Avenue Help Centre | Adding an Assignment

Digital Learning Development: Assignment

Adding an Assignment

Margarita Berezyanskaya

Last Update há 2 meses

The Assignment activity module allows teachers to create tasks, collect student submissions, and provide grades and feedback in one central location. Depending on the assignment type, students can submit their work by uploading files (such as word processing documents, audio, video, or image files), recording a response using the Poodll online voice recorder, or entering their work directly into the Avenue site. Teachers can also create offline assignments where students do not submit anything electronically. These assignments can be used for tasks completed outside of the LMS, while grades and feedback are still recorded in the course grade book. Assignment deadlines are also displayed in the course Calendar to help students stay organized.

The Assignment activity helps teachers manage both online and offline assignments by providing a structured way to communicate requirements, track submissions, and monitor deadlines. Each submission is time-stamped, allowing teachers to see when work was submitted. Depending on the assignment settings, late submissions can be accepted or restricted. Teachers can provide feedback directly through the LMS or annotate submitted files and return them to students with comments.

Using the Assignment activity is a convenient alternative to collecting assignments by email. All student submissions are stored in one location and can be downloaded together as a single compressed (.ZIP) file, making it easier for teachers to organize, review, and manage student work.

Assignments with Rubrics

Rubrics are mentioned in this document; however, separate articles provide detailed instructions for adding rubrics. The Assignment Rubrics article explains how to use a pre-built rubric as a template, while the Assignment Rubrics from Scratch article explains how to create a new rubric from the beginning.

Using the Assignment Activity to Enhance Learning

The Assignment activity can be used to collect follow-up work from face-to-face classroom activities. For example, students can submit a first draft of a writing assignment, a PowerPoint presentation, a spoken summary, or a revised version of a handwritten assignment. Assignments can be completed individually or as group submissions, making it easy to extend collaborative classroom activities into the Avenue site.

Offline Assignments are useful for tasks that are completed entirely outside the learning management system, such as delivering an in-class presentation or submitting a paper-based portfolio. While the work itself is not submitted electronically, the Avenue site can still be used to communicate assignment details, record grades, and provide feedback.

The Assignment activity is particularly useful for supporting PBLA. It enables teachers to provide individualized, action-oriented feedback, store examples of student work (including speaking tasks), facilitate group work and peer assessment, and record grades and feedback for both online and offline assignments.

Action-oriented feedback consists of comments given to students about specific actions they can take in order to improve in a meaningful way. It is specific to individual students and can be referenced to assessment criteria as well.

Action-oriented feedback provides students with specific, practical suggestions they can use to improve future performance. Feedback can be linked to assessment criteria and focused on clear next steps or goals. It also helps teachers identify common areas for improvement that can be addressed in future modules and course planning.

Action-Oriented Feedback Strategies

Use action verbs and specific suggestions instead of general comments.
Begin feedback with phrases such as "Continue to...", "Next time, remember to...", or "Try to..." to emphasize next steps.
Provide verbal feedback to the class when common strengths or areas for improvement apply to multiple students.
Identify recurring feedback themes and encourage students to choose one area they would like to focus on improving.
Keep feedback concise, clear, and written in learner-friendly language.
Focus on the most important aspects of overall success and communicative competence rather than minor details.
Align feedback with the assessment criteria, emphasizing the skills or requirements that were missed or need further development.

Assignment Feedback Modes

Feedback can be provided to learners using a variety of methods, which are explained in the related Assignment articles:

Rubrics
Microsoft Word documents
Annotated PDFs
Inline comments annotated directly on the student's submission
Audio feedback recorded using the Poodll recorder

Storing Examples of Speaking Tasks

To keep students' speaking tasks stored in Avenue, create a Poodll Voice Recorder assignment. For step-by-step instructions, see the Adding a Poodll Voice Recorder Assignment article. Once students have submitted their recordings, the assignment can be graded and action-oriented feedback can be provided, as appropriate.

Group-work and Peer Assessment

Peer feedback and peer assessment are important components of PBLA. The Assignment activity can be configured to allow students to view one another's submissions and provide feedback by uploading a feedback file or responding to a classmate's work.

To keep the process organized, it is recommended that students be divided into Groups before using peer feedback. Without Groups, all students may have access to every submission, making the activity difficult to manage and increasing the likelihood that some students will not receive feedback. For instructions on creating Groups, see the Organizing Learners Using Groups article. Once groups are established, students can share their assignments with group members and provide feedback within their assigned group.

Note: Peer feedback can also be facilitated using a Forum or Wiki activity, with or without Groups. Depending on the activity, these tools may be easier to administer than the Assignment activity.

Storing Grades for Offline Assignments

PBLA assessments are often based on real-world tasks that may not always be submitted electronically through the courseware. However, teachers may still want all assessment grades and feedback stored in the course grade book, including tasks completed outside of the Assignment activity.

This can be done by creating an Offline Assignment. An Offline Assignment is an assignment that does not require students to submit work electronically. Examples include in-class speaking activities, in-class writing tasks, field trip interactions, or activities completed using other courseware tools, such as a Forum or Wiki.

After students complete the task, teachers can use the Offline Assignment to record grades and provide action-oriented feedback, just as they would for any other assignment. While the students' work is not stored within the Assignment activity, the grades and feedback are stored in the course grade book.

Step-by-Step Instructions for Adding the Assignment Activity

1. In your course, ensure that Edit mode is enabled.

2. Hover your cursor over the dotted line between two activities. The Add an activity or resource button (plus icon) appears.

3. Click on this icon.

4. From the drop-down menu, select the Activity or resource option.

5. In the Add an activity or resource panel, select the Assignment icon.

Note: The Add a new Assignment page appears.

6. In the General section, type the Assignment name that learners will see.

7. Type a description of the assignment in the Description text box.

To add a video to the assignment description, see the Adding Video to an Assignment Description article.
To add an audio recording to the assignment description, see the Adding Audio to an Assignment Description article.

8. To display the description on the course home page, select Display description on course page.

Note: This option is not recommended if you want to keep the course page less cluttered.

9. Type additional instructions for learners in the Activity instructions box.

Note: Use the Additional files upload area to attach files that learners may need for the assignment, such as an answer template, reference materials, or an answer key. The maximum file size allowed is displayed in the top-right corner of this section (for example, 2 GB).

10. The settings in the Availability section control when students can access and submit the assignment.

Allow submissions from: Specifies the date and time when the Add submission button becomes available to learners. Students can submit their work from this point onward.
Due date: Specifies when the assignment is due. Submissions received after this date are marked as late.

Note: The Enable check boxes for these settings are selected by default. When enabled, students cannot submit before the specified dates. If disabled, students can submit immediately after the assignment is created.

Cut-off date: Specifies the final date and time when submissions are accepted. After this date, students cannot submit assignments unless an extension is provided.
Always show description: This option is enabled by default. If disabled, the assignment description is only visible to students after the Allow submissions from date.

11. The Submission types section allows teachers to select how students will submit their work and configure file limits. Available options include:

File submissions
Online PoodLL
Online text

12. When File submissions is selected, teachers can:

Set the Maximum number of files students can upload.
Set the Maximum submission size for each file.
Select the Accepted file types.

In this example, learners can submit up to 20 mp3 files, with each file limited to 2 GB.

13. The Online Poodll option allows students to record and submit audio or video responses using the online recorder.

When Online Poodll is selected, teachers can choose the Poodll recording type:

Audio Recorder
Video Recorder
Whiteboard
Snapshot

If Audio Recorder is selected, teachers can set the Poodll recording time limit using seconds, minutes, days, or weeks.

Teachers can also configure how the current submission is displayed using the Current Submission settings. Available options include:

Do not show
Show (minimized)
Show (expanded)
Show always (minimize recorder)

Note: Setting the Active drop-down to No prevents learners from submitting additional recordings.

If Whiteboard is selected, instructors can customize the Poodll Whiteboard Background and Poodll Whiteboard Size.

14. When Online text is selected, teachers can set a Word limit for student submissions.

15. The settings in the Feedback types section determine how teachers can provide feedback on student submissions. Available options include:

Feedback comments
Annotate PDF
Offline grading worksheet
Feedback files
Feedback Poodll

16. The Feedback comments setting enables teachers to provide written comments for each submitted assignment.

When enabled, teachers can select Comment inline to add comments directly within the feedback comment field while grading submissions.

17. The Annotate PDF setting allows teachers to provide feedback by adding annotations and comments directly to submitted PDF documents.

18. The Offline grading worksheet setting allows teachers to download a customized worksheet, grade submissions, and add feedback offline. Once completed, the worksheet can be uploaded back to Avenue, and grades and feedback will be automatically updated in the Assignment activity and grade book.

Note: This feature is not available if advanced grading methods, such as Rubrics or Marking Guides, are used.

19. The Feedback files setting allows teachers to provide feedback by uploading files, such as commented documents or other feedback materials.

20. The Feedback Poodll setting adds an online recorder that allows teachers to provide audio or video feedback.

If Feedback Poodll is selected, instructors can:

Choose a Poodll recorder type:

Audio Recorder
Video Recorder
Whiteboard
Snapshot

Set the Poodll Whiteboard Size.
Enable a download link for feedback by selecting Yes in the Show download link setting.

21. The settings in the Submission settings section control how students finalize submissions, confirm ownership of their work, and manage submission attempts.

22. The Require students click submit button setting determines whether submissions are finalized when uploaded.

Select Yes to require students to click the Submit button to confirm that their work is final. After submission, students cannot make further changes.
Select No to keep submissions in draft form, allowing students to continue editing after uploading.

23. The Require that students accept the submission statement setting determines whether students must confirm that their submission is their own work.

Select Yes to require students to accept the statement.
Select No to allow students to submit without accepting the statement.

24. The Allowed attempts setting determines how many submission attempts are permitted.

Settings in the Group submission settings section are used to set the parameters for assignment submissions from students working in groups.

25. The Students submit in groups setting determines whether students complete and submit the assignment as a group.

Select Yes to enable group submissions.
Select No to allow individual submissions.

26. When Yes is selected, additional settings become available:

Require all group members submit: Determines whether every group member must submit before the assignment is considered complete.
Grouping for student groups: Allows teachers to select the group grouping used for submissions. The default setting is None.

The settings in the Notifications section control teacher notifications related to assignment submissions.

27. The Notify graders about submissions setting determines whether teachers receive notifications when students submit assignments.

Select Yes to receive notifications for early, on-time, and late submissions.
Select No to disable submission notifications.

28. From the Notify graders about late submissions drop-down menu:

Select Yes to receive notifications when students submit assignments after the due date.
Select No to disable late submission notifications.

The settings in the Grade section are used to configure how submitted assignments are graded.

29. The Grade setting determines how the assignment is evaluated.

Select None if only feedback will be provided and no grade will be assigned.
Select Scale to evaluate submissions using a predefined scale.
Select Point to assign a numeric grade and set a maximum grade value.

30. The Grading method setting determines how grading is structured.

Simple direct grading (default): Allows teachers to assign a grade and provide summary feedback. Advanced grading methods are disabled.
Marking guide: Allows teachers to provide a mark and comment for each grading criterion.
Rubric: Allows teachers to assess submissions using predefined criteria and performance levels. An overall grade is calculated based on the rubric.

Note: If you plan to use a rubric, additional options will appear. It is recommended that you refer to the Assignment Rubrics from Scratch or Assignment Rubrics articles. Do not select Create a new grading for from a template.

31. The Grade category setting determines where the assignment grade is organized in the grade book. The default setting is Uncategorised.

32. The Grade to pass field allows teachers to specify the minimum grade required to pass the assignment. This setting affects how grades are displayed in the grade book and can be used for activity and course completion tracking when these features are enabled.

33. The Blind marking setting hides student identities during grading, allowing teachers to assess submissions without seeing the names of the students who submitted them.

34. The Use marking workflow setting allows assignments to go through multiple grading stages before marks are released to students. This is useful when several rounds of marking or review are required.

35. The Use marking allocation setting can be used with marking workflow to assign specific submissions to individual graders.

The settings in the Common module settings section are common to many Moodle activities and resources.

36. The Availability setting controls whether the activity is visible to students. This works the same way as using the Show/Hide icons when Edit mode is enabled on the course page.

37. The ID Number setting allows teachers to assign an identifier for advanced grade book functions. This setting is not used in the LINC courseware.

38. The Group mode setting enables the use of groups for the activity. For more information, see the Organizing Learners Using Groups article.

39. The Grouping option allows teachers to use groupings, which are collections of groups.

The settings in the Restrict access section allow teachers to control when and under what conditions students can access the activity. For more information, see the Setting up and Using the Restrict Access Settings article.

40. Click on the Add restriction... button to display the Add restriction pop-up.

41. The settings in the Completion conditions section allow teachers to configure completion tracking, grading requirements, and expected completion dates. For more information, see the Setting Up and Using Completion Tracking article.

42. The ePortfolio Artifact Settings section is used to ensure that relevant data is transferred to the ePortfolio.

Note: Tagging an activity will generate an artifact that is automatically added to learners' ePortfolios. See Tagging Activities for Avenue.ca ePortfolio Auto-Collection for more information about tagging and the auto collection of artifacts for the learners' ePortfolios.

43. Click on the Save and return to course button to save the assignment and return to the course page.

44. Click on the Save and display button to save the assignment and view the Assignment page.

Video Resources

Assignment Video

Resources

Moodle Documents: Assignment Activity

Moodle Documents: Assignment Settings

Moodle Documents: Using Assignment

Moodle Documents: Assignment FAQ