Learning a new system takes some time and Brightspace is like learning any other new system. We’re getting lots of questions (keep them coming!) about how to “best” set up various tools. Best here is always subjective, so I’ll point out some decision points and let you decide what’s the “best” option.

Automatically Grade

Automatically grade means that students can see the grade on a quiz as soon as it’s submitted. They don’t necessarily see which answer is correct, only their grade and any other information you select in the default (or custom, if you set them up) submission view.  This setting only applies to quizzes that all questions can be auto-graded. If you have an essay or short answer question that you must grade, then students won’t see a grade until you have completed grading, regardless of how you set this option.

Auto Export to Grades

When the quiz is graded, the results are automatically sent to the grade book to be visible to students. When the quiz is graded, automatically or manually, the grade is sent to the gradebook saving a separate publish step.

If your goal is for students to see a grade immediately after completing a quiz, then you want both the options above selected. If you want to delay when students see the grade, you can put a restriction on the grade item/column to release the grade on a specific date (after the due date if students might be taking a quiz over several days).

Submission Views

If you want students to see the grade but not be able to see what the correct answers are until some later date (for example, after everyone has completed the quiz), then you will want to use multiple submission views. The out of the box default view releases only the attempt score. As indicated above, the score is only available when the “Automatically Grade” option is selected. You can modify the default to included questions and answers, correct answers, class average among other options. If you want students to see only the score on submitting their quiz but want to display more information later, set up additional views in the submission views tab. You’ll have the same options to select from as in the default view.

Availability Dates and Due Dates

All items in Brightspace have availability dates associated with them. You can use them where they make sense. Availability dates on content items and activities control when the item is visible and display a due date on the course calendar. Optionally you can display the availability dates for an item/activity on the calendar by selecting the appropriate checkbox when creating/editing the item. However for graded work something to watch out for are the availability dates for grade items. These are dates set on the grade column and determine when students can see the associated grade. These dates, which can optionally be displayed in the course calendar too, are set on the gradebook column. If students can’t see a grade for a quiz after you’ve confirmed the quiz is auto-grading, check to make sure the grade item is visible to the students.

Removing Password Restrictions on Quizzes

If your quizzes are requiring passwords even though you’re not using a Lockdown Browser function, a little lock will show beside the quiz in Quiz Manager. When you open the Optional Restrictions area on the Assessment tab, it automatically adds a password to the quiz. In order to delete it, you have to delete the password, then collapse the optional restriction area, then hit save and close. If you delete it and hit save with the optional restriction area open, it will not remove the password.

These are just some of the gottchas we’re beginning to see in Brightspace. There will be more, stay tuned for more details.