Turnitin Feedback Studio Tools Prove to be a Game-Changer for Marking Efficiency and Instructor Feedback

Challenge

As one of the top 100 universities in the world, the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney, Australia, prides itself on educating more than 59,000 students in scientific, technological, and professional disciplines, with a focus on developing graduates with a strong sense of integrity.

Dr. Lynn Gribble was one of the earliest adopters of Turnitin. After finding her passion for academia later in her career, Dr. Gribble understood first-hand how an institution’s systems and processes could sometimes be cumbersome and unclear. “I think that education is sometimes opaque. So I really want people to understand how they can do better,” she says.

When Dr. Gribble joined UNSW in 2005, she observed several pain-points around marking, originality, and feedback. At the time, instructors and tutor groups were managing paper submissions of up to 1,600 students. With such a high volume, there was a risk that physical papers could be lost. Furthermore, tutor groups found marking consistently and efficiently across large numbers difficult and it was time-consuming for the lecturer-in-charge. As a result, if an instructor or tutor suspected academic misconduct, it was very challenging to investigate and it went largely undetected.

When the School of Management began using Turnitin Feedback Studio (TFS) in 2014, it was mainly used to protect the institution’ s reputation by putting integrity checks in place that deter students from plagiarising. Dr. Gribble saw an opportunity for Feedback Studio to go beyond the Similarity Score and address the pain-points she was seeing across tutorials.

Results

Dr. Lynn Gribble worked with colleagues and tutors to enhance Turnitin Feedback Studio usage and immediately her large tutor groups were no longer carrying papers, enabling more seamless marking and consistency for up to 4,800 papers over a 12- week period. “Rubrics and Feedback Studio have led to consistency in application, ensuring all students are graded receiving similar feedback and to the same standards,” says Gribble.

Once Feedback Studio’s marking tools were being used effectively, instructors found that they could use it as a distance learning tool, using the time saved in marking to give quality feedback. “With online students, I’m able to leave them a personalised voice message where I need to connect more personally,” says Gribble. With the help of Voice Comments, QuickMarks, and unlimited submissions, students could receive timely, formative feedback digitally, supporting their writing growth whether online or on campus. “We can see where they have accessed their feedback,” says Dr. Gribble, “and I have observed where students access the feedback, their grades scores improve by 3-5%.”