Turnitin Version 2 will be unavailable on 5th May 2015 from 08:00 to 10:00 whilst we carry out a routine upgrade.

There are many benefits to this upgrade, including fixes to existing problems and improvements. These are listed below:

Improvements:

•Updating part names in inbox edits the part tab straight-away.
•Select all option added to Turnitin Assignment inbox.
•EULA modal window resized in Turnitin Assignment.

Fixes:

•Course participation report in 2.6 no longer throws error.
•Overall grades not displayed to students until last post date has passed.
•Instructors can submit to a Turnitin Assignment after the due date.
•If disclaimer is enabled, then the student can not click submit until they have checked the disclaimer.
•User given warning when attempting to move post date on an Anonymous marking assignment.
•Spinner added when refreshing submissions in Turnitin Assignment.
•Empty resubmission can no longer be sent. – Must attach a file.
•Help text wrapping inconsistency on Turnitin assignment settings page. – I think this works, all the text looks to wrap properly.
•Validation added so that part names must be unique.

If you have any questions about the upgrade please email ele@ucl.ac.uk and we would be happy to answer your questions or address your concerns.
All times are for the UK (GMT or BST), for other locations please convert: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html

To help keep you up-to-date with the status of the Turnitin service, which is supplied externally by TurnitinUK, we have created the Turnitin Status and known Issues page.

This page summarises the current known status of the service,  has the official Turnitin Status Twitter feed embedded (to ensure the most up-to-date information) and has a list of current issues that have been reported to TurnitinUK for both V1 and V2 of the plugin. The page will be updated as problems are resolved via upgrades and other fixes.

https://wiki.ucl.ac.uk/display/MoodleResourceCentre/Turnitin+-+Service+Status+and+Known+Issues

Moodle will be unavailable on 17 Feb 2015 from 08:00 to 10:00 whilst we carry out a routine upgrade to Turnitin V2.

On 17 Feb we will upgrade the Turnitin to the latest release of V2. There are many benefits to this upgrade, including compatibility with Moodle logs, submission titles now opening the document and better sorting of the submission inbox.

Compatibility with Moodle logs – submission and other activities within a Turnitin assignment are now recorded in the Moodle logs.

Submission titles now opening the document – clicking on the submission title in the Turnitin V2 inbox will now launch the document viewer.

Better sorting of the submission inbox – it will be possible to sort by submission date, name, similarity score and grade (all of which now work correctly).

If you have any questions about the upgrade please email ele@ucl.ac.uk and we would be happy to answer your questions or address your concerns.
All times are for the UK (GMT or BST), for other locations please convert: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html

When you have a problem or question E-Learning Environments (ELE) are always more than happy to hear from you, and will do all we can to help you as quickly as we can. However, this process can be slowed down if we don’t have all the information we need to investigate your problem, or answer your question. So here are some top tips for what to include in an email/ ticket to ELE, so you can help us to help you.

1. Course name (and link)

UCL is a large university with hundreds of courses, and even more modules. Therefore it is very difficult for us to investigate a problem without knowing the name of a course/ module, so that we can look at the problem and try to replicate it. A lot of problem solving is reverse engineered, so we will try to replicate the problem for ourselves and then figure out what is wrong, by using our familiarity with the components of the technology. It is also helpful to include a link to the course/ module in question, as sometimes these are not obvious when searching in Moodle/ Lecturecast. Asking for the course name is always our first step, and so by including this in your original email then you will save time and help us resolve the problem faster.

2. Activity/ resource name (and link)

As well as there being a lot of courses at UCL, individual courses may have more than one of a particular activity, such as a Turnitin assignment or forum. It will take ELE extra time if we have to search through all of them to find the problem, and it also means that sometimes we are not always sure if we have found the problem. By including the name and location of the activity in the original email ELE can go straight to it, and get to work determining the problem.

3. Screenshots

When we look at a course, it might not always be possible for ELE to replicate a problem. This might be because the issue is related to a particular browser you are using, or due to permissions on your account. As these parameters might not apply to ELE we may not be able to see the problem, which makes it much harder for us to help with the answer. If you can take a screenshot (using the PrtScn key) and then paste that into a document and send it as an attachment, it will help us see the problem and any error messages you are receiving. It can even mean that we can answer the question or give a solution straight away upon seeing the screenshot.

4. Error messages

Screenshots of error messages are good, but if you can’t take one then including what an error message says will help ELE to diagnose and resolve the problem. It also helps us if we have to deal with any third party suppliers (such as Turnitin).

4. Specifics

A summary of the problem is best as ELE might not have a lot of time to read a long email, and it may be possible to determine and resolve an issue with only a few key details, listed above. However it can also help to be specific. If you are reporting a problem then list what steps you are taking that are causing the problem, which buttons are you clicking and in what order? Details are also helpful if you are asking a question about a new activity you’d like to start, but you’re not sure which tool to use. If you include specific details about what you want to do then ELE can suggest the tool that fits your needs best.

By following these tips you will have an easier and quicker experience with ELE, and we will be able to get through more problems or questions in less time.

Please feel free to send your queries to ELE via our email address, ele@ucl.ac.uk

At UCL we are currently running two versions of the Turnitin e-submission plugin, both version 1 & 2. The reason we are running both versions is that we were planning to transition from version 1 to version 2, as there is no direct way to upgrade version 1 assignments into version 2 assignments. We ran testing on version 2 and it seemed to do all the basic functionality we expected. In addition to this version 2 offers some new features, including a more streamlined submission inbox and the integration of PeerMark, Turnitin’s peer marking tool. However, after running version 2 of the plugin within a real world use for just over a month, we discovered (with the help of feedback from tutors, course administrators and students) that some of the finer details, and other elements that are not easily testable in an isolated environment were not working as desired. We have fed these back to Turnitin and some of these features are now working in the upgraded version 2 plugin, this includes late submissions being highlighted in red.

A couple of members of the E-Learning Environments team recently attended MUGGL, the Moodle User Group for Greater London. At this user group was a representative from iParadigms, the parent company that owns Turnitin. We were able to ask this representative some questions about problems UCL are currently experiencing with the version 2 plugin, and were able to confirm these issues are not unique to our institution. The representative from iParadigms informed the user group that Turnitin are aware of a number of issues with the version 2 plugin for Turnitin, and have resolved some of the issues. However they have also decided to turn their attention to a new version of the plugin, which is being referred to as ‘Turnitin Next’. This plugin is currently in beta testing, and not yet ready for release.

The E-Learning Environments team plan to do what we can to be involved in the beta testing, so that we can be as sure as possible that this new plugin will work and do as we expect it to. It should be noted that our influence over the features within the plugin is likely to be limited, if we have any at all, and that it is not guaranteed we will be allowed to partake in the beta testing. Once the next version of Turnitin Next is released the E-Learning Environments team will take all normal steps to ensure the plugin is thoroughly tested, and that we produce ample documentation for any new ways of working within the plugin. It is highly unlikely we would move to the new plugin before summer 2015.

As things currently stand E-Learning Environments plan to run both the version 1 and version 2 plugins for Turnitin until further notice. These plugins should be seen as equally valid for use and a table comparing features has been produced and will continue to be updated in the event of any changes to functionality. Once E-Learning Environments have more information on the implementation of Turnitin Next we will notify the UCL community with as much notice as possible.

Moodle will be unavailable on 14 October from 08:00 to 10:00 whilst we carry out a routine upgrade.

On 14 October we will upgrade Moodle to version 2.6.5. There are many benefits to this upgrade, including a new plugin to create test student accounts, a new enhanced CBM plugin for quizzes and Turnitin version 2.

Automation of creation of test accounts – this will be a link in the Settings block that allows you to create up to 15 test accounts.

Enhanced CBM plugin – allows you to more effectively evaluate questions based on CBM results.

Turnitin version 2 – this is the updated version of the Moodle plugin for Turnitin. It has a simpler interface and grants access to the PeerMark feature.

If you have any questions about the upgrade please email ele@ucl.ac.uk and we would be happy to answer your questions or address your concerns.

All times are for the UK (GMT or BST), for other locations please convert: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html