Assignment configuration & type

Want to create assignment types to be able to track progress? Need to create a new achievement scale for your assessment grade reports? Calculate averages from grade bins or stand-alone tasks. Want to create topics to organise your grade grid and assignments? Want to translate a numeric scale into an achievement scale? Control which assignment tasks are included in your final averages. The assignment configuration panel is the place to start. Have a look at the options and features.

How to access

The configuration screens can be located in the Advanced options, under the Assignments menu feature. Look for Assignment Configuration and open the screen. 

Users will need to have permission to Configure assignment types. 

Adapting your Assignments and Assessments

1. Grade average calculation method

You can decide how best to calculate your term average. For a full understanding before changing these settings please go through the calculations here, the default assignment type in MySchool is NOT a simple mean average. The different types are:

• Normalised either by active term or overall terms and averaged by or across assignment type
• Normalised Learning outcomes
• Sums by active term or overall terms and averaged by or across assignment types.

The most common and the closest to a simple average calculation (mean) would be to use Normalises active term grade across assignment types. This will allow for changes in scale (points) per assignment and represent the closest to the mean value.

There is a new feature within subject management, if you choose the average of learning outcomes, a numeric non-weighted average is calculated and then shown as an achievement scale instead of a numeric calculation.

2. Assignment categorisation (Topics)

This allows Teachers to create a topic to be used in VLE resources or to group assignments together in the grade grid. Why not organise your assignments per date period to help the 

• No categorisation - This is the default setting
• Configurable by Teacher - Mean that course educators can create their own and share across a subject. Add new categories with the pen icon and add a category.

• Restricted categorisation to the topic - Will pick up the topic folders from subject specifications and apply them to the courses attached to the subject. these cannot be changed by individual educators.

3. Assignment Types

There are few default types, but you can add your own via the Add-Type link under the page slider. Be careful when changing the label of existing types if you already have used them on the system. This will change for all historic data as well. 

Set the description (label), and attach the assignment type to a subject. In the parameters, you can include the assignment type within the averages, and don't forget to set it as active. Choose from the dropdown options in the colour palette. Another great way to help organise your grade grid view.

4. Submission status

When Educators have entered a grade in the grade grid, the status of the assignment will change to graded. If you wish to change the label or add a new submission decision, then you can configure this in MySchool assignment configuration.

Please keep in mind that if you change the text label of an existing status this will change all historic grades that have been applied. 

In cases, where an educator needs to apply another status to the assignment, for example, late hand-in. You can decide how this affects the averages or exclude this type of assignment from the student's average calculation. The statuses are for all subjects and courses using assignments/VLE.

Choose a colour and click on the colour grid to apply to the status. This will help you spot these easier in the grid view.

5. Scales

MySchool allows you to create your own scales for use when grading assignments and assessments.  When creating an assignment, teachers choose from the scales applied to their subject. You can set a numeric scale (numbers only), or an achievement scale (Alphanumeric)

• Numeric scale

Enter a number in the maximum scale to restrict the maximum out-of-score possible. Over-grading allows Teachers to enter grades above this if needed. Apply the grade to the subjects, and select it as the default scale if it is to be used most often.

Note that no additional values can be sued used in assignments such as NA, EXC etc. Apply a non numeric value then this can be achieved by adding a submission status and using the comment field in the assessment tab of the individual assignment.

• Achievement scale

Achievement scales can be used when using a formative or continuous assessment model. They can also be used for drop-down assessment lists when building subject assessment reports and grids. (e.g. Behaviour, Attitude, or a simple Yes/No, Pass/Fail).

1. A short code is needed for each achievement scale. This cannot be amended once saved. If you wish to change the Shortcode, you must create a new scale.

2. The full label will appear on the Assignment grade grid, Assess grid, and assessment reports when selected. Be careful to not make the labels too long as this can affect how they render on report cards and mobile devices.

3. Points are needed if you wish to use the scale for continuous assessments and average by learning outcome. The points will be normalised in most of the averages used in MySchool, so choose a simple point system.

4. % High/Low is used with calculated scales. These can be assigned to a subject for assessment purposes to translate a numeric entry into an achievement scale. i.e. In the above example, the teacher can enter 85, and the system will show Exceeded objective based on the parameters in % High low fields. 

5. Choose a colour for the grade grid and reports. When using colours, try to research how they affect performance and interpretation. (Red = negative, Green = positive). Think about using lighter colours rather than pure primary colours. Don't forget to check the active box. You can also change the order by click/drag on the + icon at the end of the row.

6. Submission types

In MySchool students can submit completed homework and tasks either via attachments or within a set text box. These features are widely used in VLE resources. Choose here if you wish to make these options active or compulsory for assignments created within MySchool. Check out this article outlining this feature.

If you wish for the Assignment average to show as an achievement scale, then this is set on a subject level. Check out the subject management article, and enable this to show on the Assignment grade grid instead of a number.