Accessibility is the practice of making learning content available to as many users across a wide range of options from assistive technologies, such as screen reading software, to interface design, such as navigation, text colour or font choices. Accessibility is usually associated with designing for users with disabilities, but accessibility practices also benefit other limitations such as mobile devices, slow internet connections, etc.

International Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 specify three levels of conformance: A (lowest), AA and AAA (highest). AA is the minimum legal requirement in Australia and the standard you should aim to achieve. Flinders University is committed to making its website accessible to all. The corporate website and FLO is designed to be compliant with the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) Web Content Accessibility guidelines and aims to meet AA+ ratings.

Academic staff must take all reasonable steps to ensure that online resources are accessible to all students, including those who use assistive technology, and must provide an alternative format where possible.

1. Plan: How to design for accessibility

Here are some tips to help get you started.

When creating your topic content, consider these guidelines for accessibility and sustainability:

Adding alternative text is dependent on the content and context of the image. It is not required when the image is purely for decoration and does not provide any relevant information to the user. Consider adding it if there is important information which the user needs to understand.

To add Alt text to your image, put it as part of the image properties when uploading an image. You can add the text under the 'Describe this image for someone who cannot see it' field:

If the image does not need any alternative text, select the "This image is decorative only" checkbox.

Where possible, save the original image (especially if in a raw format) in a shared space for sustainability.

Videos

Accessible videos must include captions so they are accessible to all users. Apart from being an important requirement for accessibility, captions have been shown  to be helpful for all students. To read more about how to use and apply captions, please see Video - add captions.

Where possible, save the original raw video project files in a shared space for sustainability.

Policy

Active quiz is designed to be used in a face-to-face lecture/tutorial (ie in class), with a classroom of computers/tablets/phones (devices). See Quiz – main entry for the out-of-class quiz activity.

The teacher creates the quiz in advance – adding questions from the topic's question bank. During the lecture/tutorial, the teacher starts the quiz. Students can now connect to this quiz. Once the teacher is satisfied that all students have connected to the active quiz, they can click on 'Start Quiz'.

The teacher can review student responses in real time and re-poll the same question, go to the next question, or jump to any question set up in the activity. 

1. Plan

The better your planning/preparation, the less likely you are to run into a problem once students start doing the quiz. Therefore, it is advised that you have a process for creating your quiz. Why do you want to set up an active quiz (ie what is the quiz's purpose)? Active quiz could be used for:

• Debate/discussion in a face-to-face (f2f) session 
  
• A staged learning process: pre-session activities tested at the beginning of a f2f session, then workshopped in the session, then tested again at the end of the session (‘Session grading method’ choices are average, first session, last session, highest session grade) 
  
• Revision sessions: pre-existing quiz questions can be used as a quick poll with students to identify learning gaps
• Muddy points (knowledge/understanding) 
  
• Interactivity/inclusivity amongst diverse cohorts (if live streaming used) – external, internal etc 
  
• Classroom interactivity – competition/cooperation 
  
• Engagement with topic materials and f2f

2. Build

Set up a category and question bank 

A question bank is used to categorise quiz questions. Sorting questions into categories is especially important when random questions are used or a topic contains many quizzes. If you add a category before you add questions to the question bank, all questions created can be added to this category and they will then belong to the topic, rather than the quiz. This approach will make management easier when you are creating new quizzes (eg in the following semester) using questions from previous quizzes.

1. Add a category to the question bank
   
2. Create a new question (question types) – the most suitable questions for Active quiz are multiple choice and true/false
   

Categories in the question bank can be exported from one topic into another, enabling the questions within to be multiple use. Please contact your eLearning support team to discuss importing question bank categories.

Create an active quiz activity

1. Turn editing on using the green button – this button is available top left of screen on the topic homepage
    
2. Go to the module where you would like the active quiz to appear
   
3. Click the Add an activity or resource link at the bottom of the module
   
   
   
4. Select Active quiz from Activities tab
   
   
5. Give the Active quiz a Name and Description
   
6. Set up the Grade settings and Review options
   
• If the 'Assessed' box is left at the default (ticked) the results of the quiz will appear in the Gradebook
  
• If the 'Manual Comment' box is left ticked, you can add a comment when grading an attempt
  
  
  
  
  
  
7. Click Save and display
   
   
8. Click Edit quiz to start adding questions
   
   
9. Choose a question from your question bank. 
   For help creating questions, see Create a new question (question types).
   Create a new question, or select the category containing an existing question, then click + to add the question to the quiz
    
   
   
10. Review the question settings, and click Add question
    
    
    
11. Repeat steps 8 and 9 to add more questions

3. Test

Ask your colleagues or the eLearning support team to check the setup of your active quiz. You could also run a test session (see below for instructions).

4. Administer 

Run an active quiz session

1. In the topic, click on the Active Quiz activity you want to run
   
   
2. Enter a Session name and tick the boxes if you wish to make responses anonymous.
   When you're ready to open the session, click Start Session
   
   
   
3. Students will be able to join the session, but won't see any questions yet. Click Start quiz 
   
   
4. Students in the active quiz session will see a short countdown before the first quiz question is shown
   
   
5. You can control the question while it is shown to students by clicking on the links
   
   
   
6. Students will be able to answer the question until you click End question, or until the timer runs out (if a time limit was set)
   
   
7. Use the links to navigate between questions, re-poll questions, and hide / show results and answers
   
   
   
8. To end the session, click Close session
   

5. Review

How did it go? What did students think? Did it help achieve your purpose in creating an active quiz? These types of questions can help you refine the quiz for next time. 

This entry relates to the Assignment activity.

Overrides are used to create multiple due dates for different students (eg different due dates for different tutorial groups, or individual due dates for each student), or to facilitate a resubmission. Overrides are not an alternative to granting an extension using the Assignment extension request tool or the Assignment grading screen.

If you want to create a group override, you may need to also set up groups in your topic. 

• Group alternative due date (override)
• User alternative due date (override)

Group alternative due date (override)

1. Open the assignment
   
   
2. Click on the cog in the top right corner of the screen and select Group overrides
   
   
3. Click on the Add group override button
   
   
4. In the next screen, choose a group from the Override group box (required)
   
   
5. Edit the relevant dates for the group you have selected. Allow submissions from, the Due date and/or Cut-off date. You can remove a date by unticking the relevant Enable box.
   
   
   
   
   Timeline block: Group override dates don't currently show to students
   
   
   
6. Click Save (if you need to enter more overrides, click Save and enter another override)
   
   

User alternative due date (override)

 This entry relates to the Assignment activity.

When you set up an assignment activity, you can choose to either automatically give students the chance to resubmit until they receive a pass mark (as specified by you) or manually control when resubmissions are given. If you are using this feature to allow resubmissions as per the Assessment Variation Procedure then it is recommended that the manual setting is used.

The resubmission feature allows both staff and students to review the full submission history (a resubmission will not overwrite a previous submission), including all submissions and feedback.

• The resubmission process
• Enable resubmissions on an assignment
• Granting a resubmission to an individual student
• How to view an earlier attempt

The resubmission process

Students, having met the criteria stated in section 6 of the Assessment Variation Procedures, can request to resubmit an assessment. Students do this by emailing you a Notification of Intent, as outlined on the resubmission page. Depending on the nature of the assessment, you may need to facilitate this resubmission through FLO.

The instructions below cover how to enable resubmissions through the assignment activity. For advice on other activities, contact your local Learning Designer.

Note: When granting a resubmission for an assignment, FLO will consider the new extension date and time as the submission due date and time for that assignment submission and not the original due date and time. In the example above, the assignment was submitted at 12.38 PM on 25 May, 2021. In the image on the left, the original assignment due date was 12.45 PM on 25 May 2021. The assignment is calculated to be about 5 minutes early. In the image on the right, the new assignment extension due date was 12.50 PM on 25 May 2021. The same assignment is then calculated to be about 10 minutes early.

The settings that enable resubmissions to occur

Important: If enabling resubmissions as per the Assessment Variation Procedure, these settings should only be changed AFTER the assignment has been marked and feedback returned to students.

1. Edit your existing assignment
   
   
2. Expand the Submission settings section
   
   
3. Select either Manually or Automatically until pass from the Attempts reopened list
   
   
   If you are using this feature to allow resubmission as per the Assessment Variation Procedure then you should choose Manually, and use the settings in the individual marking form (see instructions below: Granting a resubmission to an individual student).
   
   Note: If Automatically until pass is selected, you will need to open the Grade section of this page and configure the Grade to pass setting so that FLO knows when to re-open the submission for the student. 

4. Select the maximum number of times a student can resubmit by choosing a number (or Unlimited) for the Maximum attempts setting
   
   Note: this field is most important if using the 'Automatically until pass' option for the 'Attempts reopened' setting, as this can limit the number of times a student is able to resubmit. Configuring this field when 'Manually' is selected for the Attempts reopened setting will limit the number of times a student can resubmit.
   

Granting a resubmission to an individual student

1. Grade the student using the individual marking form (View all submissions > Grade).
   
   
2. At the bottom of the right panel is the Attempt settings section. In this section, change Allow another attempt to Yes.
   
   
   
3. If the new due date extends past the due date or cut off date, you will need to add a user override to set a new due date and cut off date.
   

How to view an earlier attempt

1. Open the individual marking form for the student (View all submissions > Grade). 
   
   
2. Scroll down to the very bottom of the panel on the right side of the screen. Click on the button titled View a different attempt.
   
   
3. Select the attempt you wish to review and click on the View button.
   
   

This entry relates to the Assignment activity.

The online annotation feedback method allows you to open PDF assignments in your browser (eg Chrome, Firefox, Safari), provide comments and annotations, and save without needing to download and upload submissions into FLO.

Students can submit in either Word, Open Office (.odt) or PDF file format. If they submit in Word, FLO will generate a PDF file, as you will use PDF annotation tools to mark it up online.

• Annotate online – steps
• Add a comment to a quicklist (save time)

Annotate online – steps

When marking online, you can annotate student assignments, provide a grade and feedback all in the one screen. In the 'individual marking form' for each student, you will see the student's 'Submission status' (eg Submitted for grading – once you have graded the assignment this will change to Graded). Depending on how the assignment activity is set up, you will also see a Grade box, a Feedback comments box (if enabled), and a Feedback files box (if enabled).

1. Click on the Assignment link in your topic
   
   
2. In the next screen you will see a Grading summary – how many students have submitted, how many need grading etc. Use the Visible/Separate groups box (depending on how the assignment has been set up) to select a group you need to mark (if applicable)
   
   
   
3. Click the View all submissions button to see the list of students, and then click on an individual student's submission (Grade button). Alternatively, you can go straight to the first student assignment listed in the Grading summary screen by clicking on the Grade button (next to the View all submissions button).
   
   
   
4. To move between students, use the arrows in the Change user box (top of screen) to move to the next student's submission. You can also select a specific student from the drop-down list
    
   
   
5. Look at the bottom right side of the screen for the individual student – there are options for how the screen is displayed. Your choice will depend on what you want to do at that time – mark the submitted file, complete the feedback file (rubric, marking guide, checklist), or provide feedback and a grade. You can switch between each of these screens as you mark. How you have set up the assignment (eg with a marking guide/rubric/checklist) will determine your viewing options
    
   
   
6. The first page of the PDF submission is displayed. The annotations toolbar appears at the top of the page. You may need to click the down arrow to see all tools.
   
   
   
   The following table outlines the tools and keyboard shortcuts available for online annotation. Note: Keyboard shortcuts are activated by pressing Alt + Shift + Keyboard shortcut.

   Icon	Keyboard shortcut	Description
   	h g	h = Search comments  g = Expand/collapse all comments
   	q h	Rotate – You can use the rotate icons to change the orientation of an uploaded document, for example, if the student submitted it in landscape mode  q = Rotate 90 degrees to the left   w = Rotate 90 degrees to the right
   	z	Comments – Adds a comment box to the PDF. Once a comment has been typed into a comment box, it can be added into your comment 'quicklist' (see instructions below). Any comments in your quicklist can be inserted again by clicking the small box (top right of the comment box) and selecting from the drop-down list. To delete a comment, click in the small box and choose 'Delete comment' from the menu. Note: The colour of the comment box can be chosen using the Comment colour picker, or by using the shortcut key 'x' to select the colour picker.
   	c	Select – Used to move or deleted previously added annotations. (Deleting comments can be done using the comments tool – see above.)
   	y	Pen – Adds a freehand colour line to the submission.   Note: The colour of the freehand line can be chosen by the colour picker, or by using the shortcut key 'r' to select the colour picker.
   	u	Line – Adds a coloured straight line to the submission.  Note: The colour of the line can be chosen by the colour picker, or by using the shortcut key 'r' to select the colour picker.
   	i	Rectangle – Adds a coloured rectangle to the submission.  Note: The colour of the rectangle can be chosen by the colour picker, or by using the shortcut key 'r' to select the colour picker.
   	o	Oval - Adds a coloured oval to the submission.  Note: The colour of the oval can be chosen by the colour picker, or by using the shortcut key 'r' to select the colour picker.
   	p	Highlight – Adds a highlight line to text/images.  Note: The colour of the highlight can be chosen by the colour picker, or by using the shortcut key 'r' to select the colour picker.
   	n	Stamp – Adds a stamp to the page. The stamp appearance is chosen from the stamp drop-down list. A stamp can either be simply applied by clicking the screen, or by clicking and dragging the stamp to the size you require.

   
   
   
7. To navigate between pages, either use the Previous page / Next page buttons, or select a specific page number from the drop-down list activated by selecting the current page number:
   
   
   
8. Once you have finished annotating the submission, you can insert a grade, leave feedback comments or attach feedback files on the same screen:
   
   

   Grade

    
   
   

   
   Feedback comments

   In the Feedback comments section, you can provide feedback using the HTML editor . Types of feedback  include: 

   • Text – type directly into the box provided 

   • Audio – click the Record audio icon to create a short audio file ( up to 2 minutes  long)   
      

   • Video – click the Add media icon to embed a pre-recorded video from the topic Media Vault. See  Manage topic video content with the Media Vault (Kaltura)  
      
     

   
   
   
   

   Feedback files

   
   
   
9. Save changes on the individual marking form – this will return the annotated document to the student. Note: If the assignment is hidden in the gradebook, the student will not be able to see the feedback file. Grades and feedback are only made available once the assignment is visible in the gradebook
   

Add a comment to a quicklist (save time)

Using the comment quicklist can save time when providing comments to submissions using online annotation. To save a regularly used comment to your comments quicklist, complete the following steps.

1. Select the icon in the comment box of the comment you wish to save
   
   
2. Select 'Add to quicklist' from the menu
   
   
   
3. To add this comment elsewhere on the document, add a blank comment box and select the icon in the top right corner. All previously saved comments will appear in a list. Select the comment from the quicklist
   
   

This entry relates to the Assignment activity.

Group assignments are used when students work on an assignment in teams and upload one submission per team. Note: Before creating your group assignment, you will need to organise your students into groups and add these groups to a grouping.  

Create a group assignment

Create an assignment (for file submissions) and make the following adjustments to the settings.

Group submission settings

Setting	Description
Students submit in groups	Set to Yes to create a group assignment (this will activate the next three settings)
Require group to make submission	If enabled (Yes), students who are not members of a group will be unable to make submissions
Require all group members submit	This setting is enabled if Require students to click the Submit button is Yes in the Submission settings. This setting controls whether every member of the group must click the Submit button, or whether one member can 'submit' on behalf of the group:  No — When one member of a group submits an assignment it will count as submitted for the whole group Yes — The assignment will not be submitted until every member of the team has clicked the Submit button (students in the group will be notified about who still needs to click the Submit button) As with individual assignments, if students forget to press the Submit button you will still be able to view and mark their assignment in draft mode. We recommend that you lock the submission to prevent changes while you are marking.
Grouping for student groups	Choose the grouping you wish to use for the group assignment. Select the grouping that you created when you organised your students into groups. Important: It is vital to have your students in the right group/grouping. If you do not include a grouping for this setting, FLO will take your entire topic as a group, so the first student to submit will be submitting for everyone and their assignment submission will be visible to everyone. If this isn't set up correctly it cannot be changed once someone submits – you need to recreate the entire assignment.

This entry relates to the Assignment activity.

Mahara ePortfolio is an evolving resource that records, stores and archives a student's artefacts of learning and reflection. It has the potential to demonstrate professional and personal growth, exemplify evidence-based practice and provide a planning space for future professional development needs and experiences

Create a Mahara assignment

Create an assignment (for file submissions) and make the following adjustments to the settings.

Submission settings

For Submission types:

• Untick file submissions
  
• Tick Mahara portfolio.

Locked submitted pages

Note that with any of these options, a student may at any time make a copy of their submitted work and keep editing it. Hence it is helpful to think of submitted work as a 'version' or a snapshot in time. If you need to see another version at a later time, create another Assignment dropbox.

This entry relates to the Assignment activity.

Create an assignment (for file submissions)

• Add an assignment activity

• General settings
• Availability settings
• Submission types settings
• Feedback types settings
• Submission settings
• Notifications settings
• Turnitin plagiarism plugin settings
• Grade settings

Add an assignment activity

1. Turn editing on using the green button available top left of screen on the topic page
    
   
   
2. Go to the module where you would like the assignment to appear
   
   
3. Click the Add an activity or resource link at the bottom of the module
   
   
   
4. Select Assignment from the Activities tab
   
   
   
5. You will be taken to the Adding a new Assignment screen where you can set the parameters (settings) for your assignment (see information below)
   

General settings

Availability settings

Submission types settings

Add a word count field to an assignment submission

Under the Submission types section, enable Word count declaration by ticking the check box:

Student view

A compulsory word count field will form part of the submission process for the assignment:

Feedback types settings

Feedback comments

The Feedback comments box enables 'rich' constructive feedback (links, video etc) using the HTML editor, and is great for overall feedback on an assessment item. 

Submission settings

Notifications settings

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Turnitin plagiarism plugin settings

Turnitin is integrated with the Assignment activity. It produces Originality reports that provide a summary of matching or similar text found between submitted work and other materials, such as online sources (eg webpages, journal articles and other electronic information).

Most of the Turnitin plagiarism plugin settings cannot be changed, however, you have the option of excluding the following elements of a paper from an Originality report:

Setting	Description
Exclude Bibliography	The default setting is No. If Yes, text appearing in the bibliography, works cited, and references sections are excluded.
Exclude Quoted Material	The default setting is No. If Yes, text appearing in the quotes of student papers can be excluded.
Exclude Small Matches	The default setting is No. If Yes, matches that are not of sufficient length can be excluded (the options available are Words or Percent – either the number of words or percentage of text to be excluded can be entered into the box that will appear underneath this field).

Note: For Turnitin to generate an Originality report, the student’s submitted file must:

• be less than 40MB
• include a minimum of 20 words
• be less than 400 pages.

If the use of text-matching for the assignment is nonsensical or will throw an error, it can be turned off (contact your local eLearning support team).

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Grade settings

Setting	Description
Grade	Select the type of grading you want to use. The options are: None – The assignment will be ungraded and worth no points, however, feedback can be given if enabled in the Feedback types settings. Scale – The assignment is graded using a non-numeric value. Choose a scale from the dropdown list (eg Non-graded Pass). If a new scale is required, contact your local eLearning support team. Point – The assignment will be graded out of a maximum number of points. This is the default setting (maximum grade = 100).
Grading method	If Scale or Point for the Grade setting is chosen, the following options are available: Simple direct grading (default setting) — This is the most used method, where a final grade and feedback is provided. Checklist | Marking guide | Rubric — These are advanced grading methods for online marking. All methods will require a template to be set up.
Grade category	Controls the category in which the assignment’s grades are placed in the gradebook.
Grade to pass	This setting determines the minimum grade required to pass. The value is used in activity and topic completion, and in the gradebook, where pass grades are highlighted in green and fail grades in red.
Anonymous submissions	Hides the identity of students from markers. Anonymous submissions settings will be locked once a submission or grade has been made in the assignment. Note: students will need to be instructed to exclude personal information (eg name, ID number) in their submission. Further information: Create an assignment with anonymous submissions
Hide grader identity from students	Hides the identity of markers from students. If enabled, the identity of markers is not shown to students when they view their feedback through the assignment link. Note: This setting does not affect the Comments link (Submission comments column) on the grading page. If you add a comment, your identity is not hidden.
Use marking workflow	If you choose Yes, the Use marking allocation setting will appear where you can choose to allocate markers to each student. Note: Allocating markers is done on the grading screen. Marking cannot commence until markers have been allocated.

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Hide assignment grades until ready for release

After creating an assignment, we strongly recommend you hide the grades. This will prevent students from seeing their grades until you are ready to release them (both in the assignment activity and in gradebook). As soon as you have created an assignment (and clicked Save and display), you will see the Grading summary screen.

You can hide the assignment grades at this point, by clicking on the eye in the Grade visibility row. Once hidden, the Grade visibility row will change.

Students can still see the assignment and details of their submission, but they won't be able to see their grades until you unhide them (see Hide and release marks/feedback to students).

This entry relates to the Assignment activity.

The assignment tool in FLO can be used to deliver take-home exams. In this format, students get access to the exam question/topic at a particular time, then need to submit (either by uploading a file or by typing text directly into FLO) by the due date.

Create an assignment as a take-home exam

Create an assignment (for file submissions) and make the following adjustments to the settings:

General settings

Enter the instructions for the exam in the Description box and include any additional files if required.

Availability settings

Set the Allow submissions from date/time – this is when the exam instructions will be released to students.

Note: The Always show description box should not be ticked – this will ensure that the instructions to students only display after the Allow submissions from date/time.

Remember to set the Due date and the Cut-off date as usual (see Cut-off date/time setting additional information below).

Important: Cut-off date/time setting

If the Cut-off date is not enabled, late submission (after the Due date) is possible.

The images above depict a scenario where students are provided with the exam instructions 2 days before the Due date. The instructions in the assignment description state that ‘late submissions will not be accepted’, so the Cut-off date is the same as the Due date.

For an exam that has a strict time limit (for example, a 3-hour exam), ensure the Cut-off date is set to at least 15 minutes after the Due date to allow for last-minute technical issues. If students submit after the Due date but before the Cut-off date, their exam will be accepted but will be recorded in FLO as being late.

Student view

This entry relates to the Assignment activity.

Anonymous submissions hide the identity of students from markers. When marking, instead of student names, markers will see a randomly generated participant number.

It is important to be aware of the following when using anonymous submissions:

• You will need to advise students not to include their name in the file name or within the file as FLO is unable to remove this identifying information
• Providing assignment extensions, due to the hidden nature of student identification, can be tricky
• Anonymous submissions cannot be enabled once submissions have been made

Consult your eLearning support team before using anonymous submissions.

Create an assignment with anonymous submissions

Create an assignment (for file submissions) and make the following adjustments to the settings.

Grade settings

Scroll down to Anonymous submissions and change to Yes.

Note: Topic coordinators and teachers in FLO can reveal student identities, but once this is done the assignment cannot be made anonymous again.

Marking an anonymous submission

When the teaching team mark the assignment, students' names will be obscured. Each submission will be identified by a unique Participant number, for example:

Once marking is complete, the topic coordinator (or teacher) must release the grades into the gradebook. Students will not be able to access marks and feedback until this has been done.

1. Using the Grading action menu to Reveal student identities. Note: This action cannot be undone.
   

This entry relates to the Assignment activity.

In some cases, assignments are iterative – students are asked to provide work for formative feedback rather than summative feedback and a mark, or students are providing drafts. In these cases, it may be appropriate to disable the Submit button.

Create an iterative assignment

Create an assignment (for file submissions) and make the following adjustments to the settings.

Submission settings

Change Require students to click the submit button to No.

Note: The benefit of setting Require students to click the submit button to Yes is that once students click submit, they will be prevented from making changes to their submission during marking. Setting Require students to click the submit button to No should be used with the knowledge that students will be able to continue editing their submission.

Once a student enters their assignment (file upload or online text) the submission status will be displayed as Submitted for grading, however, they will continue to be able to edit their submission. At no point will they need to finalise their submission.

If you want to prevent students making further submissions, you can lock individual or multiple submissions.

Availability settings

Depending on the nature of your assignment, you may want to disable the Due date and Cut-off date by removing the tick from the enable boxes. (You also have the option to Remind me to grade by.)

This entry relates to the Assignment activity.

An offline assignment can be used when students do not need to upload any work into FLO – for example, when doing presentations, posters or lab books. The assignment tool can be used to manage and return marks and feedback.

The benefits of creating an offline assignment:

• Communicates assignment requirements to students
• Adds the due date to the topic calendar
• Allows for electronic management of feedback and marks

Create an offline assignment

Create an assignment (for file submissions) and make the following adjustments to the settings.

Submission settings

For Submission types, untick File submissions.

Availability settings

It may not be necessary to set a due date for offline assignments, as no submission occurs through FLO. If this is the case, you might like to untick the box next to the Due date to disable the date for the assignment. However, if a due date is noted in the Statement of Assessment Methods (SAM), you should include it in the assignment settings. If a due date is included, it will appear in the topic calendar.

This entry relates to the Assignment activity.

Online text assignments allow students to type their assignment directly into a text box in FLO. Online text assignments are good for assignments with small word counts or for short-answer responses. It should be noted that the text entered by students is stored in FLO and cannot be downloaded.

Create an online text assignment

Create an assignment (for file submissions) and make the following adjustments to the settings.

Submission types settings

Untick File submissions (the default setting) and tick Online text:

Note: If you want to provide students with a choice, or if the assignment requires both types of submissions, you can tick both File submissions and Online text. Students can then upload a file(s) and/or type directly into the online text box.

With the Online text option, you can set a Word limit (tick to enable) – a warning will display to students if they exceed the set word limit at the time of submission:

Feedback types settings

Set Comment inline to Yes to annotate the text the student has submitted. This will copy the submitted text into the Feedback comments box, where you can use different font, colours etc to show your mark up.

This entry relates to the Assignment activity.

The best experience for students doing video assignments is for you to design the assignment submission so that students submit their video using My Media, which is part of Kaltura (the online video platform in FLO). Unlike the standard file upload option in FLO, My Media doesn't have a file size upload limit, so students won't need to compress their video files before submitting. Having to compress their video can affect the graphics and sound quality, which may make it difficult for you when watching and marking their video. Using My Media means that students will be able to provide a higher quality video file, and won't need to go through the additional stress of using a compression software prior to submission. 

Uploading to My Media can still take a little while if students have produced full-HD or very high resolution videos (which they tend to do when filming on mobile devices and/or using modern video editing software), so please encourage students to allow plenty of time for uploading and submitting. For example, testing on a high-speed home internet network and on the University network showed that uploading a 2GB video took around 20–30 minutes. Upload times depend on the speed of the internet connection students are using. 

Create a video assignment

Create an assignment (for file submissions) and make the following adjustments to the settings.

General settings

In the Description section, outline your assignment requirements for the video/s you want students to create including relevant privacy considerations. Include a link to the help documentation for students located in the FLO Student Support site: Assignment Submission > Video assignments.

Submission types settings

Essential step: Tick to enable the Online text submission type. Students will submit their video by embedding it from their My Media using the text editor. If students are only required to submit a video, you should also untick File submissions. 

 

Optional step: If students also need to submit a text document or other additional files along with their video, you will need to select File submissions and restrict the accepted file types. It's recommended that you untick any video file types, as this will ensure students can't upload their video via this method (rather than via embedding from My Media).

• Google Chrome – will display the download file in the bottom bar in the left corner. Click the arrow and select Open
  
• Mozilla Firefox – a window will display. Select Open with… and click OK
  
• Safari – the zip file is saved under Downloads
  

On Windows computers

You will need to extract the files out of the zip by clicking Extract all files in the toolbar (instructions may vary depending on what version of Windows you are using).

By leaving Show extracted files when complete ticked a window will open containing the files you extracted, ready for use.

On Mac computers

Go to Downloads and double-click on the zip file. The file will automatically be decompressed by Archive Utility into the same folder the zip file is in.

Download feedback files 

Download the grading worksheet

1. Open the assignment
   
   
2. Scroll down and click the View all submissions button
     
   
   
3. Select Download grading worksheet from the Grading action menu (at the top of the screen)
   
   
   
4. To open the grading worksheet:

• Google Chrome – will display the download file in the bottom bar in the left corner. Click the arrow and select Open
• Mozilla Firefox – a window will display. Select Open with… and click OK
• Safari – go to Downloads and double click on the csv file
  
  

5. The grading worksheet is not a zip file and therefore you will not need to extract anything. Save the grading worksheet in a location you will be able to remember
   
   

Next step

 This entry relates to the Assignment activity.

Removing a source from a similarity report will 'recalculate' the similarity index without consideration to the removed source in question. This feature is useful when a paper has been submitted to Turnitin multiple times, and the originality report is reporting a high match (eg 100%) to the previous submission. Removing a source from a similarity report provides a clearer similarity index (percentage). 

Steps

1. Open the assignment and click on the View all submissions button
   
   
2. Click on the percentage to load the Turnitin Feedback Studio document viewer
   
   By default the Filter and Settings will load
   
   
3. Click the graph icon to load All sources
   
   
   
4. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the Exclude sources button
   
   
   
5. Select the sources you wish to exclude
   
   
6. Click on the Exclude button to save your changes.
   
   
   

Your report will then recalculate (excluding the sources you selected).

This entry relates to the Assignment activity.

Topic coordinators and teachers can grant students an extension beyond an assignment’s due date and cut-off date. This is usually done through the Assignment extension tool (which partially automates the process) but in certain situations can be done in the Assignment grading screen, for example, when a student has requested an extension without using the extension tool.

• Grant an extension
• Where do students see their extension date?

Grant an extension

Where do students see their extension date?

In their assignment:

This entry relates to the Assignment activity.

The Extension request tool formalises the extension process for assignments, ensuring a decision trail for each student's request. Students give the reasoning for their request, upload evidence (eg a medical certificate) and propose a new due date. The topic coordinator (or nominated person) receives notifications of pending requests, which they can approve, approve with amendments, or decline. Students are then emailed the outcome, and their assignment is automatically updated with a new due date if the extension request has been approved.

• Accessing the extension tool
• Adding assessments other than assignments
• Processing requests
• Notification settings
• Change your email frequency
• Nominate a new approver
• Send emails to a shared account
• Limitations of the tool
• College settings (not currently functional)
  

Accessing the extension tool

The tool is available in every FLO topic and is generally found either with the assessment information or in the top module.

When you open the tool, you will be asked to log in again with your FAN and password. This is normal behaviour for the tool.

If the tool has been deleted, you can add it back:

1. Turn editing on by clicking the green button available on the topic homepage (top left of screen)
   
   
   
2. Go to the module where you want to add the tool and click the Add an activity or resource link at the bottom of the module
   
   
3. Select External tool from the Activities tab
   
   
4. Select Assignment Extension from the Preconfigured tool list
   
   
5. Type ‘Assignment extension requests’ in the Activity name field and save your changes

Adding assessments other than assignments

The Assignment extension tool is automatically populated with the assignment activities in the topic, but you can add other activities to allow students to submit extension requests in a consistent manner. When you add other activities to the tool, you will need to manually manage the extension inside the activity (eg for a quiz, you would create an override for the student).

To add other activities to the tool:

1. Open the tool and log in
   
   
2. Go to the Topic settings menu and select Manage assignments
   
   
3. Click on the Add new assignment button
   
   
4. Add the name and due date of the activity
   
   
5. Click the Create assignment button

Note: Manually added assignments do not roll over, they will need to be recreated the next time the topic runs.

Processing requests

1. Assignment selection list 

View pending requests per assignment by selecting one assignment from the drop-down list, or you can view all assignments.

2. Extension request length tabs

Under each assignment, you can view all requests, or those 1 - 3 days, or 3+ days. If an assignment has no due date, it will be under the 3+ days tab.  Note: ‘days’ are university business days.

3. Bulk moderating requests 1 - 3 days 

On the 1 - 3 days tab you can choose all, or one or more requests and then click on ‘Approve/decline selected requests’ to moderate multiple requests. Individual moderation is also available by clicking on the ‘pending’ link located in the ‘Status’ column. 

Scrolling towards the bottom of the page allows you to:

• change the status of the request from pending to approved or declined
• review the proposed due date and amend it where it is not suitable
• give a reason or comment on your decision (this is mandatory for declined requests)

When you click Save and send, the extension date (new due date) will be set in FLO, and the student(s) will be emailed with your decision. Alternatively, you can press Email Preview to review what is sent to the student or Save without email to approve the request without emailing the student. Note: There is no ‘preview email’ function available if using the bulk moderating feature. 

Notification settings

By default, topic coordinators will receive a daily email with a list of requests that need attention. However, you can change the notification frequency or allow other teaching staff to review requests for a topic.

Change your email frequency

1. Go to the Topic settings menu and select My email configurations
   
   
   
2. Click on the Edit link at the end of the table
   
   
3. Change the frequency to Never, Daily, Weekly, or Immediately
   
   
4. Save your changes

Note: FLO will stop sending notification emails two weeks after the topic’s end date, to prevent emails from unprocessed requests from being sent indefinitely.

Nominate a new approver

If you are not going to be actively teaching in the topic, or if you have large student numbers, you can nominate other members of the teaching team to be notified of/process requests:

1. Go to the Topic settings menu and select Nominate approver
   
   
2. Click on the Add new nominee button
   
   
3. Select members of the teaching team (teachers/tutors) from the list of enrolled users and click the Add tutor / Add teacher button

Note: These settings do not roll over. You will need to add approvers each time the topic runs.

Send emails to a shared account

You can also send emails for pending requests to a shared email account (note that this only changes who is notified about requests, not who can access them).

1. Go to the Topic settings menu and select Set shared email
   
   
2. Click on the Add shared email button
   
   
3. Add the email address and choose how often the account should receive emails
   
   
4. Save your changes

Note: These settings do not roll over. You will need to set the shared email account each time the topic runs.

Limitations of the tool

The Assignment extension tool supports managing requests for extensions for the majority of topics, but this lightweight tool does not cater for all assignments:

• Timed release and complex restrictions: Assignments that are restricted to certain students (eg only available to one group) will be seen by all students inside the tool. Seeing assignments they don’t have access to may cause confusion for students.
  
  
• Feedback only assignments: Assignments set up to provide feedback only (ie no submission required) will be listed, along with any recorded due date.
  
  
• Overrides, granted extensions: When a student submits a request, the tool is unaware of any existing extensions or group/user overrides, and will only report the assignment’s original due date. If you use group/user overrides you should review the student’s overridden date when considering the length of the extension.
  
  
• Group assignments: If a student requests and is approved for an extension for a group assignment, only that student will receive an extension (not the entire group). In these cases, it might be easier to grant an extension manually within the Assignment grading screen instead, as this action can be done in bulk.
  
  
• Resubmissions/reattempts: If the assignment resubmission feature is used, the tool is unable to determine a student's current attempt number and it may be difficult to track extension requests.
  
  
• Hidden assignments: The tool will not list hidden assignments to students; however, teaching staff can see hidden assignments via Topic settings > Manage assignments.
  
  
• Other activities: The tool cannot apply extensions for other activities in FLO (eg quizzes). However, a quiz or other activity can be added manually to the list of assignments, but any extensions will need to be manually applied inside that activity (eg for a quiz, apply a user override).

If you have any queries about the suitability of the Assignment extension tool in your topic, please contact your local eLearning support team.

College settings

College support staff see a third menu option with additional settings, which are currently not functional. Click the link below for further information about these settings.

View resources

This entry relates to the Assignment activity.

When you mark the assignments, you will likely want to hide the grades before you start marking, so that some students do not see their feedback before others.

When you have finished marking you will likely want to show the grades so that marks and feedback can be released to students.

1. Open Topic management panel
   
   
2. Under topic administration click on Gradebook
   
   
3. Click on Setup tab
   
   
4. In the Actions column alongside the assignment, select the Edit link.
   
   

   If the grades are visible, you will see an option to Hide them.
    
   

   If the grades are hidden, you will see an option to Show them.

    
   

Assignments that are hidden will appear greyed out. Compare the two assignments below - assignment 1 is hidden from students, while assignment 2 is visible.

 This entry relates to the Assignment activity.

The Turnitin similarity/originality report checks each student's work against Turnitin's database of web pages, publications, and previously submitted assignments, producing a report showing:

• where the student's writing matches Turnitin's database
• the percentage of the student's writing that matches Turnitin's database.

It is natural for student submissions to match Turnitin's database as students will include quotes, references and common words or phrases in their assessments. As such the score in the report does not tell you if a student has breached academic integrity, and the report needs to be interpreted to determine if the matches are acceptable or not. 

The Academic integrity for staff FLO site contains information on how to interpret similarity/originality reports.