Messing with Technology - Turn It In

          The topic for our last discussion in English class was on Turnitin - a device that supposedly makes it easier for the student to submit his or her work and get feedback on originality.  A colored icon appears in a column next to our graded assignment.  Green is the best color to receive.  It means that only 24% of your work or less was borrowed, paraphrased or quoted from other sources.  I just recently learned that there are five colors: 

What I don't get is the color coding on the inside that marks your assignment.

          I would have been more interested in viewing Grademarks or Peermarks, but the tabs wouldn't even open, and so I did not see the point.  Having the colors and source names in columns didn't mean much to me.  It might have well have been sent back to me in Japanese although my understanding of that language is even more limited.   

          I suppose I could research it further, but was told that the site is having technical difficulties.  The way Roland understands it, the university will no longer be using Turnitin.  I would think that may be more stressful for the instructors than for the students.  Maybe not.  I don't know all the ins and outs - except that Turnitin was supposed to be some kind of helpmeet.  I find it ironic that our last discussion was about something that the school has done away with.  Maybe not.  Maybe it has nothing to do with the school.  Maybe it was infected by a virus or sabotaged - which is a shame really, even if I didn't have a full understanding of it. 

          I don't dislike Turnitin - nor do I dislike Blackboard Collaboration (last post) once I get into it.  It's the 30 or 40 minutes of trying to get in (and I have tried several computers) that I don't like.  We were told that if we couldn't get into the writing center because of the Blackboard issues that we needed documentation of trying to get in.  That seems bogus that there would be that need.  If we can't improve for student conveniences (because the way it is set up right now is nowhere near convenient - at least for this student) I am in favor of doing away with it.  

          As of now, I don't know what all the technical rigmarole is involved, but I'm guessing the school has more than just Turnitin to deal with.  Perhaps I will know more this afternoon.  There is an assembly scheduled in an hour.  Should be interesting.