Learn Assignment “Gotchas”

There are a wide-range of assessment options built into or integrated with Learn. Each assessment has its own workflow and a plethora of settings to choose from.

In this blog post we look to highlight some of the common issues, quirks, and key settings to be aware of.

This is part of a series of blog posts related to Tests and Assignments:

• Understanding Test Options
• Learn Assessment “Gotchas”

Learn Assignments

Due Dates

Assignments should have a date/time when submissions should be made by. This date will send notifications to students as the due-date approaches.

We recommend a due-date in working hours so that support is available from ITO or ILTS for any issues that might arise around the submission. So a deadline that is on a Friday at 5pm is not ideal.

Upload Progress

There is no progress bar displayed to students to indicate that the file submission is being processed. The browser will also not show a “spinny-wheel” in the tab to indicate that the page is processing. Students should be instructed to only click the submit button once and be patient.

When the file is submitted the student will be able to see their submission and will receive an email confirmation.

Submission Receipts

When a Learn Assignment is successful the student will receive a submission receipt via email. The students can also see a list of their receipts from their Grades panel which they can access from the top-right of any page.

The general rule is worth following: “if a student does not have a copy of their submission receipt, the submission has not been made.”

Anonymity

Marking should be done anonymously in the majority of assessment scenarios. In Learn Assignment the anonymity settings are very strict – it is not possible to see which student have submitted, and it is not possible to review any attempts related to a specific student until anonymity has been removed.

We recommend setting the anonymity-release date in the future and then changing this when you are ready for anonymity to be removed.

 

Gradebook

Visible to students

Any activity within Learn that can have a mark associated with it (formative or summative) will have an entry in the Gradebook, which is located in one of the tabs across the top of the course Learn page. The default option for the column is to have the grade visible to students.

By opening up the entry for an assessment, you can choose whether to hide or show it to students.

Calculated Items

The calculated and weighted items are a great way of aggregating grades across activities. However sometimes a calculated item can sometime release a grade from a hidden entry which it is related to.

We recommend taking time to review and manage your Gradebook. You can find out more about navigating the Gradebook here.

You can get in touch with lt-support@inf.ed.ac.uk if you need further support.