---
title: "Assignment Settings"
canonical: "https://helpcentre.macewan.ca/space/ETS/2629435399/Assignment%20Settings"
format: markdown
---
**AUDIENCE: ****FACULTY**** | ****STAFF**
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## Introduction
Various activities and resources can be added to your course as *assignments*. The steps below illustrate how to use the various settings available when creating assignments.
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## General
In this section, we will go through the basic settings for creating an assignment.
Create an assignment by choosing the course section where you would like the activity to reside and selecting **Assignment** from the **+ Activity or resource** menu.
Begin by giving your assignment a clear and specific name in the **Assignment name** box. You can enter text in both the **Description** box and the **Activity instructions** box.
To use the file picker to attach a file, click **+** to open the file icon (1) or drag a file into the drag-and-drop area (2).
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## Availability
In the **Availability** setting, you can customize when the assignment is viewable and for how long.
The **Allow submissions from** setting defines the date by which students can submit completed assignments. If you disable this feature, students can submit assignments at any time.
Use the due date editor to set the due date, and if you wish to have a hard cut-off date, set the **Cut-off date**. Disabling these will enable students to submit assignments at any time. Remember to tick the **Enable** box under each item to enable the set dates.
You can also create reminders to grade assignments by setting date parameters. For this feature to work, you must tick the Enable box below the date options.
It is possible to apply a time limit. If enabled, the time limit is stated on the assignment page, and a countdown timer is displayed during the assignment. When modifying the General settings, selecting the *Always show description* box will constantly display the description you created for the assignment.
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## Submission types
In the **Submission** setting, you can specify parameters for assignment submissions, including file types, number and size of files, and word counts.
Selecting the **Online text** box will enable students to type responses into the assignment upload interface in place of, or in addition to, any uploaded files. Selecting the **File submissions** box will allow students to upload files to the assignment. If you deselect this box, students will be limited to online text submissions only.
Select **Enable **for the **Word limit **and type a specified word limit into the blank box for **Online text **submissions.
You can specify a limit on the number of files students can upload by selecting the **maximum number of uploaded files**. You can place a data space limit on uploaded files in the Maximum submission size box. In the **Accepted file types **box, you can specify what file types you will allow to be uploaded for the assignment.
Select as many file types from the pop-up menu as you would like. If you want to accept any and all file types, you can skip this **Submission type**.
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## Feedback types
### **Feedback comments**
Scroll down to **Feedback types **on the edit assignment settings page. Select the **Feedback comments** box to enable giving written feedback within the assignment. If this box is unchecked, you can only apply a numerical grade.
### Annotate PDF
If you have enabled PDF submissions and want to give feedback directly on submitted PDFs, select the **Annotate PDF**.
Annotation options are accessed through the annotation editing bar. Through this bar, you can rotate the page view, add a text comment, handwrite, draw a line or shape, highlight, or apply a preset stamp. You also have the option to leave comments in the **Feedback comments **box located on the bottom right-hand side of the feedback editor (as seen below). If the PDF submission has multiple pages, navigate between the pages using the **document navigation**.** **You can apply a numerical grade in the **Grade **box.
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## Offline grading
Selecting **Offline grading worksheet** will allow you to download assignment submissions and grade them offline. Start by enabling offline grading submissions, as indicated below.
To use the offline grading feature once enabled, open your assignment from its location on the main course page and the **Submissions **tab. This will open the assignment submissions page.
On the right side of the Submissions page (pictured below), select **Actions,** then select **Download grading worksheet**. Depending on your system, this will automatically create an Excel .csv file. You can then enter comments and values in the spreadsheet for offline grading.
Once you have finished entering comments and grades on the .csv spreadsheet file, navigate back to the assignment **Submissions** page..
Select **Upload grading worksheet** from the drop-down menu.
Upload the changes you made to the .csv file either by using the **File picker** or dragging from the location on your computer to the File uploader box (see below).
You will be asked to review and confirm your upload by selecting the **CONFIRM** button. Click **CONTINUE** on the next screen.
If you return to the assignment submissions page, your new grades should be displayed.
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## Feedback files
As indicated in the above image, selecting Feedback files will enable the upload interface in the grading window. Rather than leaving comments in the grading interface, you would upload a separate file with your comments and feedback.
Upload your **Feedback file(s)** from the lower-left corner of the grading window as indicated below.
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## Submission Settings
Editing the submission settings will set submission parameters on the students’ end.
You can require students to click the submit button by selecting “yes.” Require** students to click the submit** **button** before finalizing their assignment submission.
**Requiring the students to accept the submission statement **will force the students to select a box beside the submission statement. Selecting “yes” adds an extra step of verification for the students. They will not be able to submit their assignment until this is selected.
You can set the number of times a student can submit an assignment from the **Allowed attempts **menu.
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## Group Submission Settings
You can edit Group submission settings here.
If you select “no” for **Students submit in groups**, no other changes are necessary.
If you select “yes,” you can adjust whether or not to **Require group to make a submission**,** Require all group members submit**, and** **set **Grouping for students**.** **For this last feature to be available, groups must first be enabled.
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## Notifications
The **Notifications** tab is where you can set up notifications for assignment submissions. These notifications can be set for anyone who has grading access to your course.
If you want to be notified when anyone submits an assignment, select “Yes” in the box adjacent to **Notify graders about submissions** as seen in the image below. If you also want to enable notifications for late submissions, select “yes” in the box adjacent to **Notify graders about late submissions** as seen in the image below.
The default setting for student notifications is to send a confirmation email as soon as they have submitted an assignment. If you wish to disable this, select “No” in the box adjacent to **Default setting for “Notify student”** as seen in the above image.
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## Grade
In the **Grade** settings, you can set parameters for grading assignments. You can set simple point grading, use a predetermined grade scale, or build your own grade scale. To access **Grade** settings, click on the **more options icon** for the Assignment and then select **Edit settings**.
### Using point grading
Scroll down to **Grade** settings on the edit assignment settings page.
To use **Point**, select **Point **from under the **Type** box. Set a numerical value in the **Maximum grade** box.
In the **Grading method** box, select **Simple direct grading** if you wish to apply a numerical grade to the assignment, or select **Marking guide **if you want to grade using a predetermined marking guide, or select **Rubric** if you wish to grade according to a rubric. Setting up Rubrics and Marking guides is explored in other tutorials.
After you set up your **Gradebook**, you can specify the **Grade category** under which your assignment will be assessed. You can specify a minimum grade threshold in the box adjacent to **Grade to pass**,** **and you can allow or restrict **Anonymous submissions **in the box adjacent to **Anonymous submissions**.
You can choose to reveal the identity of the grader to the student by toggling between “Yes/No” in the box adjacent to **Hide grader identity**.** **If you select “yes” in the **Use marking workflow** box, results will not be released to students until you are ready to release them. Selecting “no” will release the mark to students as soon as you are finished grading.
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## Common Module Settings
To access **Common module** settings, click on the **three dots menu** for the Assignment and then select **Edit settings**.
In the Assignment editor, scroll to **Common module settings**. You can select whether or not the assignment appears to students by selecting the box adjacent to **Availability**.
You can enter an ID number in the box adjacent to **ID number** to link a number within the gradebook. This can be useful if you have multiple assignments that are similar in nature.
In the box adjacent to **Group mode**, you can choose **No groups** (which maintains individual work on the assignment),** Separate groups** (where group members can only see those in their own group), or **Visible groups** (where students work in their own groups but can also see other groups).
If you have pre-created groupings (collections of groups), you can edit settings for these in the drop-down menu adjacent to **Grouping**.
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## Restrict Access
To access **Restrict Access** settings, click on the **three dots menu** for the Assignment and then select **Edit** **settings**.
Scroll down to **Restrict Access** settings and select **Add restriction**.
Select the restriction you would like to apply to the assignment.
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## Activity Completion
To access **Activity completion** settings, click on the **three dots menu** for the Assignment and then select **Edit settings**.
To track activity completion, select one of the three choices below the heading **Completion conditions**. If you select **None**, the activity will not be tracked. Selecting **Students can manually mark the activity as completed** will allow students to manually put a check in a box on the right of the activity.
Selecting **Add requirements** will only mark the assignment as complete when parameters you set (as seen in the image below) are met.
You can specify an expected completion date for your students by ticking the **Enable **box adjacent to **Set reminder in Timeline**.
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## Tags
To access the **Tags** settings, click on the **three dots menu** for the Assignment and then select **Edit settings**.
Adding tags to your assignment will populate that tag in the **Tag block** if enabled, and your end users can then search for tags via the Search bar.
To add a tag, type the word you want to make a tag into the Enter tags box and press Enter. A successfully created tag will appear (as the word “ABCD 123” does below).
> Macro (details)
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> | Related Issues | groups | grouping |
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