ASSIGNMENTS TOOL

Best Practices Tips and Tricks | Student Tutorial
Assignments Tool (slide show) | Assignments Tool (Flash)

With the Assignments Tool you may create and post assignments on your WebCT course for students to download and/or submit back to you. A wide format of assignments may be created, including those with attached files for students to respond to or modify. You may also grade students' assignments and return the graded assignment and/or evaluation comments. We recommend referring your students to the Student Assignment Tutorial for more information.

With the Assignment Tool, you can:

Add an Assignment

  • Ensure that the Designer Options tab is selected.
  • From the Assignments page, in the box on the right side of the screen, under Options, click [Add]. The Add Assignment screen appears.

  • Enter a title for the assignment in the Assignment Title box. Click [Add]. The Assignments screen reappears with a link to the new assignment.
  • To edit the assignment, refer to the Edit Assignment Settings section.

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Delete an Assignment

  • Ensure that the Designer Options tab is selected.
  • From the Assignments page, select the radio button next to the assignment you wish to delete.
  • Under Options: Assignment (on the right side of the screen) click .
  • Two warning messages will appear in succession. Click OK for both.
  • Your assignment will be deleted.

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Edit Assignment Settings

After your assignment has been added, you may edit the assignment.
  • Ensure that the Designer Options tab is selected.
  • From the Assignments page, click on the name of your assignment. A new screen for the assignment will appear.
  • Under Options on the right side of the screen, click . The Assignment Settings screen appears, including four sections: Basic Settings, Availability, Submissions, and Results. *If you edit any option for any section, you must click at the bottom of the screen for the change to be applied.
  • Under Basic Settings, you may edit the following items:
    • Assignment Title.
    • Assignment Instructions. You may use HTML tags to format any text entered in the Instructions box.
    • Maximum Grade for the assignment. Enter a number for the maximum grade.
  • Under Availability, you may indicate when the assignment will be available for students to complete.
    • Determine Available starting by selecting either [Immediately] or [Specify a date] and enter the month, day, and time that you wish to make your assignment available.
    • Specify a Due date by selecting either [Unlimited] or [Specify a date] and enter the month, day, and time for the assignment due date. *Note: to specify midnight on a certain day as the Due date, select 12am for the next day.
    • Under the Cutoff date section, you may or may not allow students to submit late work after your due date has passed.
      • Select either [Do not allow late submissions] or [Allow late submissions].
      • If you select [Allow late submissions], specify the cutoff date by either selecting [Unlimited] or [Specify a date] and enter the month, day, and time. After the due date has passed, students will see a "Late" notice next to their assignments. Their submitted assignments will also be indicated to you as late.
      • *Note: if you already selected [Unlimited] for the Due date, you may not allow late work to be submitted.
  • Under the Submissions section, you may determine if your students may submit their assignments more than once. If you select [Allow multiple submissions], students will be able to retrieve their submitted assignments before the due date to modify and resubmit them. You will not be able to grade any assignment until after the due date.
  • Under Results, you may determine if and when the students will be able to see their grades for the assignment.
    • Next to Student score release, you may determine if the score will be released either after the assignment has been graded or after both the availability has passed and the assignment has been graded. You may also choose not to allow the score to be released.
    • Next to Release column, you may determine if students will view their grades in the My Grades tool. If you have added the My Grades tool to your course, the My Grades icon appears on your home page for students to click and view their grades.
  • Do not forget to click for any changes to take effect.

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Display or Hide Assignments Based on Due Date and Availability

The number assignments that appear on your Assignments page may be adjusted based on the assignment's due date and availability status. To adjust the number of assignments displayed, click on the Display drop-down list, located near the top of the Assignments page. Select a status level and click [Go].

  • To display all assignments, regardless of status, select All assignments and click [Go].
  • To display all available assignments, select All assignments that are available and click [Go].
  • To display all assignments due within 48 hours, select All assignments that are due soon and click [Go].
  • To display all late assignments, select All assignments that are late and click [Go].

Remember that you may also control whether or not students view their grades using their My Grades tools. Refer to Edit Assignment Settings for more information.

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Import Files to Attach to Assignments

You may import files from your My-Files folder to be used with your assignment. Examples include an article for students to read, an illustration to view, or a graph or spreadsheet for students to modify and submit to you. Any imported file must first have been uploaded from your computer to your My-Files folder. Refer to the WebDAV tutorial for more information on uploading files to My-Files.

To import a file into an assignment:

  • From the Assignments page, ensure that the Designer Options tab is selected.
  • Click on the assignment for which you would like to import a file. An Assignment screen appears.
  • Under Options on the right side of the screen, in the text box under Import assignment file, enter the path and file name for the file you wish to import, or click [Browse] for the WebCT Browser window. In the browser window, select the file you wish to import and click [Add selected]. The file name and path will automatically appear in the text box.

  • Click [Import]. The Assignment screen reappears displaying the newly-imported file.

To remove imported files from an assignment, select the box next to the file and click on the right side of the screen. Two warning messages will come up. Click [OK] for both.

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View Student Submissions

  • On the Assignments page, ensure that the Designer Options tab is selected.
  • Click for the assignment for which you would like to view submissions. The Submissions screen appears.
  • To the right of the screen, under Organize, you will see a text box for the number of submissions to view at one time.

  • Enter the number of submissions you would like to view and click [Update]. You may find it helpful to limit the number of student records displayed at one time.
  • To navigate through the lists of student submissions:
    • Use the arrow keys
    • Select the page drop-down list to view a range of records or to view all records.

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Download Student Submissions

Any number of student submissions may be downloaded to your computer. In order to read a student's submission, you will need the same software on your computer that was used to create the file, or software that can convert the file. Before downloading any student assignments, on the Assignments page, ensure that the Designer Options tab is selected.

To download any number of assignment submissions:

  • Under the assignment you wish to download, click . The Submissions screen appears.
  • Select the check boxes next to the students whose assignments you wish to download. To select the all students, select the box next to Personal Information at the top of the rows.

  • Click [Download] on the right side of the screen. A warning window appears.
  • Click [OK]. Your browser's Download File window appears.
  • Follow the on screen instructions to save the file to your computer.
  • When finished, click [Close].

A second option exists to download a single student file:

  • Under the assignment you wish to download, click [Submissions]. The Submissions screen appears.
  • Under the Status column: click on the words: Graded or Not Graded for the assignment you wish to download.
  • The Grade Assignment page appears. Refer to the Grade an Assignment section for information how to grade assignments.
  • Under Files, click on the name of the student's file. A new window opens. Click [Download].

  • Your browser's Download File window appears.
  • Follow the on screen instructions to save the file to your computer.
  • When finished, click [Close].

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Grade an Assignment

If you have downloaded and reviewed an assignment, you may enter the grade in WebCT. To grade an assignment:
  • On the Assignments page, Ensure that the Designer Options tab is selected.
  • Click on below the assignment you wish to grade. The Submissions page appears. Late submissions will have a "Late" message under the Date column.
  • Under the Status column, click on the words Not Graded for the assignment you wish to download. The Grade Assignment page appears.
  • Enter comments in the Comments box and a grade in the Grade box. A "late" notice will appear next to the Grade box if the assignment had been submitted late.
  • To upload a student's graded file, refer to Return a Graded Assignment below.
  • When finished grading, click [Grade]. You will be brought back to the Submissions page with the Status column updated from Not Graded to Graded.

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Return a Graded Assignment

If you download a file from a student and add comments and a grade, you may then upload the graded assignment to your WebCT course and return it to the student. Before uploading the file, it must be saved to a disk in your computer or saved to your computer's hard drive. To upload a graded assignment:

  • On the Assignments page, Ensure that the Designer Options tab is selected.
  • Click for the assignment that you wish to return. The Submissions page appears. Late submissions display a "Late" message under the Date column.
  • Under the Status column for the assignment you wish to return, click on the word . If you have not yet entered a grade into WebCT, the Status column will read Ungraded. Click on Ungraded.
  • The Grade Assignment page appears. Click [Upload file]. The Upload Graded File page appears.

  • Enter the path and name of the file in the Filename text box, or press [Browse] for your computer's browser window. In the browser window, select the file and click [Open].
  • Click [Upload]. You will be brought back to the Grade Assignment page with the uploaded file appearing under Graded Files.
  • The graded file will automatically appear in the student's WebCT account under their Assignment tool.

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Reset Student Submissions

Resetting a student's submissions for an assignment will delete that student's submissions in the Assignment tool and grade in the Manage Students file. To reset a student's submissions:

  • On the Assignments page, Ensure that the Designer Options tab is selected.
  • Click for the assignment you wish to reset. The Submissions screen appears.
  • Select the check box next to the student(s) whose submissions you wish to reset.

  • Under Options on the right side of the screen, click .
  • A warning message appears. Click [OK].
  • A final warning message appears. Click [OK].
  • The Status of the student's assignments changes to Not submitted.

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