Assessment & Marking Teaching Tools

Blackboard Assignments vs Turnitin: Which tool should I use?

An image showing the Blackboard logo, on the left. next to the Turnitin logo, on the right, and separated by the letters 'VS'.

When setting up online coursework submissions, instructors can choose between the Blackboard Assignment tool and Turnitin. The choice of tool should be guided by specific considerations concerning the overall assessment process – from submission of work to release of grades. Instructors should ensure that the assessment and marking requirements are aligned with the features avaialble in the technology of choice.

The sections below consider the four stages associated with the online submission and marking of coursework – pre-submission, submission, marking and post-marking – and compares the features available in Blackboard and Turnitin assignments.

Task Blackboard Turnitin
Allowing late submissions Yes Yes

Late submissions are allowed but not late resubmissions. If a student has already submitted once before the deadline, they won’t be able to submit again once the deadline has passed.
Tracking late submissions Yes, via Grade Centre > View Mark History Yes, via Assignment Inbox
Identifying non-submitters Yes Yes
Sending submission reminders to non-submitters Yes, via Grade Centre Yes, via Grade Centre
Setting exception rules for specific students (e.g. applying different deadlines to different students) No

Mitigating circumstances and agreed extensions can be managed by setting up separate assignments.

 No

Mitigating circumstances and agreed extensions can be managed by setting up separate assignments.
Submitting on the student’s behalf No Yes
Ability for students to view a submission receipt On-screen notification at point of submission and email confirmation sent to submitter. All submission receipts available in My Marks > Submitted. Submission receipts cannot be downloaded. On-screen notification at point of submission and email confirmation sent to submitter. Students and instructors can download a copy of the digital receipt.

Task Blackboard Turnitin
Offline marking  No Only via the iPad app
Adding overall text feedback on student work Yes Yes
Adding inline text feedback on student work Yes Yes
Marking via reusable in-line comments  Yes

Limited feature – comments are owned by the person who creates them and cannot be exported or shared with other markers.

 Yes

This feature is called Quick Marks. Quick Marks can be exported and shared with other users by the owner.
Providing feedback on student work via an online rubric Yes Yes
Linking an inline comment to a rubric criterion No Yes
Drawing on student work Yes No
Highlighting text on student work Yes Yes
Adding audio feedback Built-in tool (5 min max)

Recordings created in the feedback editor cannot be downloaded, shared or reused. Students can play the recordings on most modern browsers and devices without any additional plugins or extensions.

 Built-in tool (3 min max)

Recordings created in the feedback editor cannot be downloaded, shared or reused. Students can play the recordings on most modern browsers and devices without any additional plugins or extensions.
Adding video feedback Built-in tool (5 min max) Only through external URL
Attaching files as feedback to student work Yes Only via the Grade Centre or through an external URL directly in Turnitin
Grading without submission Yes, via Grade Centre Yes, via Grade Centre
Automatic grade sync to the Grade Centre Yes Yes
Reconciling provisional grades into a final mark Yes No
Rubric settings
Compatible with single marking Yes Yes
Compatible with double marking Yes No
Compatible with marking group assignments  Yes No
Setting an indefinite number of criteria and levels of achievement Yes Yes
Specifying criteria descriptions No, only heading Yes
Specifying feedback for each cell in advance Yes Yes
Markers can add personalised feedback to each cell during marking. Yes Only via Grading Forms
Manually overriding marks if required Yes Yes
Automatically adding up rubric scores Yes Yes
Auto-save No

When adding comments to a Blackboard rubric, remember to save your work often to avoid losing your work in the event of a time-out or computer crash. 

 Yes
Attaching multiple rubrics to same assignment. Yes No
Re-use with future assessments Yes

Blackboard rubrics are course-specific. Any user enrolled on the course with editing permissions can use, reuse or modify an existing rubric.

 Yes

Turnitin rubrics are owner-specific. Any user can use an existing rubric for marking, once it is attached to an assignment, but only the user who created the rubric can reuse or modify it. Rubrics can be exported and shared with other users by the owner.
Students can see the rubric Optional, with or without scoring Yes, always
Hiding rubric scoring from students Yes, optional No
Rubric types
Qualitative rubric

Descriptive criteria and levels of achievement, with no points. Used to provide qualitative feedback only.

 Yes Yes
Points rubrics

Descriptive criteria. Each level of achievement has a single point value.

 Yes Yes
Points weighted rubrics

Weighted criteria – each criterion is worth a % of the total score and the criteria percentages combined must equal 100%. Each level of achievement has a single point value.

 No

Percentage rubrics could be used instead.

 Yes
Custom rubric

Descriptive criteria and level of achievements. Each rubric cell is allocated a single point value as well as written feedback.

 No Yes
Grading form

Descriptive criteria and no level of achievements. Numerical scoring can be manually entered for each individual criterion, and these will be added together to create an overall grade. Personalised feedback can also be added for each criterion during marking.

 No Yes
Point-range rubric

Descriptive criteria and a point range is associated with each level of achievement.

 Yes No

Workaround via Turnitin Grading Forms. Potential risk of marks being overallocated.
Percentage rubrics

Weighted criteria – each criterion is worth a % of the total score and the criteria total percentage must equal 100%. For the levels of achievement, one column must have a value of 100%.

 Yes No

Points weighted rubrics could be used instead.
Percentage-range rubrics

Weighted criteria – each criterion is worth a % of the total score and the criteria total percentage must equal 100%. Each level of achievement has a range of % values.

 Yes No

Task Blackboard Turnitin
Release of feedback to students
Releasing final marks and feedback via Grade Centre Yes Yes
Releasing feedback and grades at the same time Yes Yes
Releasing feedback and withholding grades Yes, controlled by Grade Centre column

In Blackboard, this can be achieved by editing the Grade Centre column and setting the Primary Display to ‘Complete/Incomplete’. Make sure both the Blackboard Assignment and Grade Centre column are correctly set up to avoid accidental release of grades (see https://youtu.be/7AxgaqMJmtk)

 No
Double marking

Releasing both the reconciled and provisional marks and feedback (including rubrics).

 Yes No

Workaround: set up separate Turnitin assignments for first and second marker, reconcile grades manually outside Blackboard, and upload final grades manually to the Grade Centre.
Double marking
Releasing the final, reconciled grade and comment AND the provisional comments, with provisional marks and rubrics withheld.		 Yes No
Double marking
Releasing only the final, reconciled grade and comment, with provisional marks, feedback and rubrics withheld.		 Yes No
Exporting results
Downloading originally submitted files Yes

Bulk download possible.

 Yes

Bulk download possible.
Bulk downloading final marks Yes

If Delegated Marking is enabled, final marks can only be downloaded once the provisional marks have been reconciled.

 Yes
Downloading annotated PDFs of assignments Yes

Annotated PDFs can be only downloaded individually. 

 Yes

Bulk download possible.
Downloading annotated PDFs of assignments including graded rubric No

Graded rubrics cannot be exported.

 Yes

Bulk download possible.
Export feedback comments to a single file Only what has been entered in the ‘Feedback to Learner’ box. No
Downloading or printing graded rubrics No No
Downloading voice or video feedback No No
Downloading originality reports N/A Yes

Full originality reports can only be downloaded individually. Bulk download possible for ‘cohort report’ containing a summary of the similarity reports for each student/submission. 
Accessing previously submitted attempts Yes No

Turnitin keeps track of the number of submissions made by a student but only the most recent submission is available.

Requests to access information about earlier submissions can be submitted to Turnitin via the Support Portal.

Check out Turnitin Frequently Asked Questions for links to guidance and resources.

For further advice, contact your eLearning Team via the  support portal.