Moodle Plagiarism Plugin Release Notes
Subscribe to updates via RSS
Not sure what RSS is?
2024 February 5th
Update your plugin to apply these changes.
Resolved issue with broken modals for Rubrics, PeerMark and QuickMarks
In the previous plugin release we resolved an issue with the EULA modal not launching for students. It has since been discovered that all modals in the plugin were affected by the same issue. This update resolves the issues that users have found with launching the PeerMark, Rubric, and QuickMark managers.
2023 December 19th
Update your plugin to apply these changes.
Issue with EULA in Moodle 4.3 fixed
Previously there was an issue with students accepting the EULA in Moodle 4.3. This has now been resolved and students presented with the EULA should be able to successfully accept it.
Plugin issue resolved
There was an issue with our plugin that was preventing users from upgrading to Moodle 4.3 if they intended to use our Plagiarism Plugin. The plugin is now compatible with 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 and will no longer show the deprecated warnings.
Grades are now being correctly rounded when passed back to Moodle from Turnitin
Previously when multiple submissions were made to an assignment the final grade was averaged by rounding down rather than up. This release now fixes this issue and the grade average should now round up.
2023 August 22nd
Update your plugin to apply these changes.
Report scores should now update as expected
An issue was raised requiring instructors to use the ‘refresh all submissions' button in the Plagiarism Plugin assignment settings in order to see the Turnitin Similarity score. This has now been resolved and users no longer need to select the 'refresh all submissions’ button to see the Turnitin Similarity score appear in the Moodle assignment inbox when using the task Send Queued Files from the Turnitin Plagiarism Plugin.
Core Moodle PhpUnit Test now functioning as expected
A core PhpUnit test was failing due to extra minified JS files. These files have now been removed and the test should no longer fail.
This improvement was submitted as a pull request by @petersistrom on Github. Thanks, Peter!
AI Writing Detection
Turnitin is excited to release our new AI writing detection capabilities. It is available for all non-student users who can access Similarity Reports, as well as those using them through an integration with a learning management system or Turnitin’s Core API.
AI detection will only work for content submitted in English. It will not process any non-English submissions. As we continue to iterate, we will keep you updated on developments around non-English language support.
When you open a Similarity Report, the new AI writing indicator in the side panel. After a short period of processing, the indicator will display one of three potential states:
|
Blue with a percentage between 0 and 100: The submission has processed successfully. The displayed percentage indicates the amount of qualifying text within the submission that Turnitin’s AI writing detection model determines was generated by AI. As noted previously, this percentage is not necessarily the percentage of the entire submission. If text within the submission was not considered long-form prose text, it will not be included. Our testing has found that there is a higher incidence of false positives when the percentage is between 1 and 20. In order to reduce the likelihood of misinterpretation, the AI indicator will display an asterisk (*) for percentages between 1 and 20 to call attention to the fact that the score is less reliable. To explore the results of the AI writing detection capabilities, select the indicator to open the AI writing report. The AI writing report opens in a new tab of the window used to launch the Similarity Report. If you have a pop-up blocker installed, ensure it allows Turnitin pop-ups.
|
|
Gray with no percentage displayed (- -): The AI writing detection indicator is unable to process this submission. This state means that the AI writing report cannot be opened. This can be due to one, or several, of the following reasons:
|
|
Error ( ! ): This error means that Turnitin has failed to process the submission. This state means that the AI writing report cannot be opened. Turnitin is constantly working to improve its service, but unfortunately, events like this can occur. Please try again later. If the file meets all the file requirements stated above, and this error state still shows, please get in touch through our support center so we can investigate for you. |
The AI writing report contains the overall percentage of prose sentences contained in a long-form writing format within the submitted document that Turnitin’s AI writing detection model determines was generated by AI. These sentences are highlighted in blue on the submission text in the AI writing report.
Prose text contained in long-form writing means individual sentences contained in paragraphs that make up a longer piece of written work, such as an essay, a dissertation, or an article, etc. The model does not reliably detect AI-generated text in the form of non-prose, such as poetry, scripts, or code, nor does it detect short-form/unconventional writing such as bullet points, tables, or annotated bibliographies.
This means that a document containing several different writing types would result in a disparity between the percentage and the highlights.
The percentage, generated by Turnitin’s AI writing detection model, is different and independent from the similarity score, and the AI writing highlights are not visible in the Similarity Report.
How Turnitin has made this determination is complex. To help our users understand Turnitin’s method of detecting AI writing text, we have created an extensive FAQ. Learn more about how Turnitin detects AI-generated writing.
Our AI writing assessment is designed to help educators identify text that might be prepared by a generative AI tool. Our AI writing assessment may not always be accurate (it may misidentify both human and AI-generated text) so it should not be used as the sole basis for adverse actions against a student. It takes further scrutiny and human judgment in conjunction with an organization's application of its specific academic policies to determine whether any academic misconduct has occurred.
2023 March 31st
Update your plugin to apply these changes.
Below are the most recent updates for the latest Moodle plagiarism plugin version.
Students that have previously rejected the EULA can now resubmit
We have fixed an issue that was preventing students from being able to resubmit to Turnitin for an assignment where they had previously rejected the EULA. Now if a student accepts the EULA, they will be able to successfully resubmit to any assignments where they previously rejected the EULA.
Inbox now displays the highest score when Translated Matching is enabled
We have fixed an issue with the similarity score value in the Moodle Plagiarism Plugin inbox. Previously it wasn't updating with the highest score when Translated Matching was enabled, and instead the inbox continued to display the first score, even if it was the lower of the two.
Duplicate quiz responses are now handled separately
We have fixed an issue where if a student submitted the same response multiple times on a quiz, all duplicate responses would be linked to the same report, which would not allow them to be reviewed by an instructor as separate responses. Each response now generates a separate report.
2022 September 21st
Below are the most recent updates for the latest Moodle plagiarism plugin version.
We have made improvements to the Rubric manager sizing
Previously, the Rubric manager was sized incorrectly when launched in Moodle 3.11. This issue has now been resolved.
We have made improvements to Moodle Quiz handling
An additional check has been added to determine whether Turnitin is enabled on a Moodle Quiz resulting in performance improvements.
With special thanks to thepurpleblob for this contribution.
We've fixed an issue that resulted in overwritten grades in Moodle Quizzes
Previously, selecting the blue pencil icon to launch a Turnitin assignment from the Moodle assignment would override any grades provided in Moodle. This has now been resolved and grades provided in Moodle will be retained unless a grade is provided in the Turnitin report.
2022 July 25th
We’ve had several community members actively contribute towards making the Moodle plagiarism plugin the best it can be with some insightful and much appreciated pull requests. Check out all the latest improvements, with special thanks to our community members who have contributed towards them.
Moodle Quizzes will perform better when many users take a quiz that involves essay-based questions
When viewing a Moodle Quiz results, Turnitin would request the CMID (Course Module ID) multiple times, even after it had already been provided. This could cause classes to see performance issues when a larger class used essay-based questions as a part of their Moodle Quiz. This enhancement fixes the issue, and users should expect to see increased performance when using Moodle Quizzes with larger classes now.
With special thanks to aolley for this contribution.
Performance improvements when Turnitin isn’t enabled for a Moodle activity
When Turnitin wasn’t enabled for a Moodle activity, multiple database calls would still be run for each user within the activity, resulting in a lot of unnecessary extra database load. This change removes these checks when Turnitin is not enabled. Users should expect to see some performance enhancements, particularly in larger classes.
With special thanks to Dan Marsden for this contribution.
Database schema is now consistent when upgrading to a new version of the plugin
This change fixes an issue where there was an alignment issue between the install and upgrade scripts, resulting in multiple mismatches.
With special thanks to golenkovm and TomoTsuyuki for the fix, and kristian-94 for their thorough initial investigation.
Messages sent by Turnitin to instructors and students now apply Moodle filters
Filters can be used in Moodle to convert or change a message into a richer form of media. This includes creating links, converting mathematical formula into images, and even showing multiple languages at once on screen.
Any messages sent by Turnitin will now work with these filters.
With special thanks to izendegi for this contribution.
Turnitin EULA prompt will now show at all times when using Moodle Forums
When using a Moodle Forum, making a reply on the same page would not show the prompt to accept the Turnitin EULA for processing. The prompt would still be shown the first time the page is loaded. Users can now expect to see the EULA prompt on each interaction they would do in a forum that would potentially generate a Similarity Report if the EULA was accepted.
With special thanks to jonof for this contribution.
Quiz attempt grades will set correctly after opening the Similarity Report
Opening the Similarity Report in a quiz attempt could, in some situations, alter the calculated grade for a student. Users can expect for the Similarity Report to no longer affect the calculated grade.
With special thanks again to jonof for this contribution.
2022 March 23rd
These changes require a plugin update
Grader field previously not updating correctly - now resolved
We’ve fixed an issue that was occasionally causing the grader field in Moodle assignments to not update correctly.
Submission failure relating to Moodle Quiz items resolved
A bug was discovered that was causing submissions to fail. This was found to be linked to Moodle Quiz items. This issue has been resolved.
This fix was submitted as a pull request by @nwp90 on Github. Thanks, Nick!
2022 January 28th
Access restored to users within the People's Republic of China
A plugin update is not needed for this change.
A pathing issue between Turnitin's servers and users within the People's Republic of China had prevented these users from using our integrations. This has now been resolved and access has been restored.
This change resolves the known issue.
2021 September 23rd
A plugin update is not needed for this change.
Unnecessary pronouns removed from the paper view request email
Turnitin is committed to providing an equitable and inclusionary experience for everyone who uses our products. While this may be a relatively minor change, we are actively looking for areas we can improve in all aspects of Turnitin.
In this change, we found that the Paper View Request email unnecessarily gendered the instructor and did not account for users who do not identify as a binary gender.
Before this change:
This instructor has found a '23%' match to this paper in a paper submitted to his or her 'Natural History' class.
After this change:
The requesting instructor has found a '23%' match to this paper in their 'Natural History' class
2021 September 15th
These changes require a plugin update
Empty grades in Turnitin will not override Moodle grading
When you had completed grading in Moodle and someone opened the Turnitin viewer for the submission, if no grade had been set in Turnitin, the Moodle grade would be lost. Now, the grade within Moodle will be retained and an ungraded Turnitin viewer can be opened without it causing any problems. If a grade is added to Turnitin, it will update it within Moodle as intended.
If a grade is removed from Turnitin it will no longer remove it from Moodle as the viewer will then be ‘empty’ and we assume that the Moodle grade is intended.
Only essay type questions in a Moodle Quiz will request a Similarity Report
We’ve refined this feature to only request a Similarity Report for Essay type questions. Turnitin would only ever create a report for these types of questions anyway, but a request was sent for all question types. This could cause bigger classes to become sluggish. You should notice that bigger classes that use a lot of quizzes are much easier to navigate now.
Test connection will now check the connection to Turnitin at all times
Previously, Test Connection wouldn’t work until the plugin was configured. This could potentially cause confusion with users assuming that as no error had been shown the connection must already be established. We’ve changed it so that the Test Connection feature will always look to see if a successful connection has been made when checking.
2021 August 13th
This change requires a plugin update
Classes will create successfully
A bug potentially resulted in classes created in Moodle to not sync correctly when we tried to create them in Turnitin. We’ve fixed this problem and you will now be able to create classes again.
2021 July 27th
Enhanced synonym swapping detection
One way people try to get around similarity matching is by changing words within plagiarized content to similar synonyms in the hope that we can’t detect these changes. With this release, we will catch more instances of this method of academic misconduct while not increasing false positives.
This enhancement will help to improve the accuracy of the Similarity Report and provide actionable insights instructors can use to promote original writing with their students.
As this is a refinement to how we generate the Similarity Report, you don't have to do anything to enable it. Any Similarity Reports generated from now on will simply be even more accurate than they were before if someone tries to cheat in this way.
2021 June 8th
Support for Moodle 3.11
You can now confidently use this integration with Moodle 3.11.
Use Turnitin with Moodle Quizzes
We can now check for similarity on any files that are uploaded as a part of a Moodle quiz.
Cron tasks will no longer run when Moodle is not configured
Thanks to alexmorrisnz for the pull request!
Removed grades change the grade in Moodle
When a grade is removed from Turnitin, this removal will also be reflected within Moodle as the submission being ungraded.
Create or access Moodle assignments, forums, and workshops when Turnitin is disabled
If Turnitin is disabled for an assignment, forum, or workshop and Turnitin is unavailable by having the wrong configuration options or being under maintenance, then an error message would be shown. This bug has been fixed, and Turnitin being unreachable will no longer impact your ability to create or access your content.
Turnitin classes will now be expired along with a Moodle course
We will now sync dates in Moodle with the Turnitin database. When the Moodle course expires, we will close out those classes in Turnitin. This will free up the active student count for those classes.
If a class has no end date set in Moodle, Turnitin will default to setting the end date to six months in the future from the date of creation.
Changes to the Moodle course name will be reflected everywhere
When a Moodle course title is changed, this will now be updated in Turnitin too. This will include the digital receipts students receive when they submit their paper.
2021 March 4th
This change doesn't require a plugin update
Turnitin’s similarity scores become more accurate and informative today
Similarity is at the heart of Turnitin and we always look for methods to make our reports more accurate and representative of the wide variety of sources students now have access to. Recently, we’ve refined how our similarity scores are calculated, and we’re excited to share it with our you.
While any changes to individual reports are relatively minor, it continues our commitment to providing Instructors with a reliable and genuine representation of a submission’s similarity.
This release includes:
- Better detection and exclusion accuracy of quotes
- Better prioritization of internet sources (for example prioritizing a match against wikipedia.com instead of randomblog.com)
- Better matching more content across our various databases
As always, all submissions to Turnitin are checked against our latest and most accurate similarity technologies. You may notice a small percentage of previously submitted papers experience minor changes as we continue to innovate.
Any questions? Check out our FAQ.
2021 February 17th
User Feedback Button has been added to Feedback Studio
Let’s talk! We want your help to shape the future of Turnitin. A User Feedback Button has been added to the Similarity Report viewer, allowing you to volunteer yourself to possibly become involved with surveys, one-on-one interviews, or previews of potential new products and features. This button is only visible for instructors.
If you would like to get involved, simply select the gray icon of the waving person on the panel within a Similarity Report. Complete the Sign-Up form to be entered into our database of potential participants. If you change your mind at any time, simply unsubscribe to any participation emails you receive.
We look forward to working with you!
2021 January 15th
This change does not require a plugin update.
Digital Receipts reflect the latest draft
When a file is submitted to Turnitin, we record the date and time it reaches us. A bug had caused us to only show the time of the first upload, even when we have received multiple drafts. Now, the date of the digital receipt will reflect the latest draft.
2020 November 25th
Update your plugin to take advantage of these improvements.
Attached rubrics sync with the Moodle assignment
When attaching a rubric via the Turnitin viewer we’ll now sync this with the Moodle assignment so the next time you launch the view it is still viewable.
Institutional default settings will now apply in Turnitin and the Plagiarism Plugin
The option to search the institutional repository will now sync correctly between Turnitin and the Plagiarism plugin allowing you to set this as a default for all your plagiarism plugin assignments.
Improved logic for get_pseudo_lastname() thanks to pauldamiani for bringing this to our attention!
2020 October 13th
Faster saving voice comments
Audio comments will now save to Turnitin significantly more quickly. If you've experienced a delay in comments saving in the past, you'll now notice that the process will only take a matter of a few seconds.
2020 September 23rd
This change does not require a plugin update.
Voice comments now use HTML5
At the end of 2020, Adobe will deprecate their Flash technology in favor of other open standards. As a part of this, all major browsers have also announced their removal of support.
To help ensure an effortless transition between the two technologies, we have made the change earlier than the deadline. As of this release, we now use HTML5 to record voice comments for users. You should notice little to no difference in how you use Turnitin (except things might be just a little faster!).
2020 September 17th
A new 'Paraphrasing' QuickMark set
This change does not require a plugin update.
When referenced correctly, paraphrasing can be perfectly acceptable in a well-written essay. This new QuickMark set will give students an extra helping hand by giving you a simple and clear way of indicating parts of an assignment than might need a little extra attention. You'll find this QuickMark set already available to you in your QuickMark library.
2020 August 4th
This change does not require a plugin update.
All Users. All Integrations.
Check for common integrity Flags in a submission
Flags are a simple way of checking a document for common forms of academic misconduct. A Flag is not necessarily an indicator of a problem. However, if you find one in a submission, we'd recommend focusing your attention there for further review.
There are two forms of Flags available at launch - Replaced Characters and Hidden text. Both are methods touted on social media as ways of circumventing similarity matching.
Replaced Characters will highlight any time an author has used a character that is different from the rest of the document — for example, Swapping a Latin O with a Greek omicron Ο. To the naked eye, these are difficult to spot; now we’ll Flag them for you!
Hidden Text is an attempt to blend text in with a white background. This can lead to an artificially inflated word count or attempts to turn plagiarized text into quoted text, so it is excluded from the Similarity Report.
Certain Turnitin licenses. All Integrations.
View authorship data for a submitted file
Document details are just that - details about a document! All files have metadata that is attached by the computer they use and the software they use. Metadata is simply data about data; in this case, data about the file a user submits.
Depending on file type, this can include fonts used within the paper, the paper size, the author’s name, software used to compose the document, and a bunch of other useful information!
These details can be used to investigate multiple avenues of academic misconduct. For example, multiple fonts used in a document may indicate that content has been copied from the internet. A different author’s name may suggest that a student has used an essay writing service. There can be genuine reasons for these matches, but we’d recommend further investigation when something doesn’t look right
2020 July 22nd
Plagiarism Plugin settings will only appear once
A bug had caused the Plagiarism Plugin settings to display twice when creating an assignment in Moodle versions prior to 3.9. This has been fixed for all supported Moodle versions.
2020 July 8th
Support for Moodle version 3.9
The Turnitin Plagiarism Plugin now supports Moodle version 3.9.
Use Turnitin in a Moodle Quiz
Turnitin will be usable as a part of a Moodle quiz when Moodle releases the feature. When enabled for your account, simply add an essay question as one of the quiz questions. A similarity report will be generated when the student submits the quiz. Track this release on the Moodle Tracker.
Improved support for large class sizes
When closing the Turnitin viewer, we’d refresh the page so any updates you applied to the assignment would be reflected in Moodle. However, this refresh caused unnecessary load when a class was particularly large. When we identify increased latency like this, we’ll deactivate automatic refreshes of the inbox and prompt you to refresh the inbox manually after grading.
View shared rubrics when creating a Moodle assignment
When creating a Moodle assignment it is possible to view all of your Turnitin Rubrics and attach one to a class from its creation. However, a bug had prevented any rubrics that had been shared with you from appearing in this list. You’ll now find them there and ready to be added to any future assignments you create. This fix resolves this known issue.
General accessibility improvements
We’ve made a few accessibility improvements to help ensure that all Turnitin users can use the plugin with the same high-quality experience. These include:
- We made more elements accessible via tab navigation
- You can now launch the Turnitin viewer by using the enter key on the appropriate element.
- Tools tips are available for various settings and readable by a screen reader or via keyboard navigation.
- General improvements to the plugin configuration screen ensuring unique ARIA labels and a logical tab order.
2020 July 1st
Students can now view their submission and instructor feedback without receiving error messages
It was discovered that a small number of students were receiving error messages when attempting to open their submission or view QuickMarks left by their instructor. This has now been resolved and students can view their papers and feedback without issue.
Grading Form bugs have been resolved
Our engineering team have been working on a few intermittent bugs that have been interfering with applying grades to Grading Forms. You may have experienced one of the following:
-
Grades may not have updated if they were applied or edited by navigating quickly through submissions using the arrows within Feedback Studio.
-
A grade may not have saved if applied before Feedback Studio had loaded fully after opening.
-
Selecting Apply to Grade may not have saved the criterion or rubric score.
These have all been resolved.
2020 June 17th
More accurate bibliography exclusions
For English language papers, Turnitin no longer requires the use of beginning and terminating phrases to identify a Bibliography. We now use a machine learning algorithm to understand the paper on a deeper level and dynamically exclude content with much greater accuracy. You should notice far fewer 'false positives' in your Similarity Reports when excluding the bibliography.
Read more on our bibliography exclusion page.
2020 June 10th
Code no longer automatically replaces certain text within Feedback Studio comments
If an instructor were to include an ampersand (&) or the word "prompt" within their inline comment on a student's paper, it would appear as & and < respectively. This has now been resolved and these phrases and symbols can be used as normal.
2020 April 22nd
This change does not require a plugin update.
A new notification before your session expires
Striking a balance between user convenience and account security is important to us. When we expire a session, we only do it to ensure that the person who returns to continue the session is still the person who started it.
We start the clock once we stop receiving any active input from the user. After three hours have elapsed without input, we will show a notification. This notification says that in 10 minutes your session will expire, but that you can use the Extend Session button to keep grading. Once the 10 minutes have passed, you'll have to log in again.
If you are writing a particularly long comment, and know you are about to take a break, navigate outside of the comment box to ensure that it saves.
When we expire a session, all unsaved work is lost. Saving happens automatically when we detect input from the user. However, in some cases, it's possible that the sync didn't happen because the rest of the page wasn't interacted with.
2020 February 26th
Turnitin Feedback Studio Viewer session extension
After listening to customer feedback, we’ve extended the session time for our viewer from one hour to three. This change means instructors will have longer to grade and leave feedback without worrying about being timed out.
2020 February 13th
This change does not require a plugin update.
Rubric manager issues have been resolved
Some users had experienced varying problems with our rubric manger such as not being able to select a rubric, create a new one, and formatting issues. The bug that caused this issue has been fixed and users should be able to use rubrics again as a part of their assignment.
2020 February 6th
We are now fully compliant for the release of Chrome 80
With the release of Chrome 80 fast approaching, we have ensured that users will be able to use our products in Chrome without further disruption. We have made the required changes to our cookies for all of our LMS integrations and Single Sign-On integration Shibboleth to ensure that users will no longer encounter warnings about 3rd party cookies if they are enabled.
2020 February 5th
This change does not require a plugin update.
Star rubrics and grading forms for easy access
Time for a little (early) Spring cleaning! This new feature allows you to star up to five rubrics and grading forms. Starring a rubric or grading form will move it to the top of the Rubric and Form manager for easy access. Starred rubrics and grading forms will stand out amongst all the others in this and future assignments.
Learn how to star a rubric or grading form, remove a rubric or grading form, or how to view the ones you have starred already
2020 January 15th
This change does not require a plugin update.
A new sub-menu for rubrics and grading forms
By default, we provide many rubrics and grading forms to help you get started with your Turnitin account from the very first time you access it. However, as we have a global community of instructors and institutions, it is only natural that not every rubric is relevant to every instructor. To help with the organization of rubrics and grading forms, we’ve moved them to their own sub-menus within the Rubric and Grading Form Manager. This sub-menu is more visible on the screen, making it easier to scroll through and find the one you would like to attach to an assignment. The currently attached rubric or grading form is always visible from the top-level of the menu.
2019 December 17th
Anonymous marking is now available again
A bug had prevented the use of Anonymous marking when configuring the plagiarism plugin, causing the selected setting to reset after leaving the configuration page. This bug has now been fixed and anonymous marking will remain enabled when navigating away from the configuration page and can be used in assignments.
Submissions will still display when error code 13 is detected
Error code 13 can appear in various circumstances where a score has not returned to Turnitin. A bug caused submissions with this error code to no longer display in the inbox. While the error code can still occur, it will no longer prevent access to the submission and it will be displayed within the inbox as intended.
Moodle v3.8 now supported!
2019 October 23rd
This change does not require a plugin update.
Match overview percentage now appears for translated matches in English
A bug had prevented the overall percentage wouldn’t show after clicking the ‘View English Sources (beta)’ button. We're happy to report that this bug has been squished and the match overview percentage will now display as expected.
2019 September 13th
This change does not require a plugin update.
Continued accessibility improvements
Focus order for interactive elements is more logical
When a screen reader looks at a page, it goes through the elements on the page in a set order. We have changed the tab order within our text-only viewer to add a more logical progression through the page.
New ‘Skip to Content’ link as the first navigable element in the text-only viewer
When using the ‘Show highest matches together’ or ‘show matches one at a time’ modes of the text-only viewer, you’ll now find a ‘skip to content’ link as the first element that is reachable when using the tab key. Following this link will jump you to the first part of the similarity report.
2019 September 3rd
Fixed a bug causing Turnitin Feedback Studio Viewer to freeze
This change does not require a plugin update.
A pesky bug was found that would cause the Turnitin Feedback Studio Viewer to freeze when creating a comment. We squashed this bug as part of our ongoing commitment to improving the Turnitin Feedback Studio Viewer.
2019 August 21st
This change is to the Turnitin viewer and does not require a plugin update.
The undo prompt will now disappear as intended
When you delete a QuickMark, we show an undo prompt at the top of the screen to help you recover from any accidental misclicks. This undo prompt will vanish a couple of seconds after your next interaction with the viewer. A bug had made this prompt stay on the screen permanently. Now, deleting a QuickMark should only show the undo prompt for the intended amount of time.
2019 June 25th
More information about 2019062501
Upgrade issues resolved
There was an issue impacting users trying to upgrade the latest version of Moodle Plagiarism Plugin. It was discovered that users attempting to upgrade to v2019060601 from versions older than v2016011101 weren’t able to do so. This latest version will allow for all users to upgrade to the latest version from any of the previous versions.
2019 June 6th
More information about 2019060601
Bug fixes
We’ve been fixing bugs behind the scenes to improve the usability of the Moodle Plagiarism Plugin.
This includes fixing a bug that was erroneously displaying rubric options when creating a forum in Moodle with the Plagiarism Plugin enabled. This has been resolved and rubric options will no longer be available during forum creation.
2019 May 2nd
2019050201
Moodle Plagiarism Plugin no longer dependant on Moodle V2
Previously, the Plagiarism Plugin was bundled along with Moodle Direct V2. Now, the Plagiarism Plugin is installed and configured separately.
If you are upgrading from a previous version of the Plagiarism Plugin, your existing configuration will be migrated over from Moodle V2.
For more details on how to configure your instance of Moodle Plagiarism Plugin, please see the guidance.
Forum messaging error resolved
When creating a forum post within Turnitin, we were showing information about report regeneration times when resubmitting. As information about resubmissions is not relevant to forum users, we’ve removed the notification from this view.
Improvements to plugin stability and modals
We’ve improved the stability of the plugin and made changes to our modals (dialog boxes) within Moodle. Modals will now be clearer and adapt to the browser theme that you’re using to improve the usability of the plugin.
2019 March 13th
2019031301
Welcome to our new help site!
We’ve updated the help links within the product to take you to our new help site https://help.turnitin.com. The site has been designed around actionable tasks to help you to find the guidance you need; when you need it.
Error code 13 will now only display when appropriate
In a previous release, we introduced ‘Error Code 13’. This error is shown when we’ve managed to upload our servers but weren’t able to generate a similarity report at the time of submission. Since then, we’ve reconsidered how this error state should be handled. With this release, we will reset all instances of Error code 13. Going forward, we will only accept an upload if the plugin is able to connect to Turnitin and generate a similarity report.
Use Marking Workflows without error
In a rare number of cases, it was possible when using Marking Workflows for students to receive an error message when they attempt to view their submissions after grades have been released. We’ve reworked how the grade release happens when using Marking Workflows so that students will no longer see this error.
Forum users can use Turnitin without seeing extraneous notifications
Forum users can use Turnitin without seeing extraneous notifications
When creating a forum post with Turnitin available we were showing information about our report regeneration times when resubmitting to Turnitin. As information about resubmissions is not relevant to forum users, we’ve removed the notification from this view.
Students can’t access the online grading view prematurely
When using our online grading functionality, it was possible for students to launch the viewer despite there being no grading having been completed. To help reduce confusion, this link will now be disabled for students until after the post-date has passed.
2019 January 15th
2018122101
Change the visibility of QuickMark sets
Turnitin comes packed with many QuickMark sets that help to make your life easier. However, we know that not every set will be relevant to every Instructor. You can now change the visibility of QuickMark sets with just a few clicks! Check out our guide to learn how.
This change does not require a plugin update.
2018 October 29th
2018102901
We've fixed a bug that prevented users from being able to accept the EULA
On Friday 26th October, we released a plugin update that unexpectedly prevented new users from being able to accept the EULA in the Plagiarism Plugin, and were subsequently unable to submit to Turnitin. If you've updated your plugin since Friday, we're kindly requesting that you update again to resolve this bug.
2018 August 28th
v2018082802
All files submitted to a multi-file assignment are now sent to Turnitin
We received a report from one of our users who noticed an emerging issue for assignments allowing multiple-file submissions: only one of the submitted files was sent to Turnitin, therefore only generating one Similarity Report. We've resolved this!
This issue stemmed from the release of plugin version 2018062601.
Rubric and grading forms now successfully attach to Turnitin assignments
We apologize for any difficulty you may have encountered when trying to attach rubrics and grading forms to your assignments through the Moodle Plagiarism Plugin. We're very pleased to announce that normal service has resumed, and all rubric and grading form selections made during and after assignment creation will stick like glue!
This issue stemmed from the release of plugin version 2018011602.
We'll no longer attempt to process the Similarity Reports of deleted submissions
Having mistakenly attempted to retrieve the Similarity Reports of deleted submissions, as a direct result, our system recently encountered difficulties with processing new submissions. "It's time to let go of the past!" we told the system, which reluctantly agreed. We'll now no longer try to pull Similarity Reports for deleted submissions... hoorah!
This issue stemmed from the release of plugin version 2018011602.
2018 June 26th
v2018062601
Resubmissions now overwrite the previous submission
When a student made a resubmission to Turnitin, their previous submission wasn't removed from the assignment inbox; this led to confusion for instructors, who weren't too sure which submission was the most up-to-date version. We've made sure that resubmissions now overwrite the existing submission.
Known issue: While we've been able to fix this issue for students, if an instructor resubmits on behalf of a student, multiple submissions may still appear in Turnitin. We're working on a fix for this and will update you as soon as we find one!
The Plagiarism Plugin now works on Moodle 3.1 and earlier versions
Users running Moodle version 3.1 or earlier encountered an unexpected error when submitting a file. The error message, referring to an invalid parameter, was the result of a change made in our previous release. We apologize for the trouble this may have caused and can confirm that Moodle version 3.1 and earlier now function correctly.
2018 May 24th
v2018052301
We now support Moodle 3.5
You can find out more about Moodle 3.5 via Moodle's release notes.
Turnitin's Moodle V2 plugin is GDPR compliant!
To support upcoming changes to European data protection law, we’ve focused our efforts on refreshing our processes around how we use your data. Learn more about the update via our Moodle Plugins and GDPR page.
- Repository settings are more transparent
- We're reporting on the data we store about our users
- Students can request to download their data
- Students can request to remove their data
If you're a Moodle administrator, and using version 3.3.5+, 3.4.2+, or 3.5, follow the steps on the Moodle Plugins and GDPR page to view the data we store in Moodle.
You can now send all papers to your institutional repository by default!
We're aligning Turnitin repository options with our Moodle V2 plugin. If an institutional repository is enabled on their Turnitin account, administrators can now opt to Submit all papers to the institutional repository. This submission storage option sends all student submissions to the institutional repository without instructor intervention. For this repository option to work successfully, it must firstly be enabled in Turnitin, before it can be configured in Moodle.
If you're a Moodle administrator, follow the steps below to enable this repository setting in Turnitin:
- Log into Turnitin.com or TurnitinUK.com.
- Under Edit, select the cog icon.
- Select Edit account settings.
- Scroll to Paper repository options and select enable instructor expanded repository options.
Now, it's time to move to Moodle!
- From the Moodle left-hand side panel, select Site administration.
- Select Plugins.
- Select Activity Modules.
- Then Manage Activities.
- Scroll to Turnitin Assignment 2 and select Settings.
- Scroll to Paper Repository Assignments and select Submit all papers to the institutional repository:
We've removed a technical notice from the assignment settings page
In Moodle's debug mode, a peculiar notice appeared within the assignment settings: 'Array to string conversion in /usr/share/nginx/html/lib/pear/HTML/QuickForm/select.php on line 501'. We've made some adjustments to ensure that this doesn't appear in future.
You can now exit lightboxes using the 'Close' button
We received a report that the Close button in the Plagiarism Plugin's lightboxes wasn't performing correctly, in that it wasn't actually closing anything! Instead, users saw the following error: 'Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read property 'close' of undefined at HTMLAnchorElement.onclick'. Thanks for the heads up, @Haietza! We've fixed this issue.
Lightboxes display content by filling the screen and dimming out the rest of the web page. They can be closed to find the website contents still available. Items such as the QuickMark manager and the rubric manager are contained inside a lightbox.
Instructors can now successfully submit on behalf of a student
An instructor encountered an issue when attempting to resubmit on behalf of a student within a group submission. This was down to us incorrectly checking the permissions of the student, rather than the submitter. These permissions told us that the student wasn't permitted to resubmit to the assignment, but if we'd checked the instructor permissions, we'd have found that their permissions allowed this. Phew. A big thanks to @micaherne for his patch to fix this! It did the job nicely.
2018 January 16th
v2018011601
Instant Similarity Reports for up to three resubmissions
Feedback Studio allows students to view their Similarity Report results immediately! Students can now view their initial Similarity Report, then revise and resubmit their work up to three times, without having to wait 24 hours for an updated report. After three resubmissions have been made, the 24-hour report generation wait time will be restored. Instantaneous similarity results give students the formative support they need to master paraphrasing and citation conventions efficiently.
To enable resubmissions for students, you must correctly configure the assignment settings of a new or existing Moodle Direct V2 assignment.
- Scroll to Originality Report Options.
- Under Originality Report Generation and Submissions, select Generate reports immediately (students can resubmit until due date): After 3 resubmissions, reports generate after 24 hours.
Genre-specific rubrics in Feedback Studio
Revision Assistant's genre-specific rubrics are now available in Feedback Studio, designed with 6th - 12th graders in mind! K-12 instructors can assign new rubrics to their assignments to help their students master the art of argumentative, narrative, informative, and analytical writing. If you're actively using Revision Assistant and Feedback Studio together, you can now promote consistency in the classroom by adopting the same rubrics.
To use a new rubric for grading, you can attach it from within the assignment settings of a new or existing assignment.
- Scroll to GradeMark options.
- Under Attach a rubric to this assignment, select a new genre-specific rubric from the drop-down list.
Alternatively, launch the rubric and grading form manager from the Moodle Direct V2 submission inbox, or alternatively, from within Feedback Studio.
K-12 QuickMark sets in Feedback Studio
QuickMarks are Turnitin's most popular feedback tool among Feedback Studio instructors! But in finding that many of our default QuickMark sets failed to address the needs of our K-12 instructors and students, we've added two new sets to the Feedback Studio collection. Our new drag-and-drop (and customizable!) comments will help instructors help their students to engage in revision, save time, and more importantly, achieve learning outcomes.
To view and edit your new QuickMarks, launch the QuickMark manager from the Moodle Direct V2 submission inbox, or alternatively, from within Feedback Studio.
Students can submit their group work without access error issues
Students have frustratingly been receiving unauthorized access errors when submitting group work, which caused some confusion. After uploading their submission and navigating to the View all submissions page, the student would witness the error. We've made a solid fix to stop this from happening! A big thanks to @micaherne for this pull request.
To view and edit your new QuickMarks, launch the QuickMark manager from the Moodle Direct V2 submission inbox, or alternatively, from within Feedback Studio.