Learn@Illinois Moodle - Using SafeAssign Compass 2g Assignments in Moodle

Learn how to check assignments for originality and prevent plagiarism. To do this, you will need to link to an assignment using SafeAssign in Compass 2g.

For a permanent link to this information, please use: http://go.illinois.edu/MoodleCompassAssignment

This requires:
  1. Creating a Compass 2g Course Site
  2. Creating a Link Back to your Moodle Site from the new Compass 2g Site
  3. Creating a Compass 2g Assignment
  4. Converting the Compass 2g Assignment Link
  5. Adding the Converted Link to an Assignment or Link in Moodle
Repeat steps 3-5 for additional assignments within the same course and semester.

Creating a Compass 2g Course Site

This site is created only for the purpose of containing SafeAssign assignments that you will link to from your main Moodle course.

  1. Go to http://go.illinois.edu/requestcompass
  2. Select Registrar-Affiliated Space (to ensure that the students get automatically loaded from Banner) and click Next.
    Select Register-Affiliated Space
  3. Find the course that you are teaching and follow the prompts. You will receive a notification email when your course has been created.
  4. When you receive notification that your course has been created, go to https://compass2g.illinois.edu/ to access your new site.

Creating a Link Back to your Moodle Site from the new Compass 2g Site

Creating a link back to your Moodle course site helps students navigate back if they get confused. If possible, explain the logistics in class to prevent confusion. Students will most likely go to Compass for other courses and when they see your course in their list of courses they may expect to find other course material there. Therefore, it is advisable to create a link back to your Moodle course site, with a brief explanation.

  1. Go to https://compass2g.illinois.edu/ to access your new site.
  2. Mouse over Build Content and click Web link.
    Select Web Link
  3. Under "Name", type something like Take me back to my Moodle course site
  4. Under "URL", paste the link to your course home page.
  5. Under "Description", "Text", you might write something similar to the following: This Compass site is used exclusively to check for paper originality. Please return to the Moodle site for all other course materials and grades.
    Name, URL, and Description for Web Link
  6. Click Submit.
    Click Submit

Creating a Compass 2g Assignment

The Compass 2g assignment is where students will submit their paper and have it checked for plagiarism. This will be accessed by a link in your Moodle course site.

  1. Mouse over the "Assessments" heading along the top of the page and select Assignment.
    Select Assignment
  2. In the "Name and Color" field, type in the name of the assignment.
    Enter Assignment Name
  3. Under Grading, enter the number of "Points Possible".
    Enter total points possible
  4. Under Grading, click Submission Details.
    Click Submission Details
  5. Check the checkbox for "Check submissions for plagiarism using SafeAssign".
    Check the checkbox to use SafeAssign
  6. If you would not like students to be able to view their originality reports, make sure "Allow students to view SafeAssign originality report for their attempts" is unchecked.
  7. If you only plan to grade in Moodle (recommended), click Display of Grades in the next section.
    Uncheck "Include in Grade Center grading calculations", "Show to students in My Grades", and "Show Statistics (average and median) for this item to students in My Grades" so that students will not be confused by having grade displays in both Compass 2g and Moodle.
    Display of grades screenshot
  8. Click Submit.
    Click Submit
  9. Your assignment will now appear on the main page.

Converting the Compass 2g Assignment Link

When your Compass 2g assignment link is not converted, students will get an error message if you they are not already logged into Compass. Convert the link to ensure a seamless transition from Moodle to Compass 2g.

  1. Click on the Compass assignment.
    Click on the assignment you just created
  2. Copy the link at the top of the browser.
    Copy link of assignment
  3. Go to http://szuta.pages.math.illinois.edu/fix_bb_url/
  4. Paste the Compass assignment link into the "Original URL" field.
  5. Click Convert.
    Click Convert
  6. Click Copy to clipboard to copy the link.

Adding the Converted Link to an Assignment or Link in Moodle

There are a couple of ways that you can integrate the Compass 2g assignment into your Moodle course:

  • Create a Moodle "Assignment" activity and add a link to the Compass 2g assignment in the text editor (instructions below)
  • Create a "Link" resource linking to the Compass 2g assignment and add a manual gradebook item in the Moodle gradebook.

  1. Create an assignment in Moodle with the same name as the Compass 2g assignment. This will ensure that the assignment appears in the gradebook.
    Select assignment and add
  2. Enter instructions for the assignment.
    Note: There is no way to ensure that students upload the same paper to both locations. You can ask them to submit to both sites with this in mind, or have them only submit to Compass.
    Moodle assignment explanation text screenshot
  3. Insert a link to the Compass 2g assignment by highlighting the text, clicking the chain link button (see image above).
    In the "Link URL" field, paste the converted Compass 2g assignment link.
    In the "Target" field, select "Open in new window" from the drop-down menu.
    Click Insert.
    Insert link to the converted Compass assignment link
  4. Add other assignment details and click Save and display.

If you need help with this transition, please don't hesitate to contact our ATLAS-TLT team at atlas-tlt@illinois.edu. We are happy to help with explaining any parts of the procedure, and/or setting this up for you in your course.

Related Topics