Mini guides
Completion requirements
Assignment
1. What is the difference between Due date and Cut-off date?
2. Can a student change his submission?
3. How can I allow students to submit after the Cut-off date?
4. What is the Late penalty?
5. What is the difference between Submission comments and Online text?
6. How best should students communicate with graders?
7. The task is offline. Shouldn't I just use the Gradebook?
8. How can I hide feedback and grades until all submissions are graded?
9. Can I prevent students seeing which grader graded their submissions?
10. Can multiple graders work offline simultaneously?
11. What is Marking workflow and Marking allocation?
12. Can graders be prevented from seeing names of students?
13. What is Blind marking?
14. How can I decide who is notified when Notify graders about submissions or Notify graders about late submissions is set?
15. What are submission attempts?
16. What are Marking guides and Rubrics?
17. How can Students submit in groups?
18. I find the PDF editor difficult to use. Is there an alternative?
19. How can I speed up...?
...Launch PDF editor...?
...Upload multiple feedback files in a zip?
20. How can I quickly set grades depending only on whether students submitted?
21. What is the difference between User overrides and Grant extension?
22. If students are not required to click the submit button, how can I see all the submissions that can safely be graded ?
Notes:
What is the difference between Due date and Cut-off date?
The Cut-off date is the date after which students can no longer change their submission (but see How can I allow students to submit after the Cut-off date?).
The Due date has two functions:
Note: Option Prevent submission changes exists also after the Cut-off date. This is a bug.
Can a student change his submission?
By default, students can continue making changes to their submissions (i.e. add and/or delete files, or change the Online text) until the Cut-off date (but see How can I allow students to submit after the Cut-off date?).
If a Cut-off date is not set, or you want to begin grading before it, there are two ways to prevent students making changes after you begin grading:
How can I allow students to submit after the Cut-off date?
Of course, you can Grant extension to a student if he has a legitimate reason for submitting late.
However, if you simply want to begin grading, but never-the-less allow students to submit late (presumably with a penalty. See What is the Late penalty?), then:
If option Allow submissions after the Cut-off date is enabled in the assignment Settings, a student can (and must) resubmit after the Cut-off date (or his personal Extension date) if, when he submits before that date, he indicates that he intends to resubmit late. (Also, a student who has not submitted at all before the date can submit late). When the student submits after that date, he can choose to mark his submission as final. (If he does so, he cannot resubmit.) Such submissions are clearly marked in the View/grade all submissions page so that it is clear when one can begin grading them.
If Notify graders about late submissions is enabled in the assignment Settings, notifications are sent only when a Student marks his submission as final (i.e. not after the Due-date as is the case when Allow submissions after the Cut-off date is not enabled).
This is a HUJI feature.
What is the Late penalty?
Moodle can optionally apply a penalty if the submission is after the Due date (which may be overridden and/or extended. See below.
The penalty is calculated from a mathematical expression that can include variables such as hours and days.
(Also, if option Allow submissions after the Cut-off date is enabled, an additional variable that depends on whether the student indicated that he intends to submit late. See above.)
In the Assignment, the student's Grade and Late penalty are shown separately. In the Gradebook they are combined.
This is a HUJI feature.
What is the difference between Submission comments and Online text?
Submission comments are intended for private communication between student and graders. They are not part of the submission itself.
A student can enter Submission comments regardless of the state of his submission (non-existent, draft, submitted or graded). Likewise, the grader can respond to them.
This would seem an ideal place to discuss lateness, appeals etc. Unfortunately, neither graders nor student are alerted to a new comment. Hence it can easily be overlooked if it is not expected.
Note: Submission comments cannot be disabled. (They are are similar to comments in the Comments block and in the Glossary and Database activities.)
Online text is part of the submission. It is simply text that the student enters in the Moodle HTML editor.
Feedback comments are the grader's response to Online text.
Online text and Feedback comments can be enabled in the Submission types and Feedback types sections, respectively.
How best should students communicate with graders?
Use Submission comments. But see What is the difference between Submission comments and Online text? above.
Better still:
Likewise, in the discussion page in the forum, there will be a link back to the his grade page.
In addition, if Marking allocation is used in the Assignment, the list of discussions includes the names of the markers of the associated submissions.
This is a HUJI feature.
The task is offline. Shouldn't I just use the Gradebook?
Even if the task does not require the students to submit anything through Moodle, it may be preferable to use an Assignment, rather than enter grades directly in the Gradebook, so that:
How can I hide feedback and grades until all submissions are graded?
Either hide the item in the Gradebook or use Marking workflow. See below.
Note: PDF annotations are hidden until the student's grade page is saved or option Generate/Regenerate all feedback PDFs is selected from the Grading action menu or Administration block. (The option is a HUJI feature.)
Can I prevent students seeing which grader graded their submissions?
Section Graded by of the student's view of the Assignment shows the last grader to have saved changes on the student's grade page.
If option Hide graders is checked in the assignment Settings, this section is not shown.
This is a HUJI feature.
Can multiple graders work offline simultaneously?
Yes. Use either Groups or Marking workflow. See FAQ question Can multiple graders work simultaneously? and below.
What is Marking workflow and Marking allocation?
Marking workflow is a way of coordinating and supervising the work of the graders.
Submissions are in one of several states.
Marking allocation is a way of allocating the submissions to graders. It can be used only if Marking workflow is enabled. See FAQ question Can multiple graders work simultaneously?
Can graders be prevented from seeing names of students?
Yes! Assign graders one of the Restricted roles or use Blind marking. See FAQ question Can graders be prevented from seeing names of students? and below.
What is Blind marking?
Blind marking ensures that one does not know whose submission one is grading.
If Blind marking is enabled, the View/grade all submissions page and students' grade pages show Participant numbers instead of student names and other identifying information. (Participant numbers are unique across all Assignments.) Also, the Gradebook is not updated.
Blind marking must be enabled before anyone submits. It can be disabled, and the Gradebook updated, by selecting Reveal student identities (from the Grading action menu or assignment Settings.). Once disabled, it cannot be enabled again.
Note: Blind marking is not bulletproof: One can cross-reference the Last modified time with events in the Logs. (Graders can be prevented from accessing the Logs by removing capabilities View course logs and View today's logs from the role of Grader).
How can I decide who is notified when Notify graders about submissions or Notify graders about late submissions is set?
By default, Teachers, TAs and Graders receive notifications.
You can ensure that only Graders receive notifications by removing permission Receive grader submission notifications from Teachers and TAs.
If the Group mode of the assignment is set to Separate groups (in Common Module settings), then only a Teacher/TA/Grader who is a member in at least one group in which the Student is a member will receive the notification.(Or if a Grouping is set - in at least one group in the grouping.)
What are submission attempts?
If students are allowed more than one attempt, each of their submissions are as distinct as submissions from different students i.e. each attempt is saved together with its submission files and text, and feedback files, comments and grade.
The grader may want to Allow another attempt (either in the student's grade page or in the student's Edit dropdown menu in the View/grade all submissions page) after reviewing the submission.
(If Require students click submit button is not checked, this prevents the student making further changes to the current attempt. )
This should be done only if it is necessary to keep the full state of the submission prior to the student fixing it.
(If Require students click submit button is checked, one must Revert the submission to draft in order to allow the student to fix his submission.)
See FAQ question A student must fix his assignment. Should I Revert the submission to draft or Allow another attempt?
What are Marking guides and Rubrics?
Marking guides and Rubrics are two different types of assessment form aka Grading criteria.
(The Grading method, which can be either of these or the default, Simple direct grading, is set in the Grade section of the assignment Settings.)
The teacher designs the Grading criteria. The grader completes the assessment form for each student.
For each criterion, the grader enters a grade and/or comment.
In Rubrics, the teacher sets the allowed grades for each criterion (in words and/or numbers).
In Marking guides, the teacher sets only the maximum grade for each criterion.
Optionally, students can see the assessment form before submitting.
How can Students submit in groups?
Check option Students submit in groups in section Group submission settings of the assignment Settings.
To allow students to choose their own partners from within the assignment, check also option Allow student to choose partners. This is a HUJI feature.
To set up partnerships from outside the the assignment, see FAQ question Can students submit assignments in groups?. The FAQ question explains also the classic but unwieldy way of allowing students to choose their own partners.
I find the PDF editor difficult to use. Is there an alternative?
Yes! See FAQ question Is there an alternative PDF editor for the Assignment?
Smooth integration of the Alternative PDF editor is a HUJI feature.
How can I speed up...?
...Launch PDF editor...? It can take a long time for the regular PDF editor to finish loading when it is launched for the first time on a submission. The PDFs can be prepared ahead of time by selecting Prepare all PDF editor images from the Grading action menu or Administration block. (This can take several hours to complete, depending on the size of the PDFs and the number that have not yet been prepared.) This is a HUJI feature.
...Upload multiple feedback files in a zip? Before uploading, remove submission files that you have not graded or, better still, don't download them by using either Groups or Download filtered submissions. This is a HUJI feature. See FAQ question Can multiple graders work simultaneously?
How can I quickly set grades depending only on whether students submitted?
If Type is set to Scale and Scale to Submitted/Not submitted in section Grade of the assignment Settings, then there is an option to Grade submissions by status in the Grading action menu.
Selecting the option sets the grade in the Gradebook to either Submitted or Not submitted (equivalent to 1 and 0 in all but Natural grade aggregation). This is a HUJI feature.
What is the difference between User overrides and Grant extension?
The Due date and/or Cut-off date can be overridden for a particular user or group using the User overrides or Group overrides items in the Administration block.
An extension can be granted to a particular student using the Grant extension item in his Edit dropdown menu in the View/grade all submissions page.
An extension is effectively equivalent to overriding both Due date and Cut-off date.
However, they are conceptually different.
Overrides are intended to be used a priori i.e. when it is planned that individual students, or groups of students, will work to different schedules.
On the other hand, an extension is granted if, for some unforseen reason e.g. illness, the student could not keep to his schedule
In choosing between them, the following considerations may also be also relevant:
If students are not required to click the submit button, how can I see all the submissions that can safely be graded ?
If the assignment is still available and there is no Cut-off date or it has not yet been reached, then it is not safe to begin grading.
Otherwise, on the View/grade all submissions page, option Requires grading of the Filter menu ensures that the following are not included:
2. Can a student change his submission?
3. How can I allow students to submit after the Cut-off date?
4. What is the Late penalty?
5. What is the difference between Submission comments and Online text?
6. How best should students communicate with graders?
7. The task is offline. Shouldn't I just use the Gradebook?
8. How can I hide feedback and grades until all submissions are graded?
9. Can I prevent students seeing which grader graded their submissions?
10. Can multiple graders work offline simultaneously?
11. What is Marking workflow and Marking allocation?
12. Can graders be prevented from seeing names of students?
13. What is Blind marking?
14. How can I decide who is notified when Notify graders about submissions or Notify graders about late submissions is set?
15. What are submission attempts?
16. What are Marking guides and Rubrics?
17. How can Students submit in groups?
18. I find the PDF editor difficult to use. Is there an alternative?
19. How can I speed up...?
...Launch PDF editor...?
...Upload multiple feedback files in a zip?
20. How can I quickly set grades depending only on whether students submitted?
21. What is the difference between User overrides and Grant extension?
22. If students are not required to click the submit button, how can I see all the submissions that can safely be graded ?
Notes:
- Options in green are in the Edit drop down menu in the student's entry in the View/grade all submissions page.
- Expression Student grade page below implies both the Teacher and Student view of the Student's submission.
What is the difference between Due date and Cut-off date?
The Cut-off date is the date after which students can no longer change their submission (but see How can I allow students to submit after the Cut-off date?).
The Due date has two functions:
- Submissions after that date are clearly shown to be late (including the time overdue).
- The Late penalty calculation is based on it.
Note: Option Prevent submission changes exists also after the Cut-off date. This is a bug.
Can a student change his submission?
By default, students can continue making changes to their submissions (i.e. add and/or delete files, or change the Online text) until the Cut-off date (but see How can I allow students to submit after the Cut-off date?).
If a Cut-off date is not set, or you want to begin grading before it, there are two ways to prevent students making changes after you begin grading:
- Force students to actually submit by setting Require students click submit button (in section Submission settings). If set, the submission is considered to be in draft status until it is submitted. After it is submitted, the student cannot make changes unless you Revert submission to draft.
- As you begin grading a submission, Prevent submission changes on it.
How can I allow students to submit after the Cut-off date?
Of course, you can Grant extension to a student if he has a legitimate reason for submitting late.
However, if you simply want to begin grading, but never-the-less allow students to submit late (presumably with a penalty. See What is the Late penalty?), then:
If option Allow submissions after the Cut-off date is enabled in the assignment Settings, a student can (and must) resubmit after the Cut-off date (or his personal Extension date) if, when he submits before that date, he indicates that he intends to resubmit late. (Also, a student who has not submitted at all before the date can submit late). When the student submits after that date, he can choose to mark his submission as final. (If he does so, he cannot resubmit.) Such submissions are clearly marked in the View/grade all submissions page so that it is clear when one can begin grading them.
If Notify graders about late submissions is enabled in the assignment Settings, notifications are sent only when a Student marks his submission as final (i.e. not after the Due-date as is the case when Allow submissions after the Cut-off date is not enabled).
This is a HUJI feature.
What is the Late penalty?
Moodle can optionally apply a penalty if the submission is after the Due date (which may be overridden and/or extended. See below.
The penalty is calculated from a mathematical expression that can include variables such as hours and days.
(Also, if option Allow submissions after the Cut-off date is enabled, an additional variable that depends on whether the student indicated that he intends to submit late. See above.)
In the Assignment, the student's Grade and Late penalty are shown separately. In the Gradebook they are combined.
This is a HUJI feature.
What is the difference between Submission comments and Online text?
Submission comments are intended for private communication between student and graders. They are not part of the submission itself.
A student can enter Submission comments regardless of the state of his submission (non-existent, draft, submitted or graded). Likewise, the grader can respond to them.
This would seem an ideal place to discuss lateness, appeals etc. Unfortunately, neither graders nor student are alerted to a new comment. Hence it can easily be overlooked if it is not expected.
Note: Submission comments cannot be disabled. (They are are similar to comments in the Comments block and in the Glossary and Database activities.)
Online text is part of the submission. It is simply text that the student enters in the Moodle HTML editor.
Feedback comments are the grader's response to Online text.
Online text and Feedback comments can be enabled in the Submission types and Feedback types sections, respectively.
How best should students communicate with graders?
Use Submission comments. But see What is the difference between Submission comments and Online text? above.
Better still:
- Create a Personal forum and set option Link to Assignment in the its settings to the Assignment.
- In the Assignment settings, set option Link to Personal forum to the forum.
Likewise, in the discussion page in the forum, there will be a link back to the his grade page.
In addition, if Marking allocation is used in the Assignment, the list of discussions includes the names of the markers of the associated submissions.
This is a HUJI feature.
The task is offline. Shouldn't I just use the Gradebook?
Even if the task does not require the students to submit anything through Moodle, it may be preferable to use an Assignment, rather than enter grades directly in the Gradebook, so that:
- It is more conspicuous to students i.e.
- The item in the course page is linked to their grade and feedback
- It is listed together with other Assignments
- It is integrated with the Calendar
- The student's view of the Gradebook is not spoiled by large amounts of feedback
- One can notify students of new feedback
How can I hide feedback and grades until all submissions are graded?
Either hide the item in the Gradebook or use Marking workflow. See below.
Note: PDF annotations are hidden until the student's grade page is saved or option Generate/Regenerate all feedback PDFs is selected from the Grading action menu or Administration block. (The option is a HUJI feature.)
Can I prevent students seeing which grader graded their submissions?
Section Graded by of the student's view of the Assignment shows the last grader to have saved changes on the student's grade page.
If option Hide graders is checked in the assignment Settings, this section is not shown.
This is a HUJI feature.
Can multiple graders work offline simultaneously?
Yes. Use either Groups or Marking workflow. See FAQ question Can multiple graders work simultaneously? and below.
What is Marking workflow and Marking allocation?
Marking workflow is a way of coordinating and supervising the work of the graders.
Submissions are in one of several states.
- Initially it is in state Not marked.
- The grader can, for his own convenience, move it to state In marking
- The grader indicates to the supervisor that he has finished grading by moving it to state Marking completed.
- The supervisor can, for his own convenience, move it to state In Review.
- The supervisor indicates to the teacher that he has finished reviewing by moving it to state Ready for release.
- The teacher releases feedback and grades to the student by moving it to state Released.
Marking allocation is a way of allocating the submissions to graders. It can be used only if Marking workflow is enabled. See FAQ question Can multiple graders work simultaneously?
Can graders be prevented from seeing names of students?
Yes! Assign graders one of the Restricted roles or use Blind marking. See FAQ question Can graders be prevented from seeing names of students? and below.
What is Blind marking?
Blind marking ensures that one does not know whose submission one is grading.
If Blind marking is enabled, the View/grade all submissions page and students' grade pages show Participant numbers instead of student names and other identifying information. (Participant numbers are unique across all Assignments.) Also, the Gradebook is not updated.
Blind marking must be enabled before anyone submits. It can be disabled, and the Gradebook updated, by selecting Reveal student identities (from the Grading action menu or assignment Settings.). Once disabled, it cannot be enabled again.
Note: Blind marking is not bulletproof: One can cross-reference the Last modified time with events in the Logs. (Graders can be prevented from accessing the Logs by removing capabilities View course logs and View today's logs from the role of Grader).
How can I decide who is notified when Notify graders about submissions or Notify graders about late submissions is set?
By default, Teachers, TAs and Graders receive notifications.
You can ensure that only Graders receive notifications by removing permission Receive grader submission notifications from Teachers and TAs.
If the Group mode of the assignment is set to Separate groups (in Common Module settings), then only a Teacher/TA/Grader who is a member in at least one group in which the Student is a member will receive the notification.(Or if a Grouping is set - in at least one group in the grouping.)
What are submission attempts?
If students are allowed more than one attempt, each of their submissions are as distinct as submissions from different students i.e. each attempt is saved together with its submission files and text, and feedback files, comments and grade.
The grader may want to Allow another attempt (either in the student's grade page or in the student's Edit dropdown menu in the View/grade all submissions page) after reviewing the submission.
(If Require students click submit button is not checked, this prevents the student making further changes to the current attempt. )
This should be done only if it is necessary to keep the full state of the submission prior to the student fixing it.
(If Require students click submit button is checked, one must Revert the submission to draft in order to allow the student to fix his submission.)
See FAQ question A student must fix his assignment. Should I Revert the submission to draft or Allow another attempt?
What are Marking guides and Rubrics?
Marking guides and Rubrics are two different types of assessment form aka Grading criteria.
(The Grading method, which can be either of these or the default, Simple direct grading, is set in the Grade section of the assignment Settings.)
The teacher designs the Grading criteria. The grader completes the assessment form for each student.
For each criterion, the grader enters a grade and/or comment.
In Rubrics, the teacher sets the allowed grades for each criterion (in words and/or numbers).
In Marking guides, the teacher sets only the maximum grade for each criterion.
Optionally, students can see the assessment form before submitting.
How can Students submit in groups?
Check option Students submit in groups in section Group submission settings of the assignment Settings.
To allow students to choose their own partners from within the assignment, check also option Allow student to choose partners. This is a HUJI feature.
To set up partnerships from outside the the assignment, see FAQ question Can students submit assignments in groups?. The FAQ question explains also the classic but unwieldy way of allowing students to choose their own partners.
I find the PDF editor difficult to use. Is there an alternative?
Yes! See FAQ question Is there an alternative PDF editor for the Assignment?
Smooth integration of the Alternative PDF editor is a HUJI feature.
How can I speed up...?
...Launch PDF editor...? It can take a long time for the regular PDF editor to finish loading when it is launched for the first time on a submission. The PDFs can be prepared ahead of time by selecting Prepare all PDF editor images from the Grading action menu or Administration block. (This can take several hours to complete, depending on the size of the PDFs and the number that have not yet been prepared.) This is a HUJI feature.
...Upload multiple feedback files in a zip? Before uploading, remove submission files that you have not graded or, better still, don't download them by using either Groups or Download filtered submissions. This is a HUJI feature. See FAQ question Can multiple graders work simultaneously?
How can I quickly set grades depending only on whether students submitted?
If Type is set to Scale and Scale to Submitted/Not submitted in section Grade of the assignment Settings, then there is an option to Grade submissions by status in the Grading action menu.
Selecting the option sets the grade in the Gradebook to either Submitted or Not submitted (equivalent to 1 and 0 in all but Natural grade aggregation). This is a HUJI feature.
What is the difference between User overrides and Grant extension?
The Due date and/or Cut-off date can be overridden for a particular user or group using the User overrides or Group overrides items in the Administration block.
An extension can be granted to a particular student using the Grant extension item in his Edit dropdown menu in the View/grade all submissions page.
An extension is effectively equivalent to overriding both Due date and Cut-off date.
However, they are conceptually different.
Overrides are intended to be used a priori i.e. when it is planned that individual students, or groups of students, will work to different schedules.
On the other hand, an extension is granted if, for some unforseen reason e.g. illness, the student could not keep to his schedule
In choosing between them, the following considerations may also be also relevant:
- Overrides are not conspicuous - neither on the View/Grade all submissions page, nor on the student's grade page.
(Only a careful reading of column or field Due date or Cut-off date shows that the date has been overridden.)
On the other hand, extensions are clearly shown. - If students submit in groups, it is simplest to use a Group override.
The alternative is to use a User override, or Grant extension, for each member of the group.
If students are not required to click the submit button, how can I see all the submissions that can safely be graded ?
If the assignment is still available and there is no Cut-off date or it has not yet been reached, then it is not safe to begin grading.
Otherwise, on the View/grade all submissions page, option Requires grading of the Filter menu ensures that the following are not included:
- Submissions for which the Cut-off date is overridden (through a User override) and is in the future
- Submissions for which there is an extension (through Grant extension) and is in the future
- Submissions for which the student has declared that he will submit late (if Allow submissions after Cut-off date is enabled),