Turnitin
Brown licenses Turnitin for instructors to screen student submissions for potential matches with existing writing or for the potential use of AI generated text. Turnitin cannot definitively identify plagiarism or cases of AI writing. High matching results must be interpreted carefully.
We encourage instructors to discuss and set expectations about the usage of Turnitin and AI tools with their students early in their course.
Helpful resources on writing and AI:
We also recommend that students use Draft Coach to validate their work before submitting to Canvas, especially in courses using Turnitin. Draft Coach can help students identify issues that would generate a high match score before they submit their work.
If you have any questions about Turnitin and how it relates to the Academic Code, we would encourage you to reach out to Love Wallace, Associate Dean for the Academic Code.
Canvas
Canvas is Brown’s primary learning management system and gathers data about user interactions. The primary purpose of this data is to identify trends in usage to inform decision making about how Canvas is used and configured broadly across the University.
The data within Canvas cannot be used as definitive evidence of misconduct relating to a potential code violation.
As per Instructure (Canvas parent company): “The data...is a 'best effort' attempt, and is not guaranteed to be complete or wholly accurate. This data is meant to be used for rollups and analysis in the aggregate, not in isolation for auditing or other high-stakes analysis involving examining single users or small samples. As this data is generated from the Canvas request log files, not a transactional database, there are many places along the way data can be lost and/or duplicated (though uncommon).”
Gradescope
Gradescope has multiple features designed to help avoid potential academic integrity issues. If you believe that a potential code violation has taken place, we would encourage you to reach out to Love Wallace, Associate Dean for the Academic Code. Gradescope can provide reporting, on a limited basis, of student interactions through the College, if needed.
Other Tools
DLD provides a number of Learning Technologies found in our catalog. If you believe a student interaction on one of these platforms is a potential Academic Code violation, please contact Love Wallace, Associate Dean for the Academic Code. DLD can provide information to Love or other staff in the College to assist.