Description: The assignment tool in TRACS allows instructors to create, distribute, collect, and grade online assignments. Student submissions are visible to the instructor, but are not visible to other users of the site.

The assignments tool offers multiple grading options including letter grades, points, check marks, pass/fail, or un-graded. Assignments can also be returned, with or without grades, for re-submission. Instructors can download all submissions to an assignment to their computer at once. When instructors release grades for an assignment, students can access instructor comments and their grades.

Adding the Assignment Tool:

Step 1: Click [Site Info] in the site you wish to add the assignments tool.

Step 2: Click [Edit Tools].

Step 3: Place a checkbox next to the Assignments tool.

Step 4: Scroll down to the bottom of the screen and click [Continue] and then [Finish].

Adding an Assignment:

Step 1: In the menu bar, click [Assignment].

Step 2: In the new page, click [Add] to create an assignment.

Step 3: Fill in the information.

Title: This is the title of the assignment

Open date: This is the date and time that the assignment will be available to students

Due date: This is the date and time that the assignment is due

Accept until: This is the date and time at which the assignment will not be visible to students

Student submissions: These are the ways students will be able to submit their assignment:

Inline only – Students access the assignment and enter text into an available text box or they can copy and paste their work into the text box.

Attachments only – The student submits work by adding a file as an attachment.

Inline and Attachments – The student will have both options available.

Non-Electronic - Allows the instructor to add the assignment to TRACS but the student hands in a hard copy of the assignment instead of submitting it electronically. The instructor still grades the assignment in the assignment tool.

Step 4: Select a grade scale from the drop-down menu. Choices are:

Ungraded: No grade will be issued for posted assignment.

Letter grade: Allows a posted assignment to be graded from a scale of A-F.

Points: Allows posted assignment to be graded based on desired amount of points.

Pass/Fail: Allows the posted assignment to be graded on a Pass/Fail basis.

Checkmark: Allows the posted assignment to be graded with a checkmark.

Step 5: Enter assignment instructions in the WYSIWYG editor. Format the text as desired.

Step 6: (Optional) You may enter other options after you have entered the assignment instructions. These options are:

Add due date to calendar: This option creates a calendar entry about the assignment’s due date which the student will see in their My Workspace calendar.

Announce the open date: An announcement is generated about the assignment which the student will see by going to their My Workspace Announcements tool.

Add honor pledge: Requests student to pledge that they have not given nor received aid on the assignment. The student must agree to the pledge before their work will be accepted.

Add to gradebook: The assignment is entered into the Gradebook tool, and once the assignment is graded the gradebook will display the grade.

Associate with an existing gradebook entry: This option allows you to associate the assignment with a gradebook entry you have already created. Doing so will allow you the option to enter grades for the assignment in the gradebook tool itself or within the assignment tool as well.

Access Options: You may choose to release the assignment to the entire site or to a specific group/section, if they have already been created.

Submission notification email options: Choose how, or if, you would like to receive email notifications about assignment submissions.

Step 7: (Optional) You may add documents as attachments to your assignment. This is useful if your assignment refers to a document.

To do so, click the [Add Attachments] button. You can upload files from your computer, or you can select a document from the resources tool in the site, or from other sites you maintain.

Step 8: (Optional) You may preview your assignment before you post it. To do this click [Preview].

In the Preview mode, you can see the Student View of the assignment by clicking on the triangle next to Student View at the bottom of the page. To make further changes, click [Edit] at the bottom of the page. Click [Done],if no further changes are needed.

Step 9: You can save a draft copy of the assignment and return to it later by clicking [Save Draft].

To complete it at a later date, go to the assignment tool and click the assignment title, which will have the word “Draft” next to the title.

Step 10: Click [Post] to post your assignment, which makes it available to site participants on the available date you chose.

Duplicating an Assignment:

Step 1: In the menu bar, click [Assignments]. You will see a list of assignments.

Step 2: To duplicate an assignment, click [Duplicate] under the assignment’s title. You will see the duplicate assignment in the assignment list with the word Copy added to the title.

Step 3: The duplicate assignment is a draft. Click [Edit] to make any necessary changes, including changing the assignment title.

Step 4: To post the assignment, click the [Post] button.

Grading an Assignment:

Step 1: In the menu bar for the site, click [Assignments].

Step 2: Underneath the assignment you wish to grade, click [Grade].

Step 3: You will see a list of student names and a “Status” column to the right of the names. If a student has submitted the assignment, the Status column will say “Ungraded”. Students who have not yet submitted their assignments will have “No Submission” in the Status column.

Click the name of the student whose work you wish to grade.

Step 4: You will see the submitted work of the student either in a text box or as an attachment. In the Instructor Comments text box, make comments as necessary.

You can also type comments into the student’s submitted text.

Step 5: (Optional) You may add an attachment such as a Word document to return with the grade.

Step 6: Assign the student a grade according to the grade scale you selected.

Step 7: (Optional) Select the checkbox to allow the student to resubmit the work if changes are required. You will have the option to add an Accept Until Date for the re-submitted work.

Step 8: Click [Return Assignment to Student] to send the grade and comments to the student. Click [Save] to keep any changes you’ve made without the student seeing them.

Click [Preview] to view the grade and comments you made without the student seeing them.

Click [Cancel] to exit the area without saving.

Associate an Assignment With an Already Existing Gradebook Entry:

Step 1: Click on [Assignments] in the menubar.

Step 2: Add an assignment by following instructions listed in steps 1-6 of the section above called “Adding an assignment”.

Step 3: Underneath the grading options, select [Associate with existing Gradebook Entry]. A drop-down box will appear. Select the gradebook entry with which you wish to associate the assignment.

Step 4: Click [Post] to post the assignment and make it available to students.

Grading an Assignment Submitted by Hand:

Releasing all Grades for an Assignment:

Step 1: Click [Grade] under the assignment name, to see the list of students who have submitted assignments and their grades.

Step 2: Click the [Release Grades] button in the upper left-hand side of the screen to release the grades and any associated comments to site participants.

Reviewing Student Status for all Assignments:

Step 1: In the menu bar, click the [Assignments] button.

Step 2: From the View drop-down list, select Assignment List by Student.

Step 3: Click the triangular arrow next to a student’s name to view the status of his or her assignment submissions. Click the arrow again to hide the student’s information.

Downloading all Submitted Assignments:

Step 1: In the menu bar for the site, click [Assignments].

Step 2: Underneath the assignment you wish to grade, click [Grade].

Step 3: To download all submitted assignments, click [Download All]. The downloaded file will be in a compressed “.zip” format.

Step 4: Once the downloaded file is uncompressed and opened, a folder will appear on your computer’s hard drive. This folder will contain folders with the names of all students that have submitted assignments. Each student folder will contain the submitted files for the assignment.

Downloading Assignment Grades:

Step 1: In the menu bar of the site, click [Assignments].

Step 2: Click [Grade Report] to see a list view of all submitted assignments.

Step 3: To download all submitted/graded assignments, click [Download Spreadsheet]. The downloaded spreadsheet file will be in Microsoft Excel format.

Assigning Grades to all Participants Without a Grade:

Step 1: In the menu bar of the site, click [Assignments].

Step 2: Click [Grade] to see a list view of all submitted assignments.

Step 3: Enter the grade you’d like to assign all participants without a grade in the textbox provided. Click [Apply] to save your changes.

Seeing How Assignments Look to Site Participants:

Step 1. Create an assignment or select an existing assignment to Edit.

Step 2. Click [Preview].

Step 3. Click the black triangle next to “Student View”.

Step 1. From the menubar, click [Assignments].

Step 2. Click [Student View]. This will show you the assignment list as it appears to students or other site participants.

Step 3. If you want to work through an assignment and submit it as a student would, click [Submit as Student] beneath the assignment.

Step 4. To leave student view and return to the assignment list, click [Assignment List].