The first assignment that we will add will make use of the PMD scale that we created in Chapter 2, Customizing Grades:
- Click on the Turn editing on button.
- Click on Add an activity or resource.
- Click on Assignment and then click on Add.
- In the Assignment name box, type in the name of the assignment (such as
Task 1). - In the Description box, provide some assignment details.
- In the Availability section, we need to disable the date options. We will not make use of these options, but they can be very useful. To disable the options, click on the tick next to the Enable text.
However, details of these options have been provided for future reference.
- The Allow submissions from section is mostly relevant when the assignment will be submitted electronically, as students won't be able to submit their work until the date and time indicated here.
- The Due date section can be used to indicate when the assignment needs to be submitted by. If students electronically submit their assignment after the date and time indicated here, the submission date and time will be shown in red in order to notify the teacher that it was submitted past the due date.
- The Cut off date section enables teachers to set an extension period after the due date where late submissions will continue to be accepted.
- In the Submission types section, ensure that the File submissions checkbox is enabled by adding a tick there. This will enable students to submit their assignment electronically. There are additional options that we can choose as well. With Maximum number of uploaded files, we can indicate how many files a student can upload. Keep this as 1. We can also determine the Maximum submission size option for each file using the drop-down list shown in the following screenshot:
- Within the Feedback types section, ensure that all options under the Feedback types section are selected.
- Feedback comments enables us to provide written feedback along with the grade.
- Feedback files enables us to upload a file in order to provide feedback to a student.
- Offline grading worksheet will provide us with the option to download a
.csvfile that contains core information about the assignment, and this can be used to add grades and feedback while working offline. This completed.csvfile can be uploaded and the grades will be added to the assignments within the Gradebook.
- In the Submission settings section, we have options related to how students will submit their assignment and how they will reattempt submission if required.
- If Require students click submit button is left as No, students will upload their assignment and it will be available to the teacher for grading. If this option is changed to Yes, students can upload their assignment, but the teacher will see that it is in the draft form. Students will click on Submit to indicate that it is ready to be graded.
- Require that students accept the submission statement will provide students with a statement that they need to agree to when they submit their assignment. The default statement is This assignment is my own work, except where I have acknowledged the use of works of other people.
- The Attempts reopened drop-down list provides options for the status of the assignment after it has been graded. Students will only be able to resubmit their work when it is open. Therefore this setting will control when and if students are able to submit another version of their assignment. The options available to us are:
Never: This option should be selected if students will not be able to submit another piece of work.
Manually: This will enable anyone who has the role of a teacher to choose to reopen a submission that enables a student to submit their work again.
Automatically until pass: This option works when a pass grade is set within the Gradebook. This will be explained in Chapter 8, Additional Features for Progress Tracking. After grading, if the student is awarded the minimum pass grade or higher, the submission will remain closed in order to prevent any changes to the submission. However, if the assignment is graded lower than the assigned pass grade, the submission will automatically reopen in order to enable the student to submit the assignment again.
Maximum attempts: The maximum attempts allowed for this assignment will limit the number of times an assignment is reopened. For example, if this option is set to 3, then a student will only be able to submit their assignment three times. After they have submitted their assignment for a third time, they will not be allowed to submit it again. The default is unlimited, but it can be changed by clicking on the drop-down list.
- In the Submission settings section, ensure that the options for Require students click on submit button and Require that students accept the submission statement are set to Yes. Also, change the Attempts reopened to Automatically until passed.
- Within the Grade section, navigate to Grade | Type | Scale and choose the PMD scale created within Chapter 2, Customizing Grades. Select Use marking workflow by changing the drop-down list to Yes.
Use marking workflow is a new feature of Moodle 2.6 that enables the grading process to go through a range of stages in order to indicate that the marking is in progress or is complete, is being reviewed, or is ready for release to students. This will be explained in more detail in Chapter 4, Assigning Grades.
- Click on Save and return to course.