SafeAssign
From Academic Computing
Contents |
[edit] Purpose
The purpose of this document is to introduce instructors to the Safe Assignment component of myUSF.
[edit] Prerequisites
The document was designed for first time users of myUSF’s Safe Assignment building block. This document assumes the user has basic computer knowledge and internet skills (IE 6.1, Netscape 7, Mozilla, FireFox).
[edit] What is Safe Assignment
Safe Assignment adds the ability to check assignments for plagiarism to myUSF. The component scans the internet as well as existing documents and provides a value indicating the percentage that the assignment matched existing work.
[edit] Creating a Safe Assignment
Safe Assignment can be accessed through the course’s Control Panel, shown below. In the Content Areas section, select the area you wish to add the Safe Assignment to. In this example, we are adding the Safe Assignment to the Assignments content area.
A page similar to the following will load.
In the top right you will see a drop down menu. Click on the menu and select “Safe Assignment.” Click the “Go” button to proceed.
A new page will load allowing you to add information about the assignment.
The first section includes general information on the Safe Assignment. Enter the name of the assignment into the Title textbox.
Input the desired maximum number of points possible for the Safe Assignment into the next textbox.
The text section allows you to add a short description of the assignment.
The next two sections set the availability of the Safe Assignment. Select “yes” under the Available section to make the assignment available to the users. Next, select the timeframe the assignment is to be made available.
The Draft option allows students to submit drafts of their papers. When submitted, the assignment will not be stored in the database so that final submissions will not be matched against the drafts.
The Students Viewable option allows students to view the Safe Assignment report of their assignment.
The Re-submittable option allows students to turn in an assignment multiple times.
The Urgent Checking option checks the paper against everything except papers submitted from USF.
The second section allows instructors to post an announcement for the Safe Assignment. Select “Yes” to create the announcement. Fill in the required subject and message.
When you are finished setting all the preferences, scroll down the third (and last) section to submit your content. If you are not satisfied you can cancel and start over again.
[edit] Submitting Assignments
[edit] Students
Students may submit the documents to Safe Assignment by going to the content area the Safe Assignment is listed under.
To submit the assignment click on the “View/Complete” link under the desired Safe Assignment. After selecting the link, a page similar to the following will load.
In the comments box enter any pertinent information regarding the file to be uploaded. Next, select the “Browse” button and locate the file. When you are finished select the “Submit” button. Otherwise, click on “Cancel.” Please note that the comments section is not scanned for plagiarism. Only attached files are scanned. Do not copy/paste the assignment into the comments section.
After submitting, a page verifying that the assignment has been sent will load. Click on the “OK” button to continue. Please note that the "Needs Grading" symbol does not appear on the student gradebook. Additionally, there is no verification email sent to the student that the assignment has been received.
Once completed, the student cannot resubmit the assignment unless the "Re-submittable" option is activated. If the student does click on the "View/Complete" link a message will appear stating that the assignment was already submitted.
[edit] Instructors
Instructors may submit an assignment by using the “Direct Submit” feature. This can be found under the Safe Assign link in the Control Panel.
After selecting the "Safe Assign" link, you should see a page similar to the following.
Select the "Direct Submit" tab found at the top of the page.
Click on the appropriate tab on the left. Files submited to a folder in the private tab are only viewable to the person who submits the file. Files submited to a folder in the shared are viewable to all users in the course that have access to the control panel.
Each tab comes with a default folder titled "Top Folder". New folders can be added by entering a folder name in the text box then clicking add.
Each tab comes with a default folder titled "Top Folder". New folders can be added by entering a folder name in the text box then clicking add.
Click "Submit Papers".
This page is where you will upload the file. Currently Safe Assignment can can only accept the follow types of files .zip, .doc, .txt, .pdf, .rtf and .html.
There are three options on how the paper is checked for plagiarism.
- Submit as Draft This will check the paper against the database but not add it to the database.
- Skip Plagiarism Checking This will add the assignment to the database.
If you do not check either of the boxes the file will be uploaded to the database and checked for plagiarism.
There are two methods instructors may use to submit assignments: Upload Files or Copy/Paste Document.
- Upload File: Files can either be submitted one at a time or a large volume may be submitted as a single .zip file containing multiple assignments to be uploaded. To submit a file, click "Browse" then find and double click the file.
- Copy/Paste Document: Simply paste assignment or website text into the text box on the page.
Once you have filled either box above, click "Submit" to submit the paper.
IMPORTANT:Papers submitted through Direct Submit are only viewable through Direct Submit.
To view a paper submitted through Direct Submit click on the Direct Submit tab then on the paper's name. To download the assignment click on the icon below File. To view the Safe Assignment Report click on the icon that is below SA Report.
Before grading, please see the Safe Assignment Grading section of this article for help on deciding what constitutes a plagiarized paper.
[edit] Viewing Submitted Assignments
Instructors may access student submissions by following these steps:
- Go to Control Panel and click on Safe Assign
- Click View under the assignment that you want to view.
- A page looking similar to the following will show up:
Click view under one of the assignments to view the results. Depending on how you want to view the assignments click one of the icons next to a student's name. The Paper icon will display the text, the paper clip will display the original file, and the safe assign logo will direct you to what the text is matching.
Note: You will not be able to load an SA Report for about One Hour after a student submits a paper.
All submitted assignments can also be downloaded in a bulk .zip file. To do this, simply click on the “Download” button found at the top of the page.
[edit] Sending Feedback to Students
Before grading, please see the Safe Assignment Grading section of this article for help on deciding what constitutes a plagiarized paper.
Instructors can send feedback by clicking on the Safe Assignment grade link of the student in the Gradebook. The latter method is detailed in the example below. For more information on the new method click here.
In the example below, we have selected Crystal's grade link.
This will take you to the Modify Grade page.
In section 2 you can view the text of the file, download the file, view the Safe Assignment report and clear attempts.
Click one of the following icons in a row for a student depending on what you want to do:
Text: Simply shows the original text of the document.
File: Allows you to download the original file submitted.
SA Report: Shows the Safe Assignment Report, detailing what items have been found and from what sources.
The Clear Attempt button clears that attempt for the student.
In Section 3 you can enter or modify the grade by entering the grade in the box under Grade.
In Section 4 you can enter any comments and upload a new file. Enter the comments you wish to send the student. You can also upload any files to the student. To do this click on the "Browse" button and search for your file.
When you are with the Modify Grade page click submit in the lower right corner.
[edit] Gradeboook and Safe Assignment
Once the Safe Assignment is created, an entry in the Gradebook is automatically created for you. However, grades must be manually input by the instructor. Additionally, when students submit the Safe Assignment for grading, the "Needs Grading" symbol does not appear under the assignment.
[edit] Safe Assignment Grading
The following is from Safe Assignment's Website
[edit] Sentence Matching Scores
Sentence matching scores are the percentage probability that two sentences have the same meaning. This number can also be interpreted as the reciprocal to the probability that these two sentences are similar by chance. For example, score of 90% means that there is 90% probability that these two sentences are the same, and about 10% probability that they are similar by chance (not because of plagiarism).
[edit] Overall Matching Score
Overall matching score is basically an average of all sentence scores, weighted by a) the length of the sentence; b) the "commonness" of the sentence (calculated based on the average typical frequency of usage of the words from the sentence). This score does not have a simple statistical definition. It is just very highly correlated with a) the probability that there is some text matching other documents in the paper; b) the amount of matching text in the document. Please note that matching (highlighted) text should not be considered plagiarism by default.
In general, this score should be treated as a warning indicator. We strongly recommend reviewing all reports with high Overall Matching Scores. For analysis of matching scores, the following interpretation scale should be used:
- Scores below 15% — usually papers with such scores contain some quotes and few "typical" phrases that match other documents. In most cases, they do not require any further analysis, and there is no evidence of plagiarism in the report.
- Scores between 15% and 40% — papers with such scores can contain plagiarism or can have just too much quoted material. We usually recommend reviewing the reports with such scores before making any judgments about the papers.
- Scores over 40% — with such scores, there is almost 100% probability that the papers contains some text copied from elsewhere, and, even if this text is properly cited, such amount of cited material is considered excessive in most cases. Therefore, such scores give a clear warning to instructors. However, there are few cases when such scores can be given to authentic papers, for example, when the paper was legitimately published online before it was sent for processing (instructors have just to "Delete" the source pointing to the legitimate copy), or when the same student has already submitted this paper or a similar paper to another class (it is not plagiarism, but such practice is not allowed in some institutions).
