I imagine a few of you caught our last post about the D2L Assignment Grader app, and the first question you had was, “Okay sounds neat-o, but does it also allow me to view originality reports and use QuickMark comments to evaluate student work offline?”  Unfortunately, the answer is, “Nope.”  But that’s okay because if plagiarism detection and QuickMarks are your thing, you can still evaluate student Dropbox submissions offline.  You’ll just need a totally different, but equally useful, app called Turnitin, built by none other than Turnitin.

Now once again, this app is strictly for Apple iOS.  Sorry Android and Surface users.  But it’s easy to use and incorporates all of your favorite features of Turnitin grading:  QuickMarks, comments, rubric grading, and originality reports.  You can learn more by checking out the video below or by reviewing the promotional material for the app on the Turnitin website.

The app integrates with Desire2Learn, but you’ll have to set up each course individually.  It’s a bit tricky, so here’s the inside scoop for getting started.

1. Download the app.  (I hear you out there saying, “Duh!”  I’m just trying to be thorough here.)
2. Log in to Desire2Learn and open an originality report for a student paper.
3. In the bottom left-hand corner, click on the iPad access button and generate a code.  (You’ll have to run through this code generating step for each class.  Bummer, I know.  At least you don’t have to do it for each Dropbox, right?  Or each paper, so there’s a silver lining.)
4. Go back to your iPad and open the Turnitin app.
5. Rather than logging directly into Turnitin, you’ll click on the Access Code tab.
6. Then enter the Access Code.  (You knew this step was coming.)
7. Once you’ve got one class set up on the iPad, you’ll add additional classes from the user profile icon in the top right-hand corner of the app.

Now you are ready to start plagiarism sleuthing and essay grading mobile-style.  Enjoy!

For more information, check out the Turnitin app help section or stop by the Exchange in Library South, Room 106 for some one-on-one help.