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Understanding student data privacy in Moodle Direct V2

In this guide:

 

It is possible to anonymize the student data sent to the Turnitin servers. If the student data privacy option is enabled, student names and email addresses will appear in Moodle as normal, however no student names or email addresses will be sent to Turnitin when this feature is enabled.

Please note that student data privacy must be enabled as soon as the plugin has been installed (i.e. before any identifying information has already been sent to Turnitin)

  • If anything goes wrong with the mapping between actual student names and the pseudo names or the Moodle instance breaks or becomes corrupt at any time, we will be unable to assist in any way.
  • Because we can't identify the student papers once the privacy setting is turned on, we will only be able to offer limited product support.

How student data privacy works

Student data privacy will replace identifiable data within your class with pseudo data so we are unable to link students to their papers. To identify students we will generate a pseudo email address for each student, so we are able to link them to their submitted papers but we are unable to tie them to a specific student.

Your options when using Student Data Privacy:

  • Student's First Name -  You can change this to anything. By default we change it to 'Student'.
  • Student's Last Name - By default we set this to 'User'. 
  • Auto Generate a Last Name - This setting will generate a unique identifier for each student, I.E they might display as 'Student 64532'. 
  • Pseudo Encryption Salt (optional) -  This will add a 'salt' to your student's information before we encrypt it. Meaning that we would be unable to just unencrypt the student's auto generated last name to find out who they are.
  • Pseudo Email Domain - This allows you to have a domain of your choosing for your student's pseudo email address. By default we set this to @tiimoodle.com.

What student data privacy doesn't do

Student Data Privacy doesn't remove identifiable information from the title of the uploaded paper or any information from within the paper itself. If your student has put their name or any other identifiable information in their paper this will not be encrypted. 

Student Data Privacy still sends data to Turnitin's servers which are hosted in the United States of America. Student Data Privacy only anonymizes the student within our database. 

Instructor privacy

Turnitin only receives data from instructors who use the Moodle Direct V2 Plugin and sync with Turnitin. Any other Instructor who uses your Moodle instance will not have any data stored within Turnitin. 

The only data exchanged with Turnitin is limited to the Instructor's name and their email address. 

When instructor's interact with Turnitin this data will be stored within our databases. We use this data to link instructors to a class.

We use email addresses to send important updates about outages or to inform users about upcoming maintenance periods. Email addresses may also be used for marketing communications; instructors can opt-out of these at any time by clicking the Unsubscribe link at the bottom of any email we send.

We may occasionally contact administrators about the possibility of contacting Instructors to arrange user research sessions to help improve Turnitin to better meet their needs. 

PeerMark

PeerMark and Student Data Privacy are not compatible. PeerMark uses Turnitin user's names, as they are stored within the Turnitin user database. Student Data Privacy replaces all student names with pseudo-alternatives within Turnitin's databases. 

It is possible to still use PeerMark while Student Data Privacy is enabled; however, you will be unable to identify any student as their names will have been pseudo-anonymised. 

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