Overview

The assignment activity module enables a teacher to communicate tasks, collect work and provide grades and feedback.

Students can submit any digital content (files), such as word-processed documents, spreadsheets, images, or audio and video clips. Alternatively, or in addition, the assignment may require students to type text directly into the text editor. An assignment can also be used to remind students of real-world assignments they need to complete offline, such as art work, and thus not require any digital content. Students can submit work individually or as a member of a group.

When reviewing assignments, teachers can leave feedback comments and upload files, such as marked-up student submissions, documents with comments or spoken audio feedback. Assignments can be graded using a numerical or custom scale or an advanced grading method such as a rubric. Final grades are recorded in the gradebook.

Assignment Settings

The assignment module creates a drop box for students to share files with the instructor. The settings below must be configured for each assignment. Depending on how the instructor desires the assignment to function, some of the settings may not be necessary.

General

• Name - the link that displays on the course page.

• Description - appears when a student clicks to the assignment link.

• Display description on course page -  when checked, shows the Description on both the assignment page, and also directly under the Assignment name on the main course page (before the student clicks into the assignment page).

• Additional Files - This field allows the instructor to upload supporting documents for the students to use as they complete the assignment. such documents could include templates, assignment description, readings, or other resources.

Availability

• Allow submissions from and Due date - these let you define the time period that students have access to, and may submit, their assignments. Assignments submitted after the due date will be marked as Late.

• Cut-off date - This is the absolute last date that students may submit their assignment. No assignments will be accepted after this date (late or not).

• Always show description - When enabled, allows students to see the assignment description regardless of available dates. If disabled, the assignment will only become visible to students at the Allow submissions from date.

Submission types

• Submission types - These settings refer to how you would like students to create or upload their work.

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  • Online text - This will give students an online text editor that they can use directly from Moodle.

  • File submissions - When checked this will allow students to upload files to the assignment (including .doc, .pdf, .jpg, .zip, pretty much anything).

  • If the assignment is to be collected in-person, un-check all options.

• Word Limit - It is possible to set a word limit for the online text submission type.

• Maximum number of uploaded files - This allows teacher to set the number of documents the students can upload.

• Maximum submission size - This allows teacher to restrict file size of uploaded documents.

Feedback types

• Feedback comments - This setting allows teachers to input general comments for the student.

• Offline grading worksheet - This setting allows the teacher to download a grading template in CSV, enter grades there, and then upload to the assignment later. Great for airplane/train grading!

• Feedback files - This allows the teacher to upload a return document to the student.

• Comment inline - If enabled, the submission text will be copied into the feedback comment field during grading, making it easier to comment inline (using a different colour, perhaps) or to edit the original text.

Submission settings

• Require students click submit button - When selected, does not allow students to revise their submission if they click Submit (prior to submit, the assignment is in Draft mode), even if the assignment is still open. This can be confusing to students. Please make sure to provide specific instructions to students if you use this.

• Require that students accept the submission statement - This is good for reminding students of academic honesty policies, etc.

• Attempts reopened - This setting determines how student submission attempts are reopened. The available options are:

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  • Never - The student submission cannot be reopened.

  • Manually - The student submission can be reopened by a teacher.

  • Automatically until pass - The student submission is automatically reopened until the student achieves the grade to pass value set in the grade book (Categories and items section) for this assignment.

• Maximum Attempts - this sets the maximum number of submissions attempts that can be made by a student. After this number of attempts has been made the student's submission will not be able to be reopened.

Group submission settings

• Students submit in groups - This allows groups (set in the Course Settings) to submit assignment together.  This feature also allows teachers to enter a group grade once and have it apply to all group members.

• Require Groups to make submissions - If enabled, users who are not members of a group will be unable to make submissions. 

• Require all group members submit - This prompts each group member to click a submit button to accept the group submission.

• Grouping for student groups  - This allows you to select which Grouping to use for this assignment.  This means that you can change group membership for different assignments throughout the course (which is done in the Settings > Users > Groups area)

Notifications

• Notify graders about submissions - When set to yes, this will send an email to teachers and graders every time a student submits an assignment. We recommend to leave this set to no.

• Notify graders about late submissions - When set to yes, this will send an email to teachers and graders every time a student submits a late assignment. This can be a handy notification.

• Default for Notify students - This sets the default setting on the grading form for the assignment.

Grade

• Grade - This sets the maximum grade available on the assignment.

• Grading method - This allows you to select how you would like to assign points to the assignment.

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  • Simple direct grading - This allows the teacher to give the student a simple point value grade (out of the total maximum).

  • Marking guide - This is an advanced grading style that lets the teacher set up different criteria that are worth a set number of points (e.g. Spelling/Grammar 5 pts, Voice 10 pts, and Flow 10 pts). The student can receive a number of points out of each criteria category.

  • Rubric - This is an advanced grading style that allows the teacher to set up different criteria, and different levels of achievement on those criteria that translate to points (e.g. students may receive a Poor, Average, or Excellent in spelling, which can translate to 0, 3, and 5 points respectively).

• Grade category - Lets the teacher group similar assignments together in the gradebook.

• Blind Marking - This will mask student identities until all grading is entered by the teacher.  Grades are held from the gradebook until the teacher reveals the identities of the students.

• Use marking workflow - When set to Yes, enables graders to specify the stage they are at in their grading of individual assignments (such as Not marked, In marking, Ready for release, Released). This helps control when students receive notifications about when their assignment is graded. A teacher can grade all the assignments and then release the grades, notifying students.

• Use marking allocation - This allows different course graders to be assigned to individual students (only per assignment, not course-wide). Must have Use marking workflow set to Yes.

Common Module Settings

• Visible - This setting determines whether or not the students can see the assignment in the course.

• Group mode refers to how the assignment works with Moodle groups

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  • No groups - This sets  no groups and all students submit their assignments in one Assignment area

  • Separate groups - This allows students to submit their assignments within a separate Group based submission area

  • Visible groups - This allows students to submit their assignment within a single Assignment area but may choose which Group to associate their submission with before uploading.

• Grouping - This identifies which set of groups you wish to use for the assignment (only works with Separate or Visible groups).

Grading Assignments

Click on View/Grade all submissions either under the assignment stats on the assignment page or in the Administration block under Assignment Administration. We will look at three common grading methods: downloading all submissions, using a grading worksheet and annotating a PDF.

Downloading all uploaded submissions

This can be done from the Grading Action pull-down menu in the upper left of the grading screen or from the Administration block.  You will download a zip file that automatically appends the student’s name to their file submission.

Grading Worksheet

This is enabled with the Offline grading option.  From the Grading Action pull-down menu in the upper left, you can Download grading worksheet.  After you have entered the grades, you can save your file as CSV and then choose Upload grading worksheet from this same menu.

Annotating a PDF

Assignments submitted to Moodle in PDF format can be annotated directly within Moodle and includes a variety of markup tools including comments, highlighting, drawing, and stamps. Students are able to view the annotated PDF online in Moodle and/or download an annotated copy. The original PDF is preserved. An instructor may annotate a document without grading it, which may facilitate a helpful draft process.

Launch the PDF Editor

1. Click on the assignment to be graded.

2. Click on View/Grade all submissions either under the Grading summary section on the assignment page or in the Administration block under Assignment administration.

3. Click on the Pencil icon in the grade column for the submission you wish to annotate. 

4. On the Grading page, scroll down to the Feedback comments section and click on Launch PDF editor directly below the feedback editor.

5. A new window will open with the PDF.  At the top of the window you will see a row of editing tools.
   
   
   

   
   
   
   

     -- Search comments button.
   
   

    -- Comments button (l.) and Comments color drop-down menu (r.).
   
   

    -- Selection button. Click Selection button and then click on an annotation in order to move or delete that annotation. This does not apply to deleting comment boxes which have their own delete option.
   
   

    -- Drawing tools buttons (left to right): Freehand, Line, Rectangle, Oval, Highlight, and Annotation color drop-down menu.
   
   

    -- Stamp button (l.) and Select stamp drop-down menu (r.). Choose a “stamp” (a pre-defined set of graphics) from the Select stamp drop-down menu then click the Stamp button to annotate the PDF with that stamp.
    

Using the Comments Quicklist

Saving Annotations in the PDF Editor

Searching for comments in an annotated PDF

After an Annotated PDF has been actively saved(see above discussion), instructors or students can search the comments by clicking on the [Search comments] button from the toolbar.  When a specific comment is selected, the user is taken to that instance of the comment in the annotated PDF.