Sadly we had our first instance of of marking being lost using the Turnitin mobile application for iPad yesterday, which resulted in a significant loss of work. Unfortunately, all the data was lost before we could gather a complete understanding of the problem, but it seems to relate to the application refusing to sync papers because of a lack of internet connectivity, despite the iPad being able to access mail and web sites. There is nothing on the Turnitin Self-Service Help Center to indicate that this is a common problem – it might even relate to our local wi-fi provision or an iPad setting – so Learntech will continue to encourage the apps continued use, but with care.
We do know that changing the iPad settings (moving from ‘TurnitinUK’ to ‘Turnitin’) will irretrievably destroy any local data stored on the iPad. We suggest – if at all possible – synchronizing marking more regularly, particularly early in the process.
If you do encounter a problem, help us troubleshoot this further with the Turnitin support staff, please send us the log file.
To find the log file, open the Turnitin App and then press and hold the “Help” link at the bottom of the screen. The “Turnitin Mobile App Logs” appears. Copy the log information and then paste it into an email to learntech@northampton.ac.uk – you can send this directly to the Turnitin support email address using the ‘send’ button if you wish, but do let us know if you have done this. Then contact Learntech immediately on x2696 where we will give this the highest priority.
Turnitin UK have been in touch with us and are in the process of improving their documentation and FAQs relating to synchronization problems as a result of this issue. They are also investigating a way to warn users not to change their iPad settings. They have been extremely co-operative and have assured us of their commitment to dealing with problems as quickly as possible.
We are very grateful for the affected user’s patience, understanding and feedback on the problem – if this prevents it happening to another user it is of some comfort, at least.
