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Understanding PebblePad Integrations with Minerva and Turnitin- Staff Guide

The recent move from Minerva Original to Minerva Ultra Course View has brought about changes to the intergration of PebblePad in Minerva.  Here is a summary of those changes:

  • PebblePad tools in Minerva are now found in the Content Market (along with other integrated systems).
  • The ATLAS tool is now used for both Workspaces AND Assignments.
  • There is now a limit of one Workspace per Minerva Module, but this makes good sense, enabling a  Workspace to reflect a Module and..
  • Gradebook columns are now per Assignment instead of per Workspace, so the need for multiple Workspaces against a Minerva Module has gone.
  • Grades can now only be numerical; text based grades will not translate from PebblePad to Minerva.
  • There is no longer a translation of Minerva Groups to PebblePad Sets. Sets will have to be set up manually.

Read on for further details...

Minerva Enrolments and Groups

The student and staff enrolments on your Minerva Module will carry over to your PebblePad Workspace with staff roles translating to PebblePad roles.  Student Education Staff will, by default, be given the role of Teaching Assistant in Minerva which will translate to Tutor in PebblePad.  In some cases, this may require upgrading to Lead Tutor in PebblePad.  Please raise a ticket with the IT Service Desk if you require an upgrade of your role, putting 'PebblePad Role Upgrade Request' in the subject.

Minerva Groups within a Minerva Module will not translate to PebblePad Sets and you will need to create these manually.  Sets can be created using the Set Wizard located in the Sets tab.  There is the option to batch upload sets via csv.  For further information, read our guidance on creating sets in a PebblePad Workspace.

Minerva Gradebook

Grades are drawn automatically from PebblePad into the Minerva Gradebook but it is important to note:

• The Workspace must be set-up via Minerva in the first place, not directly from within PebblePad. (See guidance on how to create a PebblePad ATLAS Workspace).

• Only numerical grades will pass from PebblePad into the Minerva Gradebook.

Turnitin

Although there is the option to use Turnitin with PebblePad, very often PebblePad is used for assignments or projects such as personal reflections where a plagiarism check is not necessarily required.

The PebblePad/Turnitin integration involves a considerable number of manual steps so, unless definitely required, it is not recommended.

Please also note:

• Grades given in Turnitin via PebblePad will not automatically integrate with the Minerva Gradebook but will need to be repeated using the PebblePad grading method.  So, it is best, when working with PebblePad, to use Turnitin for the originality report only and to follow these instructions (Assess, Feedback and Grade Students' Work) for grading within PebblePad.

• If you do grade the work within Turnitin from PebblePad, you will not be able to release this to students without also releasing the originality report.

• The Originality Report created in PebblePad will probably be artificially high. This is because it will run using a PDF version of the Workbook (or other resource), which will include 'Hints' included by tutors (instructions, etc.), leading to matches of these between submissions. When interpreting the reports, this should be taken into account.

• The report will also not scan any documents included as evidence by the students. Therefore if there is any material you wish to be run through originality checking, you will need your students to input this directly into a text box in the Workbook, rather than attached as evidence.

See this video for advice on how to use Turnitin on PebblePad's website. (You can ignore the first section that is about establishing the university's Turnitin settings. Watch from 1 min 20 seconds for advice on how to set up your Workspace settings).