Update on Turnitin — October 6, 2011 In March 2011, UVic discovered unexpectedly that Turnitin was storing the personal information of our students in the United States. Information being stored included first name, last name, email address and student number. This is in contravention of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA), which requires that such data be stored and accessed only in Canada. We have been working with the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia (OIPC) to find a solution that fully respects the privacy of our students. We have taken the following actions: First, we have disabled the connection between Moodle and Turnitin. Although this connection was much more convenient for both students and faculty than using the Turnitin website, we needed to do this to ensure that no personal information was accessible by Turnitin without the explicit consent of the students. Second, the OIPC is requiring that Turnitin replace identifying information of our students with non-identifying information; this action is scheduled for midnight on Sunday October 9th, 2011. Students who had an account on Turnitin.com prior to September 5th 2011, and who have used that account since then, will be impacted. Communication has been sent to all students and instructors we believe affected. UVic will continue to take whatever steps are necessary to protect the privacy of its students and faculty. Questions may be directed to http://elearning.uvic.ca/contact-us/turnitin.
Update on Turnitin — October 3, 2011
INFORMATION FOR FACULTY MEMBERS
The Office of the Information & Privacy Commissioner is requiring that Turnitin replace all identifying information of UVic students with non-identifying information. At midnight on Sunday, October 9th, all information entered prior to the beginning of term (September 5, 2011) will be replaced.
Turnitin has indicated that instructor information will be unaffected.
Students who had a Turnitin account prior to September 5th, 2011 and who have used that account this term (i.e., since September 5th) will be impacted. Students in this position will receive advance warning. We will also make every effort to inform affected instructors.
Please contact Turnitin Support if you require access to a previously submitted paper.
September 13, 2011
Important Announcement: Due to Turnitin storing personal information in the United States, the Moodle plug-in will remain disabled as of September 20, 2011 in accordance with the BC Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.
TO FACULTY MEMBERS AND INSTRUCTORS
September 13, 2011
This message is directed to faculty members and instructors who will be asking students to submit material to Turnitin through Moodle.
PLEASE DO NOT CREATE TURNITIN ASSIGNMENTS THROUGH MOODLE- FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS BELOW. As of the 201109 term, it is imperative that your students not submit any Turntin assignments in Moodle.
In the Spring, 2011, as many of you experienced, Turnitin had a series of server crashes that impacted the ability of faculty members and instructors to view student papers. In the process of working with Turnitin to restore appropriate levels of service, UVic determined that Turnitin was storing some personal information of our students (first name, last name and email address) in the United States. This was despite assurances by Turnitin that this personal information would only be stored in Canada.
Nevertheless U.S. storage is a problem because BC privacy legislation requires consent from individuals for access to or storage of personal information outside of Canada. We have been assured that the personal information was securely held and not inappropriately accessed.
Over the summer, it was determined that it is not possible to obtain appropriate student consent within Moodle – hence, we have decided to disable the plug-in. This should be finished in the next few days. The reason for this action is to prevent the transmission of student personal information to the United States without student consent.
Although the integration of Turnitin with Moodle will no longer exist, Turnitin is still available as a service for both instructors and students and is accessed via Turnitin.com. See UVic’s Turnitin support site (http:elearning.uvic.ca/turnitin) for further information on how to use Turnitin, details for acquiring an UVic Turnitin account and managing your course and assignments.
We ask that instructors:
- Announce in class that students should read the information on UVic’s Turnitin website (http://elearning.uvic.ca/turnitin/student-guidelines on how to create a student account and how to submit papers for your course.
- Advise your students who choose to not have their personal information sent to the U.S. should:
- Obtain a functioning non-identifying email account e.g.: eggshell122@hotmail/yahoo/gmail.com
- When filling in the Create Account form on Turnitin.com, substitute their first name with only the initial of their first name, and substitute their last name with the last 4 digits of their V number.
- Ensure only the last 4 digits of their student number are on the header of the first page of the paper (they do not have to provide any other personal information).
- Obtain a Turnitin instructor account by completing the Turnitin Account Request form. See UVic’s Turnitin website (http://elearning.uvic.ca/turnitin/account-request)
- If you need assistance to create a Turnitin assignment please see UVic’s Turnitin website (http://elearning.uvic.ca/turnitin/instructor-guidelines)
The originality report will be sent to you in your Turnitin assignment inbox. Some students may use just their last 4 digits of their student number and this number will appear instead of their name.
For those instructors who have already created Moodle Turnitin assignment for the 201109 term, delete them and recreate at Turnitin.com or as a non-Turntin assignment.
We sincerely regret any inconvenience this may cause. Please do not hesitate to contact http://elearning.uvic.ca/contact-us/turnitin for assistance in using Turnitin.
Dr. Catherine Mateer
Associate Vice-President Academic Planning
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Previous message from Dr. Catherine Mateer, Associate Vice-President Academic Planning
TO FACULTY MEMBERS AND INSTRUCTORS
May 6, 2011
This message is directed to faculty members and instructors who previously used Moodle to create Turnitin assignments.
As of September, 2011, Turnitin must now be accessed using the 'stand-alone' version, directly from turnitin.com and can no longer be accessed through Moodle due to privacy concerns.
Recently, as many of you experienced, Turnitin had a series of server crashes that impacted the ability of faculty members and instructors to view student papers. In the process of working with Turnitin to restore appropriate levels of service, UVic determined that Turnitin was storing some personal information of our students (first name, last name and email address) in the United States. This was despite assurances by Turnitin that this personal information would only be stored in Canada. This is a problem because BC privacy legislation requires consent from individuals for access to or storage of personal information outside of Canada.
We have determined that the personal information was securely held and not inappropriately accessed.
We are working with other institutions in British Columbia as well as with Turnitin to determine whether there is a technical solution that will meet British Columbia privacy legislation. We are cautiously optimistic that a solution will be in place for Fall 2011.
We will be notifying students who will be using Moodle to submit papers to Turnitin in Summer semester 2011 courses that their information will be stored in the U.S. Those students choosing to not have their personal information sent to the U.S.:
- may submit their papers through their instructor by email or dropbox; and
- ensure only the last 4 digits of their student number are on the header of the first page of the paper (they do not have to provide any other personal information).
We ask that instructors:
- select the preferred method (email or dropbox) for any students choosing not to have their information sent to the US to submit their papers;
- announce in class that students should read the information on Moodle about Turnitin and how to submit papers for your course.
Faculty members and Instructors may submit a paper on behalf of a student to Turnitin by using the following steps:
- click on the assignment from the course homepage
- click on the "Submit" link to open up the Turnitin submission page.
For more instructions on using Turnitin, visit the support site.
The originality report will be sent to you in your Turnitin assignment inbox.
Please know that we are working diligently to resolve these issues and sincerely regret the inconvenience. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions regarding this matter.
Dr. Catherine Mateer
Associate Vice-President Academic Planning
