Transformation in Assessment and Feedback: An evaluation of the piloted use of Turnitin for electronic submission, marking and as a formative feedback tool from an educator’s perspective

The aim of this project was to pilot plagiarism detection software and online marking,
evaluating its use with staff on a first year undergraduate module within the psychology
department at a UK university. One hundred and sixty undergraduate psychology students
submitted three assignments via Turnitin, and staff used the software to check for
instances of academic misconduct and marked submissions using the GradeMark
feature in the software, providing online feedback to students. Eleven members of teaching
staff took part in focus groups to gain insight into their experiences of using Turnitin
in this manner, and this paper reports the findings. Results indicated that staff identified
several strengths but also several weaknesses to the implementation of Turnitin and
GradeMark. The OriginalityCheck feature received very positive evaluations due to its
capacity to provide a clear and timely indicator of plagiarism levels in assignments and
a useful formative learning tool for students from an educator perspective. Staff did
however encounter some technical difficulties when using the software. In conclusion,
for staff, the benefits of using Turnitin were clear, and it has the potential to be a very
valuable asset to plagiarism detection and electronic marking.