Hi Michael,
Firstly, to support your analysis here, which is spot-on for our requirements too. This would be a major step forward in the functionality.
Another thing to throw into the mix: one aspect of our system here is the use of a special alphanumeric identifier for students (different from their usual student number) when submitting work/completing exams - the candidate number. I'm sure this is a common practice. In our case, this is generated each year, and is used quite extensively in administration for matching submissions to marksheets etc. The 'candidate number' is a common currency for markers communicating with each other or with the administrator ('can you have a quick look at T12345' for me? etc.) If markers need to store a grade off-system (e.g. on a spreadsheet) they use this to cross-reference too.
I know iParadigms have recognised the need to support this in their future development plans for the Turnitin plugin, and I think they are implementing it as a student-entered field on the submission page (with the institution defining the text on the field e.g. 'enter your candidate number here'). At the most recent user group meeting several institutions were very positive about this, so I think it is a more widely held need. Another possibility would be to give site admins the option to upload centrally user's candidate numbers (or equivalent) so that they are populated automatically when a particular student submits. This might be preferable, although I can already think of some institutional quirks we would need to take into account for KCL, and I'm sure other institutions would have the same.
Thanks for all this, and do let me know if I can be of help.
Best wishes,
Ian.
------------------
Dr Ian Barrett
Learning and Teaching Manager
School of Arts & Humanities
King’s College London