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Assignment Tool
The Assignment Tool of WebCT allows instructors to create and distribute course assignments to students. With this tool, students can upload completed work and instructors can download, evaluate, and assign a grade to the completed work. Creating a specific assignment adds an associated column in the "Manage Students" area. I. Adding Assignments |
Add
the "Assignments" tool to your course.
(If it is not already there.)
See how to add a page or tool to your MSU WebCT course by going here: "Add Page or Tool"
When adding
the assignment tool select "Assignments" from the "Evaluation & Activity
Tools" area (as below)
Note: There is no wizard available for the Assignments tool.
After selecting
the "Assignments" hotlink enter a title for the tool (in this case "Assignments"),
decide and select where you wish it to appear and select "Add"...
Note: The designer can choose to show the tool in the "Course
Menu" only; on an organizer page (in this case the "Homepage" of the course)
only or in both places.
Adding specific assignments...
(after the "Assignments" tool is added to the course)
The tool will appear in your course (as in the image directly
below).
Note: In this instance, the assignments tool appears on
both the "Course Menu" and on the organizer page "Homepage". The designer
can choose to show the tool in the "Course Menu" only; on an organizer
page (in this case the "Homepage" of the course) only or in both places.
For this example, the designer chose to show the tool in both areas. The
icon style is WebCT Casual Transparent with no text.
Select the tool (in this case from either the "Homepage" or from the "Course Menu") in order to actually work on it.
When in the tool, to add new assignments, select "Add".
Note: When you add an assignment to your course by using
the assignment tool, a column is automatically created in the "Manage
Students" area of the course (a.k.a. "gradebook").
Give the assignment a title by typing it into the textbox
(in the example below, the title of the newly added assignment is "Assignment
One").
Then select "Add"...
The assignment title appears.
Select the hotlinked assignment title to access the assignment to work
on it.
To look at assignments the way students will see it...
Select the "View" tab to bring the approximation of the student view forward.
The student view is different. The "Submissions" hotlink box, "Options" and "Organize" controls are no longer visible (as below).
Note: To see a "true" view of what the student sees and to make sure that everything is in true working order, MSU WebCT suggests that you get a student view account added into your course. Contact MSU WebCT (msuwebct@montana.edu) to make this happen!
II. Work with Assignments |
Importing a file to associate with the assignment...
"Assignment Information" (in the image below) indicates that the assignment hasn't been "set up" yet (Maximum grade: None; Due Date: None... and so forth).
In this example, the instructor starts off by choosing to Import an assignment file that the students are to read before uploading and submitting a file for their first assignment. Designers can choose to import and associate assignment-related files such as photographs, a spreadsheet for the student to modify, or articles to which students will respond (if it's a file, you can import it!).
Note: The designer could also select "Edit assignment settings" to "set up" the parameters of this assignment. The designer can do these procedures (Importing a related assignment file or setting up the assignment parameters) in any order. It is not necessary to Import a file (or even associate a file with an assignment) for this tool to function correctly.
To get to the file that the designer has chosen to import, the designer selects the "Browse..." button (as below).
Selecting
"Browse..." brings the designer to the "WebCT File Browser" pop-up window.
In this example, the file that the designer wants is not
in the "My-Files" area of the course so the designer is forced to select
"Browse..." again (as directly below) to upload the appropriate file from
his or her local machine.
Note: If the file has already been uploaded into the "My-Files"
area of the course, the designer can select the file from this area without
having to browse out to the local machine to get it.
The image
below shows the progression of browser windows, pop-ups and dialogue boxes
that accompany this procedure. In the background is the "Your MSU WebCT
Course" browser window, next is the "WebCT File Browser" pop-up window
and finally, at the front, the "Choose file" dialogue box that represents
the area of the local machine that the designer will select the file from.
Note: It's a pretty safe bet that your machine's screen
will not look the same as these pictures. Don't let this throw you- the
steps are the same- it just might look different because these screen-shots
and your screen's look are generated by different computers.
In this example,
the designer has created a folder on his or her local machine entitled
"My_MSU_WebCT_Course" and has nested the "student_sample_file.txt" inside
of it. By selecting the file, the designer is putting it in place to be
uploaded into the "My-Files" area of the course.
Note: It is always a good idea to create a space where you
keep all course related electronic files. Following this practice makes
it easier to find the files when you need them. Duh!
After the
file has been put in place (as below), select "Open".
(Or you can just double-click the file name and it will be put into final
position for the upload.)
Now the file
(along with the related path that the computer will use to accurately
locate the file) is in the final position to allow it to be uploaded to
the "My-Files" area of the MSU WebCT course.
Note: The "Filename:" box indicates that the file resides
on the C drive of the local computer and in the "My Documents" area...
if we followed the rest of the path we would see that it goes to the folder
"My_MSU_WebCT_Course" next and finally plucks the "student_sample_file.txt"
from the local machine to be uploaded and then used in the WebCT course.
Select the
"Upload" button to get the file on its way "up" into the course.
Note: The dropbox next to the "Upload" button indicates
your ability to upload directly to any sub-folder that you can create
in the "My-Files" area. In this example, there are no sub-folders
that have been created. If there were, you could select the arrow and
when the dropbox expands down, select the folder you wish the file to
be directly uploaded into...
Now the file appears in the "My-Files" area of the course (as below). Since the file was just uploaded, it remains selected (indicated by the dot in the center of the radio button that corresponds with the file). All that remains now is to select the "Add selected" button (as below) and the file will be ready to be "Imported" and thus associated with the assignment.
After selecting the "Add selected" button, the file name appears in the "Import assignment file" text box. Selecting the "Import" button associates the file with the assignment.
As illustrated below, the file appears under the "Assignment Information" area. Selecting the hotlinked file name will show the contents of the file. To remove the file, select the checkbox next to the filename and select the "Remove" button.
Editing assignment parameters...
Select the hotlinked assignment title to access the assignment to work on it.
To edit assignment settings select the "Edit assignment
settings" button.
It is from this area that designers set the parameters associated with
a particular assignment.
Basic Settings:
In this area a title, instructions, and a maximum grade are required fields
and must be completed for the assignment to be set up.
Note: If necessary, the originally created assignment title
can be changed from this area by selecting the current title and typing
in a new one.
Availability:
If the designer selects "Immediately" then the assignment will be available
right away. If the designer chooses to select a time and a date in the
"Available starting:" area, the assignment will not be available until
that time. Likewise, the "Due date:" area is constructed.
Under "Cutoff Date", the designer chooses whether to allow late submissions or not. If the designer selects "Allow late submissions.", he/she can select "Unlimited" to indicate no cutoff date for late submissions, or specify a date up to which late submissions will be allowed.
If designers allow late submissions, with no cutoff date, the Assignment screen for that assignment will display a 'Late' notice next to the assignment once the due date (not the cutoff date, as none was specified) is passed. Students will also see a 'Late' notice next to the assignment, but will continue to be able to submit. On the instructor's Grade Assignment screen, a 'Late' status will be displayed for that assignment.
If designers allow late submissions, with a cutoff date, the Assignment screen for that assignment will display a 'Late' notice next to the assignment once the due date is passed. Students will still be able to submit up to the cutoff date. Once the cutoff date is reached, the status of the assignment will become 'Unavailable', and students will no longer be able to submit. On the instructor's Grade Assignment screen, a 'Late' status will be displayed for that assignment.
Submissions:
Designers can allow multiple submissions or not. If the designer chooses
to allow multiple submissions, students will be able to retrieve an assignment
prior to its due date, and prior to it being graded, and then resubmit
it for grading. Student can retrieve/resubmit as many times as they like.
Note: If designers choose to "allow multiple submissions", they will be unable to grade any submissions until the due date has passed. If designers wish to be able to grade submissions at any point, they should select the "Do not allow multiple submissions" radio button.
Results:
Designers choose the appropriate method of release from the 3 selections.
Note: If the designer has added the "My Grades" tool to
the course, he or she may choose to release the column for student viewing
from this area by selecting "Yes" in the "Student Score Release" area
Select "Update" (as below) to have the settings take effect.
III. Grade Assignments |
To view student
submissions, get back to the "Assignments" area.
Note: You can also view submissions by going to the "Manage
Students" area and selecting the "Submissions" hotlink in the column that
corresponds to the assignment you wish to view submissions in.
Select the hotlink box "Submissions" associated with the assignment that is to be graded.
Student records are displayed along with a status. In this case, none of the students have submitted the assignment so the submission status for all students is "Not submitted" and will not change until the student(s) upload their files.
Grading Submissions...
Once students have submitted files, the instructor needs to access them to grade them.
There are different methods to accomplish this task and the methodology that an instructor chooses is predicated on different variables (see "Grading Scenarios" below).
To grade a submission. select the "Not Graded" hotlink.
Note: Two types of status indications are arrayed in the
image below. "Not submitted" means that the student has not uploaded his
or her file and submitted it for consideration. "Not Graded" means that
the student has successfully uploaded his or her file but the submission
has not been graded yet.
The next image shows the "Grade Assignment" page that is specific to individual student account(s) in the submissions area. In this instance, MSUWebCT Student01 has submitted the file "msuwebct01_assignment_one.txt" on March 9, 2004 at 4:47 P.M.
Hovering over the student file reveals it as a hotlink and clicking on it will open the "WebCT Assignment Dropbox View Files" pop-up window.
As below, when the "WebCT Assignment Dropbox View Files"
window comes up, the instructor has a choice of what to do with the file.
In this instance the instructor chooses to select the hotlinked file name
to preview the file in the right side of the "... View Files" window.
Because the file is a .txt file (and thus native to the web) the file opens in the right hand panel of the "WebCT Assignment Dropbox View Files" window.
Downloading a student's submitted file from the student submission area...
To download a submitted file from the server to the local computer, after selecting the file name to bring up the "WebCT Assignment Dropbox View Files" pop-up window, select the radio button corresponding to the file and then select the hotlinked "Download" button (as below).
The image below shows the progression of browser windows, pop-ups and dialogue boxes that accompany this procedure. In the background is the "Your MSU WebCT Course" browser window, next is the "WebCT Assignment Dropbox View Files" pop-up window and finally, at the front, the "File Download" dialogue box that prompts the user to choose what he or she wants to do with the file.
Note: It's a pretty safe bet that your machine's screen will not look the same as these pictures. Don't let this throw you- the steps are the same- it just might look different because these screen-shots and your screen's look are generated by different computers.
In this case, the instructor chooses to continue with the download and save the file to disk (saving the file to his or her local computer).
The file is saved to where the instructor has chosen to navigate too. In this case, the instructor has saved the file (indicated by the red arrow) into the "Assignment_One" folder he or she has created on the local machine.
Note: This dialogue window gives the user an opportunity to re-name the file before saving it if necessary.
Downloading multiple student files...
WebCT allows instructors to download multiple files.
Select the
corresponding checkboxes next to the student accounts that you wish to
download.
Then select the hotlinked "Download" button (as below).
WebCT creates a ZIP file that instructors can save to their local machine. The ZIP file is named according to the ID that the course goes by on the server, the title of the Assignments tool and the date that the download occurs on.
In this case, the server course ID is "MSUWCT01_YourCourse", the Assignments tool has been named "Assignments" and the date the download was performed on was March 9, 2004 so the created file name is "MSUWCT01_YourCourse_assignments_Mar9.zip". The instructor eventually directs the save to the "Assignment One" folder.
After downloading, when the ZIP file is extracted it contains separate folders for each individual that was selected to be part of the download. The folders are named with the WebCT ID that corresponds with each individual student. In the image below you can see the ZIP file ("MSUWCT01_YourCourse_assignments_Mar9.zip") and the results of the extraction (in the red square).
Opening one of the folders (in this case "msuwebct02") reveals the file that the student had uploaded into the assignment area.
Uploading a corrected file into the
student's assignment area...
If the instructor intends to return the file to the student with changes (additions, comments etc.), or wishes to send a completely different file for the student to peruse, the instructor uses this upload method to make the file accessible to the student from the assignments area.
After the instructor has worked on a file (added comments, suggestions and so forth), he or she should re-name it using the "Save-As" function in the application so that it reflects that the file has been altered. Then the instructor needs to upload the file into the "Grade Assignment" area specific to the student.
To start the procedure, select the hotlink button "Upload file" (as below).
A new "Upload
Graded File" window appears.
Select "Browse..." (as below).
Selecting "Browse..." brings the designer out to the local machine where he or she must navigate to find the file that is to be uploaded.
In this example, the instructor navigates to the established "Assignment_One" folder and selects the "msuwebct01_assignment_one_graded.txt" file. This is the file that the instructor worked on and then re-named (adding the word "graded" to indicate that the file has been worked on).
Selecting "Open" in the "Choose File" dialogue box will put the file into place for the upload.
After the file is in place for the upload, select the hotlink button "Upload" (as below).
The file now appears in the "Grade Assignment" page for access by the student (as indicated in the "Graded Files" section of the "Grade Assignment" page below). If the instructor had another file to upload for student viewing, he or she would go through the same procedure again and it would appear below the file already in place.
In this example, "Instructor X" has also written a comment to the student and assigned a numerical value for the grade. After all is complete, the instructor selects the hotlink button "Grade" (as indicated below).
The red arrow below points to the numeric grade that the instructor has given to the student for the assignment. The status of the submission has now changed from "Not Graded" to "Graded" and the instructor moves on to the next submission.
Grading Scenarios
This area is about recommended practices and considerations that MSU WebCT urges instructors to think about when utilizing the assignments tool in WebCT.
Different
assignment approaches:
Different assignment types call for different approaches to how students
might be advised to save and submit files. Each instructor needs to develop
a method of accepting and grading files that works well for the assignment
type that he or she is constructing.
For instance, if an instructor wishes to have students submit a written paper that will be returned to the student with corrections made, the instructor might require that a specific word processing program be available to all of the students in the class to prevent incompatible file problems. The instructor would then download all of the student files to his or her local computer, open them in the appropriate word processing program, make the necessary comments and changes and then upload the file(s) back into the assignment area for easy, downloadable access by students.
Perhaps the instructor only wants to see a short text on a specific topic and does not need to return a corrected or commented file to the students-- the instructor has decided to simply return a grade with a comment (made in the available comment area of the assignments tool). In this case, it might be best to have the students upload a straight .txt or .html file that will allow the instructor to preview it in the "WebCT Assignment Dropbox View Files" pop-up window. After viewing, the instructor sends away the "...View Files" pop-up window, assigns a grade, types in any comments that he or she deems necessary and then moves on to the next student. No download is necessary. By virtue of the file type, the contents of the file appears easily in the "WebCT Assignment Dropbox View Files" pop-up window. top of grade scenarios
Different
file types create different conditions:
File types that are native to the web (.html; .txt; .jpg; .gif) will display
"inside" of WebCT and require no specific application need reside on the
student's local computer. File types that are associated with different
applications (.doc; .ppt; .xls; .pdf; .tif; .bmp and so forth) will
typically require that the individual has an appropriate application loaded
onto his or her local computer or has some way of viewing or translating
the file type so that he or she can work with it effectively.
Conditions are further influenced by computer platform (Mac vs. PC), Operating System version (Mac OS 9.x; OS 10.x; etc. or Windows '98; XP; etc. or any other computer platform/operating system configuration), as well as application type and version. For instance, if an individual is running an older Mac (maybe OS 8.6) and tries to open a Microsoft Word document that was created on a PC running Windows XP and using the latest version of Microsoft Office, he or she might find this problematic.
Another effect on the student and instructor is connection speed. If a large file is imported by an instructor it will have an effect on those students who do not have ready access to a high-speed internet connection. For instance, if the student is restricted to using a dial-up connection utilizing a 56k modem and the instructor imports a 5 MB file for students to download and use, students on the slower connections will struggle with the time it takes to download the file. A considerate instructor will understand the implications of file size and work to keep files as small as possible.top of grade scenarios
Mitigating
conditions caused by file type:
Many instructors will require certain types (and even specific versions)
of software be owned or otherwise available to the students who are interested
in taking the class. This helps assure that students (as well as instructors)
are able to use and pass files back and forth reliably with very little
hassle for all involved. A downside to this is that the policy may also
serve to restrict entry on the basis of "have" and "have not"-- and, when
you think about it, class warfare is never pretty.
Other instructors will choose to operate using file types that are native to the web for ease of file compatibility across the entire class. A problem with this is that it will force some students to learn a technical skill (like how to save a document in .html or find and use an HTML Editor program to create documents with) that adds to the technological aspects of an online class. Further, if instructors are looking for particular formatting to hold rigidly, this option can prove to be somewhat problematic. top of grade scenarios
Yet another way around the issue is to save files in a format that is supposedly cross-platform and cross-application-- a good example of this is Microsoft Word's .rtf (rich text format) file type that claims to hold format (bullets, bolds, paragraph etc.) across many diverse platforms/applications and is opened (easily) by many different word processor applications. Along this same vein, some instructors will use .pdf documents to try and bridge the gap. But the PDF solution comes with it's own set of headaches such as file size, the necessity of a plug-in, and the difficulty of creating and making changes inside of the .pdf format.
All of these solutions require a bit of investigation and testing on the part of the instructor. Typically, during the first days of class, an experienced distance education instructor will test the abilities of his students in this area by asking them to submit a small file in a certain format. This technique can be used to suss out any problems or misunderstandings that the students (or instructor) may be having in relation to the file type, file naming conventions, and file compatibility. Learning these conventions early on and while under no pressure to "make the grade" will assure smooth sailing with a happier and more relaxed crew of learners manning the ship. top of grade scenarios
File
naming conventions:
Instructors should establish a file-naming convention that is used consistently
in the class that identifies the name of the student and the assignment
that the file belongs too. This will eliminate tedious searching for files
that might or might not belong to a particular student or assignment or
both! top of grade scenarios
Mac
Users:
Students and instructors who use MacIntosh computers regularly may be
unaware of the importance that file extensions play in the PC world. When
working on a Mac it is usually necessary to manually add the extension
of a file type onto the end of the file name in order that the PC will
be able to interpret the type of file that is being handled. top
of grade scenarios
All
users:
Along this same line is the habit of some users to add things such as
spaces, dashes, hyphens and the like into file names. A good rule of thumb
for instructors to pass along to their students regarding file naming
conventions is that it is always best to avoid spaces, funny characters
(!@#$%^&*()-+=?><,./[{}]|\) and exorbitant length in their file
names. If a space is called for, substitute an underscore ( _ ) and all
will work well. top of grade scenarios
All
users:
Instructors should advise students to create a folder specific to their
class on the local computer they work on to hold all assignments and documents
associated with the class. The volatile nature of electronic files almost
assures an occasional inadvertent loss of a document (either by student
or instructor) and having a back-up version of it will save hours of work
re-creating assignments if something happens to the original file. top
of grade scenarios
Note: When you add an assignment to your course by using the assignment tool, a column is automatically created in the "Manage Students" area of the course (a.k.a. "gradebook"). top of grade scenarios
Resetting a student assignment submission...
Use reset to delete submitted assignments and grades for selected students or to allow a student to re-submit files for consideration. You can reset multiple accounts at once by selecting multiple checkboxes corresponding to the student accounts you wish to reset.Using reset will also erase a student's grade from his or her records in the "Manage Students" area.
Caution:
You will not be able to "undo" this process. All the student data for
the assignment(s) will be lost when resetting the student account. This
includes all comments and numerical grades associated with this assignment
that were entered on the "Grade Assignment" page.
Select the checkbox next to the student(s) name(s) and select the "Reset" hotlinked button (as below).
You
will get a warning dialogue box.
Select OK to follow through or Cancel to abort the operation.
Then you get ANOTHER warning box.
After the reset, the status of the student account will return to "Not Submitted" in most instances.
