Assignment: How to Set Up an Assignment Activity

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Last updated: May 11, 2020
6 min read

This guide details the steps of how to set up an Assignment activity in Moodle at the end of which you will be able to start accepting student submissions.

For a video overview of the basic options on how to set up an Assignment please view this video: https://youtu.be/w16yhdmxoZ0

 

Instructions

  1. Visit the UNIC Moodle site (https://courses.unic.ac.cy/) and log in to your account.

  2. Open the course you want to create an Assignment for. Click the settings gear located at the upper-right corner of the course page and click Turn editing on. After doing so you will notice that you are able to make changes to the course.

  3. Navigate to the area of the course that you want to add the Assignment. At the bottom of the Topic/Week click Add an activity or resource. You will be presented with a list of all the possible Activities and Resources you can add to the course. Locate and select Assignment under Activities and click Add.

  4. The activity setting page will load. Below all general settings for the Assignment will be outlined. Utilise the settings that best fit your needs. Any recommended settings will be indicated as such. Any settings not specifically mentioned can be left to their default values.

  5. Once all the settings are to your liking scroll to the bottom of the page and click Save and return to course.

     

Assignment Settings

Name: Enter a name for the activity. This name will be displayed on the course page.

Description: You may use this space to provide your students with the actual Assignment Description (if not already provided elsewhere in the course) or additional instructions for the Assignment, e.g. required readings before submitting, paper formatting requirements, etc.

Display description on course page: By enabling this checkbox the text entered in the Description will also be displayed on the course page under the Name.

Additional files: You can add additional files that the students might need to complete the assignment, e.g. worksheets, templates, etc.

Allow submissions from: Enabling this will allow you to set a date & time after which students can submit their assignment.

Due date: Enabling this will enforce a due date which will be indicated to students in the activity. Submission of assignments will still be allowed after this date but these assignments will be indicated as late.

RECOMMENDED: It is best to at least set a due date for each assignment activity to allow your students plan their workloads.

Cut-off date: If set, this will prevent students from submitting after the specified date. Submissions will only be accepted if the specified student is granted an extension. More information on that can be found here: https://unicit.atlassian.net/wiki/x/AYB2FQ

Remind me to grade by: The expected date that marking of the assignments should be completed by. This date is not displayed to students. This date is used only to prioritise your dashboard notifications.

Note regarding times:
Start of the day → set the time to 00:00
End of the day → set the time to 23:59

Submission types: Assignments are set up to accept files by default. You can also choose to accept Online text - where students will type their answer directly in Moodle - by enabling the option.

OPTIONAL: If you request that students write a short passage, approx. 0-300 words, you might consider using Online text.

Maximum number of uploaded files: Default 20 files will be accepted per student. You can reduce this if necessary.

Maximum submission size: Default to the maximum allowed for the course. This is the maximum file size allowed per file. More information to change the maximum allowed file size can be found here: https://unicit.atlassian.net/wiki/x/RAC-Kg

Accepted file types: You can restrict students to only submit specified file types. These can be selected from the list provided, click Choose, or entered in the field provided for anything that is not found on the list. Multiple file types can be accepted.

Feedback types: This indicates what type of feedback you can provide to your students for their submitted files.

  • Feedback comments: Leave short feedback directly within Moodle. Enabled by default.

  • Feedback files: if enabled, you can upload a file with your feedback.

Students submit in groups: If this Assignment will be used as a Group activity then change this setting to Yes. A group submission will be available in the activity for the student group and all group members will see the others' changes to the submission.