EMAIL TO FACULTY:
You are receiving this email because you have used Turnitin in your classes during the last academic year, either through WebCT Vista or directly through the Turnitin website.
I am following up on information which you received regarding Turnitin in late April. As you may recall, we discovered that Turnitin was storing personal information (first name, last name, email address) of our students in the United States. As this contravenes the BC Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, we disabled the connection through WebCT Vista and asked Turnitin to alter the consent form appropriately.
Over the last several months, in collaboration with the University of Victoria, we have investigated potential solutions. It is now clear that no solution is possible, at least in the short term. As a result, the Turnitin connection through WebCT Vista will remain off.
Information on how you can use this service through the Turnitin website can be found at http://www.elearning.ubc.ca/toolkit/turnitin/for-instructors/. More detailed information can be found at http://www.elearning.ubc.ca/toolkit/turnitin/.
Students will need to create an account on the Turnitin website. During the registration process, they will be asked to provide formal consent to the storage of their personal information in the US. Please advise students to use an alias (you may wish to ask students to use the first 5 digits of their student number) to create a Turnitin account if they are concerned about having information stored in the US. If they choose this option, they will have to let you know what alias they are using.
Please know that we have worked diligently to resolve these issues, and are disappointed that we were not able to effect a better outcome. I would be happy to respond to any questions you may have.
Sincerely,
Marianne Schroeder
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Marianne Schroeder, Senior Manager, Teaching and Learning Applications
UBC Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology
Email: marianne.schroeder@ubc.ca
Tel: 604 822-0255
http://ctlt.ubc.ca
