Oakland, Calif. – June 12, 2023 - Today, Turnitin celebrates its 25th anniversary, commemorating a quarter of a century in edtech innovation. While times have evolved greatly since the company’s inception, Turnitin continues to support educators and students with a portfolio of innovative products that address real world challenges in the classroom.
Turnitin employs close to 1,000 employees in over 30 countries, and serves over 20,000 institutions and 50 million students in 185 countries.
“This is an exciting milestone for Turnitin. I have been with the company for nearly 14 years, and each and every day, I am inspired by the team’s commitment to students and educators,” said Chief Executive Officer, Chris Caren. “Since our founding, Turnitin has prioritized the education community’s needs, and we are always pursuing new ways to help uphold academic integrity, support improved assessment and foster original thinking.”
The company got its start back in 1998 at the University of California, Berkeley. Four students, Dr. John Barrie, Emmanuel Briand, Melissa Lipscomb and Dr. Christian Storm saw an unmet educational need for a tool that could help students learn with the highest level of academic integrity. Their solution - a peer-review application that helped students receive feedback from their classmates.
Now, 25 years later, Turnitin touts a global portfolio of edtech solutions, including its most recent, an AI writing detection tool, which was in response to the rapid rise of AI-generated writing, such as ChatGPT. Since launching the tool on April 4, 2023, Turnitin has processed over 50 million submissions globally.
Furthermore, the company’s solutions span the entire learning process, beyond just detection. For example, Gradescope by Turnitin provides educators with the tools to quickly and effectively grade handwritten work digitally, while ExamSoft by Turnitin is a secure digital assessment platform that provides secure exams with data that improves learning outcomes, teaching strategies and the accreditation process.
To learn more, visit turnitin.com and learn more about the company’s history below.