Creating Assignments

MySchool offers a continuous assessment module, it is called assignments. Create homework, give feedback on a lesson, request submissions and return corrected work, assignments are not just for homework. Have a look at this video which explains how to create assignments.

How to access

A user must be attached to a course as a teacher, or set as an administrator with access to a school level, in order to create assignments. To access this feature go to the quick action menu in the top right corner, with the Plus icon . Look for assignments in the list. This will bring you automatically to the create screen.

Users can also access this via the Assignment menu header, by opening Assignments. Open a new assignment on the grade grid.

Administer is used to show assignments on My Schedule view. It also allows administrators to access school-level courses. Configure assignment types are for the config page only. Create is used to create new assignments, but is also needed by admins who may wish to edit existing ones. Create quizzes is purely for VLE/LMS creation View assignments student/parents are attached to the various dashlets used to view assignment information

Creating the assignment

There are three tabs for New Assignments, Planning, Instructions, and assessments. Firstly we need to set the mandatory fields for the assignment in the planning tab.

Planning

1. Title and Course Selection

Set a title, and be clear and concise. Students and guardians will see this on their portals. The courses listed are those to which the user is attached as a teacher. For admins or users with no course context then use the arrows to open the course search field.

Select the course first before adding a title as this will be removed if no course is selected. The assignment titles are unique within the course.

The CLONE button will allow you to copy the assignment to other courses. You can change the cloned assignment's date for publishing and submission depending on the target course. The course must be attached to the same subject to copy correctly.

2. Assignment Type

The types of assignments that are attached to the subject. These are controlled in the Subject Management or Assignment Configuration screens. Select the appropriate type from the list. Only one type can be selected when creating an assignment. Certain types can be excluded from assignment averages so make sure you have informed educators o which ones to use.

3. Publish/Unpublished/Due Date

The option to publish the assignment and the grades are made at the creation of the assignment. If the grade is for an official end-of-year assessment then educators can select to publish just the assignment, but not the grade. Setting the unpublished data keeps the assignment hidden from portals. If the teacher does not wish to publish anything then select No from the publish types. The due date is used to log the assignment on the student/guardian view of their schedules. The View load link allows teachers to coordinate the student's assignment workload. This appears when the dates have been set only.

Viewing load gives access to slide over windows showing workloads over different assignments for a 7-day period. If the students have already an assignment due on that day, this will be shown as 1 other/2 other etc.

If you want to inform the students of new assignments or changes, then check the Email student box.4. Instructions/Topics

The instruction field is key to providing information about the assignment. Use external references, or add links to online resources. These instructions will be shown on the student/guardian portals.

If topics have been enabled for the subject, then you will be able to group the assignments together in the grade grid and VLE resources. 

Options

Determine whether the students can submit their work via the student portal. If you are using the VLE/LMS features then you can attach a discussion thread to the assignment (Forum). You can only add a thread after first saving the assignment.

If th eusbject has learning outcomes, these are added here. They will then be counted as evidence ofr your assessments. Check the box to apply the LO.

Choose the correct scale and max grade

Scales are created in the assignment configuration page. Choose between numeric and acheivement scales. Add an individual weight to the assignment, please check how the average is calculated for the subject. If you are using a numeric scale (Default percentage 0-100) you can determine the max grade.

Assessment

The assignment can be graded directly from here, or via the Assignment Grade grid. On this page, Educators can check submitted homework, and return marked copies directly to the student.

Once marked the submission drop-down status will change to graded. The educator can manually override this and chose an appropriate submission status.

The above status is independent of the scale. They will either apply null or zero scores in terms of averages. 

If a student was enrolled in a course AFTER the assignment was created they will not appear in this list. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and open the edit student list. Check the box next to their names.

There is also a mass update feature, check the box next to the student name to enable the feature. You can add a grade, comment and submission status in a few simple clicks.

Grade grid

Once you have created the assignment and saved it, the user is automatically returned to the grade grid view. From this view, they can mark the assignments, and monitor the average if a numerical scale is used. For more information on the grading of assignments then look at this article here.