is being copied and uses the assignment data to create a new class in Turnitin and recreates all assignments that existed in this course. The original class and submission data is retained in Turnitin but is no longer accessible via Blackboard.
  16. Click "submit" to save the configuration
Note:When "Relink Turnitin Direct Assignments" is selected for the "Default action for copied/imported courses" option, if the original course exists that was copied, the relinked assignments on this course will point to the same data in Turnitin. Any changes made in this course will not be reflected in the original and vice versa.

Note:If "Recycle Turnitin Direct Assignments" is selected for the "Default action for copied/imported courses" option, unlike relink, recycle applies to any course containing Turnitin Direct assignments, whether they’ve been copied/ imported or not.

Copying a Course with Turnitin Direct Assignments

Turnitin Direct does not support the ‘Copy into’ method if both courses already contain Turnitin Direct Assignments.

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Turnitin Direct Tools

The Turnitin Direct tools allow the Blackboard administrator to look at Blackboard Direct communication logs and view contents of the embedded database for a course.

The "Turnitin Direct Tools" link is located under the "Tools and Utilities" section of the "System Admin" page.

Clicking on the "Turnitin Direct Tools" link opens up the Turnitin Direct Tools page that displays links for the two tools: "Blackboard Direct Communications Logs" and the "Database Viewer."

Blackboard Direct Communications Logs - can help administrators troubleshoot issues with the Buidling Block.

Database Viewer - This tool can be used to view the data of a particular course in addition to the logs as a means of debugging should an error be encountered.

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Glossary

Definitions

account - a Turnitin account allows instructors to use products purchased from Turnitin

account ID - the numeric identification number for a specific account or sub-account

administrator - the controller of a specific Turnitin account. This user type is able to install and configure, activate or deactivate products on an account, change account settings, and add or remove instructors from account access

assignment - Submissions to a class on Turnitin are made to an assignment. Each assignment can allow only a single submission per student user who is enrolled in the class

building block - a building block is a set of files that can be installed on an institutions Blackboard server to allow users to create and access Turnitin assignments from within Blackboard

class - to allow students to submit files, an instructor must create a class for their students. A class requires a name, a class ID, and a class enrollment password

class portfolio - the class portfolio page is the main view page of a student for a specific class

GradeMark - a digital grading product offered by Turnitin which allows instructors to place comments and QuickMark editing marks on a submission for students to review. This product also includes standardized rubric scorecards and the ability to share QuickMarkSM standard editing marks and rubric scorecards between instructors on an account via export or via administrators using the libraries sharing feature of the GradeMark digital grading product

homepage - the default login page, which is different based on the selected default user type of the user profile being accessed

instructor - the term used for teachers, tutors, or other student-assisting users added or authorized to join as instructors on a specific Turnitin account. A single person may be joined to multiple Turnitin accounts or sub-accounts using one user profile or separate user profiles. Users may fill more than one user type role on Turnitin

internet archive - Turnitin’s web repository includes inactive or no longer available web pages and copies of pages that have changed over time. This allows Turnitin to search against information that is no longer available or which has changed over time.

libraries - the libraries menu displays the rubrics created by Turnitin or the instructor. For more information about rubrics please view the GradeMark training video or the rubric section of the GradeMark manual available at www.turnitin. com/training.html

log in - the act of an authorized user entering the e-mail address and personal password created for a user profile to enter Turnitin as the user associated with the e-mail address entered

OriginalityCheck - this product creates Originality Reports for submissions in assignments on Turnitin. The Originality Reports allow instructors and students to easily determine any problems in citation or referencing and assists instructors in determining the originality of a submitted work

Originality Report - the Originality Report is a flexible document that allows students and instructors to review matches between a submitted work and the repositories scanned by Turnitin. Citations, quotations, and bibliographic material are all scanned against Turnitin’s repositories to determine an overall similarity percentage as well as specific matches to similar text

Overall Similarity Index - the overall similarity index is a percentage indicating the similarity of the text submitted to information contained in the Turnitin repositories used for comparison on the assignment the submission was made in. This percentage indicates a percentage based on the length of the paper compared to the length of the areas flagged as similar during the comparison

product - a specific service, feature, or group of features offered by Turnitin as part of the purchase of a Turnitin license by an educational customer

proxy server - a proxy server is a server that stands between an institution’s network and the internet. The proxy server passes requests from the institution’s network to places on the internet and returns the responses from the internet to the institution’s network

repository- a set of information of a specific type or types. In the specific context of the Originality Report provided by Turnitin, repository is used to refer to the type of information the submission was evaluated against for direct matching or high levels of similarity. Available repositories include internet, archived internet, periodical/journal/publication information, and previous submissions

shared secret key - a shared secret key is the eight digit, alphanumeric code that an institution’s Turnitin account administrator has created. The shared secret key is used to verify the integrity of requests sent from the Institution’s Blackboard account to the institution’s Turnitin account

student - a user type able to enroll in courses created by an instructor user. Student user profiles can only submit to assignments created by an instructor in a class they are joined to or have been authorized to join

user profile - the user profile is a set of user preferences and information associated with a specific ID within Turnitin. Each user profile requires a unique e-mail address. A specific e-mail address can only be used once within the Turnitin repository. New attempts to create a profile associated with an e-mail address currently existing in Turnitin will not succeed

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