Author: Janice Florent

Use the Assignments tool to help you set and manage deadlines, unclutter your inbox, and save trees!

The Assignments tool is an efficient way to manage and collect your student's individual and group assignments digitally. Brightspace's Assignments Tool allows instructors to create a secure location for students to submit class assignments.

The Assignments tool allows instructors to set up a place for students to submit their assignments digitally, with the ability to:

• Control the window for submission
• Facilitate individual submissions or group submissions (provided the groups have been set up using the Groups tool first)
• Collect and assess submissions (with a connection to the Grades tool, if needed)
• Enable plagiarism detection through Turnitin

Additionally, you can use Brightspace's Interactive Rubrics to increase efficiency. The interactive rubrics allow instructors to establish set criteria for grading assignments. Instructors can attach rubrics to assignment submission folders so that the criteria are visible to students at any time, only after grading has been completed, or not shown to the students at all. The rubrics click-and-score simplicity saves time when grading because rubrics are built into the grading workflow. For more information about rubrics refer to Brightspace Tip #204: Interactive Rubrics.

Follow these steps to do it.

To create an assignment submission folder:

1. On the NavBar (of the course you want to create a submission folder), click Activities and then choose Assignments from the drop-down menu.
2. Click New Assignment.
3. Enter a Name for your submission folder.
4. To evaluate the assignment with a numeric value, enter a Grade Out Of. A grade item with the same name as your assignment is automatically added to your gradebook. Alternatively, you can click on the "In Grade Book" menu item to reveal a drop-down list. Select the "Edit or Link to Existing" option and then navigate to a grade item that is already in your Grade Book.
5. Set a Due Date.
6. Enter assignment instructions.
7. Upload any files, link to any existing activities or external weblinks, attach any files from Google Drive or OneDrive, and record and/or upload any audio or video notes.
8. Expand Availability Dates & Conditions and do the following:
   • Set a Start Date and an End Date.
   • Attach Release Conditions.
   • Use Manage Special Access to enable the assignment to be available only to a select group of users or to add individualized due dates for certain users.
9. Expand Submission & Completion and do the following:
   • For the Assignment Type, specify if this is an Individual Assignment or Group Assignment.
   • Select an existing category to align your assignment to or click New category to create a category.
   • Select a Submission Type:
     • For File submissions, set the number of Files Allowed Per Submission and the Submissions rules.
     • For Text submissions, set the Submission rules.
     • For On paper submissions, set Marked as completed to one of the available options: Manually by learners, Automatically on evaluation, or Automatically on due date.
     • For Observed in person assignments, set Marked as completed to one of the available options: Manually by learners, Automatically on evaluation, or Automatically on due date.
   • From the Allowable File Extensions dropdown menu, select an option to restrict file extensions on submissions for the assignment.
   • Use Notification Email to receive email notifications when an assignment is submitted.
10. Expand Evaluation & Feedback and do the following:
    • Click Add rubric and either create and attach a new rubric or add an existing one.
    • Under Annotation Tools, select the Make annotation tools available for assessment check box.
    • To enable anonymous marking, under Anonymous Marking, select the Hide student names during assessment check box.
    • Under Turnitin Integration, click Manage Turnitin to enable the Turnitin integration and click Save.
11. To make your assignment visible to learners, click on the Visibility toggle.
12. Click Save and Close.

Want More Information?

Assignments:

• Assignments Tool Quick Reference Guide (pdf)
• Create an assignment
• Deliver Online Assignments
• Copy assignments
• "Observed in Person" assignments
• Allow special access for assignments
• View assignment submissions
• Evaluate assignment submissions
• Annotate assignment submissions
• Email students who haven't submitted an assignment
• How to submit Assignments video [2:06]

Turnitin:

• Assignments and Turnitin
• Enable Turnitin Feedback Studio® for assignments
• Turnitin Feedback Studio - Instructor
• Quick Tips for Mastering Feedback Studio
• Turnitin Quick Submit
• Turnitin Feedback Studio - Student
• Students - View your Turnitin assignment feedback

Rubrics:

• Brightspace Rubrics Tool

View current, past, and preview upcoming Continuous Delivery release notes
Instructors Quick Start Tutorial
Brightspace Known Issues
Request a sandbox course
Sign-up for Brightspace training sessions
You can find Brightspace help at D2L's website.
Join the Brightspace Community.
Try these Brightspace How-To documents.
Visit our Brightspace FAQs for additional Brightspace information
or schedule a one-on-one session, email, or
call Janice Florent: (504) 520-7418.

Note: Are you doing something innovative in Brightspace or perhaps you've discovered a handy tip? Share how you are using Brightspace in your teaching and learning in The Orange Room.

Image credit: image by gabrielle_cc from Pixabay