Comparison of e-Submission and Marking tools (Turnitin/Grademark vs. Bb9)
Turnitin/Grademark
Benefits

Enables robust anonymous marking (UoM requirement)

Incorporates plagiarism detection and online marking in one place

Faculty priority because it allows for richer and more detailed feedback, including voice feedback

Students get receipts of their submissions

Useful for giving online feedback via rubrics and quickmarks (sets of frequently used comments)
Disadvantages

Allows only 1 file submitted per assignment

Can handle file submissions of 20MB

Does not provide for group assignments

Can’t attach extra-files to either the instructions or to the feedback delivered

Excludes some file format ( Excel, image files) and implies students having to pdf these type of files before submitting
Blackboard Assignment Tool
Benefits
 Can set up group assignments/group work
 Allows multi-format submissions (e.g. Word doc, spreadsheets, SPSS, audio files, web pages, images …)
 Instructor receives an email on submission
 Can attach additional files to the instructions and when grading
 This combined with Word is a lower tech / more accessible solution to some academics
 Can handle larger file sizes (up to 2.5GB)
 Allows offline marking
Disadvantages
 Anonymity not robust enough
 UoM does not have access to the Blackboard Safe Assign tool for plagiarism checking
 Requires the establishment of adequate assessment process in coordination with admin team
 Downloading and Archiving of coursework very time-consuming for administration teams
 Students unable to overwrite their submission.
Feature
Anonymous marking
Turnitin

BB

Allows for inline comments


Allows for audio-feedback


Allow selective release including selective release
to a group of students
Multiple file submission - students can submit more
than 1 file to an assignment




Can create different instructions for groups but
students complete individually
Instructor can add attachment to assignment
instructions




Allows to attach a file to a submission
Allows for late submission




Allow for resubmission
Accepts any file size




Comments
Bb: Anonymity can partly be achieved in Bb by both firstly hiding student
name columns in Grade Centre; then in the assignment column
select Grade Anonymously. This method is not as robust as Tii, since
various manual workarounds are required e.g. Grade Centre columns
identifying authors (e.g. last name, id numbers) and assignment columns
need to be hidden
Bb Assignment tool is clearly not ideal for anonymous marking.
Bb: Inline commenting only works when the assignment is submitted via
file upload; it does not work if the student work is submitted via the text
editor in the Bb Assignment tool.
Bb: Audio feedback in Bb in only possible by attaching a separately
recorded audio file, using other software e.g. Audacity.
Tii audio files are not downloadable.
Bb and Tii: Via adaptive release functionality in Bb
Tii: only accepts one file per assignment i.e. multiple Tii assignments need
to be created if students need to submit more than 1 file
Bb: a zipped file containing multiple files can be submitted by the student,
which can then be downloaded by the tutor. The zip file does not open in
Bb, and the individual files cannot be individually marked online in Bb in
this process.
Tii: Instructions to students can be added at the time of creating the
assignment. Alternatively, additional instructions need to be made
available separately and placed on Blackboard
Tii: Late submissions are flagged as late and allow for easier handling of
mitigating circumstances
Bb: Late submissions are allowed if no date/time restrictions are imposed
on the assignment.
Tii: 20 MB limit or 400 words
Bb: > 20 MB (set by Bb System Administrators)

Accepts any file type
Sends feedback files back to student


Grading


Tii: now accepts any file type, but only the following files will generate an
originality report: MS Word, Powerpoint, WordPerfect, PostScript, PDF,
HTML, RTF, Plain text, Open Office (ODT), Hangul (HWP) and Google docs.
Bb: all digital file types accepted.
Bb: in My Grades, students can download their own submitted files (with
tutor comments added – if the tutor previously downloads the student’s
submitted file and re-uploads the file to Bb via the Grade Centre).
Tii: students can download their file with comments added.
Numeric or grading form in both. Alphanumeric in Bb
Grading without submission
Integration with Campus Solutions


Integration at the level of roster synchronisation and grade uploading


Tii: ‘Revision assignment’ allow students to submit multiple drafts without
overwriting the previous drafts/submissions.
Bb: Allows multiple attempts
 (only
Peermark)
 by instructor
and students
Instructor gets an email on submission


Tii: Instructor identifies submissions via Turnitin inbox.
Student gets receipt of submission as well as
receipt emailed to them


Offline grading


Tii: student receives on screen confirmation of submission and is able to
download a digital receipt from the Tii Document Viewer. Receipt is also
viewable by instructor.
Bb: Student gets on-screen notification of submission and can download.
Tii: Offline marking available on iPad only.
Bb: 'How to... Download and mark assignments offline'
http://documents.manchester.ac.uk/display.aspx?DocID=13656
Can attach files when grading

Save for further review and editing
Automatic Return of graded submission to the
student


 doesn’t appear
to be a limit


Students can take back and correct work after
submission
Submissions can be published to the class
Tii: Instructor can only link to an external link in general comments in
Grademark
Tii: unlimited editing up until post date – and even after post date.
Batch downloading for archiving purposes


Batch download of student submission at any time


Plagiarism checking


Bb: 'How to... Download and mark assignments offline'
http://documents.manchester.ac.uk/display.aspx?DocID=13656
Tii: Batch download depends on type of file that is downloaded. Originality
reports can only be downloaded individually. Batch download of
GradeMark files can be done anytime so long as marking has occurred.
Batch download of original files only possible after post date.
Fully integrated with Tii / GM. .