Turnitin launches multipart assignments for writing

Turnitin has launched multipart assignment types for writing tasks in Turnitin Feedback Studio and Turnitin Clarity.

The new format lets educators structure one writing task as a series of linked checkpoints rather than separate submissions. Each stage can include its own instructions, reflection prompts and student input, guiding a piece of work from early planning and drafting through to final submission.

That changes a process many teachers have handled manually. Educators who wanted students to submit outlines, drafts and supporting material in sequence often had to create several separate assignments and connect them through their own classroom workflow.

The new setup keeps those steps within a single workflow. It also allows feedback at each stage, so students can revise as they progress instead of waiting for a final grade.

The launch also reflects a wider shift in how schools and universities assess writing in the age of generative artificial intelligence. Process-based assessment has gained ground among educators who want more visibility into how students develop written work, rather than judging only the finished text.

Turnitin cited research from Tyton Partners showing that 24 per cent of faculty had redesigned assessments in this way and reported fewer integrity concerns and higher student engagement than peers who simply banned AI. Turnitin said it provided compensation for Tyton Partners' research and reports, including the study it referenced.

Assessment shift

Multipart assignments connect components such as drafts, outlines and bibliographies. Students move through each stage in order, with the aim of applying earlier feedback to later submissions.

In Turnitin Clarity, students can continue building on earlier drafts in the same workspace. That continuity gives educators a clearer view of revisions over time and may help show where a student needs support before handing in a final version.

For institutions, that visibility is increasingly important as questions grow over how AI tools are used in coursework. A staged assignment model can provide a record of planning, revision and development, which some educators see as stronger evidence of authorship than a single end product.

The model also serves a teaching purpose beyond academic integrity. Breaking a large assignment into smaller parts can reduce the pressure of a single high-stakes deadline and give students more opportunities to respond to comments while there is still time to improve their work.

Annie Chechitelli, Chief Product Officer at Turnitin, said educators had been asking for a more direct way to manage that process. "Educators have long told us the pedagogical value of breaking down larger writing assignments into smaller assignments that focus on different parts of the writing process," she said.

She added that many instructors had improvised with the tools already available. "Some educators currently use creative workarounds, piecing together multiple separate assignments to replicate the multipart assignment experience. With multipart assignments, we take the burden off the educator, making 'proof of process' and formative feedback easy," Chechitelli said.

Broader reach

Turnitin works with more than 16,000 customers across 185 countries and territories. The company has spent more than 25 years supplying education technology focused on writing, assessment and academic integrity.

The addition of multipart assignments extends that position into an area where schools and universities are trying to balance assessment efficiency with closer oversight of student learning. Teachers have faced pressure to show not only whether submitted work meets standards, but also how it was produced.

That has become harder as AI writing tools have entered mainstream academic use. Some institutions have responded with tighter restrictions on external tools. Others have moved towards assignment design that makes drafting, reflection and revision visible as part of the assessed task itself.

Turnitin's new workflow sits squarely in that second camp. By packaging several stages into one assignment path, it gives educators a way to assess writing as an evolving process rather than a single end-point submission.

The practical appeal may rest on whether it saves time for teachers who already scaffold major assignments through separate tasks, duplicated instructions and manual tracking. If adopted widely, the feature could also help standardise process-based assessment inside systems already used by schools and higher education providers.

For students, the immediate change is likely to be a more structured route through substantial written work, with checkpoints that reveal progress and gaps earlier. For educators, the benefit lies in seeing that development unfold inside one connected assignment rather than across a patchwork of separate submissions.