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Defining Assignment Settings

  1. The General Tab will open automatically after you’ve clicked to add an assignment. This is where you will define the Assignment Subject and Submissions Settings and Gradebook Settings which have mandatory fields. You can also define description details and calendar settings from this tab.
    • Subject – This is the title of your assignment and it is mandatory.
    • Submissions – There are three options when setting submissions:
      • No submissions required – does not allow for submissions to be made to the assignment and can be used to assign directions for work that is submitted another way.
      • Allow only one submission – allows one submission only. Once the student has submitted their assignment they cannot submit another one but they can delete their original submission to make another.
      • Allow multiple submissions – allow unlimited submissions as long as the assignment is still released to users.
    • Due Date – Allows you to set the date and time that assignment must be submitted by. If late submissions are not allowed (set under Advanced Settings Tab) then the user will not be able to submit to the assignment after this date. The Due Date must occur AFTER the Release Date.
    • Maximum Points – Setting a number of maximum points is mandatory because assignments are automatically linked to the Gradebook. You will still need to add points even if you are not going to use the assignment in the total grade calculation.
    • Gradebook Group – If the Gradebook is Grouped than you must use the drop down menu to choose which group the assignment will appear in within the Gradebook. If the Gradebook is not grouped then this will not be an option.
    • Scale - If the Gradebook is set up with Additional Grading Scales than you must use the drop down menu to choose which grading scale will be used to grade this Assignment. Additional Grading Scales must be defined through Gradebook settings.
    • Grading Method – You can grade the assignment by entering points, using a grading scale (drop down menu of letter grades which awards the upper end of the selected percentage range defined within the Gradebook), or using a rubric (must be defined through Gradebook settings). If Rubric is chosen you must also use the drop down menu to choose which Rubric to use. You may also uncheck the Is Rubric Visible box if you do not want your students to be able to view the rubric.
    • Is Used in Calculations – Assignments are automatically attached to the Gradebook but it is not mandatory to include assignments in the final grade calculations for the course.  Uncheck this box to exclude the assignment grade from the final grade calculations.
    • Is Extra Credit – Assignment grades can be added to the Gradebook as Extra Credit instead of a regular graded assignment by clicking this checkbox.
  2. Additional settings are available within the General tab.
    • Details is where you can name the Contributor (the administrator that is creating the content) and apply a Category.
    • Tags allows you to add tags to your content so that you may easily find content associated with a particular tag. Tags can also aid in your department's curriculum mapping.

      Categories and Tags can be used for searching and organizing content in the course. For example, you could create a Category named “Chapter One” with the tags “heart” and “brain”. This would allow filtering on all content from “Chapter One” or filtering on all content across all chapters related to the “heart” or the “brain.”

    • Location Information could provide students with the location details of the Assignment.
    • Calendar Settings allows you to publish the date/time that the Assignment will be displayed on the Content Calendar and the What’s New list. Duration sets how long the event will be visible on the Calendar. 

      This does not affect the actual availability of the assignment. Availability settings must be set from the Availability Tab.

  3. The assignment will automatically be published in Released mode but can be changed to Draft mode under the Availability Tab which contains the publish and release status of the assignment.
  4. The Availability Tab also allows you to set a Released Date, Expiration Date, and whether or not the assignment should be displayed in Course Content.
    • Selecting a Released date sets the date/time that the assignment becomes available to students. If the assignment is released and the release date is set to a future date/time then the assignment will not be available until that date/time.
    • The Expiration date sets a date/time in which the assignment becomes unavailable. Once an assignment expires it will no longer be visible to students within Assessment Tools.
    • If you want to show the assignment in site content you must first submit the assignment creation then return and edit the assignment. The Show in Site Content checkbox will now be located on the Availability tab. Click the checkbox to create a content item in Course Content for the assignment.

      This is not available during the creation of the assignment and will only become available if you edit an existing assignment.

  5. All students have access to the assignment unless restrictions are made. The Access Control Tab can be used to set restrictions based on your user list and preset roles. To enable restrictions, select any of the three Add Restrictions buttons within this tab.
    • Add User Restrictions - click this button to display the User List and Add/Remove specific users to/from the access list.
    • Add Small Group Restrictions - click this button to display the Small Groups List and Add/Remove Small Groups you have created to/from the access list.
    • Add Role Restrictions - click this button to display the Role list and Add/Remove Roles to/from the access list.
  6. The Dependent Release Tab allows you to release an assignment based upon the completion of set criteria. For example, you can set the assignment to be released once a user has scored at least an 80% on a previous exam or submitted a certain number of posts to a discussion.
  7. The Discussion Tab allows you to add a discussion to the assignment. This will create a new discussion and place a “View Discussion” button on the homepage of the assignment. An attached Discussion cannot be graded so you must create a separate discussion to connect it to the Gradebook.
  8. The Advanced Settings Tab contains optional settings that define Late Submissions and Directions.
    • Allow Late Submissions – check this option to allow for late submissions so that users can submit after the Due Date.
    • Grade Reduction - if there is a defined Due Date and Late Submissions are allowed, then the Grade Reduction setting will also be available. For late submissions, reductions can be applied using the global settings set within Gradebook Settings, or you can choose to enact no grade reduction, a one time grade reduction for late submissions, or a daily grade reduction for each day past the due date it is submitted.
    • Directions – gives you the option to define specific assignment directions for users.
    • Direction Files – click Choose Files or drag and drop file(s) to upload a document containing directions.