Adding, editing, or removing an assignment

Note: To complete these procedures, you must be assigned a role having the necessary permissions. To determine your role, follow the directions in Participant roles. For a basic understanding of roles and permissions, see Permissions and roles: Overview.

On this page:

Add a new assignment

To add a new assignment:

  1. In the menubar, click Assignments, and then, at the top, click Add.

  2. On the Add Assignments page, fill in the following information (fields marked with a red star are required):

    • Title: Enter a brief title for your assignment (e.g., Essay 1 ).
    • Open date: At the open date and time, the assignment is available for students to begin working on it. To send an announcement alerting students to the start date, see step 4 below.
    • Due date: This is the assignment's deadline. To list the due date on the site's schedule, see step 4 below.
    • Accept until: No assignments can be submitted after this date. You can set this date and time later than the due date to continue accepting assignments (e.g., to allow for revisions) after the due date.
    • Student submissions: You can choose to have students submit their assignments inline only (typed directly into a text box), as attachments only, or both. You can also allow non-electronic submissions.
    • Allow resubmission: You can choose to allow students to submit the assignment multiple times.
    • Grade scale: You can choose from five grading options: Ungraded, Letter grade, Points, Pass/Fail, or Checkmark. If you choose points, enter the maximum possible points (must be a positive number or zero).

  3. In the "Assignment Instructions" box, type a description of the assignment.

    Note: This step is optional, but you will receive an alert message at the top of the page when you post the assignment if you leave it blank. Click Post a second time to proceed.

  4. Under the text box for Assignment Instructions, you will see the following options:

    • Add due date to Schedule: To add the due date to the site's Schedule, check the box.

      Note: This option will not appear if the Schedule tool has not been added to the site.

    • Add an announcement about the open date to Announcements: To announce the open date automatically when you post the assignment with an announcement on your site's home page, check the box.

    • Add honor pledge: To display the honor pledge when students are submitting an assignment, check the box. Students must check a box agreeing to the pledge before their work can be submitted. The text of the honor pledge is as follows:

      "I have neither given nor received aid on this assignment. Yes (You must respond to submit your assignment.)"

  5. Under "Grading", you will see the following options:

    • Do not add assignment to Gradebook
    • Add Assignment to Gradebook
    • Associate with existing Gradebook entry

      For more, see Linking an assignment to the Gradebook.

      Note: Assignments added in the Assignments tool can only be graded, edited, or removed in the Assignments tool, even if they are added to the Gradebook or associated with a Gradebook entry.

  6. Under "Access", choose Display to site or Display to selected groups. If you choose the latter, you'll see the groups and sections that are available; use the checkboxes to select the group(s) and/or section(s) to which you want the assignment released.

    Note: The "Access" section will only appear if groups have previously been defined for this site. See Managing groups.

  7. Under "Released Grade Notification Email Options", choose one of the following options:

    • Do not send notification email to student when the grade is released
    • Send notification email to student when the grade is released

  8. Under "Attachments", you can attach a file from your local computer or from Resources, or specify the URL for a file on the web. For instructions, see Options for adding attachments.

  9. Under "Additional information", you can set a model answer or all-purpose item to provide scheduled or immediate feedback. If desired, you can also set a private note (i.e., a note students cannot access).

  10. Click Preview if you wish to review your assignment before you post it. To see how it will look to students, click the black triangle next to Student View.

    While previewing the assignment, you can click Save draft if you want to save your assignment before you post it. You can then go back to it and revise it before you post it; see Posting an assignment previously saved as a draft. Only instructors (or those with the proper permissions) can view drafts.

    Click Post when you are ready to make the assignment accessible by students.

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Edit an assignment

To revise a posted assignment before or after its open date or due date:

  1. In the menubar, click Assignments.

  2. Under the assignment you wish to modify, click Edit.

  3. Make your revisions in the assignment.

  4. After you have made your revisions, you can post or preview your assignment. If you choose to preview it, you will then have the option to post it or to save it as a draft.

    Note: If the assignment is currently open to students, you will only have the options of previewing and posting the assignment.

When students view the revised assignment, they will be notified that changes have been made.

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Delete an assignment

To delete an assignment:

  1. In the menubar, click Assignments. You will see a list of assignments.

  2. Under "Remove?", check the box next to the assignment you want to delete.

  3. Click Update.

  4. On the confirmation screen, click Delete to permanently delete the assignment.

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