Turnitin

Turnitin has notably expanded its plagiarism detection services to include AI detection, a crucial feature in today’s educational environment where AI writing tools, such as ChatGPT, are increasingly prevalent. Here's a detailed look at how Turnitin is adapting to this new landscape:

• AI Writing Detection Integration: This functionality is seamlessly integrated into Turnitin's Similarity Report, ensuring users can continue their existing workflows without disruption. It's designed to specifically detect text potentially generated by AI tools, aligning with Turnitin's commitment to uphold academic integrity.

• AI Writing Indicator: A prominent feature of this AI detection is the AI writing indicator, expressed as a percentage. It quantifies the proportion of text in a submission that appears to be AI-generated, focusing primarily on narrative prose and excluding formats like bullet points or tables.

• High Confidence Flagging: Turnitin's AI detection is designed to flag AI-generated content only when there's a high certainty, aiming to reduce false positives. Despite its precision, the tool recognizes the potential for occasional inaccuracies in identifying the origin of the text.

• Accessibility through LMS: The AI detection tool is made accessible through various Learning Management Systems, such as Moodle, Blackboard, and Canvas, enhancing its availability for educators and students. However, it's currently not supported in the Microsoft Teams integration.

• Focus on English Text: Presently, the tool's AI detection capabilities are tailored for analyzing English text, with non-English submissions not being processed.

• Educational Resources: Understanding the challenges AI-generated text presents, Turnitin offers support through an AI writing educator network and blog posts. These resources aim to assist educators in navigating the implications of AI-generated text on academic integrity.

Turnitin's introduction of an AI detection tool represents a significant advancement in maintaining academic integrity in the digital age. It equips educators with the means to discern AI-generated content, while also emphasizing the importance of human judgment in academic evaluations.

Turnitin's AI tool has several important uses in education and academia:

1. Maintaining Academic Honesty in Essays: Turnitin helps educators make sure that students submit their own work and do not use AI to complete their assignments.
2. Evaluating Research Papers: It checks if AI was used in research papers to ensure that the content is original and not artificially generated.
3. Checking Theses and Dissertations: In higher education, Turnitin verifies that theses and dissertations are the students' own work, not AI-generated.
4. Online Coursework: For online courses, it checks student submissions for authenticity, ensuring that learning is based on students' real efforts.
5. Screening Journal Submissions: Academic journals use Turnitin to detect AI-generated content, ensuring originality in published articles.
6. Reviewing Grants and Proposals: Organizations reviewing applications use Turnitin to confirm content originality and assess the legitimacy of applicants' ideas.
7. Quality Control on Educational Platforms: Educational platforms use Turnitin to maintain content quality and authenticity, especially for user-generated essays and articles.
8. High School Assignments: High schools use Turnitin to check for AI-generated content, teaching students the importance of originality in academic work.
9. Collaborative Projects: In group projects, Turnitin ensures each section is the work of the student who contributed.
10. Language Learning Assignments: It verifies that language learners are genuinely writing their essays, rather than relying on AI for foreign language content.

These examples show how Turnitin's AI capabilities help promote originality and integrity in written work across various educational settings.

Turnitin is widely recognized for its plagiarism detection services, catering primarily to educational institutions like schools and universities rather than providing individual licenses to students or independent users. Instead, access is facilitated through an institution's subscription. The pricing for Turnitin's services isn't readily available on their website as it significantly varies depending on factors such as the institution's size, the type of school, the number of users, and the specific features required. Educational institutions interested in utilizing Turnitin's services are encouraged to contact a sales representative to obtain a customized quote that aligns with their needs.

While Turnitin generally focuses on institutional subscriptions, there's an option available for teachers to purchase their accounts for about $20 a year to check student papers, although this is less commonly known and availability might fluctuate. Moreover, Turnitin offers a 60-day free trial for one teacher and up to 100 students, allowing educators to test out the service before committing financially.

Pricing can differ significantly between institutions; for example, Kent State University reported a cost of $3 per student per year, but such rates can vary based on each institution's agreement with Turnitin. The company's flagship product, Feedback Studio, is particularly favored by educators for providing detailed plagiarism reports and facilitating the grading process, saving valuable time when offering student feedback.

For precise pricing and to find the most appropriate subscription plan, institutions or interested faculty members should directly contact Turnitin or consult with their institution's administration. Turnitin aims to provide flexible pricing options to meet the varied requirements and sizes of educational institutions, ensuring that its comprehensive plagiarism detection and feedback tools are accessible to a broad educational audience.

The top team at Turnitin is led by a few important people. Chris Caren is the CEO, and there are others like Annie Chechitelli, who is the Chief Product Officer, Marissa Farrar, who is the Chief People Officer, Zemina Hasham, who is the Chief Customer Officer, Maurice Heiblum, who is the Chief Revenue Officer, Hazel-Ann Mayers, who is the General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, Mike Mitrione, who is the Chief Technology Officer, and Peter Rendall, who is the Chief Financial Officer.



Chris Caren

CEO



Annie Chechitelli

Chief Product Officer



Marissa Farrar

Chief People Officer



Zemina Hasham

Chief Customer Officer



Maurice Heiblum

Chief Revenue Officer



Hazel-Ann Mayers

General Counsel and Corporate Secretary

Turnitin is a company known for its tools that help prevent plagiarism in education. Over the years, it has gone through some important changes.

In 2014, the company's parent company, iParadigms, was bought by two big investment firms, Insight Venture Partners and GIC. This involved other investors like Warburg Pincus.

Turnitin also expanded by acquiring other companies. In 2014, they bought Ephorus and Lightside Labs, which help with plagiarism detection and feedback on student writing, respectively. In 2018, they acquired VeriCite, another plagiarism detection tool, and Gradescope, a company offering grading assistance.

A big moment for Turnitin was in 2019 when Advance Publications, a media company, bought it for $1.75 billion. This showed Advance's interest in the education tech sector.

Under Advance Publications, Turnitin has been working on growing internationally and improving its services, not just for writing but for other academic subjects too.

These changes in funding and ownership show how technology is becoming more important in education, especially in the areas of plagiarism detection and academic honesty.