Format-Specific Options

If appropriate, you can add details to your assignment about suggested and required readings. If you do this, once the assignment is open, the details about your reading(s) will display on the Student Assignment Details screen. You can add any of the following details about each reading:

By default, the edit screen includes a form for only one reading. If you need to create multiple readings, use the Add another reading link to add multiple forms to the screen.

Similarly, if you need to remove a reading, click the Remove this reading link.

Once the assignment is open, students will see the details you added on the Student Assignment Details screen. (The reading will not display if the assignment is inactive but visible.) If you have added instructions to the assignment, the reading details will display below the instructions.

If you are adding a reading to an assignment that also has a learning tool, note that the reading will display below the launch link for the learning tool.

These uploaded assignment options determine how many files students should upload for the assignment. You can specify:

You do this using a set of drop-down lists.

The Enable preview pane for viewing student uploads inline option allows you to enable or disable the preview pane that appears on the Student Assignment Detail page for each student. This checkbox is selected by default. To disable the preview pane for the assignment, clear the checkbox.

The Auto-Grade option allows you to have the system automatically assign a grade of zero to students who do not submit any files before the due date passes. Automatic grading is enabled by default. You can disable this function by deselecting this checkbox.

If your administrator has enabled eLearning’s integration with Google Drive, you can select this option to have eLearning upload copies of your students' files to Google Drive.

When a student uploads a file, eLearning will automatically save a copy of it to a folder with the student's name on your Google Drive. The student's folder will be located within a directory that has the structure course code > section code > assignment name. eLearning automatically creates this directory on your Google Drive once students begin uploading files.

If you enable this function after an assignment has already started, eLearning will upload files that students have already submitted.

The Post due date field (located under Step One: General Assignment Information) allows you to specify a due date for students’ initial posts to allow time for others to reply before the date specified in the Due date field. This field is optional.

If a student has not submitted an initial post by the specified post due date, the system gives the student a zero.

This field, located under Step One: General Assignment Information, allows you to select the forum category and topic to which the forum assignment will be linked.

If the course does not contain a forum feature with at least one category and topic, you will see a link labeled Click here to add a topic. This will take you to the Discussion Forum feature, where you can add a topic that can be linked to the assignment.

Under Step Two: Forums Assignment Options, you will see the following options related to students’ posts and replies:

The settings of the forum topic with which the assignment is linked will determine which of these options are selected. You may change the default settings by selecting or deselecting these checkboxes. Depending on the discussion topic’s settings, some of these options may not be available for editing.

Under Step Two: Forums Assignment Options, you will see settings related to the forum assignment:

Select the first checkbox to require at least a specified number (1 to 10) of initial posts in the discussion topic. If you select this option, you can use the drop-down list to select the number of initial posts that will be required of students. You can also choose to ignore posts shorter than a specified number of words by entering a number in the appropriate field.

The second checkbox allows you to require at least a specified number (1 to 10) of replies in the discussion topic. If you select this option, you can use the drop-down list to select the number of replies that will be required of students. You can also choose to ignore replies shorter than a specified number of words by entering a number in the appropriate field.

The Learning Tool Integration lets you associate an existing learning tool with an assignment. Once you do this and the assignment is open, the Student Assignment Details screen will include a link that lets students launch the tool and use it within the Coursework feature window.

If the tool is one that sends a grade for the student, the assignment will record the grade and make the grade viewable within the Coursework feature (according to the same guidelines that affect the visibility of any assignment grade). Also, if appropriate, you can later modify the grade just as you can for any Coursework assignment.

You can select a learning tool in the Learning Tool Library. Refer to the Learning Tool Library for Coursework Assignments section for more details. The available tools include the following:

If you have access to the Learning Tools feature, you can choose a tool in the Regular tools or Deep-linking tools sections. The selection of a tool in the Regular tools section will launch the assignment settings in eLearning. Once those are set, the tool will launch for tool-specific settings. A deep-linking tool originates in the tool and provides information to the LMS. The selection of a tool in the Deep-linking tools section will launch the tool and import settings into the assignment section of eLearning.

If you want to use a tool that is not available in the list, then the tool needs to be added through the Learning Tools feature or the tool needs to be shared so that you have access to it. Your ability to resolve this by yourself may vary depending on what sort of permissions you have within the Learning Tools feature.

Once the assignment is open, students will see a link to the learning tool on the Student Assignment Details screen. (The link will not display if the assignment is inactive but visible.)

If you’ve added instructions to the assignment, the link will display below the instructions. Note that it is not possible to customize the text of the Launch the tool link.

The Test review section lets you specify whether students can review their completed assignments, along with the correct answers. There are five main components to this choice.

The first option determines whether students can view their completed tests, whether or not their responses were correct, and the scores they got on each question. You can choose to let students do this at any of the following times:

If you select As soon as a specified date passes, date and time fields will appear, allowing you to specify the date and time at which students will be able to review their tests.

If you pick anything other than Never, then the next four options become relevant.

The second option allows students to see the correct answers to any questions that they missed—otherwise they will just see whether they got the answer right or wrong. You can let students see the correct answers at any of the following times:

The third option allows you to show students only those questions for which they did not receive full credit when they are reviewing their test results.

The fourth option lets you turn off review access after a certain date and time. If you specify a date and time for this setting, students will not be able to review their tests after that date and time.

The fifth option, the Hide answers during review checkbox, allows you to hide answers from students while they are reviewing their tests. If you select this checkbox, the student will see only the question, the response the student provided and the student’s score on the question. The student will not see other possible responses or general feedback.

The Auto-Grade option allows you to have the system automatically assign a grade of zero to students who do not take the test before the due date passes. Automatic grading is enabled by default. You can disable this function by deselecting this checkbox.

The Time limit is the amount of time the student has to complete the test, starting from when the student clicks the link labeled Start this test.

When the time limit is reached, the test is automatically submitted, whether or not the student has completed it.

When setting this value, you can choose any number of hours, minutes, or days. The default choice is that there is no time limit.

The time limit will be displayed on the student’s view of the Assignment Details screen, which offers a summary of the assignment.

Then, after the student begins the online assignment, the time limit is shown in the header on the screen. This view also includes an hourglass field that shows the current time remaining.

Once the student begins the assignment (by clicking the Start the test link), the header area keeps track of the time remaining. When the time limit ticks down to five minutes, the system generates a warning pop-up window that only five minutes remain, then begins counting down the seconds.

When the time limit is reached, the assignment is automatically submitted. This is true even if the student has navigated away from the page or logged out of the system.

The Pagination setting determines whether and how the assignment is split into multiple pages. You can choose from any of the following pagination types:

You make this choice using a drop-down list.

You can also choose to restrict students to forward progress through the pages of the test by selecting the Only allow forward progress checkbox. With this option selected, students will not see the Back button, nor will they be able to return to a previous page of the exam by clicking a page number. (Page numbers will still appear, but they will not be hyperlinks.)

The Section order setting determines whether or not the sequence of sections will be shuffled for each student (meaning that different students will see a different order). The default choice is that sections are not shuffled.

You set this using a checkbox.

The Lock out setting determines how the student’s attempt is affected if interrupted by an incident such as a computer crash, or if the student navigates away from the test to another page. The default is that students are allowed to resume an interrupted attempt, which means they can redisplay the assignment and start from the last place it was saved.

If you choose to lock students out, they cannot redisplay the assignment, and the system will automatically submit the student’s work when the time limit is reached or, if the assignment is not timed, when the due date arrives.

You set this using a checkbox.

The Extra credit setting determines whether the system can give a student a better-than-perfect grade when automatically scoring the test. The default is that this is not allowed. What this means is that extra credit questions can raise the students’ score only to a maximum of 100 percent.

Even without enabling this feature, you can always give a student a better-than-perfect score when manually grading the test.

You activate the Extra credit setting using a checkbox.

Under the Security label, you have a few choices.

With the Retakes setting, you can allow students to take a test multiple times. The field Let students retake this test [option] times after their first attempt enables you to make this choice using a drop-down list. The options are:

When you create retakes, you can also set values for each of the following:

If desired, you can also grant an individual student an additional retake, beyond those that other students get.

After the assignment is closed, you can optionally customize how the final grade is determined for any particular student.