Using SafeAssign, Blackboard's Plagiarism Prevention Tool

We’ve had problems using SafeAssign at JCCC since mid-September (e.g., the product was non-functional or exhibited very slow response times). Blackboard has since addressed the problems we’ve encountered and the Plagiarism Prevention “add-on” to Blackboard now appears to be working properly. For more details on SafeAssign, visit http://wiki.safeassign.com/display/SAFE/About+SafeAssign. If you want to try adding a SafeAssignment tool to your course, the following instructions will be useful.

Adding the Blackboard CE6 SafeAssign Tool to a Course

1. From the Build tab, click on the Add Content Link button on the Course Content Home page.
2. From the drop-down list select SafeAssign, then click on the Create SafeAssign button.
3. You then are given a blank window to name your link to the SafeAssign tool, such as "SafeAssign Assignments."
4. You then click on the Configure button to save the link to your Course Content Home page or Cancel to quit.

Creating SafeAssignment(s) in Blackboard CE6

1. From the Teach tab, click on the new link to SafeAssign on the Course Content Home page.
2. Click on the Create SafeAssignment button and fill in the Assignment specific information:
   a. Title: such as Writing Assignment 1
   b. Description: description of the assignment and optional instructions if needed.
   c. Due date: Submissions are accepted after this date
   d. Draft: Do you want to allow students to submit drafts. These drafts are not sent to your institution’s search database.
   e. Student Viewable: Let students view SafeAssignment reports on their papers only.
   f. Urgent Checking: To process urgently or not. There is a normal 2-3 minute or greater response time.
   g. Grading: Select numeric or Alphanumeric grading, this will create a column in the Blackboard CE Gradebook.
   h. Click Save at the bottom of the page to save this assignment or Cancel to quit.
3. Repeat Step 2 above for any additional SafeAssignments you wish to create.

How Students Use SafeAssign

1. The students are told to click on the SafeAssign tool link on the home page to submit their assignments for plagiarism checking.
2. They select which SafeAssignment they want to submit by clicking on the link to it under the Available Assignments area.
3. They click on the Browse button and find their paper on their local machine and click Open to upload it.
4. SafeAssign accepts Microsoft Word (.doc only), TXT, RTF, HTML, and PDF formats only. Word 2007 format documents are not yet supported.
5. Once submitted they can go back and check the SafeAssign report if you allow them to in Step 2e above.

Thanks to Jeff Kosko and Tracy Newman for composing this tip.