TEN Things about the Brightspace Assignment Tool

This article is part of the LMS WEEKLY UPDATE series.

How do I create an assignment?

Click here to watch a video about how to create an assignment in a Brightspace course.

Why do I see my course Assignments under the Activities menu on the nav bar, but not under the Content area?

Once in a while we see a bit of confusion about the area where you should make your assignments accessible for your students. Regardless of the way you create your assignments, they will ALWAYS exist under the Activities menu on the course nav bar. There is nothing wrong with directing your students to access the assignments from the Activities menu, but sometimes, depending on how your course is structured, your might want to make them available under one particular module, under the Content area. This is when you will be using the Existing Activities/Assignments to create a link to the existing assignments.

Note: Removing the link from the Content area and choosing the second option on the confirmation pop-up screen, will delete your assignment from your course.

I need to allow some of my students alternate time restrictions, due dates, etc. How do I do this?

You can accomplish this by using the Special access option from within the Assignments properties screen.

How do I grade an assignment using a Pass/Fail scheme?

An assignment can be associated only with the numeric or selectbox types of grade columns, allowing you to grade using numeric or letter grades. For a Pass or Fail grade, ensure that you use a selectbox type of grade column at the same time with a Pass/Fail Grade Sheme.

Can I make annotations when grading assignments?

Assignment submissions will automatically load with the Annotation Tool bar within the Evaluation Submission Screen.

I have different points possible for the assignment and for the grade column. What do I do?

If there are no submissions for the assignment, you only need to edit the associated column from Grades/Manage Grades and adjust the points.

If you’ve already graded the assignment, once you edit the grade column and change the points, the existing grades won’t get automatically adjusted. You will need to go to Activities/Assignments/View Submissions and Update the grade for each student (the same screen you use when you first graded the assignment and published the grades).

I deleted an assignment by mistake!

To recover deleted assignments go to Activities/Assignments/More Actions/Event Log. The deleted assignment will have a Restore button available.

Need to grade assignment files offline?

You have the option to download all the assignments files in a zip file, grade them, save the files, create a new zip file and upload all the graded files as a package file. Go to Activities/Assignments/View Submission and then the Submissions tab. Select all submissions and click Download. When you are ready to upload them, from the same screen, click on the Add Feedback Files tab and upload the zip file.

Grade Sync

When you enter a grade for an assignment submission in the standard or spreadsheet view of GradeBook, the grade will appear with the submission in the Assignment tool.

How do I check students’ assignments for plagiarism?

When you create an assignment you have the option to enable Turnitin.