Teaching with Technology

• Give your assignment and name and an optional description.
• Add assignment instructions in the Activity instructions box. Unlike the description, the activity instructions are only visible to students once the the assignment becomes available.
• If you want, you can also upload a file with instructions or other information. If you want the file to be hidden until the assignment becomes available to students, be sure to select the "Only share files during submission" box below the file selection area.

• Choose the date when you would like the assignment information to be available to students. Prior to the date you select, students will be able to see the assignment name, as well as when it becomes available and the due date, on the Moodle page, but not the instructions or submission area. If you would like all information to be available immediately, uncheck the Enable box to the left of the date selection area. 
• Choose a due date. Students will still be able to make submissions after the due date, but they will be marked late. Assignment due dates assigned in Moodle will appear on upcoming events lists and calendars for students in Moodle.
• A cut-off date is the last date on which students can turn in an assignment on Moodle. Most faculty at Reed do not use this feature, but if you would like to do so, check the box to enable it and set a date of your choosing.

• You can also create timed assignments by enabling the time assignment feature and setting an amount of time.
  • Moodle will track the amount of time between when students access the assignment materials and when they turn in the assignment. When they begin the assignment,
  • Unlike with timed quizzes in Moodle, students will still be able to submit assignments after the allotted time has passed. However, faculty will be able to see the amount of time they took on the assignment on the advanced grading screen.

• You can issue an override for individual students who need more time on timed assignments or who need an adjusted due date.

• Most faculty prefer file submissions. If you would like your students to type their submissions in Moodle, select the box next to Online text.
• If you prefer files in a single format, such as MS Word files or PDFs, you can limit the file types that students can attach. 
  
  • Select the Choose button next to Accepted file types.
  • Click Expand to the right of the line for Document files
  • Check the box next to the file type(s) you will accept.
  • Click the Save changes button.
    
    

By default, faculty can include either feedback comments added directly in Moodle or feedback files, such as a graded version of the file a student submitted.

We suggest not using the Annotate PDF function in Moodle. If you would like to annotate PDFs submitted by students, get in touch with us at its@reed.edu for recommendations.

• Faculty at Reed generally choose to set the Grade type to none so that grades are not returned to students with feedback.
• Some faculty also prefer to grade assignments anonymously. To do so, set the Anonymous submissions option to Yes.

Most faculty choose to download all student submissions to grade them outside of Moodle by, for instance, using the track changes feature in MS Word or annotating student PDFs. To download all student assignments

• From the assignment, choose View all submissions
• Click on the Download all submissions button. A download of all student submissions in a .zip file will begin immediately.

• The zipped file will contain a folder for each student who has turned in the assignment. The student's submission is in that folder. As you grade, be sure to keep the folder and file names and structure the same. This will allow you to upload feedback files in bulk when you are ready.

• Save the main folder with student submissions as a .zip file. On a Mac, right click on the folder and choose "Compress [folder name]" to do this.
• From the Assignment page in Moodle, choose View all submissions.
• Select Upload multiple feedback files in a zip from the Grading actions drop-down menu.

• On the upload page, drag and drop your zip file or upload it using the Moodle file picker, and then click the Import feedback file(s) button.
• You will see a list of student names and feedback files. Click confirm if it looks correct.

• If you like, on the View all submissions page, check to be sure each student now has a feedback file, and that the file name is correct. You will have to scroll all the way to the right on the table of submissions to see the submission file.
• Students now have access to your feedback. Let them know they can find it in Moodle. We recommend that you let students know that they will find your feedback in a file at the bottom of their assignment view. They may have to scroll down to find it.

If a student has not turned in their submission by the time you are ready to download submission files, you can add the submission for them so that the folder structure for grading is correct.

Students will need to scroll down in their assignment view to see your feedback files. If you hear from a student that they can't find your feedback, but you can confirm that their file has been added in the View all submissions page, remind the student to scroll all the way down in the assignment to see your feedback.

Use the Moodle grading interface you would like to grade assignments online using feedback comments, or if you would like to assign grades within Moodle that will be added to the Moodle gradebook. You can also use the grading interface to grade assignments that have come in late.

• To access the grading interface, choose Grade from the submissions page for any student. You will be brought to that student's grading page.

• From this page, you can download the student submission individually, add any feedback comments or upload feedback files, and assign a grade.
• When you are done, click the save changes and show next to move on to the next student's grading page. By default, Moodle will send a notification email to the student that their submission has been graded. If you prefer, uncheck the box next to this option to prevent the notification from being sent.