Managing Active Assignments
Although most assignments are set up with a specific start date, a specific due date, and related settings, many of these parameters can be adjusted for an individual student. Note that the exact options vary depending on the assignment’s format.
Options for Uploaded and Online Assignments
The following describe some of the options for uploaded and online assignments.
If a student needs to take a test at a different time than the rest of the class, you might want to give the student a personalized start date, a personalized due date, or both.
If you give a student a personalized start date, that is the date on which the assignment will open for him or her, and the start date defined for the assignment is mostly ignored. You can give the student a personalized start date only if the start date defined for the assignment has not yet passed.
When you set a personalized start date, you are allowed to choose a date that occurs before or after the start date for the assignment.
Navigate to the appropriate Student Assignment Details screen.
At the top of the screen is a link labeled a different start date. (If you do not see this, then the assignment is already open, and you cannot give the student a personalized start date.)
Click a different start date.
The system displays a pop-up window labeled Individual Start Date.
Enter the appropriate date and time using the fields provided.
Click Save.
The system saves the personalized date. Your view of the Student Assignment Details screen for this student will now show this as the start date. If the assignment is visible to the student, he or she will also see this date.
Note that on your view of the Student Assignment Details screen, there is no indication this is a personalized date for the student, but in the future, any authorized user who visits this screen will be able to tell that the date has been customized by clicking a different start date—if a student’s start date has been personalized, then the pop-up includes an option that reads Remove student name’s individual start date.
You can also see that the start date was customized by viewing the detailed history of the assignment.
If the assignment’s due date has not yet passed, you can give the student a custom due date that differs from the one set for the assignment.
Note
If the assignment’s due date is configured to show up on the course calendar, the student’s My Calendar will still show the due date defined for the assignment, not the date customized for the student.
Navigate to the appropriate Student Assignment Details screen.
The screen includes a line of text indicating the date and time the assignment is due, along with an option for creating a different due date.
Note
If you do not see the link labeled a different due date, that means the due date for the assignment has already passed, or that the student has already taken the test and used all available retakes. In either case, the assignment is considered closed for the student. If this is the situation and you still want the student to be able to continue working, you can let the student rework an existing attempt or reopen the assignment so the student can use any remaining attempts.
Click the link labeled a different due date.
The system displays the Individual Due Date pop-up.
Enter the appropriate date and time.
Click Save.
The system saves the personalized date. Your view of the Student Assignment Details screen for this student will now show this as the due date. If the assignment is visible to the student, he or she will also see this date.
Note that on your view of the Student Assignment Details screen, there is no indication that this is a personalized date for the student, but in the future, any authorized user who visits this screen will be able to tell that the date has been changed by clicking a different due date—if a student’s due date has been personalized, then the pop-up includes an option that reads Remove student name’s individual due date.
You can also see that the due date was customized by viewing the detailed history of the assignment.
If you’ve given the student a personalized due date or start date that you now want to remove or change, use this procedure.
Navigate to the appropriate Student Assignment Details screen.
Click one of the following:
the link labeled a different start date.
the link labeled a different due date.
The system displays a pop-up.
Do one of the following:
To modify the personalized date, change the date and time fields, then click Save.
To delete the personalized date and revert to the date defined for the assignment, click Remove student name’s individual due/start date.
The Student Assignment Details screen includes a feature that lets you close the assignment for the student and enter a grade.
You might want to do this for a few different reasons. For example, suppose you have created an online test that allows retakes and uses the student’s best attempt for the final score. If a student did perfectly on the first attempt, you may want to close the assignment, since he or she does not need the additional attempts.
If the assignment was an uploaded assignment, you might want to close it if the student gave you a hard-copy version of his or her file, or if the student uploaded a file but failed to mark it as final (and you know that it is the final version).
Navigate to the appropriate Student Assignment Details screen.
You will not be prompted to confirm that you want to close the assignment, so make sure you really want to close it before proceeding.
Click the link labeled Close the assignment. (If you do not see this link, then the assignment is already closed.)
The system closes the assignment. The student can no longer work on it, and you are allowed to enter a grade.
If you later decide you want to reopen the assignment for the student.
There may be cases where an assignment has closed for a student—either because the student completed it or because the due date passed—but you want the student to be able to continue working. In many cases, you can address this by reopening the assignment.
Reopening works differently depending on the assignment’s format:
If this is an uploaded assignment, reopening it allows the student make changes to the file(s) that he or she already uploaded. If the student has not exceeded the maximum, the student will also be allowed to upload more files.
If this is an online test, reopening the assignment is possible only if the student never took the test or has at least one retake remaining. Reopening will allow the student to use the remaining attempt(s).
Note
If the student does not have additional attempts outstanding, consider granting the student a retake, or letting the student rework an earlier attempt.
For both assignment formats, you can also extend the due date when you reopen the assignment.
Navigate to the appropriate Student Assignment Details screen.
Click the link labeled Reopen the assignment type. (If this is an online assignment and you don’t see this link, in most cases that means the student does not have outstanding attempts available, and you cannot reopen the assignment.)
After you click Reopen the assignment type, the system displays a pop-up that lets you do either of the following:
Give the student a personalized due date. (If the due date for the assignment has already passed, giving the student a new due date is required.)
Enter a comment for the student. This message will display on the student’s view of the Student Assignment Details screen.
Click the Reopen the assignment type button.
The system reopens the assignment for this student. In the student’s view of the feature, the assignment will revert from being grayed out to showing as a hyperlink, indicating that the assignment is open.
If the student previously attempted the test or uploaded a file, the system will add a status message that says In Progress.
Various events can result in an “Attempt submitted” or “Progress saved” entry being written to the detailed history for an assignment. To help you differentiate among these events, the Note column of the history explains the action that resulted in the history item.
Following are lists of all possible events that will result in the logging of “Attempt submitted” and “Progress saved” entries in the detailed history.
Assignment Statuses
An “Attempt submitted” item is written in the assignment history anytime one of the following actions occurs:
The student submits an attempt normally.
The Lock out option is turned on, and the student closes the test by clicking Exit this Exam or by closing the browser and then tries to return to the attempt.
Time runs out on a timed test.
The student closes the browser tab or window while taking a timed test and then allows time to run out before returning to the attempt.
Faculty closes an assignment when an attempt is in progress.
The student starts a non-timed assignment, closes the assignment, and lets the due date or late date pass.
A “Progress saved” item is written to the assignment history when any of the following actions occur:
The assignment is auto-saved. Successive auto-saves will show up only as one entry in the history when no other actions occur between them.
The student clicks Save Progress.
The student navigates to a different page of the assignment.
The student clicks Exit this Exam.
The attempt is submitted either automatically when time runs out or by the student clicking Submit this Exam.
View the Detailed History for an Assignment
If you want to see details of the actions taken with an assignment—such as each time the student launched the exam, whether or not the student was granted a personalized due date and so forth—you should view the detailed history for the assignment.
Navigate to the appropriate Student Assignment Details screen.
Click the link labeled detailed history.
The system displays a pop-up that lists actions that the student took, and actions that you took specific to this student.
In addition to the choices above, you can also do any of the following when managing online tests:
Give a student a personalized time limit, as described below.
Let a student rework an attempt.
Grant a student a retake.
If desired, you can give a student a customized time limit for completing an online assignment. This time limit will supersede any time limit that might have been set for the assignment.
Set a Personalized Time Limit
Navigate to the appropriate Student Assignment Details screen.
Click the link labeled Personal time limit. (If you don’t see this link, then the assignment has already closed for the student, or it is not an online test.)
Enter the appropriate time limit.
Click Save.
The system saves the personalized time limit. Your view of the Student Assignment Details screen for this student will now show this time limit. If the assignment is visible to the student, the student will also see this time limit.
Note that in your view of the Student Assignment Details screen, there is no indication that this value has been customized, but in the future, any authorized user who visits this screen will be able to tell this is a personalized time limit by clicking a different time limit—if the time limit is customized, the pop-up includes an option that reads Remove student name’s individual time limit in favor of the standard limit.
You can also see that a custom time limit was added for this student by viewing the detailed history of the assignment, as described in View the Detailed History for an Assignment.
Remove or Change a Personalized Time Limit
If you’ve given a student a personalized time limit that you want to remove or change, use this procedure. Note that when you remove a time limit for a student, whatever time limit you defined for the assignment (if any) will apply.
Navigate to the appropriate Student Assignment Details screen.
Click the link labeled Personal time limit. (If you don’t see this link, then the assignment has already closed for the student, or it is not an online test.)
Do one of the following:
To delete the personalized time limit and revert to the time limit (if any) defined for the assignment, click Remove student name’s individual time limit in favor of the standard limit.
To modify the personalized time limit, edit the time fields and click Save.
After a student submits a test, you can open the test back up to let the student refine his or her answers and complete any unanswered questions. This is the equivalent of handing a hard-copy test back to the student for further work. In eLearning, this is called letting the student rework the assignment.
Navigate to the appropriate Student Assignment Details screen.
Click the link labeled Rework.
Note
If you don’t see the Rework link, it means the student did not take the test and therefore has nothing to rework. If the student did not take the test and the due date has passed, you can still give the student another chance by reopening the assignment, as described in Reopen an Assignment.
The system displays the Rework pop-up window. If the student took the test more than once, the window would include a drop-down list that lets you select a specific attempt for the student to rework.
Fill out the form as follows:
If the student took the test multiple times, use the drop-down list to select one of the attempts.
If appropriate, enter a different due date. If the due date for the assignment has already passed, this is required.
If appropriate, enter a note to the student. This message will display on the student’s view of the Student Assignment Details screen.
Click the Allow reworking button.
The student will now be able to resume work on the assignment.
If you want to grant a student an extra retake (in addition to any that you might have defined for the assignment), use this procedure.
Navigate to the appropriate Student Assignment Details screen, as described in Navigate to the Student Assignment Details Screen.
Click the link labeled Grant a retake. If you don’t see this option, then either the due date has already passed, or the assignment is set up to allow an unlimited number of retakes.
Note
If the due date has passed but you want the student to be able to keep working, see Reopen an Assignment.
The system displays a pop-up screen with several options.
Fill out the form as follows:
If appropriate, enter a different due date for the retake.
Choose one of the options listed for determining how this retake should affect the student’s overall grade for the assignment.
Optionally, specify the minimal amount of time between the end of the student’s last attempt and the time they can begin the retake.
Enter a note for the student. This message will display on the student’s view of the Student Assignment Details screen.
Note that you will not be able to edit these choices later, so make you sure enter the appropriate values before closing the pop-up screen.
Click Grant a retake.
The system gives the student one additional retake, and the screen updates to show the new number of retakes available. If the assignment is visible to the student, he or she will also see this updated number.
Note that on your view of the Student Assignment Details screen, there is no immediate indication that the available retakes for this student are different from the rest of the class, but you and other authorized users can see that the number of retakes was customized by viewing the detailed history of the assignment, as described in View the Detailed History for an Assignment.