Resources for Faculty and Staff

UC Berkeley utilizes the services of a third-party company, ​​Turnitin, for plagiarism detection in student coursework. Turnitin is currently utilized as an opt-in tool enabled through bCourses. The way the service is set up allows students to self-assess their work. Submitted assignments can also be checked by course instructors and TAs for originality. Learn how to enable Turnitin detection through BCourses.

If you are a graduate student and would like to assess drafts of research papers and/or theses, you must work with your faculty advisor to create a BCourses Project site as recommended by the Center For Teaching and Learning.

If you are a faculty member who advises a graduate student and would like to assess drafts of your student’s work, please create a BCourses Project Site for your student’s submissions as recommended by the Center For Teaching and Learning.

It is important to underline that the utilization of different GenAI detection tools are problematic due to student privacy concerns. Therefore it is recommended that instructors do not upload student materials to third parties who do not have a MOU with the university. At this time, UC Berkeley does not have an agreement with any third party AI detection tools.

UC Berkeley, like most of our UC peers, has not enabled Turnitin’s AI writing and paraphrasing detection feature in bCourses for general use. An ongoing pilot study started in Fall 2023 by RTL highlights the challenge that, unlike its traditional plagiarism detection functionality, Turnitin’s algorithm-based AI writing detection feature does not necessarily provide the same conclusive evidence for the use of GenAI in student submitted coursework. Without careful understanding and intentional application, often requiring modifications of assessments and pedagogical approaches, the use of this feature in its current form bears the risk of introducing new issues. RTL and other stakeholders are currently reviewing pilot results to determine next steps in how to address these fundamental issues before deciding whether to proceed with a broader rollout. For reference here are UC Berkeley’s Turnitin policies  and vendor information on Turnitin’s AI writing and paraphrasing detection feature. Contact [email protected] if you have questions regarding Turnitin.

CTL provides sample syllabus designs. In this webpage, if you click on “Statement Templates” you will find a robust Academic Integrity statement. You may utilize this or modify it to your personal needs. For graduate courses, you may want to include a link to the Graduate Student Academic Misconduct Policy.

Have a broad overview of your policies. CTL and the Berkeley Academic Senate provide sample language on how to frame the extent of AI use in the classroom. It may be unfruitful to provide absolutes, for example “all use of Gen AI in coursework is not permitted” given the ubiquitous use of the tools. Let students know that each assignment will have additional guidelines surrounding the use of GenAI (e.g. if an assignment includes utilizing a chatbot, make it compulsory for your students to share their chat logs). Let students know that you will be creating community standards on their use throughout the semester.