Adding activities (data declaration form required)

The activities in this section are only available if you have either the Course Manager or Teacher role. To gain these roles you would need to complete a data declaration form – please contact openlearncreate@open.ac.uk to request one.

Assignment

An assignment is used for learners to submit assignments for grading by a teacher.

There is detailed guidance on the Moodle site that: 

To add an assignment, switch editing on, go to your course’s homepage and click on the + Add an activity or resource button.

This will give you a screen full of options. Click on the Assignment icon to open the New Assignment page.

Enter the name of the assignment and (if you require one) a short description of it in the Assignment name and Description fields. If you want this description to appear on your course homepage just below the link to the assignment, you can tick the Display description on main page tickbox.

There’s a variety of settings for creating an assignment, each with a help icon that includes more information. 

  • Availability includes options for assignment submission dates.
  • Submission types includes settings for file formats.
  • Feedback types includes options about the feedback given to your learners. To contact the learner a teacher should always use the feedback functionality; in line with GDPR law, they should never use the learner’s email address (which they will be able to see in some reports).
  • Submission settings and Group submission settings allow you to define how assignments are submitted.
  • Notifications includes options for informing learners about submissions.
  • Grade includes grading criteria for your assignment. There are three options for the type of grading: ‘None’, ‘Scale’ and ‘Point’, which is the default choice. Note that ‘Pass/Fail’ is not automatically set up as an option. For information on how to add ‘Pass/Fail’, see the guidance on the Moodle website about scales and grade points.
  • Common module settings includes availability and language options, and is also relevant if your course uses groups.
  • Restrict access includes the option to add restrictions, if for example you only want your assignment to be available after a certain date, or after a learner has completed another action. 

Click on the Save and return to course button.