Platform Plugin Turnitin

Purpose

Open edX plugin that includes an API to integrate with Turnitin. This plugin allows to learners to upload files to Turnitin and instructors to get information about the submissions, generate similarity reports, and get the viewer URL of the submissions. This plugin is designed to be used with the Open Response Assessment (ORA) XBlock of the Open edX platform.

This plugin has been created as an open source contribution to the Open edX platform and has been funded by the Unidigital project from the Spanish Government - 2024.

NOTE: This plugin only includes the API to interact with Turnitin. All frontend changes that are related to displaying the similarity reports to instructors are included in the ORA Grading MFE.

Compatibility Notes

Open edX Release	Version
Palm	>= 0.2.0
Quince	>= 0.2.0
Redwood	>= 0.2.0

The settings can be changed in platform_plugin_turnitin/settings/common.py or, for example, in tutor configurations.

NOTE: the current common.py works with Open edX Palm, Quince and Redwood version.

Getting Started

Developing

One Time Setup

Clone the repository:

git clone git@github.com:eduNEXT/platform_plugin_turnitin.git
cd platform_plugin_turnitin

Set up a virtualenv with the same name as the repo and activate it. Here's how you might do that if you have virtualenv set up:

virtualenv -p python3.8 platform_plugin_turnitin

Every time you develop something in this repo

Activate the virtualenv. Here's how you might do that if you're using virtualenv:

source platform_plugin_turnitin/bin/activate

Grab the latest code:

git checkout main
git pull

Install/update the dev requirements:

make requirements

Run the tests and quality checks (to verify the status before you make any changes):

make validate

Make a new branch for your changes:

git checkout -b <your_github_username>/<short_description>

Using your favorite editor, edit the code to make your change:

vim ...

Run your new tests:

pytest ./path/to/new/tests

Run all the tests and quality checks:

make validate

Commit all your changes, push your branch to github, and open a PR:

git commit ...
git push

Deploying

Tutor environments

To use this plugin in a Tutor environment, you must install it as a requirement of the openedx image. To achieve this, follow these steps:

tutor config save --append OPENEDX_EXTRA_PIP_REQUIREMENTS=git+https://github.com/edunext/platform-plugin-turnitin@vX.Y.Z
tutor images build openedx

Then, deploy the resultant image in your environment.

Using the API

IMPORTANT: To use the API, you need to configure the Turnitin credentials. More information about this in the next section

The API is protected with the same auth method as the Open edX platform. For generate a token, you can use the next endpoint:

• POST <lms_host>/oauth2/access_token/: Generate a token for the user. The content type of the request must be application/x-www-form-urlencoded.

  Body parameters

  • client_id: Client ID of the OAuth2 application. You can find it in the Django admin panel. Normally, it is login-service-client-id.
  • grant_type: Grant type of the OAuth2 application. Normally, it is password.
  • username: Username of the user.
  • password: Password of the user.
  • token_type: Type of the token. By default, it is bearer

  Alternatively, you can use a new OAuth2 application. You can create a new application in the Django admin panel. The body parameters are the same as the previous endpoint, but you must use the client_id and client_secret of the new application. The grant_type must be client_credentials.

  Response

  • access_token: Access token of the user. You must use this token in the Authorization header of the requests to the API.

Then, you are ready to use the API. The next endpoints are available:

Learners endpoints

• POST <lms_host>/platform-plugin-turnitin/<course_id>/api/v1/upload-file/<ora_submission_id>/: Upload a file to Turnitin.

  Path parameters

  • course_id: ID of the course.
  • ora_submission_id: ID of the ORA submission.

  Body parameters

  • file: File to upload.

Instructors endpoints

• GET <lms_host>/platform-plugin-turnitin/<course_id>/api/v1/submission/<ora_submission_id>/: Get the Turnitin submissions of an ORA submission.

  Path parameters

  • course_id: ID of the course.
  • ora_submission_id: ID of the ORA submission.

• PUT <lms_host>/platform-plugin-turnitin/<course_id>/api/v1/similarity-report/<ora_submission_id>/: Generate a similarity report of the Turnitin submissions of an ORA submission.

  Path parameters

  • course_id: ID of the course.
  • ora_submission_id: ID of the ORA submission.

• GET <lms_host>/platform-plugin-turnitin/<course_id>/api/v1/similarity-report/<ora_submission_id>/: Get the similarity report of the Turnitin submissions of an ORA submission.

  Path parameters

  • course_id: ID of the course.
  • ora_submission_id: ID of the ORA submission.

• GET <lms_host>/platform-plugin-turnitin/<course_id>/api/v1/viewer-url/<ora_submission_id>/: Get the viewer URL of the Turnitin submissions of an ORA submission.

  Path parameters

  • course_id: ID of the course.
  • ora_submission_id: ID of the ORA submission.

Configuring required in the Open edX platform

By default the turnitin functionality is disabled. If you want to enable the functionality globally (in all courses) add the following setting in your LMS:

ENABLE_TURNITIN_SUBMISSION = True

Optionally, you can enable the functionality in a specific course by adding the following setting from Studio > Advanced Settings > Other Course Settings:

{
  "ENABLE_TURNITIN_SUBMISSION": true
}

Next, you must include the following setting to enable the filter that will display the warning message to the learner about Turnitin:

OPEN_EDX_FILTERS_CONFIG = {
  "org.openedx.learning.ora.submission_view.render.started.v1": {
    "fail_silently": False,
    "pipeline": [
      "platform_plugin_turnitin.extensions.filters.ORASubmissionViewTurnitinWarning",
    ]
  },
}

Finally, to use the turnitin API it is necessary to configure the following settings in your LMS:

TURNITIN_TII_API_URL = "<YOUR-API-URL>"
TURNITIN_TCA_API_KEY = "<YOUR-API-KEY>"
TURNITIN_TCA_INTEGRATION_FAMILY = "MySweetLMS"
TURNITIN_TCA_INTEGRATION_VERSION = "3.2.4"

Getting Help

If you're having trouble, we have discussion forums at discussions where you can connect with others in the community.

Our real-time conversations are on Slack. You can request a Slack invitation, then join our community Slack workspace.

For anything non-trivial, the best path is to open an issue in this repository with as many details about the issue you are facing as you can provide.

For more information about these options, see the Getting Help page.

License

The code in this repository is licensed under the AGPL 3.0 unless otherwise noted.

Please see LICENSE.txt for details.

Contributing

Contributions are very welcome. Please read How To Contribute for details.

This project is currently accepting all types of contributions, bug fixes, security fixes, maintenance work, or new features. However, please make sure to have a discussion about your new feature idea with the maintainers prior to beginning development to maximize the chances of your change being accepted. You can start a conversation by creating a new issue on this repo summarizing your idea.

Translations

This plugin is initially available in English and Spanish. You can help by translating this component to other languages. Follow the steps below:

1. Run the following command to extract the strings from the code and create the .po file specifying the locale, eg: fr_FR:

   cd platform_plugin_turnitin && django-admin makemessages -l fr_FR -v1 -d django

2. Update the .po file with the translations.

3. Run make compile_translations, this will generate the .mo file.

4. Create a pull request with your changes.

Reporting Security Issues

Please do not report security issues in public. Please email security@edunext.co.