10. Assignment Management

10.1 Introduction to Assignment Management

Assignment Management allows faculty to create and manage coursework, such as reports and projects, that students must submit within a specified period. After the submission period ends, faculty evaluate the submissions, optionally using a rubric. Assignments contribute to the overall course assessment and have their own weightage and marks.

10.1.1 Assignment Workflow

• Stage 1: Prepare the course for assignments. (see section 10.2)
• Stage 2: Create the assignment with its dates, weightage and marks. (see section 10.4)
• Stage 3: Optional: add a rubric for marking. (see section 10.5)
• Stage 4: Assign the students. (see section 10.6)
• Stage 5: After the submission period, evaluate the submissions. (see section 10.7)

10.2 Prerequisites

Before you create an assignment, prepare the following:

• An assignment session category: in Settings > Session Categories, add a category under Assessment with the assessment type Assignment, for example Sample Assignment (see section 5.5.1).
• An assignment activity type in the course: add the category as an activity type on the Assessment Activities step of the course, with its weightage in the course (see the following procedure).
• A published course with students: the course must be published, and its students added (see section 6.14).

10.2.1 How to Add the Assignment Activity Type to the Course

1. Open the course in the Course Designer.

The Course Designer opens.

1. Select Assessment Activities.

The Assessment Activities step opens.

1. Select Add Activity Type.

A new row is added to the activity types table.

1. In Activity Type, select the assignment category, for example Sample Assignment.
2. Enter the Activity Type Title and the Weightage in Course.
3. In the row, select Save.

The message Activity type saved successfully. appears. For an assignment, Quantity and Default Duration are not used and are displayed in grey.

10.3 List of Assignments

All assignment tasks start on the List of Assignments screen.

1. From the main menu, select Exams (1).

The Exams menu opens.

Figure 10-1 Exams Menu, List of Assignments

1. Select List of Assignments (2).

The List of Assignments screen opens.

Figure 10-2 List of Assignments Screen

• (1) Search by assignment title: Finds an assignment by title.
• (2) Advance Search: Filters assignments by course and date. See section 10.3.1.
• (3) Add New Assignment: Creates an assignment. See section 10.4.
• Assignments table: The Title, Course Title, Description, Start Date, Submission End Date, Evaluation End Date and Actions of each assignment. Select … in the description to read the full text.

10.3.1 Advance Search for Assignments

1. On the List of Assignments screen, select Advance Search (1).

The search panel opens.

Figure 10-3 Advance Search Panel for Assignments

1. In Search by Course Code or Search by Course Name (2), enter all or part of the course code or name.
2. Under Assignment Date (2), select a date range.
3. Select Search (3).

The list displays only the matching assignments.

10.3.2 Assignment Actions Menu

1. In the row of the assignment, select the edit icon (1) in the Actions column.

The Assignment menu (2) opens.

Figure 10-4 Assignment Actions Menu

1. Select an action from the following list.

The action is performed.

• Edit: Opens the assignment on the Manage Assignment screen.
• Delete: Deletes the assignment. [TO CONFIRM: confirmation message and whether submitted assignments can be deleted.]
• Evaluate: Opens the submissions of the students for evaluation. [TO CONFIRM: steps and screenshot of the evaluation screen.]

10.4 Basic Info Tab

Create an assignment to define its type, weightage, marks, and submission and evaluation dates.

1. On the List of Assignments screen, select Add New Assignment (2 in Figure 10-2).

The Add New Assignment popup opens.

Figure 10-5 Add New Assignment Popup

1. In the row of the course, select the option button (1) in the Actions column.
2. Select Next (2).

The Manage Assignment screen opens on the Basic info tab. Fields marked with a red asterisk (*) are required.

Figure 10-6 Manage Assignment Screen, Basic Info Tab

1. In Assignment Type (1), select the assignment activity type of the course, for example Sample Assignment.
2. In Assignment Weightage (%) (1), enter the share of the final course grade for this assignment, for example 1. It cannot exceed the Remaining Weightage (%) displayed next to it.
3. In Assignment Marks and Passing Marks (1), enter the total marks of the assignment and the marks needed to pass, for example 1 and 0.5.
4. Under Submission (2), select the Start Date and End Date, with their times, between which students can submit the assignment.
5. Under Evaluation/Marking (3), select the End Date and time by which faculty must complete the evaluation.
6. In Title, enter the title of the assignment, for example Sample Assignment.
7. Optional: turn on Use Rubric (4) to mark the assignment with a rubric, and Allow Evaluation Without Submission (4) to allow faculty to evaluate students who did not submit.
8. In Description and Instruction, enter what the assignment is about and the instructions for the students.
9. Select Save (5).

The message Assignment saved successfully. appears, and the Manage Rubric and Manage Student tabs are added.

Next, if you turned on Use Rubric, create the rubric (see section 10.5). Otherwise, assign the students (see section 10.6).

10.5 Manage Rubric Tab

A rubric defines the evaluation criteria and the performance levels used to mark the assignment, so that every student is marked in the same way.

1. Select the Manage Rubric tab (1).

The Manage Rubric tab opens.

Figure 10-7 Manage Rubric Tab

1. Select Add Rubric (2).

The Rubric popup opens.

Figure 10-8 Rubric Popup

1. Select Create New (1) to build a rubric, or Use Existing Rubric to use an existing reusable rubric.
2. Select Create (2).

The rubric opens. It has a column for each level, for example Excellent, Very Good, Good, Fair and Poor.

Figure 10-9 Rubric Grid

1. For each level (2), verify the name and enter the Point Value, for example 4 to 0.
2. Under WEIGHTAGE (%) (3), select Auto to divide the weightage equally between the criteria, or Manual to enter it.
3. Select Add Evaluation Criteria (1).

A criterion row is added.

1. Enter the description of the criterion, for example Subject Knowledge: Demonstrates a clear understanding of the assigned topic.
2. In each level column (2), describe the performance expected for that level.
3. Repeat steps 7 to 9 for each criterion.
4. Verify that Total Weightage is 100.00%.
5. Select Save Rubric (4).

The Rubric Title popup opens.

Figure 10-10 Rubric Title Popup

1. Enter the Rubric Title (Primary) and Rubric Title (Secondary) (2), for example Sample Rubric.
2. Optional: to make the rubric available for other assignments, select Reuseable (1).
3. Select Save (3).

The message Rubric has been saved successfully. appears.

ℹ NOTE: To add a level, select Add Scale; to remove a level or criterion, select the red ×; to reorder the criteria, use the arrows. To delete the rubric, select Delete Rubric.

10.6 Manage Student Tab

Assign the students who must submit the assignment. Only the students of the course can be assigned.

1. Select the Manage Student tab.

At the top, Students displays the total number of students in the course and the number assigned to the assignment, and Sections displays the same for the course sections.

Figure 10-11 Manage Student Tab

1. In the sections table, select the check box (1) of each section whose students you want to assign.
2. Select Show Students From Selected Sections (2).

The students are listed on the Free tab. Students who are not in a section are listed under Not assigned To Sections.

1. On the Free tab, select the check box (3) of each student.
2. Select Assign (4).

The assigned students are listed on the Assigned To Assignment tab (5), and Assigned To Assignment at the top displays their number.

10.7 Assignment Evaluation

After the submission period, faculty evaluate the submissions from the List of Assignments screen with the Evaluate action (see section 10.3.2). [TO CONFIRM: steps of the assignment evaluation and how marks are published to students.]