Canvas Plagiarism Framework FAQ for Admins

What is the Canvas Plagiarism Framework option?

Turnitin has worked with Canvas to develop an integration that will allow instructors to enable Turnitin within the Canvas Assignment workflow. This integration allows Turnitin to be enabled for a Canvas assignment, provides a Similarity Report and Spelling and Grammar suggestions and can be accessed via SpeedGrader. All grading and feedback is expected to be provided via SpeedGrader and Canvas rubrics can be used. For more information on comparing how Turnitin can be used either as an external tool or through the Plagiarism Framework, click here.

Can I test the Plagiarism Framework integration in Canvas before enabling it for my institution?

You can test the Canvas Plagiarism Framework integration at a subaccount or course level in a production environment. This can be useful for testing the integration on a smaller scale.

This integration should be tested in a Canvas production sub-account. It cannot be guaranteed to work as intended in Canvas test or beta environments.

For more information on setting up the integration, please click here.

If your institution's Turnitin and Canvas administrator are not the same person, both administrators must work together to successfully integrate this sub-account into specific live classes or sandbox classes. The Turnitin administrator's login credentials are required to complete the integration setup within Canvas.

Does the Canvas administrator need to be enrolled in the course as a teacher to configure Turnitin?

Administrators can set up assignments using the Plagiarism Framework without being added as a teacher in a course.

What happens if I enable the Canvas Plagiarism Framework and we reach our student limit?

When using Turnitin as an external tool and through the plagiarism framework in the same instance of Canvas, it is possible that students are counted multiple times and artificially increase your active student limit. For example, if you have one instructor using Canvas LTI in one department, and another instructor using Canvas Plagiarism Framework in another but they both have the same cohort of students, those students may be counted twice. If this is the case with your institution and you have reached your student limit, please let your account representative know and they can make the necessary adjustments for you.

How do instructors enable Turnitin for a Canvas Assignment?

In the Canvas Assignment, the Submission Type needs to be set to Online Submission and either Text Entry or File Uploads (or both) needs to be selected. When these are chosen, the option to enable Turnitin for the assignment shows up in the Plagiarism Review box. Directions for enabling Turnitin for a Canvas assignment can be found here.

When using the Canvas Plagiarism Framework, will instructor's assignment settings be remembered per teacher, just as they are when using Turnitin as an external tool?

The option to "Save as default settings" allows instructors to save their assignment settings for future use.

Which Turnitin settings can be adjusted when using the Canvas Plagiarism Framework workflow?

When creating an assignment, instructors can customize a number of Turnitin settings to allow them to get the most out of each Similarity Report. You can find out more about these settings here.

If instructors copy a course, will their Canvas Plagiarism Framework settings be preserved from the original course?

The settings instructors have for a Canvas assignment with Turnitin enabled will copy as is to the new course. Instructors can learn more about copying a course here.

After copying a course containing a Turnitin LTI assignment, instructors were required to adjust the date of the copied assignment for it to reset to the current semester. Will the Canvas Plagiarism Framework work in the same way?

Because Turnitin works with the Canvas Assignment settings, instructors do not have to adjust the date of the duplicate assignment for it to reset to the current semester.

Can instructors use Turnitin's grading and feedback tools with the Canvas Plagiarism Framework?

The Canvas Plagiarism Framework integration was designed to provide a similarity report and spelling and grammar suggestions only. All feedback and grading is expected to be done via SpeedGrader. If the integration is set up correctly, no feedback or grading tools should be available to the instructor. If instructors would like to use these features, they should use Turnitin as an external tool instead.

Can instructors use PeerMark with the Canvas Plagiarism Framework?

PeerMark is not available in the Canvas Plagiarism Framework. If instructors would like to use these features, they should use Turnitin as an external tool instead.

Can instructors use the Student View with a Canvas Plagiarism Framework enabled assignment?

Because this is a Canvas assignment, instructors can use the Student View with it.

How are dates handled in the Canvas Plagiarism Framework?

Available from dates, Due dates, and Until dates are all controlled by the Canvas assignment. If a Canvas user sends us a paper to process within the acceptable Canvas dates, we'll process the submission. Please remember that collusion check will run on the due date of the assignment.

If a due date is not provided in the Canvas assignment settings, then the due date will default to one year in the future in Turnitin. This is to ensure that Turnitin assignments remain active, since Turnitin always requires a due date for an assignment.

Will the Canvas late submission policy work with the Canvas Plagiarism Framework?

If an instructor allows late resubmissions, the late paper will still be processed by Turnitin and a similarity score will be returned in line with the Canvas late submission policy.

Can instructors grant individual due dates or set multiple due dates for a Canvas Plagiarism Framework assignment?

Because this is a Canvas Assignment, instructors can assign individual due dates, due dates by sections, etc. just like they can with any other Canvas Assignment.

What if the Similarity Report fails to generate in the Canvas Plagiarism Framework?

As Canvas may not immediately notify Turnitin that an assignment has been created, we advise waiting 90 seconds between creating the assignment and making the first submission. This will allow Canvas to notify us that the assignment has been created.

If instructors continue to encounter an issue with the Similarity Report failing to generate, they can select Resubmit to Turnitin from SpeedGrader, which forces the Similarity Report to generate.

Can multiple documents be submitted to one assignment, and if so, how is this flagged in the Gradebook?

Instructors may want students to submit multiple files to the same assignment. For example, they may want a word document of the lab report submitted and an excel spreadsheet of the data submitted as well to the same assignment. Since both of these are readable text files, Turnitin will generate a Similarity Report for both files. It is important to remember that the color and plagiarism indicator in the Gradebook will show the highest percentage matched document to the submission and not an average percentage of both documents.

Can instructors control when their students are able to view the Similarity Report in Canvas?

Instructors have the ability to control student Similarity Report access at assignment level. They can choose from the following options:

Immediately: The Similarity Report will be made available to students as soon as they make their submission in Canvas.

After the assignment is graded: The Similarity Report will be made available to students as soon as their assignment has been graded in Canvas.

After the due date: The Similarity Report will be made available to students as soon as the assignment due date passes.

Never: The Similarity Report will never be made available to students but will be available to instructors after submission.

An administrator can set up one of the above Similarity Report access options as a default for their institution. This is a Canvas setting and is not part of the Canvas Plagiarism Framework. Go to Admin > Settings > Students can see the originality report, then set your preferred default.

What do students see when accessing their Similarity Report in the Canvas Plagiarism Framework?

Students will be able to view their Similarity Report (and spelling and grammar suggestions if enabled) in Turnitin Feedback Studio (which is accessed via Canvas through Submission Details or Gradebook), just as they can when they use Turnitin as an external tool.

Do indications of the report percentage appear in the new Canvas Gradebook features?

Indications of the Similarity Report percentage will appear in the Canvas Gradebook. If instructors would like to view the report, they can launch SpeedGrader via Gradebook to view it.