Assignment activity: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 08:22, 13 November 2015

About the assignment activity

Student view of an assignment

The assignment activity provides a space into which students can submit work for teachers to grade and give feedback on. This saves on paper and is more efficient than email. It 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.

Student submissions are together on one screen of your course. You can require them to submit one or several files and/or to type text essays. It is possible to have them submit work as a group and you can also choose as a teacher to grade their work 'blind' in other words not to see the identities of those who have submitted assignments. Assignments can have deadlines and cut off dates - which you can also extend if necessary.

To add an assignment you should turn on the editing and select it from the Activity chooser.

Assignment (Submission) types

Students can type directly into Moodle, upload files or add media. The options are in the Submission types section and if you don't see a particular option, get the admin to check the Site administration settings in Assignment settings documentation.

Online text: Text typed into the Atto editor is automatically saved and the teacher can set a Word limit which will display a warning if students exceed it.

File submissions: Students can upload files of any type the teacher can open. The teacher can select a maximum number of files to upload and a maximum size for each file. This will depend on the site settings. If a student uploads a PDF file, the teacher can annotate it within the browser and once saved, these annotations are available for the student. (If you don't have this, get the admin to check Ghostscript is enabled.)

Students may be able to add a note (comment) to their teacher when the submit their work if this has been enabled sitewide by the administrator.

Feedback types

Teachers may give feedback in various ways. The options available are in the Feedback types section and if you don't see a particular option, get the admin to check the Site administration settings in the Assignment settings documentation.

Comment inline: With online text submissions, this allows the teacher to give feedback directly on the students's work, in a similar way to grading on paper.

Feedback comments: allows graders to leave comments about the students' submissions as well as grades.

Offline grading worksheet gives the teacher a link to download the grading list as a spreadsheet. They will then be able to enter grades and feedback comments offline and then re-upload the sheet. See Using Assignment for more information.

Feedback files allows graders to upload files with feedback when marking. These files may be the marked up student assignments, documents with comments, a completed marking guide, or spoken audio feedback.

Grading assignments

Assignments may be graded with simple Grade points or customisable Scales. If you change the Grading method to Advanced grading, you can then use a Marking guide or Rubric

Need more information?

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-{{Assignment}}The assignment module allows teachers to collect work from students, review it and provide feedback including grades.
+{{Activities}}
-Students can submit any digital content (files), including, for example, word-processed documents, spreadsheets, images, audio and video clips.  Assignments don't necessarily have to consist of file uploads.  Alternatively, teachers can ask students to type directly into Moodle using an [[Online text assignment|online text]] assignment.  There is also an [[Offline activity assignment|offline activity ]] assignment which can be used to remind students of 'real-world' assignments they need to complete and to record grades in Moodle for activities that don't have an online component.
+==About the assignment activity==
+[[File:newdocsassignment1.png|thumb||Student view of an assignment]]
+[[File:assignment video.png|frame|[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NcUp9oyOGo Assignment: Submitted work screencast]]]
+The assignment activity provides a space into which students can submit work for teachers to grade and give feedback on. This saves on paper and is more efficient than email. It 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.
-== Assignment types ==
+Student submissions are together on one screen of your course. You can require them to submit one or several files and/or to type text essays. It is possible to have them submit work as a group and you can also choose as a teacher to grade their work 'blind' in other words not to see the identities of those who have submitted assignments. Assignments can have deadlines and cut off dates - which you can also extend if necessary.
-There are 4 types of assignments:
-;Upload a single file
+To add an assignment you should turn on the editing and select it from the Activity chooser.
-:A student can upload a single file, such as a Word document, spreadsheet or anything digital. Multiple files can be zipped and then submitted. After learners upload their files in this arrangement, the instructor will be able to open the submission and then use the Moodle interface to assign a grade and offer comments as feedback.
-;Advanced uploading of files
+==Assignment (Submission) types==
-:Options include multiple file submission, allowing students to type a message alongside their submission & returning a file as feedback.
+Students can type directly into Moodle, upload files or add media. The options are in the Submission types section and if you don't see a particular option, get the admin to check the Site administration settings in [[Assignment settings]] documentation.
-;Online Text
+'''Online text:'''  Text typed into the [[Atto editor]] is automatically saved and the teacher can set a Word limit which will display a warning if students exceed it.
-: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 learners to compose, revise and edit over time or such that the learner only has one opportunity to enter his or her response. Furthermore, with the online assignment, instructors can grade the work online and even edit and/or provide comments within the learner’s work.
-:The online text assignment is ideal for journalling and composition work.
+'''File submissions:''' Students can upload files of any type the teacher can open. The teacher can select a maximum number of files to upload and a maximum size for each file. This will depend on the site settings. If a student uploads a PDF file, the teacher can annotate it within the browser and once saved, these annotations are available for the student. (If you don't have this, get the admin to check Ghostscript is enabled.)
-;Offline activity
+Students may be able to add a note (comment) to their teacher when the submit their work if this has been enabled sitewide by the administrator.
-:This is useful when the assignment is performed outside of Moodle. It could be something elsewhere on the web or face-to-face. Students can see a description of the assignment, but can't upload files. Grading works normally, and students will get notification of their grades.
-:Specifically, an instructor in a hybrid or blended environment (combination of face-to-face and online instruction) may use the offline activity type of assignment to assign a project that the learner will physically present to the instructor at a face-to-face session. This arrangement allows the instructor to communicate the project expectations online while creating an entry for the project in the Moodle gradebook.
+==Feedback types==
-:In another example, consider the instructor who gives reading assignments or assigns problems for practice. These activities wouldn’t necessarily be turned in for a grade, but the instructor needs a tool for communicating the assignment details. The offline assignment, with its unique icon, could be used as a consistent visual cue for the learners; learners would come to know that they can always look for the assignment icon to see what work they need to complete.
+Teachers may give feedback in various ways. The options available are in the Feedback types section and if you don't see a particular option, get the admin to check the Site administration settings in the  [[Assignment settings]] documentation.
-==Creative uses==
+'''Comment inline:'''  With online text submissions, this allows the teacher to give feedback directly on the students's work, in a similar way to grading on paper.
-=== Iterative assignments ===
+'''Feedback comments:''' allows graders to leave comments about the students' submissions as well as grades.
-[[Image:flowForAssignment.png|thumb|left|140x107px|A graphic representation of how the assignment module can be used]]
-It is possible to create iterative assignments - where the piece of work is graded by the teacher, re-edited by the student, re-graded and so on using either the [[Upload a single file assignment|single file]] or the [[Online text assignment|online text]] and setting 'Allow resubmitting' to 'Yes' in the assignment settings.
-=== A tool for reflection ===
+'''Offline grading worksheet''' gives the teacher  a link to download the grading list as a spreadsheet. They will then be able to enter grades and feedback comments offline and then re-upload the sheet. See [[Using Assignment]] for more information.
-As reflective learning and formative assessment have a greater presence in education today, the online text assignment proves a useful way for students to record their thoughts and feelings about a particular topic or theme within the Moodle environment itself. Tutors can set up online text activities that ask students to reflect on both rhetorical or assigned questions depending on the learning outcome or goal.
-Online text assignments can also be free spaces set up by the course tutor for students to reflect at moments of their own choosing within a course. It is perfectly acceptable to make use of the online text assignment as a private space for personal learning and reflection in some instances (ie. no tutor feedback) and as a collaborative space between tutor and student in others (ie. tutor feedback, comments and/or short discussions). Pedagogically, both methods of using the activity are good learning models for the former allows students a reflective space of their own to develop their ideas, whilst the latter gives them a space of private support with you that provides them with reliable feedback.
+'''Feedback files''' allows graders to upload files with feedback when marking. These files may be the marked up student assignments, documents with comments, a completed marking guide, or spoken audio feedback.
-How you decide to monitor online text activities is, of course, up to you. The most significant element of monitoring is to provide students with clear guidance of when and how this will take place. For instance, if you do not plan to monitor the activity at all, be sure to inform the students that this is a private space for their own personal use (although tutors will be able to read entries) and be clear that no feedback will be provided. Alternatively, if you wish to make contributions in the form of feedback, be sure to inform the student that, for example, they can expect feedback and comments from you once a week or every two weeks. In terms of feedback and expectation levels, keeping communications between you and students very clear will ensure a level of trust necessary to build and maintain a community in your e-learning environment.
+==Grading assignments==
+Assignments may be graded with simple [[Grade points]] or customisable [[Scales]]. If you change the Grading method to Advanced grading, you can then use a [[Marking guide]] or [[Rubric]]
-== See also ==
+==Need more information?==
+*[[Assignment settings]]
+*[[Using Assignment]]
+*[[Assignment FAQ]]
-*[[Workshop module]] allows peer to peer evaluations
+[[Category:Assignment]]
-*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=126431 single file upload vs. advanced uploading] forum discussion
-[[Category:Modules]]
 [[de:Aufgabe]]
-[[cs:Modul Úkol]]
+[[es:Módulo de tarea]]
 [[eu:Zereginak]]
 [[fr:Devoir]]
-[[nl:Opdracht]]
-[[zh:作业模块]]

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