• add an assignment
• display assignments by status
• specify assignment settings
• import an assignment-related file
• remove assignment-related files
• delete an assignment
• release assignment column
• help students get started

• student submissions
  • view student submissions
  • download an assignment
  • download multiple assignments
  • assign a grade
  • return a graded assignment
  • reset student submissions

You and your students can use Assignments only after you have added the tool to your course. Depending on how you structure your course, you may want to have Assignments linked on the Homepage or you may want to group them with quizzes and self tests on an Assessment organizer page. For more information on adding Assignments, see Add Page or Tool.

Assignments allows you to create and distribute course assignments to your students, and download, evaluate, and assign a grade to the completed work. First, add the assignment to the course by Adding an Assignment, then use Assignment Settings to enter the instructions about the assignment, assign a maximum grade to inform the students of the assignment's value, and set the time and dates for which you want the assignment to be available. You can also attach assignment-related files such as photographs, a spreadsheet you want the student to modify, or articles to which you want students to respond. Students can then view the assignment instructions, submit their completed work, and view their grade after you have graded their assignment.

Adding an assignment | Top

1. From the Assignments screen, click the Designer Options tab if it not already selected.
2. Under Options:Assignment, click Add. The Add Assignment screen appears.
3. In the Assignment Title text box, enter the title of the new assignment, and click Add. The Assignments screen appears and the new assignment title appears as a link. To edit the assignment, see Specifying assignment settings.

Displaying assignments by status | Top

From the Assignments screen, under Assignments, from the Display drop-down list, select the status by which you want to display assignments:

• If you want to display all assignments, select All assignments and click Go.
• If you want to display all available assignments, select All assignments that are available and click Go.
• If you want to display all assignments that have a due date within 48 hours or less, select All assignments that are due soon and click Go.
• If you want to display all late assignments, select All assignments that are late and click Go.

Specifying assignment settings | Top

You must add the assignment before you can specify assignment settings.

1. From the Assignments screen, click the Designer Options tab if it is not already selected.
2. Click the name of the assignment. The Assignment screen appears. This screen displays the Maximum grade, the Due date for the assignment, and Instructions for the completion of the assignment. Assignment-related files are also listed on this screen.
3. Under Options, click Edit assignment settings. The Assignment Settings screen appears.
4. Under Basic settings, enter the assignment:
   • Title
   • Instructions (Note: You can use HTML to create a link to an assignment you have created and uploaded to a server. If you choose to do this, you must enter the entire URL for the page.)
   • Maximum grade
5. Under Availability, select the dates and times that the assignment will be available.
   • For Available starting, select Immediately or specify a starting date and time.
   • For Due date select Unlimited or specify a due date and time. Note: If you select Unlimited as the Due date, you cannot also enable Allow late submissions under Cutoff Date. This would be redundant. A warning message will alert you if you have enabled both.
   • For Cutoff Date, select whether to allow late submissions or not, then select Unlimited to indicate no cutoff date for late submissions, or specify a date up to which late submissions will be allowed.
     • If you 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 teaching assistant's Grade Assignment screen, a 'Late' status will be displayed for that assignment.
     • If you 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 teaching assistant's Grade Assignment screen, a 'Late' status will be displayed for that assignment.
6. Under Submissions, select whether or not to allow multiple submissions.
   • If you 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.
7. Under Results:
   • For Student score release, select from the following score release options:
     • Release the score once the assignment has been graded
     • Release the score once the availability period has ended and the assignment has been graded
     • Do not release the score
   • For Release Column, select whether or not you want to release the assignment column to students. This will allow your students to see their assignment grades in My Grades.
8. Note: Depending on administrator settings, you may or may not see a Notification section. If you do not, skip to step 9.

   In the Notification section, choose whether or not WebCT will email students and instructors acknowledgment when an assignment is submitted. Note: Students see or do not see this feature in their interface, depending upon whether you choose to enable this feature for students.

• For Student notification, select whether or not students will receive an email acknowledgment after submitting an assignment.
• For Instructor notification, select whether or not the instructor will receive an email acknowledgment after a student submits an assignment.
9. Click Update. The assignment settings are updated.

Importing an assignment-related file | Top

You can import assignment-related files such as photographs, a spreadsheet you want the student to modify, or articles to which you want students to respond. Note: You must have previously created and uploaded the file(s) to your My-Files folder, before it can be attached to your assignment. For more information on uploading a file, see Manage Files.

1. From Assignments, click the Designer Options tab if it is not already selected.
2. From the list of assignments, click the assignment to which you want to import a file. The Assignment screen appears.
3. Under Options, under Import assignment file, in the text box, enter the path and filename of the file that you want to import, or to select the file, click Browse. The WebCT Browser appears. Select the file. The filename of the selected file appears in the text box.
4. Click Import. The screen refreshes to show the newly imported file.

Removing assignment-related files | Top

1. From Assignments, click the Designer Options tab if it is not already selected.
2. From the list of assignments, click the name of the assignment from which you want to remove a file. The Assignment screen appears.
3. Select the file(s) you want to remove.
4. Under Options, click Remove. A warning message appears.
5. Click OK. A final warning message appears.
6. Click OK. The file is removed.

 Student submissions | Top

Submissions allows you to view, download, and grade assignments submitted by your students. You can:

• view submissions
• download individual student assignments
• download multiple assignments
• assign a grade to an assignment
• reset student submissions

You can also return the graded assignment to the student with attached comments.

Grading assignments involves four steps. Steps 2 and 4 occur outside of WebCT, so are not described in the steps below.

1. Download the assignments from WebCT to your computer
2. Open them on your desktop
3. Print them out for reviewing and grading, or review them on-screen
4. Assign a grade and enter comments about the assignment in WebCT

Viewing student submissions | Top

You may find it helpful to limit the number of student records displayed at any one time.

1. From Assignments, click the Designer Options tab if it is not already selected.
2. From the assignment list, click Submissions for the assignment that you want to view. The Submissions screen appears.
3. Under Organize:Submissions, in the text box, enter the number of records that you want to display at a time.
4. Click Update. The Submissions screen refreshes and the student list is updated.

You can easily navigate through the pages of student records by using the following techniques:

• To navigate between the student list pages, click (previous page) or (next page) above the class list.
• To go to a specific part of the list, from the Page drop-down list, select the range of records you want to view.
• To view all the records on one screen without resetting the records displayed per page, from the Page drop-down list, select All.

To download an assignment | Top

1. From Assignments, click the Designer Options tab if it is not already selected.
2. From the list of assignments, click Submissions for the assignment that you want to download. The Submissions screen appears.
3. In the Status column, click Not Graded for the student whose assignment you want to download. The Grade Assignment screen appears.
4. Under Student files, in the table, click the file that you want to download. The Assignment Dropbox: View Files window appears.
5. Select the file and click Download. Your browser's file download screen appears. Follow the on-screen instructions to save the file to your computer. Note: In order to view the assignment, you must have the software that was used to create the assignment. If you do not, you need a program that can convert the file to a format you can use.
6. When the download is complete, click Done. The Grade Assignment screen appears.

To assign a grade | Top

After reviewing the assignment, you must enter a grade in WebCT.

1. From Assignments, click the Designer Options tab if it is not already selected.
2. From the list of assignments, click Submissions for the assignment for which you want to enter a grade. The Submissions screen appears.
3. In the Status column, click Not Graded for the student whose assignment you want to grade. The Grade Assignment screen appears. Note: If you had allowed late submissions for an assignment, the Date column would contain a 'Late' notice for any student who had submitted an assignment after the original Due date, but prior to the final Cutoff date.
4. In the Grade text box, enter a grade. Note: A 'Late' notice would appear here as well, reminding you to consider this in your marking.
5. To provide feedback on the assignment, in the Comments text box, enter your comments.
6. Click Grade. The Submissions screen appears with the Status updated to Graded.

To download multiple assignments | Top

1. From Assignments, click the Designer Options tab if it is not already selected.
2. From the list of assignments, click Submissions for the assignment for which you want to enter a grade. The Submissions screen appears.
3. Select the files to download:
• To select all student assignments, in the leftmost column of the table, select the check box next to Personal Information.
• To select individual student assignments, in the leftmost column of the table, select the check box for each student.
4. Under Options, click Download. Your browser's file download screen appears. Save the files to your computer.
5. Click Update to refresh your screen.
6. Assign a grade to the downloaded assignments.

To return a graded assignment | Top

1. From Assignments, click the Designer Options tab if it is not already selected.
2. From the assignment list, click Submissions for the assignment that you want to return. The Submissions screen appears.
3. In the Status column, click Graded for the student whose assignment you want to return. The Grade Assignment screen appears.
4. Under Graded files, click Upload file. The Upload Graded File screen appears. Warning: Uploading a graded assignment automatically returns the assignment to the student who submitted it.
5. Next to the Filename text box, click Browse. Your computer's file browser appears. Select the file. The path and filename of the selected file appear in the text box.
6. Click Upload. The Grade Assignment screen refreshes to show the newly uploaded and returned assignment. You will not receive a message confirming the return of a student assignment.
   

Resetting student submissions | Top

Use reset to delete submitted assignments and grades for selected students. Warning: Taking this action will also erase a student's grade from his or her records in the Manage Students files.

1. From Assignments, click the Designer Options tab if it is not already selected.
2. From the list of assignments, click Submissions for the assignment that you want to remove. The Submissions screen appears.
3. To delete a student's submitted assignments and grades, in the leftmost column, select the check box for the student.
4. Under Options, click Reset. A warning message appears.
5. Click OK. A final warning message appears.
6. Click OK. The Status of the selected student's assignments is changed to Not submitted.

Deleting an assignment | Top

Warning: Deleting an assignment removes the assignment and all related student submissions from your course. However, the assignment grades are retained in the Manage Students files.

1. From Assignments, click the Designer Options tab if it is not already selected.
2. From the assignment list, select the assignment that you want to delete.
3. Under Options: Assignment, click Delete. A warning message appears.
4. Click OK. A final warning message appears.
5. Click OK. The updated Assignments screen appears.

Releasing the assignment column| Top

You can release the assignment column if you want students to see their assignment grade in My Grades. Note: You must also add the My Grades tool to your course. Note: You can also control the release of this column from Manage Students.

1. From Assignments, click the Designer Options tab if it is not already selected.
   
2. From the assignment list, click the assignment you want to release to students. The Assignment screen appears.
   
3. Under Options, click Edit assignment settings. The Assignment Settings screen appears.
   
4. Under Results, under Release Column select whether or not to release the assignment column to students.
   
5. Click Update. The assignment settings are updated.
   

Helping your students get started | Top

Your student's view of Assignments varies from the course designer view in a number of ways. For example, to upload completed assignment files, students must navigate through a series of screens that you, as a course designer, do not see. The following set of instructions is written with the student in mind.

Note: Students use their own software applications to complete assignments. When naming an assignment file, they must use single-word file names or insert an underscore between words. WebCT does not recognize file names with spaces, or characters that are not numbers or letters.

Submitting an assignment involves two steps:

• upload the file from your computer to WebCT
• submit the file for marking.

1. From Assignments, click the assignment that you want to submit. The Assignment screen appears.
2. To upload the file, under Student files, click Upload file. The Upload File for Assignment screen appears.
3. To locate the file, click Browse to open your computer's file browser.
4. Select the file. The Upload File for Assignment screen reappears, with the path and filename displayed in the Filename text box.
5. Click Upload. The Assignment screen appears and the uploaded file is added to the Student files table.
6. To submit the completed assignment, under Submit Assignment, click Submit assignment. The Submit Assignment screen appears. Note: All assignments in the Student files table will be submitted. Depending on administrator settings, you may be able to receive email notification that your assignment was submitted successfully. If applicable, enter your email address in the text box.
7. Click Submit assignment. A confirmation screen appears.
8. Click OK. The Assignments screen reappears, with Submitted displayed in the Status column. When the assignment has been graded, Submitted changes to Graded and your grade appears in the Grade column. Click Graded to view your instructor's comments about your work.

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