Blackboard assignments and Turnitin do basically the same thing, but each has different strengths and weaknesses. Here is a list of those strengths and weaknesses
Blackboard Assignments |
Turnitin assignments |
|
| Plagiarism Check | Good | Excellent |
| Plagiarism Check exclusions | specific papers | Bibliography, quotes, small matches, specific papers |
| Plagiarism Check access to matching papers | No | Yes for institutional repository, internet archive and journals |
| Show students similarity report | Optional when not anonymised | optional |
| Multiple file submissions | yes | no |
| File types that can be viewed inline | Over 100 | 11 |
| File types that can be annotated inline | 4 | 11 |
| File types that can be checked for similarity | 9 | 11 |
| Group submissions | yes | no |
| File size limit | 500Mb or 3.5 hours of video | 100 MB and 800 pages |
| Anonymous marking | yes | yes |
| Anonymous marking transparent to students | yes | no |
| Can reveal anonymous students names | no | Yes and it is logged |
| Can delegate marking of anonymous assignments | yes | Yes through Turnitin assignment by groups (in Blackboard) |
| Allow re-submissions | Yes can restrict number of resubmissions | Yes can’t restrict number of resubmissions |
| Can access previously submitted papers on re-submission | yes | no |
| Can submit on the students behalf | no | Yes but name is de-anonymised |
| Students can see rubric | Optional with or without scoring | Always when applied to assessment |
| Can add a secondary rubric | yes | no |
| Automatically posted results on post date | no | yes |
| Can set date for de-anonymization | Yes but it is always midnight | No it’s the same as post date |
| Allows submission after due date | Always but can be restricted through submission point availability | optional |
| Quickmarks | No | Yes |
| In line grading | Drawing, comments, highlighting | Quickmarks, comments, highlighting, striking out |
| Audio feedback | Not quite yet | 3 minutes |
| Full formatting text in feedback | optional | Limited to bold, italic, and underlined |
| Video feedback | Yes by embedding Panopto | no |
| Attach files to feedback | yes | Only through an external URL |
| Bulk file download | Through grade centre | yes |
| Download graded papers | Not yet | yes |
| Grading report | Through grade centre | yes |
| Can mark on a mobile device | Not yet | IPad only |
| Can mark on a mobile device offline | No | IPad only |
Blackboard Rubrics |
Turnitin Rubrics |
|
| Criteria descriptions | No | Yes |
| Scale Ranges | Yes | No |
| Point Ranges | Yes | No |
| Grading forms | Indirectly with 1 column | Yes |
| Rubrics belong to | The Module | The User |
| Hide rubric scoring | Yes | No |
| Import from excel | No | Yes |
| Link comments to rubric criterion | No | Yes |
| Add text feedback for each criterion | Yes | Only with grading forms |