Setting up an Assignment
What is an assignment ?
As reflective learning and formative assessment have a greater presence in
education today, the online text assignment proves a useful way for pupils to
record their thoughts and feelings about a particular topic or theme within the
Moodle environment itself. Teachers can set up online text activities that ask
pupils to reflect on both rhetorical or assigned questions depending on the
learning outcome or goal.
1.
Adding an assignment
a)
b)
2.
Find your course within the Moodle
Under a particular topic, select the “Add an activity..” drop-down
menu. You will see a number of different types of assignments, click
on the one you want (see list below for the different options)
Types of assignment
Upload
A student can upload a single file. This could be a Word document,
spreadsheet or anything digital. Multiple files could be zipped and then
submitted. After pupils upload their files in this arrangement, the teacher will
be able to open the submission and then use the Moodle interface to assign a
grade and offer comments as feedback.
Online Text
This assignment type asks users to compose and edit text, using the normal
editing tools. The online text assignment can be set up to allow pupils to
compose, revise and edit over time or such that the pupil only has one
opportunity to enter her response. Furthermore, with the online assignment,
teachers can grade the work online and even edit and/or provide comments
within the pupil’s work.
The online text assignment is ideal for journaling and composition work.
Offline assignment
This is useful when the assignment is performed outside of Moodle. It could
be something elsewhere on the web or face-to-face. Pupils can see a
description of the assignment, but can't upload files. Grading works normally,
and pupils will get notification of their grades.
The offline activity has a number of different applications. In general, the
offline activity is designed for activities completed outside of the online
environment. Additionally, if you are using the Moodle gradebook, the offline
activity gives you the capability to add gradebook entries for assignments
completed outside of Moodle or for non-graded activities within Moodle.
3.
Assignment Details
Assignment name
Give your assignment a name (e.g. “Report on Topic Content”). The name
entered here will be the name that pupils see in the course content area.
Pupils will click on this name to view the details of the assignment and, if
applicable, submit their work.
Description
The description of the assignment, which should include precise instructions
for pupils regarding the subject of the assignment, the form, in which it should
be submitted, the grading criteria etc.
Use this area to describe the assignment and explain what pupils are
expected to do to complete this task. The assignment description can be as
brief or as expansive as you feel is necessary to meet the needs of your
pupils. Generally, the more information you are able to provide here the fewer
questions and problems your pupils will have completing the task.
The assignment description field can also be used to provide information or
resources related to the assignment. A teacher, for example, could provide
some literature, a video clip, an image, or a link to a webpage, and then ask
the learners to use these materials in completing the task.
Grade
The grade for the assignment is specified here. Choosing a number will
become the maximum grade for this assignment. Apart from the numbers,
one of the descriptive grades which have been defined for this course can
also be picked.
If you will not be giving a grade for the assignment, choose No Grade.
Available from
Setting this date prevents students from submitting their assignments before
this date.
The Available from date setting allows an instructor to set a day and time at
which learners can begin submitting the assignment. This setting does not,
however, hide the activity from the learners. Instead, the learner will see the
activity, be able to view the instructions and use any materials you have
include in the description, but the learner will not be able to submit or
complete the assignment until the Available from date.
Due date
And this prevents students from submitting their assignments after this date.
The Due date field works in much the same way as the Available from field
with a few small differences. Unchecking the “Disable” checkbox activates the
Due date option and you have the same ability to select a day, month, year,
and time. If the checkbox is checked, then the due date will be not be applied.
As with the Available from setting, the Due date defines when learners are
able to submit their assignment. However, with the Due date settings, you
also have the Prevent late submissions option (below the date and time
fields). Setting Prevent late submissions to Yes will prevent learners from
being able to submit this assignment after the Due date. If you set Prevent
late submissions to No, then pupils can submit the assignment as long as the
assignment is visible or accessible to them.
Prevent late submissions
Set to "No", assignments submitted after the due date will be marked as late,
but students will still be able to submit them. Set to "Yes", assignment
submission will be blocked after the due date.
Email alerts to teachers
If enabled, then teachers are alerted with a short email whenever students
add or update an assignment submission.
Comment Inline
If this option is selected, then the original submission 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. Of course even if
the teacher makes inline comments and changes, the student's original
submission is kept intact.
If inline comments are not permitted, then the teacher will see the student’s
submission and a separate area for making comments.
4.
Viewing your markbook
Once you have set up your assignment, you can mark and feedback your
comments via the Moodle.
By clicking on the Assignments tab under the Activities block on the left hand
side of your course, you will be able to see all your assignments.
In this example there have been two assignments set (see below)
This screen shows you the assignment type, due date and the number of
assignments submitted. Click on the assignment you are interested in. You
will then see a list of the individual assignments.
You can then view each assignment, mark it and feedback.