[ARCHIVED] Turnitin LTI Error

[shouts]

Admins,

Have any of you had reports of the attached error appearing to students trying to access an assignment? I've only had three reports. I've found that creating a new assignment and deleting the old one clears up the error, but I'd like to know what the error is and how to mitigate future incidents of it.

I opened a ticket with Turnitin, and this is what they said:

The error you are reporting looks like the Post date is set before the Start date. Please try changing the Post date to see if that resolves the issue.
The Post Date feature is available for accounts using GradeBook, GradeMark, or PeerMark. The post date is when grades and marked papers will be released for student view.  It’s similar to returning the papers to your students so that they can see their grade plus any comments you made on their paper. Instructors set a post date so all students can begin viewing these at the same time. It is recommended that the post date be after the due date of an assignment (to give you time to grade), but it is possible to be before the due date.  For PeerMark assignments, the post date must always be after the due date.

Note: Students *cannot* access grades, or papers reviewed with GradeMark or PeerMark until the assignment Post Date/time has passed.

The problem is, when this error appears, an instructor can't even make edits to the assignment. In addition, an error message appears in the LTI settings in Canvas if you try to make the Feedback Release Date before the Due Date.

I'm going to respond to Turnitin, but the ID took off Turnitin, so I have no way to demonstrate the error to Turnitin, which is why I'm hoping the admin community has experienced this error before.

Thanks, Sarah

[crafte]

Hi  @shouts ​

We have had this issue at the beginning of this year as well after we switched to the LTI. To remedy the situation instructors will need to click on 'Edit Assignment Settings' next to the Turnitin assignment page or go to Assignments and click the wheel symbol to the right of the assignment and click on Edit. This will allow an instructor to edit the Canvas assignment to which the Turnitin drop box is connected. Delete all dates and save the assignment. The Turnitin page should now be available. Go to the Settings tab on the Turnitin assignment page and change the 'Feedback release date' (this is the date Turnitin refers to as the post date) to a date after the planned due date. After saving the feedback release date, the instructor can enter a new due date on the Canvas assignment page.

We have found that usually the feedback release date sets itself to the due date after the Canvas assignment dates have been saved but sometimes and feedback release date can get stuck. At that point an instructor will need to go through the above steps in order for problem to be resolved.

I think I remember reading about this solution in the now indispensable Canvas and Turnitin discussion created by  @dhulsey ​ but the discussion has grown to many pages and it is difficult to find anything in the comments.

[shouts]

Elisabeth,

I will definitely document your remedy for the next time this error appears. I told Turnitin that I would contact them immediately once the error appeared again since the ID removed Turnitin from this particular assignment.

Thanks, Sarah

[lindalee]

 @shouts ​: A couple of questions -- Do you know if these were newly created Turnitin LTI assignments, or assignments that had been copied using the Import Content tool? Also, are the dates being set in the Turnitin LTI assignment dashboard, or are you using substitution variables to carry over the dates from Canvas to Turnitin?

Our testing has revealed a few scenarios where this error message appears: If we copy Turnitin LTI assignments using the Import Content tool, we need to establish a connection between the Canvas assignment and Turnitin for the new assignment (by launching the LTI tool/loading the assignment dashboard) before students can make a submission.

Regarding the difficulties with the dates, we've also noticed that the substitution variable picks up the date associated with Assign to: Everyone (or Everyone Else), rather than the latest due date assigned. (I'm opening a ticket about this today.) And the due date carried over from Canvas by the substitution variable is not editable. If differentiated assignments are being used, and selected students/sections have due dates (in Canvas) that are later than the due date in Turnitin, then they'll encounter this error message. I don't know if these findings are helpful at all to your situation.

[shouts]

Linda,

As far as I know, these were assignments created outside the Import Content tool. The dates would be set in the Turnitin settings. What's weird is that I couldn't see any of the settings once the error message appeared. I ended up deleting the assignment and setting a new one up, which remedied the situation. I'm waiting for the error to appear again so I can heavily document everything for Turnitin to research.

Sarah

[lindalee]

Hi  @shouts ​,

It seems like the "error processing your request"  message is a general error message that sadly lacks any actionable information about the underlying problem.

Another time that I've seem that message come up is when trying to access a Turnitin LTI assignment as an admin, rather than as (or masquerading as) a teaching team member.

-Linda

[galyenk]

We have also had this issue; we get it when there is an "Available From" date set in the Canvas assignment. We remove the "Available From" date in the assignment to prevent further errors. 

I have posted a ticket to Turnitin, but sometimes they tend to volly the "fault" back to the LMS rather than the tool itself, so we'll see! 

[Robbie_Grant]

 @shouts ,

We are giving the Canvas Admins area a little bit of love (especially questions that are really, really old) and just want to check in with you.  This will also bring this question new attention. 

Were you able to find an answer to your question? I am going to go ahead and mark this question as answered because there hasn't been any more activity in a while so I assume that you have the information that you need. If you still have a question about this or if you have information that you would like to share with the community, by all means, please do come back and leave a comment.  Also, if this question has been answered by one of the previous replies, please feel free to mark that answer as correct.

Robbie