Using Turn It In as an Online Assessment Tool

Zachary TaylorWatertown High School

Preparatory Tasks• Before using the www.turnitin.com software, each user needs a separate

login and password.• All inquiries should be directed toward

Jamie Klubertanz in the WHS library. • When the user has signed up for the

site, the user may proceed.

Summary ofOnline Assessment Tools Research

• Clark, K. (2009, May). E-Learning Clicks With Students. U.S. News & World Report, 146(4), 48-50.

• According to Clark (2009):– During the Fall 2008 semester, over

four million United States college students enrolled in an online course with absolutely no physical contact with a college campus, professor, or fellow student, compared to only two million United States students enrolled in an online course in Fall 2003 (Clark, 2009, p. 48)

• What are the implications of this research?

Online Assessment Tools Research

• Fulda, J. S. (2005). The ethical limitations of online grading systems. British Journal of Educational Technology, 36(3), 559-561.

• According to Fulda (2005):– “…the institution saves the cost of paying

someone to transcribe them from the grade roster, the risk of [grade entry] error is reduced, and the same interface can be made available to students, thereby allowing them quicker access to their grades,” there is also an increased risk of “the problems such systems may cause for faculty autonomy and ultimately for ethical behaviour [sic] by faculty and students,” (Fulda, 2005, p. 559).

• What are the implications of this research?

Online Assessment Tools Research

• Goo, M., Watt, S., Park, Y., & Hosp, J. (2012). A Guide to Choosing Web-Based Curriculum-Based Measurements for the Classroom. Teaching Exceptional Children, 45(2), 34-40.

• According to Goo et al (2012):– “Students whose teachers used CBMs to

guide instruction outperformed comparable students whose teachers did not use these measures,” (Goo, Watt, Park, & Hosp, 2012, p. 34).

– Additionally, “The data-collection process for each individual measure should take no more than a few minutes, allowing teachers to make immediate decisions about instruction,” (Goo et al., 2012, p. 34-35.)

• What are the implications of this research?

Online Assessment Tools Research

• Pare, D. E., & Joordens, S. (2008). Peering into large lectures: examining peer and expert mark agreement using peerScholar, an online peer assessment tool. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 24(6), 526-540.

• According to Pare & Joordens (2008):– “It was also found that students generally

liked the concept of peerScholar, they were pleased with the look and feel of the system, and they would like to use it in other university courses,” (Pare & Joordens, 2012, p. 538).

– The online assessment tool [peerScholar] was utilized in a class of 1,104 (Pare & Joordens, 2012, p. 536).

• What are the implications of this research?

Online Assessment Tools Research

• Young, J. R. (2011). Professors Cede Grading Power to Outsiders - Even Computers. Education Digest, 77(4), 24-28.

• According to Young (2011):– In 2010, Western Governors University, “hired

300 adjunct professors who do nothing but grade student work,” (Young, 2011, p. 25).

– “Western Governors requires all evaluators to hold at least a master's degree in the subject they're grading,” with each evaluator grading their assigned work at a distance over the internet (Young, 2011, p. 26).

• What are the implications of this research?

Independent Research• 134 Watertown High

School students were surveyed.

• Question 1: Would you agree to have all of your schoolwork graded by computers?

• What are the implications of this data?

YES10%

NO90%

Students asked: Would you agree to

have all of your schoolwork graded

by computers?

Presentation of Independent Research

• Question 2: Would you pay

higher tuition to have all of your

schoolwork graded by humans?

• What are the implications of

this data? What data is missing?

YES69%

NO31%

Students asked:Would you pay higher tu-ition to have all of your schoolwork graded by

humans?

Presentation of Independent Research

• Question 3: How important is receiving face-to-face feedback on all schoolwork?

• Students given four options.

• What are the implications of this data? What data is missing?

75%

13%

1% 10%

Students asked:How important is receiving face-to-face feedback on all

schoolwork?HIGH IMPORTANCE IMPORTANTNOT IMPORTANT DEPENDS

Introduction to www.turnitin.com

• In order to begin adding classes, assignments, and grading papers, the user must login.

• Click on the LOG IN icon in order to be prompted with this screen.

Creating New Classes• In order to

create a new class, click on ADD CLASS on the right hand side of the screen.

• The user will be prompted with this grey screen.

Creating New Classes• After any new classes

are created, a popup message appears: this is the information that students need to enroll in new classes and submit assignments.

• A copy of an example classroom prompt can be found on the WHS faculty hard drive.

Adding Assignments

• After clicking on the class name, the user is taken to a screen that features a link reading, “+ Add Assignment” in green.

• Click on the “+Add Assignment” link on the right side of the screen to advance.

Adding Assignments• After clicking on “+ Add

Assignment,” the user is prompted to enter the title, value, and due dates of the assignment.

• The start date is when the assignment is available for student access and submission.

• The due date is when students must upload their work, otherwise it is marked in RED as late.

• The post date is when students can access the grades and comments on their assignments.

Adding Assignments

• The user is then prompted to enter their information and then click on the “+ Optional settings” link to delve deeper into the assignment adding process.

“+ Optional settings”• There are numerous

optional settings allowed for each assignment.

• First, the “special instructions” box allows teachers to leave their students a note that corresponds to their submission of an assignment.

• Second, the “Allow submissions after due date” option allows teachers to leave the online dropbox open or closed after the due date. If the dropbox is left open, the assignment is flagged in RED if submitted after the due date. If the dropbox is closed, the students cannot submit their work after the due date.

“+ Optional settings”• Third, the “Originality Report”

allows the software program to scan the Internet to check the student-submitted document for plagiarism: the “Generate Originality Reports” option allows teachers to show their students whether or not their work is a copy of someone else’s.

• Fourth, the “Exclude bibliographic materials” option allows teachers to ignore a student’s Works Cited page in the Originality Report.

• Fifth, the “Exclude quoted materials” option allows teachers to exclude anything written in quotation marks in the paper and have those remarks disregarded by the Originality Report engine built into the software.

More “+ Optional settings”

• Scroll down on this screen to further delve into other “+Optional settings.”

• The first, “Exclude small matches” allows teachers to disregard small matches of text at the teacher’s discretion.

• Next, the “Allow students to see Originality Reports” option allows teachers to allow their students to see how much of their paper is original or fabricated.

• Third, the “Submit papers to” option and the “Search options” both pertain to where the papers are uploaded and what locations the Turn It In search engines use to check Originality Reports.

• Lastly, the “Grade Mark” option will be covered later in this manual.

More “+ Optional settings”

• After scrolling down to the very bottom of the page (skipping the Rubrics section for now), the user is given the option to enable the “ETS e-rater” system, which is Turn It In’s online, automated grammar checker.

• The e-rater can be adjusted to the “Advanced, High School, Middle School, Elementary, or English Learner” level.

• In one experience, the e-rater missed roughly 70% of comma errors, found misspellings in numbers and student names, as well as did not provide the student with very much feedback on their errors, according to one WHS English teacher.

Rubric Manager

• After scrolling through all of the options, the user is directed back

to the “Attach a rubric to this assignment” option.

• To add a customized rubric, click on “Launch Rubric Manager.”

Rubric Manager• Here, the user can

troubleshoot and learn how to adjust grading criteria, scales, point values, and supplementary comments for each rubric the user creates.

• The rubrics can be set as standards-based, 100-point scale, or points.

• Every box in the rubric is editable with a simple click.

Grading Assignments

• Now, return to the class page, submit a model assignment (this will be provided to them) and

then follow the instructions.• After clicking on the class name, the user will click

on the “View” link underneath the “Actions” header on the right hand side of the screen, just

next to “+ Add Assignment.”• Here, the user will be prompted with the specific assignment file and the grading rubric on the right

hand side of the screen.

Grading Assignments

• After clicking “View,” the user will be provided a list of student assignments. Above is a

screenshot of my class list, along with the files my students have uploaded.

• To grade the document, the user will be asked to click on the blue pencil icon underneath the

“GRADE” heading.• This action opens the assignment file.

Grading Assignments

• After clicking on an assignment, the user will see the e-rater marks (in purple), the “drag and drop

comments” on the right, and then rubric integration.

Grading Assignments

• Ultimately, assignment grades are updated to the site and a grey “checkmark” box indicates that a student has logged onto the site and read each

teacher’s e-comments.

Feedback Forum• Your feedback is important

the continued success and progress of Watertown High School’s professional development opportunities.

• If the user has any difficulties during the www.turnitin.com, please provide feedback in the form of an email to taylorz@watertown.k12.wi.us.

• Thank you for your participation!