How to Workaround for "Null" error - September 2021

Updated on Apr 28, 2022

Problem

In early September 2021 several instructors reported not being able to view originality reports for some of their student submissions. Instead of seeing an originality score when looking at a student's submission in the Brightspace Grade Center, they would see a triangle/exclamation point icon as shown below.

This problem does not appear to have a pattern and impacts multiple file types. It is currently being reviewed by TurnItIn developers.

TurnItIn submission homepage. With a red box around and highlighted in yellow the “TurnItIn Similarity” box. Missing the similarity score.

Workaround

While the TurnItIn Similarity scores are not visible on the assignment submission page, they have been generated and are visible in the assignment details. Follow these steps to view TurnItIn Similarity scores for impacted submissions.

Select the TurnItIn Similarity score button of a student who has a score visible as in this image.

TurnItIn submission homepage. With a red arrow pointing towards the similarity score of the assignment. There is also, a text box with the words “Select here to open the TurnItIn Similarity Report.”

Next, use the navigation arrows in the upper-right to navigate to the student(s) submissions where scores were not visible as shown in this image. You can use the left/right arrows to move between students or use the drop-down arrow to select a specific student.