From Taylor Swift finishing her record-breaking tour and the Paris 2024 Olympics taking over our screens this summer, to the first installment of the movie adaptation of Wicked finally hitting theaters and stealing our hearts, 2024’s pop culture moments had us all talking and made it a year to remember.

Shifting gears into education, 2024 also brought more conversations about AI in the classroom and the way educators, institutions and students think about the usage of generative AI has continued to evolve.

While features that help educators and students navigate AI writing in the classroom remain a top priority at Turnitin, they weren’t the only things on our minds this year!

In 365 days, we expanded our variety of innovative features and products that help educators work more efficiently, celebrated the one year anniversary of our AI writing detection feature and attended events around the world to continue conversations with customers. Take a look at the notable moments from the past year, as it is the season of reflecting!

Might we suggest you put on some headphones and read through our Turnitin Wrapped while listening to your Spotify Wrapped?

Celebrating a year of milestones and industry acknowledgements

Turnitin had many industry recognitions in 2024, including a variety of partnerships, a milestone anniversary and some industry awards recognizing our EdTech company, our products, and how we meet the needs of our customers globally.

1. Turnitin award recognition

As a company, Turnitin has been recognized for its commitment to helping everyone involved in the learning community - students, educators, publishers and academic institutions - maintain the integrity of research and academic writing, supporting the credibility of original work, and fostering authentic learning experiences for students. Some of the top award recognitions include Turnitin making the Inc. 2024 Best in Business list, being named EdTech Breakthrough’s Overall EdTech Company of the Year, winning Tech & Learning’s Back to School award in the Higher Education category, and being finalists for BETT Awards and GESS Education Awards.

2. Raising integrity awareness

With momentum from the industry recognitions, Turnitin celebrated the global edtech holiday, International Day of Action for Academic Integrity with a blog written by former educators at Turnitin to share how the company is adapting to new challenges in academic integrity and how it supports educators.

3. One year of AI writing detection

Turnitin also celebrated the first birthday of its AI writing detection feature! Turnitin’s CPO Annie Checitelli reflected on the detection feature and what it brought to the education world.

4. Attended and sponsored events

After a year with Turnitin’s AI writing detection feature, our teams attended and sponsored events around the globe, talking about maintaining academic integrity, AI writing, and grading and assessments. Globally, our priority remains the same - we are here to help educators, administrators and students navigate the world of education. Some of the events include CES, Times Higher Education’s World Academic Summit, ASU + GSV Summit, and hosted a Turnitin Virtual Customer Summit to connect with its customers around the world.

5. New partnerships

Lastly, Turnitin has expanded its partner list, including the partnership announcement of McGraw Hill, a US publishing company for educational content, software and services for pre-K through postgraduate education, and ExamSoft by Turnitin on two pharmacy benchmark assessments.

Creating resources for educators, learners and researchers

Turnitin partnered and collaborated with a variety of industry partners to publish research and survey results to help the educational community better understand trends, while releasing new resources.

1. Refreshing insights as the world of AI continues to evolve

With support from Turnitin, Tyton Partners released new research* found a marked increase in AI writing usage this year, as 59% of students surveyed report using AI writing tools at least once a month (compared to 43% in spring 2023). These findings underscore the need for AI writing detection tools to help educators maintain academic integrity, support student writing and learning, and engage in best practices. Read our blog on the top five giveaways from the research.

_{*Turnitin was a partner in providing compensation to conduct this study.}

2. Updating resources to help educators in the ever-evolving educational landscape

With the continued shift in conversation around academic integrity in an AI world, Turnitin revamped a popular resource that takes educators through a logical sequence with resources that focus on teaching academic integrity. The Achieving Academic Integrity infographic begins with the problem and possible root cause, discusses approaches educators can take, and provides resources to increase educator agency, and, by extension, student agency. Focusing on a proactive approach to academic integrity rather than a reactive or punitive one is far more impactful than merely pointing out what not to do.

3. Data and insights only Turnitin can bring to its customers

Globally, 5% of Turnitin’s submissions show more than 80% likely AI-generated content and 17% of all submissions show more than 20% likely AI-generated content between January and August of 2024. Additionally, 2% of K-12 submissions show more than 80% AI content compared to 6% in higher education.

4. Turnitin helps institutions expand student learning opportunities through AI integration

The Millennium Universal College (TMUC), Pakistan’s largest transnational education provider, shares how they leverage Turnitin’s leading academic integrity solutions to enable ethical student use of AI.

Delivering products and solutions to address the continued shift towards AI in education

In March 2024, Turnitin celebrated 1 year since the launch of its AI Writing detection feature to help educators identify when AI writing tools, such as ChatGPT, may have generated text that is used in students’ submissions. In response to AI moving into schools and educator requests for products that help them focus on cultivating students’ minds and less on time-intensive administrative work, Turnitin unveiled a variety of new product offerings and expanded capabilities throughout 2024, including:

1. Paper to Digital add-on

The Paper to Digital add-on for Turnitin Feedback Studio helps provide faster and more consistent online grading for paper-based assignments. It also helps eliminate unintended bias while streamlining customized feedback for students and improving the grading process overall.

2. AI paraphrasing detection

AI paraphrasing detection feature enables educators and publishers to identify when AI paraphrasing tools may have been used to modify AI-generated text to avoid detection. It is integrated within Turnitin’s AI writing capabilities as an Originality add-on.

3. The enhanced Similarity Report

The enhanced Similarity Report helps educators identify unoriginal or improperly cited student writing, facilitating productive conversations on proper citation practices and accidental plagiarism. The new report makes it easier for educators to interpret and use as a formative learning tool to strengthen academic writing skills.

4. AI writing detection for Spanish

AI writing detection feature for Spanish language submissions, like its English counterparts, is embedded within the existing Turnitin workflow and provides an overall percentage of likely AI-generated content.

5. Gradescope improvements

Turnitin unveiled a suite of enhancements to Gradescope crafted to empower greater efficiency, accessibility, and student engagement.

Best practices, tips and tools: Insights from the Turnitin blog

Each month, in addition to our products and services, Turnitin publishes numerous blogs to help educators, institutions and students navigate the always changing education landscape. These blog posts are accessible to everyone - not just current Turnitin customers. Here are the top five posts from 2024:

• AI paraphrasing detection: Strengthening the integrity of academic writing
• AI writing detection: What academic leaders need to know as technology matures
• The new Similarity Report: Clearer insights, faster feedback, and improved outcomes
• Does Turnitin detect AI writing? Debunking common myths and misconception
• How an AI checker can support quality, original writing

In sum: 2024 Turnitin wrapped

As 2024 comes to a close, we reflect on a year that saw Turnitin at the forefront of the ever-evolving education landscape. The company not only launched innovative features, but also engaged in meaningful conversations and research around academic integrity and technology's role in education, solidifying Turnitin's commitment to supporting educators, students and administrators in navigating new and existing challenges.

As we look towards 2025, we remain dedicated to evolving alongside the educational community, ensuring that integrity and excellence stay at the forefront of our collective journey.