Assignment - troubleshooting

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assignment dropbox iconThis entry relates to the Assignment activity.

Questions/problems

 


A student claimed they submitted their assignment, but their submission is not in the list 

You can see whether a student attempted to submit an assignment by looking at the FLO logs.

Steps
  1. In your topic, click on the assignment link
    assignment icon

  2. Click on the Topic Management link 
    topic management link


  3. Click on Logs
    logs image

  4. Choose the student's name from the All participants

  5. Make sure the date is set to All days
    reports

  6. Click on Get these logs
The logs will have a series of entries relating to the assignment. The most important entries are:
  • The status of the submission has been viewed
    The student has viewed the assignment. This often appears multiple times in the logs and is not relevant to the submission process.
  • A file has been uploaded
    The student has uploaded a file but not yet completed the submission process. At this point, the status of the assignment changes from ‘No submission’ to ‘Draft’.
  • The user has accepted the statement of the submission
    The student has agreed to the academic integrity statement, at which point status of the assignment changes from ‘Draft’ to ‘Submitted for grading’. Sometimes students forget this stage, particularly if they are tired or stressed.

     


    A student submitted the wrong file for their assignment - what can I do?

    You can use the revert the submission to draft functionality to allow the student to delete the file, upload a new file and submit.

     


    My students can't submit their assignments

    There are a few reasons why your students might not be able to submit their assignments:

    • Students can't see the assignment if it is hidden. To solve this problem, unhide the assignment.
    • Students won't have a submit button past the cut-off date. To solve this problem, check if the cut-off date is set correctly, or if the student is late either change the cut-off date to allow for submission or give the student an extension.
    • Students won't be able to submit certain file types if you have restricted the file type options. To solve this problem, ask students to submit the correct file type, or add their file type in your restricted file type list, or remove the restriction on file types.
    • Students won't be able to submit files that exceed the file size limit. To solve this problem, ask students to submit a smaller file or change the file size limit.
    • Students can experience problems submitting files if their internet connection is not reliable. To solve this problem, ask students to submit from a different location or internet connection. 

     


    Why are my students' assignments showing as a draft?

    Student assignments may show as a draft because:

    • You have changed the assignment setting for 'Require students click submit button' from the default 'Yes' to 'No' (if all student assignments are submitted as draft)

    To solve this problem, you can either change the assignment settings and ask students to resubmit, or you can lock the submissions, which prevents students from changing their files.

    • A student has not clicked the 'Submit' button when they submit their assignment to FLO (if one or only a few student assignments are showing as draft). This may be because the student simply did not see the button or did not realise they needed to click it.

      To solve this problem, once you are ready to start marking you may want to prevent these students from making further submission updates by locking the submission so that you can ensure you are marking the correct version. 

    Note: if the student did not submit they also did not agree to an academic integrity statement. If this is relevant for your assignment, you will have to ask the student agree to the statement and press the submit button.

    If you have concerns whether or not the student submits a different file (which would be the same as a late submission), you can download the draft file and compare this with the submitted file. 


     


    I have a group assignment but when I download all submissions I am getting one assignment for every student. Why?

    The download all submissions option for group assignments downloads one assignment per student, rather than one per group. Unwanted assignments can be deleted from the downloaded zip, or alternatively you can use the online marking interface.

     


    My marking guide isn't calculating grades properly

    Your marking guide may not be calculating grades properly because it scales the lowest grade to 0. So if you scale your marks from 1-10, it will recalculate '1' to 0. To solve this problem you must use a scale that starts at 0.

     


    I have granted an assignment extension for one of my students, but they tell me that there is no submission button. Why?

    The most likely cause is that the extension date is after the assignment cut-off date. There are several dates in an assignment’s settings. Some or all of these dates can be enabled. These are:

    • Allow submissions from: Use this if you want to stop students submitting before a given date.
    • Due dateThis date shows to students on their topic home page and on the assignment summary page.
      This is when the assignment is due. Submissions will still be allowed after this date but any assignments submitted are marked as late unless students have been granted an extension. To prevent submissions after a certain date, set the assignment cut-off date.
    • Cut-off dateThis date is not shown to students.
      If set, the assignment will not accept submissions after this date. An extension can be given beyond the cut-off date; however, late submissions will not be accepted.

    Tip: When granting extensions, check what your cut-off date is, and if necessary advise the student that they will not be able to submit late. Alternatively, change the cut-off date for the assignment, or apply a ‘User override’ for the student (Assignment > Assignment administration).

    Note about Turnitin and cut-off dates: As each assignment is submitted by the student, their work will be compared with other stored papers in the Turnitin repository. Once the cut-off date arrives, the submissions are rechecked against the rest of the current class.

     


    I’ve marked the assignment for my tutorial group and put the marks into the grading worksheet, but it won't upload

    There are two common causes:

    1. You have typed the marks into the wrong column. The grading worksheet is a CSV file that opens in Excel. The columns are a standard width and some of the contents seem to spill over into the next column. Drag the divider between column headings to make the columns wider so you can see where the grades should be. In this situation FLO wants you to ’Confirm changes in grading worksheet’ but nothing is listed, just a Cancel button.
    2. You have already uploaded the annotated marked assignments and/or feedback files. In this situation, you will get a list of errors. ’Error: Grade for student name has been modified more recently in FLO so this grade from the offline worksheet will not update the latest grade in FLO’. If so, after choosing your upload file, you will need to tick the box Allow updating records that have been modified more recently in FLO than in the spreadsheet. See Upload marked files and grading worksheet for more information.

     


    How do I exclude sources in a Turnitin originality report?

    Removing a source from an Originality Report will 'recalculate' the similarity index without consideration to the removed source in question. This feature is often used when a paper has been submitted twice or more to Turnitin, and the Originality Report is reporting a high match (eg 100%) to a previous submission. Removing a source from an Originality Report may provide a more clear similarity index (percentage). See the entry Exclude sources in a Turnitin originality report.

     


    How do I refresh a Turnitin report?

    If a Turnitin report doesn't generate, Contact your local eLearning support team.

     


    A student's assignment shows that it has been 'Submitted for grading', however, I can't see their file, only their word count declaration

    If the assignment has the Word count declaration submission type enabled, students can finalise their submission without uploading a file (likewise if the assignment is set up to accept online text). 

    If this occurs, revert the student's submission to draft to allow them to upload their file.

     


    I can't modify a grade in my assignment

    If you have entered grades directly into gradebook, they override the grade in the assignment and can no longer be modified in the activity. 

    There are two ways in Gradebook to remove overrides from grade items:

    » How-to glossary