Turnitin's new "canvas" lets students use AI and show their work
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Illustration: Natalie Peeples/Axios
Plagiarism detection service Turnitin is setting its sights on helping educators deal with their latest headache: AI chatbots capable of doing students' homework for them.
Why it matters: The arrival of ChatGPT has been a particular challenge in education, with officials struggling with whether — and how — to allow students to use such tools.
How it works: Turnitin Clarity — announced Tuesday and available later this year — is an online canvas where students can create their work while making use of approved AI tools.
- Teachers, meanwhile, can see the work a student has done, including where and how they have used AI in the process.
The big picture: Schools have taken a wide range of approaches to generative AI.
- Early on, some banned the technology outright, while others have tried to allow it within limits.
Between the lines: Teachers are in a bind.
- Many see the potential for AI to improve the learning experience over time, especially in giving students more personalized help.
- In the short term, though, they are struggling to adjust to a rapidly changed world in which chatbots can spit out essays in seconds.
- Some educators have moved to add more oral examinations or in-class writing assignments, but that uses up precious classroom time.
Students, too, are tempted not only by the option of typing their assignment into ChatGPT, but also by the AI writing features being built into tools like Microsoft Word and Google Docs and even directly into Windows and Mac operating systems.
Clarity aims to create an alternative online space for students to do their work, Turnitin product chief Annie Chechitelli told Axios.
- "It's a clean environment for them to start and not have all of these tools bombarding them."
- The goal, she said, is "to really shift us forward into a world where we don't have to be in this place of losing that trust between the teacher and the student."
- Clarity isn't tied to any specific AI model, Chechitelli said.
The intrigue: While it might seem easy to just show teachers every draft of an assignment, including what was changed and where, teachers say they don't have time for that much information.
- Instead, they want to see when AI may have been used and how.
Meanwhile, educators are also trying to see whether AI could help lighten their workload.
- For now, Turnitin isn't giving teachers their own set of AI tools, with one notable exception — a feature due later this year that summarizes all of an educator's specific feedback within an essay, Chechitelli said.
Fun fact: The advent of chatbots hasn't cut down on how many students copy from existing works. "The rate has not changed, even with AI," Chechitelli said.
What's next: Turnitin is working to finish up Clarity in time for a release in the third quarter of this year, as a paid addition to its existing products.
