Mini guides for teachers

Assignment mini guide


Note: Options in green are in the Edit drop down menu in the student's entry in the View/grade all submissions page.

What is the difference between Due date and Cut-off date?
The Cut-off date is the date after which students can no longer change their submission.
The Due date has two functions:

  • Submissions after that date are clearly shown to be late (including the time overdue).
  • The Late penalty calculation is based on it.
If you Grant extension, then the Extension due date that you set is both the Due date and the Cut-off date (if there is a Cut-off date) for that student.

Can a student change his submission?
By default, students can continue making changes to their submissions (i.e. add and/or delete files, or change the Online text) until the Cut-off date.
If a Cut-off date is not set, or you want to begin grading before it, there are two ways to prevent students making changes after you begin grading:
  • Force students to actually submit by setting Require students click submit button (in section Submission settings). If set, the submission is considered to be in draft status until it is submitted. After it is submitted, the student cannot make changes unless you Revert submission to draft.
  • As you begin grading a submission, Prevent submission changes on it.
If, for some reason, both a Cut-off date and Require students click submit button are set, and a student forgot to submit before the Cut-off date, you can Submit for grading.

What is the Late penalty?
Moodle can optionally apply a penalty if the submission is after the Due date (or the student's Extension due date, if set).
The penalty is calculated from a mathematical expression that can include variables such as hours and days.
In the Assignment, the student's Grade and Late penalty are shown separately. In the Gradebook they are combined.
This is a HUJI feature.

What is the difference between Submission comments and Online text?
Submission comments are intended for private communication between student and graders. They are not part of the submission itself.
A student can enter Submission comments regardless of the state of his submission (non-existent, draft, submitted or graded). Likewise, the grader can respond to them.
This would seem an ideal place to discuss lateness, appeals etc. Unfortunately, neither graders nor student are alerted to a new comment. Hence it can easily be overlooked if it is not expected.
Note: Submission comments cannot be disabled. (They are are similar to comments in the Comments block and in the Glossary and Database activities.)

Online text is part of the submission. It is simply text that the student enters in the Moodle HTML editor.
Feedback comments are the grader's response to Online text.
Online text and Feedback comments can be enabled in the Submission types and Feedback types sections, respectively.

The task is offline. Shouldn't I just use the Gradebook?
Even if the task does not require the students to submit anything through Moodle, it may be preferable to use an Assignment, rather than enter grades directly in the Gradebook, so that:
  • It is more conspicuous to students i.e.
    • The item in the course page is linked to their grade and feedback
    • It is listed together with other Assignments
    • It is integrated with the Calendar
  • The student's view of the Gradebook is not spoiled by large amounts of feedback
  • One can notify students of new feedback

How can I hide feedback and grades until all submissions are graded?
Either hide the item in the Gradebook or use Marking workflow. See below.

Can multiple graders work offline simultaneously?
Yes. Use either Groups or Marking workflow. See FAQ question Can multiple graders work simultaneously? and below.

What is Marking workflow and Marking allocation?
Marking workflow is a way of coordinating and supervising the work of the graders.
Submissions are in one of several states.
  • Initially it is in state Not marked.
  • The grader can, for his own convenience, move it to state In marking
  • The grader indicates to the supervisor that he has finished grading by moving it to state Marking completed.
  • The supervisor can, for his own convenience, move it to state In Review.
  • The supervisor indicates to the teacher that he has finished reviewing by moving it to state Ready for release.
  • The teacher releases feedback and grades to the student by moving it to state Released.
Note: The states are advisory: For example, graders can continue grading, or change the state back to In marking or Marking completed no matter what the current state.The only state that has any real significance is Released.

Marking allocation is a way of allocating the submissions to graders. It can be used only if Marking workflow is enabled. See FAQ question Can multiple graders work simultaneously?

Can graders be prevented from seeing names of students?
Yes! Assign graders one of the Restricted roles or use Blind marking. See FAQ question Can graders be prevented from seeing names of students? and below.

What is Blind marking?
Blind marking ensures that one does not know whose submission one is grading.
If Blind marking is enabled, the Assignment grading pages show Participant numbers instead of student names and other identifying information. (Participant numbers are unique across all Assignments.) Also, the Gradebook is not updated.
Blind marking must be enabled before anyone submits. It can be disabled, and the Gradebook updated, by selecting Reveal student identities (from the Grading action menu or Assignment settings.). Once disabled, it cannot be enabled again.
Note: Blind marking is not bulletproof: One can cross-reference the Last modified time with events in the Logs. (Graders can be prevented from accessing the Logs by removing capabilities View course logs and View today's logs from the role of Grader).

What are submission attempts?
If students are allowed more than one attempt, each of their submissions are as distinct as submissions from different students i.e. each attempt is saved together with its submission files and text, and feedback files, comments and grade.
The grader may want to Allow another attempt (either in the student's grade page or in the student's Edit dropdown menu in the View/grade all submissions page) after reviewing the submission.
(If Require students click submit button is not checked, this prevents the student making further changes to the current attempt. )
This should be done only if it is necessary to keep the full state of the submission prior to the student fixing it.
(If Require students click submit button is checked, one must Revert the submission to draft in order to allow the student to fix his submission.)
See FAQ question A student must fix his assignment. Should I Revert the submission to draft or Allow another attempt?

What are Marking guides and Rubrics?
Marking guides and Rubrics are two different types of assessment form aka Grading criteria.
(The Grading method, which can be either of these or the default, Simple direct grading, is set in the Grade section of the Settings.)
The teacher designs the Grading criteria. The grader completes the assessment form for each student.
For each criterion, the grader enters a grade and/or comment.
In Rubrics, the teacher sets the allowed grades for each criterion (in words and/or numbers).
In Marking guides, the teacher sets only the maximum grade for each criterion.
Optionally, students can see the assessment form before submitting.

How do Students submit in groups?
First set up groups and groupings. The check Students submit in groups and enter the Grouping for student groups. See FAQ question Can students submit assignments in groups?

I find the PDF editor difficult to use. Is there an alternative?
Yes! See FAQ question Is there an alternative PDF editor for the Assignment?
Smooth integration of the Alternative PDF editor is a HUJI feature.

How can I speed up...?
...Launch PDF editor...? It can take a long time for the regular PDF editor to finish loading when it is launched for the first time on a submission. The PDFs can be prepared ahead of time if you Prepare all PDF editor images. (This can take several hours to complete, depending on the size of the PDFs and the number that have not yet been prepared.) This is a HUJI feature.
...Upload multiple feedback files in a zip? Before uploading, remove submission files that you have not graded or, better still, don't download them by using either Groups or Download filtered submissions. This is a HUJI feature. See FAQ question Can multiple graders work simultaneously?