This guide will summarise the differences, strengths, weaknesses and suitability of Blackboard Assignment and Turnitin.
Learn Ultra is updated on a monthly basis and regularly receives new features. As such, this guide is only true of the time it was last updated.
The Upshot: which should I use?
- Durham University as an institution does not preference Blackboard Assignment or Turnitin, however individual departments may mandate the use of one tool over the other for summative assessments.
- At the time of writing, Blackboard Assignment provides more features, flexibility and support for a wider-range of assessments and submission formats than Turnitin.
- At the time of writing, Turnitin’s grading, annotation, marking and feedback features are considered more mature and fully featured,
- however the gap between Blackboard Assignment and Turnitin in this respect is narrowing, most recently with the release of Turnitin’s Similarity tool for Blackboard Assignment.
| Tool | Best for |
| Blackboard Assignment | Timed submissions. Flexibility in assessment options. Multimedia (e.g. video) submissions. Delegated grading. Peer assessment. |
| Turnitin | Marking, grading and annotation. |
Comparison Table
| Feature | Blackboard Assignment | Turnitin | Notes |
| Submissions with multiple documents | Supported | Not supported | |
| Anonymous Marking | Supported | Supported | |
| Double Marking | Supported* | Not supported | *Requires an instructor to act as ‘reconciler’. Markers need to be given the ‘Marker’ role (see a list of Blackboard Course roles). |
| Text matching (Turnitin Similarity Detection) | Supported (as of January 2024) | Supported | If activated, in Blackboard Assignment a Turnitin Similarity Report will be generated for each file uploaded. |
| Timed assignments | Supported | Not supported. | If activated students receive a time window (e.g. 1 hour) to submit once they have opened the assignment. |
| Pre-programmed release of feedback | Not supported. Manual posting of marks is required via the Gradebook. | Supported | |
| Video assessments | Supported through Encore (Panopto) Video Submission | Not supported. | Turnitin has a file size limit of 100mb. See a list of supported file types [external website]. |
| Audio/podcast assessments | Supported through Encore (Panopto) Video Submission | Not supported. | Turnitin has a file size limit of 100mb. See a list of supported file types [external website]. |
| Submit on behalf of student | Not supported | Supported | See Turnitin’s guidance on submitting on behalf of a student [external website] |
| Delegated grading | Supported | Not supported, but assignments can be marked via groups. | See marking assignments using groups in Turnitin [external website] |
| Student submission receipts | Supported | Supported | |
| Student preview user | Supported | Supported* | As Turnitin is a third-party LTI tool, the Student Preview User may not function |
| Peer assignments | Supported | Not supported | See Anthology’s guidance on Learn Ultra peer assessments [external link] |
| Marking Rubrics | Supported | Supported | Turnitin and Blackboard rubrics are functionally similar but are not compatible (e.g. you cannot create a rubric in Turnitin and then import it into a Blackboard Assignment. The rubric must be re-created) |
| Password protection | Supported* | Not supported | *Blackboard Assignments can be configured with an ‘access code’ |