Using the Assignment Tool

Use the Assignments tool to track and evaluate all assignments in the Learning Environment.

Note:

• Assignment submissions awaiting evaluation can also be found in Quick Eval.
• Group Assignments do NOT show up in Quick Eval.

Step By Step Instruction To Create An Assignment Using The Assignment Tool

1. On the navigation bar, click Quick Tools.

2. From the drop down menu choose Assignments.

3. Click the blue New Assignment button.

4. Type in the title of your assignment in the Name line.

5. In the Grade Out Of text box, type in the points you would like the assignment to be out of or the correlating points to an existing grade item in your grade book.

6. Click In Grade Book, from the drop down menu, click Edit Or Link To Existing.

7. There are two options: Create And Link To A New Grade Item or Link To An Existing Grade Item.  Below are instructions on both options.

• Option 1: Create And Link To A New Grade Item.  Choose this option if you have NOT created a grade item already in the grade book.
  • 7A. Select the bubble next to Create And Link To A New Grade Item
  • 7B. Click the blue Ok button.
• Option 2: Link To An Existing Grade Item.  Choose this option if you HAVE created a grade item already in the grade book.
  • 7A. Select the bubble next to Link To An Existing Grade Item
  • 7B. Click the drop down menu for the grade items list.
  • 7C. From the drop down menu, choose the grade item that correlates with the assignment you just created.
  • 7D. Click the blue Ok button.

8. If choosing option 2: From the drop down menu, find and select the correlating grade book item.

9.  Select a Due Date.

10. Type the instructions for the assignment or upload a file for the student to download and view for the assignment clicking the File Upload button, or choose Record Audio or Video.

11.  Optional:  Add a Start or End Dates for the assignment.  Add Release Conditions and Special Access.

• Due Date:  A soft date where learners can still submit a file after the due date but will be marked as late.
• Start Date: The date the students have access to the assignment.
• End Date: A hard date where learners cannot submit a file any more.
• Release Conditions: Conditions that learners need to meet to have access to the assignment.
• Special Access: Allows specified learners to have access before the start date, extended time on the assignment, or allow only some learners to have access to this specific assignment.

12. Select the Assignment Type, the Submission Type, Files Allowed For Submissions, and how many Submissions will be kept.

• Assignment Type:  Choose between an Individual or Group Assignment.  If you choose Group Assignment, it will not show up in Quick Eval on the navigation bar.
• Submission Type:
  • File Submission: Learners will be uploading a file as part of the assignment. This requires learners to log into Brightspace, locate the assignment, and upload a file. This is the most common.
  • Text Submission: Learners are required to enter text into a field. This requires learners to log into Brightspace, locate the assignment, and provide an answer in text either by typing or pasting from another source.
  • On-Paper Submission: Learners will be turning in hard copies in person. The learner will only look at the Brightspace assignment for instructions.
  • Observation:  The instructor will be doing a performance assessment of some kind. The learner will only look at the Brightspace assignment for instructions.
• Files Allowed Per Submission: Choose between Unlimited or One File.
• Allowable File Extensions:  If you would like to restrict students to uploading a specific file type, click the drop down menu and choose between No Restrictions (most common), PDF Only, Annotatable Files, Files That Can Be Previewed Without Conversion, Image and Videos, or Custom File Types (choose multiple such as .pdf, .html, .svg, etc)
• Submissions:  Choose whether you want All Submissions Are Kept, Only One Submission Allowed, or Only The Most Recent Submission Is Kept (most common).
• Email Notification:  If you’d like to receive email notifications when an assignment is submitted, type your email or emails in the text box provided.

13.  Attach a Rubric and turn on the Manage TurnItIn or Anonymous Marking if applicable.

14.  Toggle on and off the eye icon to make the assignment visible or hidden from learners.

15.  Save and Close.

Note:  For steps 11, 12, and 13 click on the green circle number icons to expand the topic to view more.  Click the back arrow on the top left of the ThingLink image to go back to the original view.

Click here to view the accessible version of this interactive content

Additional Resources:

Infographic: Assignment Features

Create Categories To Organize Assignments

Instructors can create categories to organize different types of assignments from homework, to project, to group.

Step By Step Instruction To Create A Category For Assignments

1. In the Assignment tool, click the grey Edit Categories button to Create A Category.

2. Click the grey Add Category.

3. Name the category.  Example: Homework Assignments

4. Click the blue Create button.

5. Click the grey Close button once all categories have been created.

Assign A Category To An Assignment

1. On the Assignment page, click the arrow next to the assignment title you want to put into an assignment category or if you’re already in the edit an assignment page, skip to step 3.

2. From the drop down list, select Edit Assignment.

3. On the right side of the edit assignment page, click Submissions and Completion to expand the options.

4. Click the drop down list under the Category heading to access the assignment category names. select the category you want this assignment to reside in.

5.  Click the blue Save and Close button.

Linking Grade Items

All grade items from the Assignment, Quiz, and Discussion tools should be linked to their perspective grade item.  As the instructor, grade items can be created prior to creating the aforementioned three assessment types or the grade items can be created as you create the various assessments needed for your course.

Step By Step Instruction To Link An Assignment

1. On the navigation bar, click Quick Tools, and from the drop down menu choose Assignments.

2. Click on the Assignment you need to link to a grade item or create a new grade item.

3.  In the Grade Out Of text box, type in the points you would like the assignment to be out of or the correlating points to an existing grade item in your grade book.

4. Click In Grade Book

5. From the drop down menu, click Edit Or Link To Existing.

6 and 7. There are two options: Create And Link To A New Grade Item or Link To An Existing Grade Item. 

• Option 1: Create And Link To A New Grade Item.  Choose this option if you have NOT created a grade item already in the grade book
  • 6A. Select the bubble next to Create And Link To A New Grade Item
  • 7A. Click the blue Ok button.

• Option 2: Link To An Existing Grade Item.  Choose this option if you HAVE created a grade item already in the grade book.
  • 6B. Select the bubble next to Link To An Existing Grade Item
  • 7B. Click the drop down menu for the grade items list and choose the grade item that correlates with the assignment you just created.

8. Click the Save and Close button when complete.

Follow this step by step process to locate assignment submissions for grading.

1.  Go to Course Tools on the navbar and choose Assignments from the drop down menu.
2. Click the carrot button next to the Assignment Title and select View Submissions from the drop down menu.

3.  Select the Submissions tab and click on a submission to begin grading.

Feedback On Submission Page

If you make evaluations directly on the Evaluate Submission page, you can publish feedback immediately or save your feedback as a draft and release it at a later time. This enables you to revise and review evaluations, and publish your feedback to multiple users at the same time. You have the option to retract published feedback if you want to provide an update to past evaluations but only want learners to access your most recent feedback.

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Feedback With Annotations

If you have built in annotations turned on, you can mark up submissions using highlighting, free hand drawing, shapes, and associated commenting directly from the Evaluate Submission page. Use the icons in the document viewer toolbar to select between Pen, Note, Text, and Line. You can undo or redo any annotations using the undo/redo buttons located on the menu or using keyboard shortcuts. 

Each tool has additional options to change color, font size, font, and many other customizable items. Once you publish the feedback, learners can view their submission with the annotations visible, providing additional context on their instructor’s notes.

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Evaluate On Rubric

If you use rubrics to assess submissions, the rubric opens in a pop-up window to enable easy grading, and the score transfers automatically to the Evaluation and Feedback sidebar. The overall score of the rubric transfers automatically to the Score field and appears in Grades if the assignment is associated with a grade item. The rubric feedback appears on the Feedback page to the learner.

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Publish All Feedback

To publish all draft feedback to learners at once, click Publish All Feedback on the assignment page. If you have Anonymous Marking enabled, you must click Save Draft and save your feedback for each anonymous user, then click Publish All Feedback on the assignment page to submit feedback to the anonymous users. Instructors cannot publish feedback from the Evaluate Submission page, and must do so from the assignment page.

Set Different Due Dates Or Times For Groups, Merged Courses, Or Individuals

1.  Go to your navigation bar and choose the Quick Tools.

2.  From the drop down list choose Assignment.

3.  From your list of assignments, find the title and choose Edit Assignment.

4.  Once in the edit assignment page, click the Availability Dates and Conditions on the right side and click the Manage Special Access button.

5. From the Manage Special Access pop-up, choose the first option: Allow users with special access to submit outside the normal availability dates for this folder and then click the Add Users To Special Access  button.

6.  From the Special Access page, in the Properties section, choose the Date and Time.

7. From the User section, click the View By drop down and switch it to Groups or Sections or search a specific student’s name in the search bar. Click the Apply button and then, from the now updated page, click the boxes next to the names, group, or section you want to set the special date and time for.

*Note: If you are selecting a group or section and clicking applying, once the page is updated, click the boxes next to the student’s names to apply it to those students in the group or section.

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8. Once the boxes next to the students’ names are clicked for the special access, click save.

9. After the page is refreshed, the list of students with special access will be listed on the Manage Special Access page.

10. Click the Save and Close.

11. On the Edit Assignment page, under the Availability Dates and Conditions, it will indicate how many users have special access to that assignment.