Add an Assignment

Owned by Former user (Deleted)
Last updated: Jul 23, 2024 by Justin Aakre
9 min read

Summary

This article will cover how to add an assignment and the assignment settings.

Adding an Assignment

  1. Enter your Moodle course, enable Edit Mode, and click on Add an activity or resource to bring up the activity picker. 
  2. Select Assignment from the Activities list. 
  3. On the "Adding a new Assignment to" page
  4. Click Save and display

Assignment Settings:

General Settings:
  • Add an Assignment Name
  • Add all of your assignment information into the Description field
    • Option: Choose to Display description on course page (only if your description is brief). 
    • The Activity instructions field only displays when the student clicks on Add Submission and can be confusing to accessing.
  • Add any needed files for the activity as an attachment in Additional files.
Availability:

  • Allow submissions from: If enabled, students will not be able to submit before this date. If disabled, students will be able to start submitting right away.

  • Cut-off date: Prevents any submissions after this date without an extension.

  • Remind me to grade by: Sets a reminder on the dashboard for when the assignment should be finished grading.
  • Due date: Submissions will still be allowed after this date but any assignments submitted after this date are marked as late.

  • Always show description: Shows the description before the Allow submissions from date.

Submission types:
  • Submission types: Select which submission types are allowed.
    • File submissions: Learners can upload and edit one or more files of any type the teacher can open.

      • Maximum number of uploaded files: Here you can decide the maximum number of files which may be uploaded by each learner.

      • Maximum submission size: This setting specifies the maximum size per file of each of the files that the students can upload as part of their submission. 50 MB is the site maximum.

      • Accepted file types: Students will be limited to submitting a specific file type. When listing files, include the dot, for example '.png; .jpg' or '.doc; .docx; .pdf'. If the field is empty, all file types are allowed.
    • Online text: Learners can type their response directly in Moodle using the text editor. It's possible to set a word limit on an online text assignment. Students get a warning if they try to exceed the word limit.
    • Cloud :: Learners can record a video or audio file directly in Moodle. 
      • Cloud Poodll Rec. Type: Choose between audio or video recorder.
      • Cloud Poodll Rec. Time Limit: Set a time limit on the recording. This tool is best utilized for short form content. 5 minutes is recommended as a maximum as saving the file to Moodle can error out if the file becomes too large.
Feedback types:
  • Feedback types:Select which feedback types are available.
    • Cloud Poodll Feedback:Provide feedback with as either a video or audio file directly in the Moodle grading menu.
      • Recorder Type:Choose between audio or video. 

    • Feedback comments: Checking this option allows graders to leave text comments for each submission.

      • Comment inline: If set to Yes, a teacher can comment directly on the text which a student has submitted as an online text submission type assignment.

    • Feedback files: If enabled, the teacher will be able to upload files with feedback when marking the assignments. These files may be, but are not limited to marked up student submissions, documents with comments or spoken audio feedback.'

    • Annotate PDF: If enabled, the teacher will be able to mark up a PDF file with comments, stamps, or highlights. 

    • Offline grading worksheet: If set to yes, the teacher will have a link to download the grading list as a spreadsheet. They will then be able to enter grades and feedback comments offline. When the teacher has completed their grading offline, they can then upload the spreadsheet, confirm the changes and the grades and comments will be transferred over into Moodle's gradebook.

Submission settings:

  • Require students click submit button: Students can upload draft versions of the assignment until such time as they are ready to submit. Once they click the submit button, they indicate to the teacher that they have finished working on the assignment. 

  • Require that students accept the Submission statement: Students must affirm a statement where they promise the work is their own before submitting their work.

  • Additional attempts: This setting allows the teacher to decide how submissions are reopened. The default is set to "Manually" which allows students to reopen and resubmit. The instructor can change this to "Never", where students may only submit once or to "Automatically until pass". The student must then keep trying and resubmitting until they get a pass grade. Passing grades are set in the Grade section - see below. (Note that for this you need to set the assignment so that students have to click 'submit for marking'. If not, then, unless you manually lock a student's assignment, then they can continue to edit it for as long as they like.) 

  • Maximum attempts: If a student is allowed to resubmit, this setting will determine how many times they can resubmit before they are no longer allowed to do so. (For example, if a student has to keep trying until they get a pass grade, the teacher might decide that ten attempts is enough even though they have not yet passed.)

Group submission settings:

  • Students submit in groups: If set to Yes, then students are able to collaborate on an assignment. This might involve for example, working in the same online text area, or one student uploading an MS Powerpoint which another student downloads, improves and re-uploads to the common assignment area. When grading, the teacher may choose to give a common grade and feedback to all students in the group or to give individual grades and feedback to each member. If no groups have been made, then Moodle will assume each students belongs to the same group.

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

    • Require all group members submit: This setting will only appear if the teacher has selected the "Require students click submit button" in the Submission settings. The assignment will not be classed as "submitted" until all members of the group have made a contribution. When one student has submitted, the other members of the group will be able to see who still has to submit.

    • Grouping for student groups: If a particular grouping is selected here, then the gradebook will display any other groups and non-grouped students in the "default group", while naming the group(s) that are in the chosen grouping. If "none" is selected, then the gradebook will display the names of all groups and put any non-grouped students in the "default group".

Notifications:

  • Notify graders about submissions: Teachers will receive a message (of a type they choose) whenever a student submits an assignment. Please note if you are using the assignment in Groups Mode (eg Separate or Visible Groups), the teacher will need to be a member of the group in order to receive the submission notification.

  • Notify graders about late submission: Teachers will receive a message (of a type they choose)whenever a student submits a late assignment. Please note if you are using the assignment in Groups Mode (eg Separate or Visible Groups), the teacher will need to be a member of the group in order to receive the submission notification.

  • Default setting for "Notify students": Sets the default value for the "Notify students" checkbox on the grading form. If you do NOT want students to be emailed when the assignment is graded, set this to No.

Turnitin plagiarism plugin settings:

  • Enable Turnitin: Set to Yes to have the assignment submitted to Turnitin in addition to the Moodle submission. Students only submit to Moodle and the Turnitin submission is automatic.

  • Display Similarity Reports to Students: Set to Yes if you want students to be able to see and review the originality report on their submission.

  • When should the file be submitted to Turnitin? (Cannot be changed)

  • Allow submission of any file type? Help with Allow submission of any file type?: Set to No

  • Store Student Papers: Set to Standard (course) Repository or No Repository.

  • Check against stored student papers: Set to no if you plan to have students submit more than one version of their paper.

  • Check against internet: Set to yes to have the paper checked against internet sources.

  • Check against journals, periodicals and publications: Set to yes to have the paper compared to databases.

  • Report Generation Speed: Recommend selecting "Generate reports immediately (resubmissions are allowed until due date)"

  • Exclude Bibliography: Set to No if you wish to include the Bibliography in the analysis.

  • Exclude Quoted Material: Set to Yes if you wish to exclude any text in quotes. Default is No so that all "quoted" and unquoted non-original student writing is included in the analysis.

  • Exclude Small Matches: Default = 5 Words, which prevents the inclusion of common brief phrases and field specific jargon.

  • Attach a rubric to this assignment: - Only if you wish to use Turnitin Grademark and NOT the standard assignment rubric grading. We recommend set to No rubric and set Grading method below to rubric to use the Moodle Assignment grading feature.

Grade:
  • Grade: Select Points from the dropdown. Moodle works best if you assign a Point value for each graded component. If you will not be giving a grade for the assignment, choose No Grade.
    • Maximum Grade: Fill in the point value for the assignment.
  • Grading method: There are 3 options:
    • Simple direct grading 
    • Marking guide
    • Rubric
  • Grade Category: Any custom Grade Categories that have been created within your site or course will be listed here and will be available for selection. Select the appropriate Grade Category to add this assignment as a Grade item within this Category.
  • Grade to pass: This setting determines the minimum grade required to pass. The value is used in activity and course completion, and in the gradebook, where pass grades are highlighted in green and fail grades in red.
  • Anonymous submissions: If this setting is enabled, then a teacher will not see the names of students who have submitted their assignments. Instead, they will see randomly generated Participant numbers. (The student view of the assignment does not change.) This is also the case if student comments have been enabled. Once they have graded the assignment, it is however possible for teachers to see who submitted what by clicking on "Reveal student identities" in the Assignment settings. Because of the nature of blind marking, the students cannot see the final grade until all of the students' names have been revealed. If you are grading an assignment using an advanced grading method such as a rubric, the rubric will also be hidden from students' view until the names are revealed. To reveal student names after you are finished grading, look under Assignment Settings > Reveal Student Names. Feedback comments will appear whether or not student names are hidden or revealed.
  • Use grading workflow: When set to Yes, teachers will be able to specify the stage they are at in their grading of individual assignments (as in the screenshot below)
  • Use grading allocation: If marking workflow (see above) is set to Yes, it is possible to enable marking allocation. This means that teachers can be selected to grade or review the submitted work of specific students. Colleagues can monitor progress through the displayed marking workflow states
  • Hide grader identity from students: If enabled, students will not be able to see who graded their assignment.
Common module settings:
  • Visible: Set to Show to allow students to see the assignment and grades. Set to Hide if you do not want students to be able to see the assignment or the associated grade.
  • Group mode: To make the assignment a group assignment
    • No groups - an individual assignment
    • Visible groups - Each group member works in their own group, but can also see other groups.
    • Separate groups - Each group member can only see their own group, others are invisible
  • Grouping: Use to specify a set of groups to be use for the assignment groups
Restrict access:
  • The restrict access feature enables teachers to restrict the availability of the assignment. When you click the Add restriction option, the following choices are available:
    • Activity completion: The activity will be locked until the student has completed another activity as per the Activity completion settings.
    • Date: Access to the activity can be limited before or after a certain date.
    • Grade: The grade for another activity must be within the designated range.
    • User profile: Can be limited to specific students based on name, etc.
    • Restriction set: Allows for multiple restriction rules.
Activity completion:
  • If enabled, activity completion is tracked, either manually or automatically, based on certain conditions. Multiple conditions may be set if desired. If so, the activity will only be considered complete when ALL conditions are met. A check next to the activity name on the course page indicates when the activity is complete.