Assignment settings

The what and how to of module settings page.
Everything BEFORE the activity is open to participants. Guide the user through the first step of creation and 
equivalent of clicking 'edit settings'(include permissions). Use headings, annotated screenshots welcome! 
INCLUDE
Upload_a_single_file_assignment - O, Jul 10, maybe add short 'how to' & pics
Online_text_assignment - O, Jul 10, has 'educational benefits, add short 'how to' & pics
Offline_activity_assignment - O, spartan, needs a mention that main reason is often to allow Gradebook entry, pic & how to? 
Advanced_uploading_of_files_assignment - G, Dec 09, pics & how to would be great, link to single file upload vs. advanced uploading thread. 
Assignment_permissions 

This page is about the Assignment settings, also found with the Update Assignment button.

Assignment name

Give your assignment a name (e.g. “Report on Topic Content”). The name entered here will be the name that learners see in the course content area. Learners 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 students 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 learners are expected to do to complete this task. The assignment description can be as brief or as expensive as you feel is necessary to meet the needs of your learners. However, it is to your benefit to provide as much detail and information as possible, especially at the start of the course while you are still establishing procedures. Generally, the more information you are able to provide here the fewer questions and problems your learners will have completing the task.

The assignment description field can also be used to provide information or resources related to the assignment. An instructor, 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. (Alternatively, the instructor could post these items using the Resource Module and refer students to them in the assignment details. See the section titled Resource Module for more information.)

Finally, if you are adding rich content, tables, etc. to your description, it is best to expand the HTML editor into full screen mode so you can make your webpage document look nice when participants view it.

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.

To activate the Available from date, make sure that the “Disable” checkbox is not marked. Then, use the drop down menus to choose the day, month and year. You can also set a time with the last two fields on the line. Note: the time is based on a 24 hour clock or “military time,” so 14:00 refers to 2:00 p.m.

If you do not wish to use the Available from option, just check the “Disable” checkbox by clicking on it; the rest of the field will turn gray and the date will be ignored.

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 learners can submit the assignment as long as the assignment is visible or accessible to them.

Both the Available from and Due dates are displayed for learners in the assignment details, but the Due date is also marked in the course Calendar as a visible reminder for participants. Furthermore, the indicator on the calendar will actually link learners directly to the activity!

Your use of the Available from and Due date settings will probably be dependent on the overall structure of your course. If you are facilitating an open ended course or a course with rolling enrollment, then you might find it easier to not apply the Available from and Due date settings (leave the boxes checked). This arrangement will allow the learners to access the assignments according to their own schedule and progress within the course. Alternatively, if you are working within a more structured format or adhering to a timeline, the Available from and Due date settings are useful for keeping learners on schedule. Using the Available from setting will make it possible for learners to preview upcoming activities, while at the same time, prevent them from finishing the course in the first week and not returning for additional activities or information. Likewise, the Due dates help keep the learners from lagging too far behind and decrease the likelihood that the learner will become overwhelmed by having to complete several weeks worth of work at once.

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.

Upload a single file settings

Allow resubmitting

By default, students cannot resubmit assignments once the teacher has graded them. If you turn this option on, then students will be allowed to resubmit assignments after they have been graded (for you to re-grade). This may be useful if the teacher wants to encourage students to do better work in an iterative process.

To make a resubmission, it is important to note that the instructor does not have to do anything else for the user to make their resubmission, other than that one setting for Allow Resubmitting. Even if they grade the assignment, the user needs only upload a file again to overwrite the old file, and then the submission will be marked as needing to be graded again in the View # submitted assignments page.

Note: Moodle will sometimes appear not to be uploading a resubmitted assignment - you seem to be downloading the original assignment. This is a cache issue, in short, go to "Tools > Clear Recent History" in Firefox or "Tools > Delete Browsing History > Delete Temporary Files" in Windows Explorer. The newer file will then appear.

Email alerts to teachers

If enabled, then teachers are alerted with a short email whenever students add or update an assignment submission.

Only teachers who are able to grade the particular submission are notified. So, for example, if the course uses separate groups, then teachers restricted to particular groups won't receive any notices about students in other groups.

Maximum Size

This setting specifies the maximum size of the file which the students can upload as their submission. If your students are uploading word processing documents or spreadsheets, typically you only need to allow for a few megabytes. If your students are submitting multimedia projects or other files with many images or audio clips, then the space allowed will need to be larger.

Online text settings

Allow resubmitting

By default, students cannot resubmit assignments once the teacher has graded them. If you turn this option on, then students will be allowed to resubmit assignments after they have been graded (for you to re-grade). This may be useful if the teacher wants to encourage students to do better work in an iterative process.

Email alerts to teachers

If enabled, then teachers are alerted with a short email whenever students add or update an assignment submission.

Only teachers who are able to grade the particular submission are notified. So, for example, if the course uses separate groups, then teachers restricted to particular groups won't receive any notices about students in other groups.

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.

Common module settings

Group mode

When course group mode is turned on, the group mode can be one of three levels: no groups, separate groups or visible groups.

No groups

There are no groups and all students submit their assignments in one Assignment area

Separate groups

Students submit their assignments within a separate Group based submission area and teachers/trainers can sort submissions by Group or view All Participants.

Visible groups

All students submits their assignment within a single Assignment area but may choose which Group to associate their submission with before uploading. Teachers/trainers can sort submissions by Group or view All Participants.

Visible

Choose whether to Show or Hide the assignment

ID number

Setting an ID number provides a way of identifying the assignment for grade calculation purposes. If the activity is not included in any grade calculation then the ID number field can be left blank.

Tips and tricks

• Want to use an Assignment activity again? Copy the assignment by backing up the course and selecting just the assignment, with or without students and their data. Restore the backup to the same course or to a new course. Move the copied assignment and or edit it.
• Want to use an Assignment activity in another course you teach? Use the import function in the course administration block.

See also

• Peer Review Assignment Type (contributed module)
• Using Moodle How do I make assignments worth more than 100 points? forum discussion