Microsoft Teams FAQ for Administrators

Interested in the new MS Teams Turnitin Feedback Studio app? Read on to learn more.

What are the primary differences between the MS Teams Similarity integration and the new MS Teams Feedback Studio integration?

The existing Similarity integration provides a limited experience of Turnitin, which allows instructors to enable a basic check on MS Teams Assignments to check for content matches to other sources. Both instructors and students have the same report view, since limited information about the user is made available to Turnitin.

The new Feedback Studio integration offers the full Feedback Studio experience, including Turnitin grading and feedback, as well as an instructor report view and standard assignment-level settings to customize the report. More recently released Turnitin features are also available with this integration, such as assignment analytics, access to the new AI writing report, and instructor paper deletion requests.

Why is the Feedback Studio integration labeled as Early Access?

Currently there is no method to synchronize Feedback Studio assignments with the MS Teams Assignments and Grades areas. This means users are required to launch the Turnitin app to access any Feedback Studio assignments, and there is no way for grades entered in Feedback Studio to be included alongside other grades in the MS Teams Grades area. Once these become available, we intend to remove the Early Access label and make the app widely available in the MS Teams store.

Which MS Teams integrations offer AI writing detection?

AI writing detection is only available to instructors using the Turnitin Feedback Studio integration. Since the MS Teams Assignment Similarity integration does not offer an instructor view due to Turnitin not receiving user metadata, AI writing detection is unavailable.

If an instructor using the Similarity integration has a concern that a report may have been written with an AI writing tool, they can request that their administrator use the paper lookup tool to view a full report.

The AI writing detection tool will be available as standard to all Turnitin Feedback Studio instructors until the end of 2023. From 2024 institutions will require Originality as part of their Turnitin license. More information can be found in our AI Writing Detection guidance, as well as on our FAQs page.

What is required for an institution to switch from the Similarity integration switch to the Feedback Studio integration?

An institution must have an active Turnitin Feedback Studio license to use the integration.

Is it possible to use both the MS Teams Similarity integration and the MS Teams Turnitin Feedback Studio integration?

It is possible for an institution to use both integrations, however there are some limitations that need to be considered.

When a submission is made to an MS Teams Assignment with the Similarity integration enabled, Turnitin is able to generate a report, however no user metadata is received from MS Teams, so the identity of the submitter is not available. Additionally, all submissions made to the Similarity integration are indexed in the Turnitin global database.

Because all submissions are indexed, if the same submission is made to both integrations, matches will be flagged, but the actual submitter will not be identifiable. In this type of scenario, the report generated by the Similarity integration would only display a match to the same institution, however it would not display any further details making it difficult for an instructor to interpret the similarity report.

Where can the Feedback Studio app be added in MS Teams as an instructor?

Once installed as an option by the MS Teams administrator, the Feedback Studio app can currently only be added to the General Channel by a user with instructor-level permissions.

Can Feedback Studio assignments be copied?

At this time there is no method to copy assignments. We plan to release a new assignment copy tool soon that will assist with the copying of assignment set-ups to allow an instructor to reuse an assignment set-up within the app in a different Team.

Is it possible to delete Turnitin assignments in the Feedback Studio App?

Deleting an assignment from the Turnitin assignment list will only remove it from view and it will still be kept within the Turnitin servers. This means that any submissions will be matchable in future Similarity Reports. The Turnitin account administrator can contact support to request the permanent deletion of an assignment.

Can submissions be permanently deleted from the Feedback Studio App?

Instructors have the option to request permanent deletion of a submission from within the assignment inbox. When this option is selected, a request is sent to the Turnitin account administrator and they are able to confirm or decline this request from their Turnitin Feedback Studio administrator dashboard. Further information can be found in the Administrator paper deletion guidance.

When using the Teams Assignment integration with Similarity it is possible to have multiple Turnitin administrators, is this also possible with the Feedback Studio App?

It is only possible to have a single account administrator with all Turnitin Feedback Studio accounts.

Can an administrator set-up the Microsoft Teams Feedback Studio app for individual schools within a district / consortium Microsoft Teams environment?

A Team must be linked to a school ID to allow deployment of the integration to an individual school. If Teams are created via a SIS, then it is worth ensuring that the correct school ID is associated at the point of Team creation.

The Turnitin app will need to first be made available on the MS Teams environment by the MS Teams administrator. Once the app is available, the Turnitin account administrator will need to complete the deployment process by adding the app to one of their Teams where they will be presented with a log-in screen to select the Turnitin account they would like to associate with the integration. Following the deployment stage all instructors associated with that MS Teams school ID should automatically have access to add the integration to their associated Teams.

If other schools in the district will also be using the integration, they will need to complete the same deployment process for their individual schools as well.

If the wrong assignment title is set for a Feedback Studio assignment, is it possible to edit this?

Once an assignment title is set for a Feedback Studio assignment, it is currently not possible to update this and the assignment must be re-created if an update is required. There is a fix due for release shortly that will add an edit option next to each assignment title in the Feedback Studio Assignment List.

Are there any other limitations / known issues that I should be aware of when using the Feedback Studio integration?

Due to the way launches are handled within the MS Teams desktop app, it is not currently possible for instructors to launch the AI report when using the Turnitin app from the MS Teams desktop app. Users must be logged-in to the browser version of MS Teams to access the AI report. A solution to this issue is currently under investigation.