Adding, editing, or removing an assignment

On this page:

Note: To complete the procedures in this document, 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.

Create/add a new assignment

To create/add a new assignment:

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

  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 course 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.

      You can allow unlimited or a certain number of re-submissions of an assignment up to the due date, without having to return the submission to the student each time.

    • 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). Note that only Points can be added to the Gradebook.

  3. In the "Assignment Instructions" box, use the WYSIWYG editor to create and format 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.
    • 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 click a checkbox 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

      Note: Note that only Points can be added to the Gradebook, not scores with other grade scales.

      Assignments added in the Assignments tool can only be edited or removed in the Assignments tool. Assignment Grades can be edited in the Gradebook tool only if they have been Associated with an existing Gradebook entry. All other Assignments must be graded within the Gradebook Tool. Be very careful when associating Assignments with an existing Gradebook entry. If point values do not match, or if two or more assignments are associated with a single column, grades can be lost. For mor information see Associating an Assignment with a Gradebook Column.

  6. Under "Access" use the radio buttons to 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.

  7. Under "Submission Notification Email Options", use the radio buttons to choose one of the following options:

    • Do not send me notification emails for any student submissions
    • Send me a notification email for each student submission
    • Send me one email per day summarizing notifications for student submissions

      Note: Notification settings in this area apply to all users with a role of instructor, assistant, or adjunct instructor/teaching assistant.

  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.
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Preview, save a draft, or post

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, if you want, 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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Revise 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.
    Known Issue: If you change the Grade Scale type after assignments have been submitted and graded by participants, you will lose your previously entered grades for this assignment without a warning.

  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

Note: You can completely delete an assignment before any students have submitted work. However, if you delete an assignment after the first submission, all students will continue to see the assignment with a notice saying "(Assignment has been deleted)", even though the assignment will not be visible in the Assignment List that you see as an instructor.

To delete an assignment:

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

  2. Check the box under Remove? next to the assignment you want to delete.

  3. Click Update.

  4. You will see a confirmation screen asking if you are sure you want to delete the assignment. Click Delete to permanently delete it or Cancel if you've changed your mind.
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