Known issues

In a Grading Form, if the instructor leaves a question unmarked, it will receive a “0*” which is not an issue. But if the instructor removes a value, it will leave “NaN” in the cell in the Analytic Dashboard, and that causes Excel to report file corruption when the file is exported. See: https://media.ed.ac.uk/media/NaN+error+-+Troubleshooting/1_yt15v8ky

Workaround: If instructors wish to remove a mark for a question in the Grading Form, they should always replace it with a number and never leave it blank.

Turnitin are currently investigating this issue.

Turnitin has strict File requirements, when these are not met, instructors may get a "M14:11 Error" when trying to open the file for marking. 

Workaround: try saving the file in an alternative format and resubmitting it

Tii Support Article: https://supportcenter.turnitin.com/s/article/M14-11-error   

Tii Support: https://help.turnitin.com/feedback-studio/turnitin-website/student/submitting-a-paper/file-requirements.htm 

When students submit a file, if they choose a file to upload and meanwhile enter some text in the Text Input box and then submit it, the text would override the uploaded file without any warning, and it takes the file title from the file. In Feedback Studio, it shows the file title, but when downloading it, it is actually a file called “copypaste.txt”.

Here is a screen recording: https://media.ed.ac.uk/media/t/1_bby0jqw3

Please remind students not to use the two tabs at the same time

Instructors can attempt to manually synchronise the grade using the "Resync grade" option from the ellipsis menu alongside the submission in the assignment inbox.

If this is not successful, please raise a call with IS.helpline@ed.ac.uk

Turnitin are currently investigating this issue.

There is no workaround currently.

This relates to a known issue which Blackboard are working to resolve. The issue may impact on LTI/Partner cloud integrations and possibly discussion boards

Some users reported seeing the 'Invalid or missing state' message. This is due to the user's browser and security settings preventing the Turnitin assignment from opening correctly. This can usually be fixed by the user:

• enabling JavaScript in the browser
• allowing third party cookies from api.turnitin.com and turnitinuk.com

If many students report this error for the same assignment, the instructor should check the settings of the Turnitin Assignment in the Learn Ultra course, to ensure it is set to open in the same browser window.  To do this:

1. click on the 3 dots alongside the Turnitin assignment link in the Learn Ultra course and then click Edit
2. in the flyover panel that appears, deselect the option box for Open in new window and then click Save 

('Open in new window' is deselected by default.)

1. If a user accesses Turnitin from Learn, changes their email address in Learn, and then accesses Turnitin again, Turnitin will create separate accounts for the user and the email address is not updated. In the downloaded Grade Report, it still shows the old email address. The workaround is to contact the service team through IS.helpline@ed.ac.uk who will request Turnitin consolidate the duplicated accounts and update the email address manually in Turnitin.
2. [423 error] This is when someone has a staff role on a course then their role within the course changes to Student; their email is attached to both causing a clash. The workaround is to (a) contact the service team through IS.helpline@ed.ac.uk giving the string of code from the error message, and a request will be sent to Turnitin to resolve the issue; (b) use your staff email for your staff role on the course and your student email if you also wish to also take a student role on the same course.

This is a bug for which Blackboard is working on a fix.​​​​

In the Learn Ultra Course, when creating a Turnitin assignment, Blackboard automatically adds a Release Condition to the assignment link and this prevents sending email reminders from the Gradebook.

A workaround is to change the Release Condition to "Visible to Students" as long as it is already visible, and then go to the Gradebook to send the email reminder.

We suggest you do not use the Copy Assignment feature which was released on 30th October 2023.

If you have used this and have discovered issues, we would be grateful if you could raise a call through IS.helpline@ed.ac.uk to help us understand the scope of these issues.

So far, issues reported are:

1. Assignments in other VLEs are also listed (Moodle, PebblePad); currently these can’t be copied reliably.
2. The list of assignments includes those from old/deleted courses and assignments that have been deleted. Many users have thousands of courses listed and this causes the tool to run slowly and appear unresponsive.
3.  When copying multiple assignments at once, only the first one is copied successfully, the rest will display "Approval Required - hidden from students" in red in the Learn course, and there is no way to approve it. Meanwhile, an email notification is sent automatically to Helpline.
4. Anonymous assignments are copied without anonymous marking enabled.

This issue on Turnitin’s Known Issues page

1. Try clearing your cache (see links below)
2. Try using an alternative browser*
3. Try selecting fewer files to download at one time
4. If issue persists, email a screenshot to is.helpline@ed.ac.uk with details of the course and the assignment

Windows:

• Chrome: Clear cache & cookies
• Firefox: How to clear Firefox cache
• Edge: View and delete browser history on Microsoft Edge

Mac OSX:

• Safari: If Safari doesn't open a page or work as expected on your Mac
• Firefox: How to clear Firefox cache
• Chrome: Clear cache & cookies

*Note: Mobile browsers and partial browsers (such as those used on an iPad or tablet) are unsupported.

There is no workaround.

Turnitin confirmed that the dates tracked on the Grade report are the "first upload" and not updated after resubmissions.

Turnitin only reports the numbers of words it detects which may not be the number of words in the document. For this reason, it cannot be seen as a source of the word count for submitted work. 

Staff should ask students to state the word count in their work or else staff should determine the word count from the document itself (e.g. there is a Word Count function within Word).

Grading can still be completed by NOT clicking the flag icon in the Assignment inbox.

Instead, use the Paper Title link or grade (pen) icon to open the assignment in Feedback Studio, then complete grading but avoid clicking the flag icon while within Feedback Studio.

Strikethrough looks like underline

Turnitin acknowledged the issue seems to be caused by the font used in the submission. 

No workaround for already submitted files but, as always when using strikethrough, markers should add a comment to explain to the students what the action means which should mitigate the issue.

Download files in batches instead of as a whole by selecting/deselecting submissions individually in the assignment inbox for any downloads that experience this error.

The number of batches needed will depend on how many submissions there are/file size of submissions.

If some grades do not pass to Grade Centre, Turnitin suggest changing the Post Date forward by an hour (and Save) and back by an hour (and Save), and it may push for a fresh synchronization.

If a grade is zero in Turnitin assignment, Grade centre will show it as Needs Marking. Therefore, instructors should always be setting the grade point as 1 minimum to avoid any issues.

Check the Max Grade in Turnitin Assignment setting and make sure it is greater than zero.

If students submitted directly on Turnitin website, their grades will not pass to Grade Centre.

When checking for late submissions use the dates & times from within the Turnitin inbox. See video: https://media.ed.ac.uk/media/Turnitin+-+Checking+for+Late+Submissions/1_0js84wj9

No workaround.

Staff need to inform their students of this, as once they Submit their review they will not be able to edit it.