New Turnitin Functions

I just came back from a demonstration of the new GradeMark and PeerMark functions of Turnitin (at least these are new to me since our college just purchased these two additional functions for Turnitin).  In case you are not familiar with Turnitin, it is a originality verification service where students or the professor uploads the paper and the service identifies matches against other papers and published works.  It is useful for detecting plagiarism but it also serves as a great learning tool for students to evaluate their ability to paraphrase sources when writing research papers.

The two new functions increase the level of interaction we have with the student papers.  GradeMark evaluates the paper for spelling, grammar, punctuation, and  composition.  Also, GradeMark allows the professor to insert standard remarks, customized remarks, or comments directly into the paper.  The PeerMark function enables peer review of the assignments for a class.  Both functions are good additions to Turnitin and I'll probably consider adopting GradeMark when evaluating papers submitted through Turnitin.

The issue I see with the the Turnitin software is the lack of integration into Blackboard or other learning management systems.  I have my students submit their work in Blackboard, I grade their assignments in Blackboard, and I leave my assignment feedback in Blackboard.  Right now, I need to ask the students to submit their work in both places so that I can use Turnitin while maintaining the assignments in Blackboard.  I still am impressed with Turnitin I just see room for improvement.