Posted June 3rd, 2024
In January 2023, Turnitin introduced an AI feature to their anti-plagiarism checker. This feature was enabled by default and initially, there was no option to disable it. Turnitin later provided a way to disable the feature and announced that they would start charging for its use.
After consulting with the Learning Technology Council (LTC) in November 2023, it was decided to continue using the feature until more information could be gathered about its effectiveness and feedback from other groups.
Faculty and Instructors using Turnitin for anti-plagiarism and AI detection have raised concerns about issues with Turnitin’s AI detection solution, particularly involving false positives and equity issues. In response to these concerns, the VP Council decided to turn off the AI checker. Based on these and other factors, the decision was made to not renew the contract for AI Detection. Rather than risk disruption mid-summer term, the utility has been disabled prior to the start of the summer semester. The AI checker feature in Turnitin was deactivated on May 13th, after the last college, PCC, completed their Spring 2024 semester on May 11th. LTC was notified at the May 10th meeting.
Our Learning Management System (LMS) governance process, which includes the LMS Change Advisory Board (CAB), assesses decisions about D2L and integrations (e.g., Zoom, Turnitin, etc.), consult with stakeholders including SFAC and provide the assessment to the VP Council for decision. Depending on the outcome we can bring the new recommendation to VP Council and possibly be escalated to the Vice Chancellor of Academic and Student Affairs.
We believe it’s important to consider the role that AI has on academic freedom and plan to factor that into our conversation in the Fall.