Turnitin | How to enable TurnitinĀ® for an existing Brightspace Assignment

A Brightspace assignment can be adjusted to include the Turnitin option, even if it has been created previously, the assignment has submissions or has been graded.

This manual will show:

TurnitinĀ® is currently enabled only as a similarity and plagiarism check tool, not as a feedback and grading tool. See How to give Evaluation and Feedback to an Assignment in Brightspace.

Overview of TurnitinĀ® options for an existing Brightspace Assignment

Turnitin for Brightspace assignments checks for originality and plagiarism, but cannot be used as a grading tool. Therefore, it is possible to enable it even after a Brightspace assignment has been already created, and work has been submitted, and graded.

Existing Brightspace assignment Turnitin Originality CheckĀ  Instructions
without submissions from students can be enabled and no further action is required Existing Brightspace assignment without submissions
with submissions from students can be enabled but further action is required Existing Brightspace assignment with submissions
with submissions from students and graded can be enabled but further action is required
Existing Brightspace assignment with submissions and graded

Existing Brightspace Assignment without submissions

To enable TurnitinĀ® Originality check for an existing Brightspace assignment that does not have submissions from students:

  1. Navigate to your Brightspace assignment
  2. Access the assignment settingsĀ  Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā 
  3. Edit the assignment settings by enabling the TurnitinĀ® option
  4. Save the changes by clicking the button Save & Close on the assignment settings page

You will be redirected back to the Brightspace Assignments homepage, where, in the list of assignments, you will find the recently edited assignment with a binocular icon next to its name indicating that Turnitin has been enabled.

screenshot of the Brightspace assignment homepage showing the icon of Turnitin next to the name of the assignment

When you open the assignment, in the Brightspace assignment Submissions homepageĀ you will not yet see any change or indication that it is a Turnitin enabled assignment, until a submission by a student has been made.

Screenshot of the Brightspace Assignment submission page where the column with Turnitin similarity score is highlighted

Existing Brightspace Assignment with submissions

To enable TurnitinĀ® Originality check for an existing Brightspace assignment that already has submissions from students:

  1. Navigate to your Brightspace assignment
  2. Access the assignment settingsĀ 
  3. Edit the assignment settings by enabling the TurnitinĀ® option
  4. Save the changes by clicking the button Save & Close on the assignment settings page

You will be redirected back to the Brightspace Assignments homepage, where, in the list of assignments, you will find the recently edited assignment with a binocular icon next to its name indicating that Turnitin has been enabled.

screenshot of the Brightspace assignment homepage showing the icon of Turnitin next to the name of the assignment

When you open the assignment on the Brightspace assignment Submissions homepageĀ you will see a new column TurnitinĀ® Similarity in the submission overview and an icon next to the student's submission indicating that TurnitinĀ® has been enabled for your existing Brightspace assignment.

Screenshot of the Brightspace Assignment submission page where the column with Turnitin similarity score is highlighted
  1. Click on the Turnitin icon next to the student's submission
image shows the students submission and the Turnitin icon which needs to be clicked in order to submit the file to Turnitin Originality check

The icon will change into a text In Progress indicating that the student's submission file has been submitted to TurnitinĀ® for originality check.

image shows the students submission and the status of the submission to Turnitin indicated with words 'In Progress'

Repeat step 5 for each submission in the list.

It is not possible to submit all submissions to TurnitinĀ® at once in bulk when the TurnitinĀ® Originality CheckĀ® has been enabled after the students submitted their work to the Brightspace assignment.

  1. Reload the page by clicking the button Reload in the browser (or refresh using keyboard shortcuts: for Windows in Chrome or Edge hold Ctrl + F5, for Mac hold Cmd+Shift+R)
Image indicates where to refresh the page so the Turnitin similarity scores will be updated

The similarity scores of each submission will now appear in the column TurnitinĀ® Similarity on the Brightspace assignment Submissions homepage.

Existing Brightspace Assignment with submissions and graded

Since Turnitin for Brightspace assignments is set up to check the work for originality and plagiarism, and not for grading, it can be enabled even after a submission has been graded. It can be enabled when the grade is on draft or published (see example in the image below).

To edit the Brightspace assignment with submissions from students and graded:

  1. Navigate to your Brightspace assignment
  2. Access the assignment settingsĀ 
  3. Edit the assignment settings by enabling the TurnitinĀ® option
  4. Save the changes by clicking the button Save & Close on the assignment settings page

You will be redirected back to the Brightspace Assignments homepage, where, in the list of assignments, you will find the recently edited assignment with a binocular icon next to its name indicating Turnitin has been enabled.

When editing the settings of an assignment that already has a submission and was graded, in the tab Evaluation & Feedback (where also the Turnitin option can be enabled) you will see the type of grading that has been already set up.

Once you enable Turnitin for the assignment you can followĀ steps 5Ā and 6 of this manual, section Existing Brightspace assignment with submissions.

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Now you know how to enable TurnitinĀ® for an existing Brightspace Assignment!