Monday, 29 May 2023, 8:35 AM
Site: Flinders Learning Online
Topic: FLO Staff Support (FLO_Staff_Support)
Glossary: How-to glossary
A

Accessibility and sustainable practice in FLO

Accessibility and sustainable practice in FLO are an important part of the user experience, and support the usability and accessibility of multimedia products (eg websites). Look and feel enables user (eg student) engagement. FLO has various tools that facilitate structure and layout.

Plan || Support

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.

Good practice guides and tip sheets

Good practice guides and tip sheets have been developed to support quality in both curriculum design and teaching practice. Good practice guides provide a pedagogical overview and tip sheets provide you with practical strategies and ideas for implementation. Links to accessibility and sustainable practice related resources are provided below. 

Accessible and inclusive learning | Accessibility and inclusivity in FLO


1. Plan: How to design for accessibility

Here are some tips to help get you started.

Device accessibility
Designing your topic for device accessibility is important. Topic content should be accessible across the core web browsers supported by the University (Edge, Chrome and Firefox). Students are also likely to use their mobile phones to access FLO, so test your FLO topic in your mobile phone to ensure your topic and content can be viewed as expected.

If you are unsure of student experiences using other types of devices and software, check with your local eLearning support team.

FLO site structure and content
Aim: overall topic site consistency within the topic itself and (ideally) the bigger picture (eg within a program). Lack of consistency is an accessibility and usability problem reported by all students and the FLO starter site is designed to promote consistency.

Text

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

Styles
Use hierarchical headings (large, medium, small) in the HTML editor rather than creating your own or just bolding text. This helps all users ‘sense make’ the site, but particularly those with a visual impairment (the screen reader recognises the hierarchy and uses it to explain the content). Make sure your headings follow a logical order (medium [h3], small [h4] etc). Use other HTML editor style features for layout (these follow good web practice).

Font colours

It is important to select accessibility-friendly colours for text. To choose an accessibility-friendly colour for a text (including module heading) select the 'More font colours' button from the HTML editor toolbar menu:

Module heading

The following colours are available:
Font colours

Once you select a colour, the change is applied:
Font colour change

You can now save the change. The text is now accessibility-friendly. Using default styles and colours ensures your content is sustainable and less likely to break in future.

Images
Having alternative text (Alt text) in your images is useful for accessibility as it is recognised by text to speech and screen reader software. Descriptive alternative text will provide the user with information when required, and is not visible when viewing the topic/page normally.

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:

Alt text during image upload

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

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

For further information about the University’s commitment to accessibility, please refer to the Disability Policy.

  Training and support

  Troubleshooting

Training
Support

Currently, there are no known issues.

Active quiz - main entry

Whether you are starting from scratch or working with an active quiz already created, using the active quiz activity in a topic ideally consists of 5 stages, in a looped process.

1. Plan  |  2. Build  |  3. Test  |  4. Administer  |  5. Review  || Support

active quiz iconActive 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. 

Good practice guides and tip sheets

Good practice guides and tip sheets have been developed to support quality in both curriculum design and teaching practice. Good practice guides provide a pedagogical overview and tip sheets provide you with practical strategies and ideas for implementation. Links to quiz-related resources are provided below. 

Aligning quiz questions with Bloom's taxonomy | Using FLO quizzes with large student numbers


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
    Turn editing on 
  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
    Add an activity or resource

  4. Select Active quiz from Activities tab
    add active quiz
  5. Give the Active quiz a Name and Description
    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

        grade settings

        review options

  7. Click Save and display

  8. Click Edit quiz to start adding questions
    edit quiz
  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
    select questions 

  10. Review the question settings, and click Add question
    question settings

  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
    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
    controls

  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
    controls - inactive

  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. 


  Training and support

  Troubleshooting

Training

Quiz workshop (whilst this is not Active quiz, it will help you understand the features of the quiz activity)

Support

eLearning support teams

There are no identified issues with Active quiz.

Assignment - add a group or user alternative due date (override)

1. Plan  |   2. Build   |  3. Test   |  4. Administer  |  5. Review  ||  Support

assignment dropbox iconThis 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)

  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.

    select override group

    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)
    The two save buttons and the cancel button



User alternative due date (override)

  1. Open the assignment

  2. Click on the cog in the top right corner of the screen and select User overrides

  3. Click on the Add user override button

  4. In the next screen, select a student from the Override user box

    override user


  5. Edit the relevant dates for the user you have selected: Allow submissions from, the Due date and/or the Cut-off date. You can remove a date by unticking the relevant Enable box.
    Note: if granting a resubmission, make sure the cut off date is after the new due date.

    allow submissions from

    Timeline block: User override dates show to students in the Timeline block, marked as 'override'

  6. Click Save (if you need to enter more overrides, click Save and enter another override)
    The two save buttons and the cancel button

Assignment - allow students to resubmit an assignment

1. Plan  |   2. Build   |  3. Test   |  4. Administer  |  5. Review  ||  Support

assignment icon 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

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.

Assignment submission examples

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
    The attempts reopened menu has three options. Never, manually, and Automatically until pass. Manually is highlighted.

    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. 
  1. 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

There are two ways to grant a resubmission for an individual student.

Option one - inside the marking form
  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.
    attempt settings

  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.

Option two – from the list of submissions
  1. Locate the student.

  2. Click on the Edit link to the left of the student's profile picture (number 1 in the below picture).
    Manually allow another attempt

  3. Select Allow another attempt (number 2 in the above picture).

  4. 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.
Note: When granting a resubmission be mindful of the maximum number of files allowed for your assignment, as students will have to include a resubmission proforma. If students are likely to go over the limit, you will need to either increase the limit in the assignment’s settings or advise students to copy and paste the proforma into their resubmission file.


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.

Assignment - annotate (mark) student assignments in FLO (online)

1. Plan  |   2. Build   |  3. Test   |  4. Administer  |  5. Review  ||  Support

assignment dropbox iconThis 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.

If the assignment has been set up with an online marking guide, see also Mark assignments in FLO using a rubric, marking guide or checklist.

Good practice guides and tip sheets

Good practice guides and tip sheets have been developed to support quality in both curriculum design and teaching practice. Good practice guides provide a pedagogical overview and tip sheets provide you with practical strategies and ideas for implementation. Links to assignment-related resources are provided below. 

Inspirational and engaged teaching | Marking in FLO using the assignment tool



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)
    Filter for a group of students

  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).
    View all submissions and grade buttons

  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
    Change user to mark 

  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
    Screen display 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.
    Annotations toolbar with drop-down arrow
    Annotations toolbar

    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
    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 
    comments icon 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.
    select arrow c Select – Used to move or deleted previously added annotations. (Deleting comments can be done using the comments tool – see above.)
    freehand icon 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.
    line icon 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.
    rectangle icon 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.
    oval icon 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.
    highlighter 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.
      stamp icon  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.

    Stamps 


  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:
    page arrows

  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

    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)   
      Record audio icon  

    • 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)  
      Add media icon  

    Feedback comments


    Feedback files

    upload a feedback file

  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
    quicklist

  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
    add comment from quicklist

Assignment - create a group assignment

1. Plan  |   2. Build   |  3. Test   | 4. Administer   |  5. Review  ||  Support

assignment dropbox iconThis 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.  

Good practice guides and tip sheets

Good practice guides and tip sheets have been developed to support quality in both curriculum design and teaching practice. Good practice guides provide a pedagogical overview and tip sheets provide you with practical strategies and ideas for implementation. Links to group-related resources are provided below. 

Group work 

 


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)

Students submit in groups setting 
Require group to make submission

If enabled (Yes), students who are not members of a group will be unable to make submissions

Require group to make submission setting 
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)
Require all group members submit setting
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.

Grouping for student groups setting

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.

Assignment - create a Mahara assignment

1. Plan  |   2. Build   |  3. Test   | 4. Administer   |  5. Review  ||  Support

assignment dropbox iconThis 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

You can choose to either lock a student's work at the point of submission or leave it unlocked to allow students to continue to record their growth. There are three options:

  • "No": This is the default option. Submitted pages and collections will be editable by the students. This provides you with a 'live window' to their work.
  • If "Yes, keep locked" is selected, submitted Mahara pages and collections will be locked from editing in Mahara and will remain locked after grading. This option is not recommended unless required by an accrediting body.
  • If "Yes, but unlock after grading", the page or collection will be unlocked after grading, or, if marking workflow has been used, they will be unlocked when marks are released to the student.

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.


Assignment - create an assignment

1. Plan  |   2. Build   |  3. Test   | 4. Administer   |  5. Review  ||  Support

assignment dropbox iconThis entry relates to the Assignment activity.

The Assignment activity has the following default settings that allow individual students to submit files for marking, and offer various options for providing feedback (these and other assignment settings are explained in more detail below):

  • Submission types: File submissions enabled; Maximum number of uploaded files = 20; Maximum submission size = 40MB; Restrict file types for text matching 
  • Feedback types: Feedback comments; Annotate PDF; Feedback files; Offline grading worksheet
  • Submission settings: Require students click submit button; Require that students click the submission statement; Attempts reopened manually (unlimited)
You can change these settings according to the purpose of the assignment. See Assignment – purpose and settings for other options (eg group, video, iterative, take-home exam, offline, online text, anonymous submissions, Mahara ePortfolio).


Create an assignment
(for file submissions)



Add an assignment activity

  1. Turn editing on using the green button available top left of screen on the topic page
      Turn editing on button

  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
    Add an activity or resource link

  4. Select Assignment from the Activities tab
    Assignment activity icon

  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

General settings
Setting Description
Assignment name Enter the title of the assignment. This is what the students will see on the topic homepage and will also appear in the gradebook. You should name the assignment according to the wording used in the Statement of Assessment Methods (SAM).
Description Using the HTML editor, enter the assignment description. You can provide links to literature or websites and add images or videos. You can also provide instructions on how you expect students to present their work (eg accepted file types, word limit, font size/type requirements, line spacing).
Display description on topic page If ticked, the above description will be displayed under the assignment link on the topic page. This is not recommended for lengthy descriptions.
Additional files You can provide additional files, such as rubrics. Download links for the files will be displayed on the assignment page under the description.


Availability settings

Availability settings
Setting Description
Allow submissions from

This prevents students from submitting their assignment before the shown date. By default, this is enabled and set at the day and time you create the assignment. You can disable this date by unchecking the Enable box.

Note: If you have this date enabled, students will not see the assignment description unless you tick the Always show description box. 
Due date

This is when the assignment is due. Submissions will still be allowed after this date, but any assignments submitted after this date will be marked as late. Set an assignment cut-off date to prevent submissions after a certain date.

Tips:

  • Avoid setting the due time to midday (12:00 PM) as students may mistake this as being midnight (12:00 AM)

  • It is recommended the due date is set for a time when:

    • the FLO Student Helpdesk will be available to assist students having difficulties submitting assignments
    • you are available to respond to questions from students and the Helpdesk
    • students are available to submit assignments (eg if your external students are working full-time, they may appreciate being able to submit their assignments later in the day).
Timeline block:
  • The Due date will show to students in the Timeline block, marked as 'due'
  • Dates added using completion tracking show to students in the Timeline block, marked as 'should be completed'
  • User override dates show to students in the Timeline block, marked as 'override' 
  • Group override dates don't currently show to students
Cut-off date

Used to allow late submissions up to a specified date. After the cut-off date, no more submissions can be made unless an individual assignment extension has been granted.

Tip: It is recommended that you set the cut-off date at least 1 week after the due date, to allow for any late submissions.
Remind me to grade by You can assign an expected date that the marking of submissions should be finished by. This date will appear in the Timeline block on your My FLO page.


Submission types settings

Submission types settings
Setting Description
Submission types

Enables the different assignment submission types. Select from the following:

  • File submissions (default)Allows students to upload files. Can be used in conjunction with the 'Restrict file types' setting
  • Online text: Provides students with the HTML editor to type text directly into FLO for their submission. This is not recommended for large amounts of text. You can specify the maximum number of words you will accept for online text (see 'Word limit' below). Note: Online text is required to be enabled for video assignments
  • Word count declaration: If enabled, students must manually enter a word count for their submission in the field provided (see Add a word count field to an assignment submission below).
    Warning: Even if the 'File submissions' and/or 'Online text' submission types are enabled, students can finalise their submission without uploading a file or entering text if they complete the declaration.
  • Mahara portfolio: If enabled, students must select their Mahara page/s for assessment in order to complete their submission. Only allow this setting if students are using Mahara for the assignment (contact your  eLearning support team for further information)
Maximum number of uploaded files

This is the maximum number of files a student may upload (the default is 20).
Maximum submission size

This is the upload limit for a single file (the default is 40MB). Note: Turnitin will only accept files up to 40MB; anything larger will not go through Turnitin.
Restrict file types

You can specify the types of files that you want students to submit. The default setting is 'File types for text matching' (*.doc, *.docx, *.rtf, *.html, *.ps, *.txt, *.pdf, *.ppt, *.pptx, *.ppts, *.hwp, *.wpd)' — these file types are accepted by Turnitin to generate Originality reports.

You can select from the predefined categories (Word documents, PDF, Image, Video, Audio) or specify additional file types using the 'Other' option. With the Other option enabled, additional file type extensions can be entered in the input box – prefixed by an asterisk (*). Multiple file types should be separated by a comma.

If you are planning to mark online, restrict the submission to Word documents and/or PDF. This will ensure that you are able to annotate all file submissions (FLO will convert Word documents to PDF format for online marking).
Word limit If Online text submissions is enabled (see 'Submission types' above), you can set the maximum number of words a student is able to submit directly into FLO. Tick the Enable box to set a word limit.

Add a word count field
to an assignment submission

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

Word count declaration setting

Students must manually enter the word count to finalise their submission. Warning: Students can finalise their submission by entering a word count, without uploading a file (File submissions enabled) or entering text (Online text enabled). If this occurs, revert the submission to draft to allow the student to upload their file / enter text.  

Student view

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

Student view of word count 



Feedback types settings

Feedback types settings
Setting Description
Feedback types All Feedback types are enabled by default: Feedback comments (see below), Annotate PDF, Feedback files (rubric, marking guide) and Offline grading worksheet. You can leave all options ticked (you don’t have to use all of them).
Comment inline
If enabled, this setting allows the submission text (see Submission types > Online text above) to be copied into the Feedback comments field during grading, making it easier to comment inline (using a different colour).
Feedback template
You can upload a Feedback template to be used as the basis for feedback files generated for each student.

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. 

Feedback comments



Submission settings

Submission settings
Setting Description
Require students to click the submit button

If Yes (default setting), students must click the Submit button to finalise their assignment. An assignment will remain in draft (allowing the student to make changes to text or upload new files) until they click the Submit button. Once submitted, they will be unable to modify their assignment without topic coordinator intervention (eg revert an assignment to draft; allow students to resubmit).

If No, students can make changes to their submission at any time.
Require that students accept the submission statement
The default setting is Yes. The submission statement is a declaration that the work the student is submitting is their own unless otherwise acknowledged.
Attempts reopened

This setting determines how student submission attempts are reopened:

  • Never
  • Manually (default setting – submissions can be reopened by a teacher)
  • Automatically until pass
See Allow students to resubmit an assignment for further information.
Maximum attempts You can set the maximum number of submission attempts for the assignment if Manually or Automatically until pass has been selected for Attempts reopened.


Notifications settings

Notifications settings
Setting Description
Notify graders about submissions

If set to Yes, all members of the teaching team will receive an email notification when an assignment is submitted or updated. The next setting will not be available if this is set to Yes.

If the class is small, or you plan to return assignments as quickly as possible, it may be a good idea to choose Yes. However, for large classes this can result in a high volume of notification emails.

Notify graders about late submissions

This option is available if Notify graders about submissions is set to No. If set to Yes, an email notification will only be provided for assignments submitted after the due date.

You may choose to enable this setting to avoid having to constantly check FLO for late submissions.

Default setting for "Notify students"

This field controls when to notify students of changes to their grade or feedback and sets the default value for the Notify students checkbox on the online grading form. The default is No.

The Notify students checkbox is available when grading individual submissions. Choose Yes to notify the student immediately or No to grade without notifying the student. Students will not receive grade notifications if you have hidden the grades.

Note: How staff and students receive notifications depends on their personal preferences .


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:

Turnitin settings
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).


Grade settings

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.


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.

Grading summary page

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.

Grades are hidden from students

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).

Assignment - create an assignment as a take-home exam

1. Plan  |   2. Build   |  3. Test   | 4. Administer   |  5. Review  ||  Support

assignment dropbox iconThis 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.

Good practice guides and tip sheets

Good practice guides and tip sheets have been developed to support quality in both curriculum design and teaching practice. Good practice guides provide a pedagogical overview and tip sheets provide you with practical strategies and ideas for implementation. Links to resources that relate to take-home exams are provided below. 

Appropriate use of exams

 


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.

take-home exam general settings

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).

take-home exam availability settings

Timeline block:
  • The Due date will show to students in the Timeline block, marked as 'due'
  • Dates added using completion tracking show to students in the Timeline block, marked as 'should be completed'
  • User override dates show to students in the Timeline block, marked as 'override' 
  • Group override dates don't currently show to students

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 is how the assignment displays to students before the Allow submissions from date/time:

take-home exam student view


Assignment - create an assignment with anonymous submissions

1. Plan  |   2. Build   |  3. Test   | 4. Administer   |  5. Review  ||  Support

assignment dropbox iconThis 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.

The anonymous submissions setting

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:

Participant number

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.
    blind marking reveal student identities


Assignment - create an iterative assignment

1. Plan  |   2. Build   |  3. Test   | 4. Administer   |  5. Review  ||  Support

assignment dropbox iconThis 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.

disable the submit button

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.)

iterative assignment - availability settings


Timeline block:
  • The Due date will show to students in the Timeline block, marked as 'due'
  • Dates added using completion tracking show to students in the Timeline block, marked as 'should be completed'
  • User override dates show to students in the Timeline block, marked as 'override' 
  • Group override dates don't currently show for to students

Assignment - create an offline assignment

1. Plan  |   2. Build   |  3. Test   | 4. Administer   |  5. Review  ||  Support

assignment dropbox iconThis 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.

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.

Assignment - create an online text assignment

1. Plan  |   2. Build   |  3. Test   | 4. Administer   |  5. Review  ||  Support

assignment dropbox iconThis 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:

enable 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:

enable word limit


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.

comment inline setting

Assignment - create a video assignment

1. Plan  |   2. Build   |  3. Test   | 4. Administer   |  5. Review  ||  Support

assignment iconThis entry relates to the Assignment activity.

Setting up a video assignment is very similar to setting up an assignment for file submissions. These instructions outline the settings that make video assignments as student-friendly as possible. Depending on students' familiarity with submitting video assignments, a practice upload of a video to a forum etc can be useful for checking their upload and embed process. Direct students to FLO Student Support for help submitting video assignments.

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.

General settings


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

Submission types setting for online text 

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).

Submission types settings for file types



  •   Training and support

      Troubleshooting

    Support

    Contact your eLearning support team

    Note: Students do not have access to/use of the Media Vault

    Assignment - download assignment submissions/feedback files and grading worksheet (offline marking)

    1. Plan  |   2. Build  |  3. Test   | 4. Administer  |  5. Review  || Support

    Good practice guides and tip sheets

    Good practice guides and tip sheets have been developed to support quality in both curriculum design and teaching practice. Good practice guides provide a pedagogical overview and tip sheets provide you with practical strategies and ideas for implementation. Links to assignment-related resources are provided below. 

    Providing constructive feedback in FLO |  Rubrics and marking guides in FLO | Scaffolding assessment in FLO | Marking in FLO using the assignment tool

    assignment iconThis entry relates to the Assignment activity.

    If you are marking offline (having set this up when you created the Assignment activity), there is a 3-step process: download (internet access required), mark (no internet access required – this is the 'offline' part), upload (internet access required). 

    Your options in the drop-down menu for 'Grading action' will depend on how you have set up the assignment.


    Download assignment submissions for marking offline

    1. Open the assignment

    2. Scroll down and click the View all submissions button
      View all submissions button

    3. Select Download all submissions from the Grading action menu (at the top of the screen)
      Download all submissions

      If a filter is selected, only the students in that group will be visible and be downloaded. There are two types of filters:

      Group filters are at the top of the screen
      Group filter

      Status filters are at the bottom of the screen under Options
      Status filter

      To download specific submissions, select them by ticking the checkbox beside the relevant student's name – filters may still be used, but each required item must be checked. Then, use the With selected... drop-down menu at the bottom of the screen and select Download selected submissions
      download single assignments
      To download a single submission, first open the required document by clicking on it. Choose Save as to save a copy to your preferred location. This file will not be zipped, so extraction will not be necessary.

    4. A zip file will download. To display the contents of the zip file:
    • 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).

           extract all files

    Once this is done you will be asked to select a path to extract to. This is the folder that the files will be saved to. Save the files somewhere that is easy for you to remember and access, as this is where you will be doing your marking. Click Browse… to select a folder.

           extract files - path

    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.

    Tip – once you have extracted (saved) the contents of the zip, ensure you mark student work in the selected folder. This will make it easier for you to zip up the files once you have finished marking.

     


    Download feedback files 

    If you include a feedback file (eg marking guide, rubric) when you create the assignment, FLO will generate a file for every student (by including their FAN at the front of the file name). The download process is the same as for submissions (above) except that you choose Download feedback files in a zip from the Grading action menu:

    Download feedback files in a zip

     


    Download the grading worksheet

    1. Open the assignment

    2. Scroll down and click the View all submissions button
      View all submissions button  

    3. Select Download grading worksheet from the Grading action menu (at the top of the screen)
      Download grading worksheet

    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

    1. 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

    Note: If you are saving files anywhere outside of the University network (eg USB drive, Dropbox, Google Drive), please make sure you take regular backups of your work.



    Next step

    Once you have finished marking, you will need to upload the marked files and grading worksheet.


    Assignment - exclude sources in a Turnitin similarity/originality report

    1. Plan  |  2. Build  |  3. Test  |  4. Administer  |  5. Review  || Support

    assignment icon 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
      Turnitin percentage
      By default the Filter and Settings will load

    3. Click the graph icon to load All sources
      Turnitin Feedback Studio menu

    4. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the Exclude sources button
      The Exclude Sources is white with a blue border and blue text

    5. Select the sources you wish to exclude

    6. Click on the Exclude button to save your changes.
      The Exclude button is red with white text. It will include the number of sources that you are excluding.

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

    Assignment - grant extensions for assignments (Assignment grading screen)

    1. Plan  |   2. Build  |  3. Test   | 4. Administer   |  5. Review  ||  Support

    assignment iconThis 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.

    When setting the due date for a resubmission, or changing the initial due date for a selection of students, use a group or user override. To change the date for all students, edit the assignment’s settings instead.



    Grant an extension

    1. Open the assignment and click on the View all submissions button

    2. Click on the Edit link to the left of the student’s name and profile picture
      The edit link is highlighted in this picture with a red rectangle

    3. From this menu, select Grant extension
      The grant extension link is highlighted in the picture below with a red rectangle

    4. Enter a new due date and click on the Save changes button

    5. The status will now indicate that an extension has been granted

     


    Where do students see their extension date?

    In their assignment:

    student view - extension



    Assignment - grant extensions for assignments (Extension request tool)

    1. Plan  |   2. Build  |  3. Test   | 4. Administer   |  5. Review  ||  Support

    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.

    Note: When setting the due date for a resubmission, or changing the initial due date for an individual student or a subsection of students, do not use the extension tool, instead apply a user/group override.
     

    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)
      Turn editing on

    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)
    Important: If you are granting an extension after the assignment due date/time, you should let students know that it won’t be recorded as 'late submissions' hence no penalties would be applied.

    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
      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

    The third menu option is called 'school settings'. It has two settings - Set policy messages, and download requests

    Set policy messages allows College staff to change the messages sent to students. This change will then be applied to all topics in the college.

    Students who create a new request will see messages that explain when and why they need to upload evidence when they submit their request. These messages are in the system is to discourage students from asking for an extension without a good reason, and to make sure they understand that requesting an extension doesn't automatically result in it being approved. The default texts are consistent with University policy, but if the college wants to provide more details or other changes, they can do so as long as these instructions are still compliant with University policy.

    When students create a new request for an extension, they can choose different reasons for requesting the extension (Illness, Injury, DAP, Family tragedy and Other).

    • When they choose the reason Illness or Injury, the system requires the student to upload evidence (mandatory).
    • For the other reasons, it is not mandatory to upload evidence but students will see a message explaining that without evidence their request may not be approved.
    • The message for the Disability Action Plan (DAP) is slightly different. It doesn't ask for evidence but it explains to the student that a DAP must have been discussed with the topic coordinator before a student can use it as a reason for requesting an extension.
    • There is also the option to add a standard text to the (approve/decline) emails that are sent to emails after processing a request. It could, for example, give the students a link to a webpage with the college policy around extensions.

    The table below shows where and when which message is shown. If the college has different policies about requiring evidence, it is possible to convey these policies through these messages. The Message content column shows the default text. These default texts can be deleted and replaced with other text. Clicking the Save button changes the text for all topics in that college. 


    The Download request option allows college staff to download a selection of requests in the college; for example, to report about numbers of requested and approved extensions for one semester. For privacy reasons the download will not include any uploaded evidence, but be aware that the spreadsheet may still contain confidential data. 


    If you need any help, please contact your local eLearning support team.

    Assignment - hide and release marks/feedback to students

    1. Plan  |   2. Build  |  3. Test   | 4. Administer   |  5. Review  ||  Support

    assignment iconThis 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.


      Hiding and showing marks from inside the assignment

      1. Open the assignment

      2. In the Grading summary row click on the eye in the Grading visibility section to hide the grades
        A hidden assignment is shaded yellow, and the eye icon has a line running through it

      3. Click on the eye again to make the grades visible
        A hidden assignment is shaded greem, and the eye icon does NOT have a line running through it

      Hiding and showing marks from inside the gradebook

      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.
         

        editing settingsIf 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.
      grades showing

      Assignment - interpreting the Turnitin similarity/originality report

      1. Plan  |   2. Build   |  3. Test   |  4. Administer   |  5. Review   || Support

      assignment icon 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.