Creating/adding, editing, or deleting an assignment

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Note: To complete the procedures in this document, you must be assigned a role having the necessary permissions. To determine your role, follow the directions in Participant roles. To view a list of permissions associated with a given role, see Permissions, roles, and tools. For a basic understanding of roles and permissions, see Permissions and Roles: Overview.

Create/add a new assignment

To create/add a new assignment, follow these steps:

  1. In the menubar, click Assignments, and then click Add at the top of the page.

  2. In the web form that opens, fill in the following information (fields marked with a red dot are required):

    • Title: Enter a brief title for your assignment (e.g., Essay 1 ).
    • Open date: At the open date and time, the assignment is available for students to begin working on it. To send an announcement alerting students to the start date, see step 4 below.
    • Due date: This is the assignment's deadline. To list the due date on the course site's schedule, see step 4 below.
    • Accept until: No assignments can be submitted after this date. You can set this date and time later than the due date to continue accepting assignments (e.g., to allow for revisions) after the due date.
    • Student submissions: You can choose to have students submit their assignments inline only (typed directly into a text box), as attachments only, or both.
    • Grade scale: You can choose from five grading options: Ungraded, Letter grade, Points, Pass/Fail, or Checkmark. If you choose points, enter the maximum possible points (must be a positive number or zero).
    • Attachments: To add an attached resource to your assignment, follow these steps:

      1. Click Add Attachments. (If there are already attachments, you will see Add/remove Attachments instead.)
      2. You can add any number of attachments, and they can be any combination of local files, websites, and resources:

        • To attach a local file from your computer, under "Upload local file", either enter a filename in the box provided or click Browse... . Once you find the file, select it and click Open.

          Note: When attaching a file, you must include the file's extension (e.g., .gif, .doc, .html, or .jpg). If you do not, anyone who attempts to display or download the file will get an error message.

        • To attach a URL, under "URL (link to website)", type the URL in the box provided.
        • To attach an item from the Resources section of your site, under "Select a resource", click Attach a copy next to the resource(s) you want to attach.

          Note: You can attach files from another site to which you belong, provided that the files are set to be viewable by people outside the source site. To browse for files in other sites, click Show other sites.

      3. When you've selected all the items you want to attach, click Finish.

  3. In the "Assignment Instructions" box, type a description of the assignment.

    Note: This step is optional, but you will receive an alert message at the top of the page when you post the assignment if you leave it blank. Click Post a second time to proceed.

  4. Under the text box for Assignment Instructions, you will see the following options:

    • Add due date to schedule: To add the due date to the site's schedule, check the box.
    • Announce the open date:To announce the open date automatically when you post the assignment with an announcement on your site's homepage, check the box.
    • Add honor pledge: To display the honor pledge when students are submitting an assignment, check the box. Students must check a checkbox agreeing to the pledge before their work can be submitted. The text of the honor pledge is as follows:

      "I have neither given nor received aid on this assignment. Yes (You must respond to submit your assignment.)"

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Preview, save a draft, or post

Click Preview if you wish to review your assignment before you post it. To see how it will look to students, click the black triangle next to Student View.

Click Save draft if you want to save your assignment before you post it. You can then go back to it and revise it, if you want, before you post it. Only instructors (or those with the proper permissions) can view drafts.

Click Post when you are ready to make the assignment accessible by students.

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Revise an assignment

You can revise a posted assignment either before or after its open date or due date. Follow these steps:

  1. In the menubar, click the Assignments button.

  2. Under the assignment you wish to modify, click Revise.

  3. Make your revisions in the assignment.

  4. After you have made your revisions, you can post or preview your assignment. If you choose to preview it, you will then have the option to post it or to save it as a draft.

    Note: If the assignment is currently open to students, you will only have the options of previewing and posting the assignment.

When students view the revised assignment, they will be notified that changes have been made.

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Delete an assignment

To delete an assignment, follow these steps:

  1. In the menubar, click the Assignments button. You will see a list of assignments.

  2. Check the box under Remove? next to the assignment you want to delete.

  3. Click the Update button.

  4. You will see a confirmation screen asking if you are sure you want to delete the assignment. Click Delete to permanently delete it, or Cancel if you've changed your mind.
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