IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS GUIDANCE PLEASE EMAIL Eden.Digital@lse.ac.uk
Introduction
This guide aims to provide you with all the information required to prepare for the assessment formats in the following table:
24-hour assessments | One-week assessments | Longer coursework pieces |
48-hour assessments | Two-week assessments | Time limited assessments with a common start/finish time for all students |
72-hour assessments | Three-week assessments |
If you need to set up Time limited assessment to be taken at any time within a 24-hour window, please visit General guidance for online assessments delivered using the Quiz activity.
Important note
Departmental staff setting up online assessments on Moodle course(s), must ensure that the Assignment submission link appears in an appropriate place on the Moodle page (where the students can easily locate and identify it).
Departmental staff are required to configure settings, check that all students are enrolled, apply restrictions etc. and upload all the relevant information (i.e. Assessment paper, instructions to candidates etc.)
Please read the instructions below carefully, regardless of your familiarity with Moodle. Some settings are designed to increase the security of the uploaded ‘Assessment paper’, and ensure the smooth running of the online assessment.
Assessment readiness checklist
About this checklist
This checklist is a quick reference of important actions.
By going through this checklist, you should feel reassured that you have taken all the right steps to prepare your assessment submission links in Moodle and to support your students taking online assessments.
Revisit the checklist once you have prepared your assessment links, for a final check-up.
Quick checklist:
Have you checked that all students (registered, deferred, resit etc.) who should take the assessment are enrolled into the Moodle course and have the correct role (i.e. Student or Auditing Student)?
Have you enabled self enrolment for those students entitled to take the assessment that may have been missed out?
Have you removed the self enrolment password/enrolment key from your course (if applicable)?
Have you communicated to your students the assessment guidance (including details of support available during the assessment period)?
Have you uploaded the ‘Assessment paper and instructions to candidates' and the 'Coversheet for submission’ to the Moodle Assignment(s)?
Have you updated the Moodle Assignment settings ('Allow submissions from' date and time & ‘Due date’ and time) with the time set to the relevant time (UK time)?
Have you added the ‘Restrict access’ criterion based on the assessment ‘Allow submissions from’ date and time?
Where required, have you created separate Moodle Assignments for deferred, resit etc. students (i.e. students who are required to answer different assessment questions)?
Have you created a dummy/practice Assignment for your students to practice submitting, reduce anxiety and identify any technical/other problems?
Have you informed your students about an alternative submission method (e.g. programme email address) in case of technical difficulties? (See sample template for wording below).
Have you built in additional time for preparing the files for upload where appropriate? (See sample template for wording below).
Have you informed your students of the relevant guides for this assessment? We have produced the following student guides:
A. Ensure students have access (are enrolled) on the Moodle course
Important: Students must be enrolled in the relevant Moodle course to be able to access and submit their assessments.
Note
Moodle automatically enrols students to their relevant Moodle courses (i.e. from the information in LSE For You).
However, you may have students who are not enrolled in LSE for You for the current year, for example, deferred, resit students etc.
These students must either be manually enrolled in Moodle courses by departmental staff or allowed to self enrol.
1. Manage enrolments
Important
It is important that students are enrolled into the correct Moodle course(s) to allow them to submit their assessments. Students who are not enrolled in the correct Moodle course(s) will not be able to submit assessments.
You must also check that students only have either the Student or Auditing Student role. If they have any other role, it may compromise the integrity of the assessment.
To check students are enrolled on the Moodle course, follow the steps below.
Log into Moodle and go to the course you want to check.
On the Administration block, at the left hand side of the screen, use the arrow icon in front of Users to expand and see the available options. Click Enrolled users.
You will now see all the enrolled Participants. Ensure all the students who will take the assessment are listed on this screen.
Important
Students who self enrol to courses are listed with the role Auditing student.
Both the Student and Auditing student roles have the same permissions. The difference in titles refers only to the method by which they were enrolled on the course.
Any student can self enrol to any course, when self enrolment is enabled (see below).
If you need to manually enrol a missing student, click on the Enrol users button, and search for the student you want to add, assigning them the role Student.
If you need to manually remove any student(s), use the bin icon, next to a student's name as shown below.
If you have a very high number of students, you may want to download a spreadsheet to check out the enrolled students.
If you notice that a student has a role that they shouldn’t have (e.g. Teacher or Teacher (Editor) you should remove this role (see below).
To remove a role from a student, click on the pencil icon next to the role.
Click the 'x' in the blue box of the role you wish to remove and then click on the disc icon to save your changes.
2. Enable self enrolment (i.e. allow students themselves to self enrol on a Moodle course)
Important
As described above, circumstances may arise where students entitled to take an assessment are not enrolled on the corresponding Moodle course.
To ensure all students are able to self enrol to their Moodle course(s) and access their assessments, you must enable self enrolment for a course(s).
To allow, self enrolment follow the steps below.
Log into Moodle and go to the course you want to check.
On the Administration block, on the left hand side of the screen, use the arrow icon in front of Users to expand and see the available options. Click Enrolment methods.
On the following screen, ensure Self enrolment (Auditing student) is visible. If hidden, the option will be greyed out. Use the eye icon to make the option available.
Double check the self enrolment settings by clicking on the cog icon (in the 'Edit' column in the above image).
Remove any previous password/enrolment key. If a password/enrolment key is set, students who try to self enrol will not be able to do so.
B. Communicate to your students the requirements of their assessment
Important
It is very important that you clearly communicate with your students the requirements of each of their assessments.
If you intend to communicate these through Moodle Announcements, it is vital that the right students are enrolled on the relevant Moodle course (see section above). All Moodle courses come with anAnnouncements forum which you can use to notify students of important information. Messages posted to this forum are also sent as emails to each enrolled student.
Recommendation:
Important information to communicate includes:
what support is available, including departmental contact details
what to do in the event of being unable to upload to Moodle
anything else you think necessary
It is important that you communicate any information to your students as soon as possible, to minimise anxiety and confusion during their online assessment.
C. Create and set-up an Assignment activity
In this section you will find detailed information on creating and setting up the Assignment(s) for your assessment(s). Please read it carefully. If you are unable to find the information you need please email Eden.Digital@lse.ac.uk.
1. Create and set-up the Assignment for the current year students
Information
Departmental staff are required to create a new Assignment in an appropriate place on the course’s Moodle page.
In preparing the Assignments link, departmental staff are required to configure the settings, check that all students are enrolled, apply restrictions etc. and upload all the relevant information (i.e. Assessment paper, instructions to candidates etc.)
Log into Moodle and navigate to the relevant course
Turn editing on
Go to the section where you want the Assignment activity to be displayed. Click Add an activity or resource and pick Assignment.
The Assignment submission link should appear in an appropriate place on the Moodle page (where the students can easily locate and identify it).
The instructions below take you through all the Assignment settings available and how they should be configured.
1.1. General
In General, enter the Assignment name and add instructions to the Description field (see below for more on this).
In the Additional files area upload (drag-and-drop) any required files (e.g. the Assessment paper in PDF format, to maintain accurate formatting of the original paper). If a Coversheet for submission, is required, it should be in MS Word format, to make it easier for students to edit this file as required.
Note: Provide a descriptive Assignment name, especially if you need to create a second Assignment link for a different groups of students (i.e. deferred students). The Assignment names should clearly signpost to students the assessment(s) relevant to them, i.e.
Assessment ZZ100 - 2019/20 current year students
Assessment ZZ100 - 2018/19 Deferred students
Add a Description to provide students with the required information.
VERY IMPORTANT GUIDANCE FOR STUDENTS TAKING THIS TYPE OF ASSESSMENT
Students must be clearly informed of the time limit they have to complete their assessment (e.g. 48 hours), and the fact that they must submit within the time limit.
For time limited assessments with a duration of less than 24 hours, you should clearly indicate the time allocated for the assessment and the additional time granted to accommodate preparation of the submitted file(s) where required (i.e. scanned images of handwritten answers combined in a single file etc.).
For example, for an assessment with a 3 hours time limit and 30mins preparation time we recommend the following sample text in the Assignment Description.
SAMPLE TEXT – Please adapt as necessary
“You have 3.5 hours to complete and submit the assessment.
You are advised to spend no more than 3 h 0 min completing this assessment.
You have been granted an additional 30 min to prepare and upload your work on Moodle. Please use your time as instructed to avoid a late submission.
IMPORTANT NOTE: If you experience any problems uploading on Moodle, please email your file (answers) to Joe Bloggs at J.Bloggs@lse.ac.uk as soon as possible.
Please note that you are subject to incurring late penalties if you submit your assessment late.
DTS Tech Support is available for general technology issues (i.e. browser issues etc), and general technical queries.
See the student guide on how to Submit/upload your assessment on Moodle (for time limited assessments starting at 12 noon (GMT) and any other assessment that isn't time limited).”
IMPORTANT INFORMATION: DTS Tech Support DOES NOT, by default, support online assessment periods.
1.2. Availability
In Availability, make sure that you select the correct Allow submissions from date and time (UK time) for when you wish the assessment to be open to students and the correct Due date and time (UK time).
Recommendation
Do not enable a cut-off date, to allow for late student submissions. Moodle will time and date stamp each submission and any late submission will be flagged appropriately.
However, when you are ready to start marking you should use Lock submissions from within Submissions table. This will prevent further editing of the submissions you are about to mark.
Information: We have disabled “Always show description”, so that any information (general instructions and assessment questions) will not be available until the Allow submissions from date and time you have specified in the Availability section above.
1.3. Submission types
Important:
If you are enabling Turnitin to check for similarity, it’s worth noting that it can generate reports for all submitted files that are in a compatible file format. Students can, therefore, submit separate files if required. Therefore, you can choose between two options:
Require students to upload one single file that combines all required files.
or
Require students to upload any required files as separate files. This option will save you having to exclude matches based on the coversheet from Turnitin similarity reports.
NOTE: Turnitin cannot handle image files, so if students will submit these (e.g. in quantitative subjects) do not enable Turnitin.
Submission types (below) - make sure that File submissions is ticked.
Maximum number of uploaded files - select the number of files you are expecting students to upload (see the note above about Turnitin).
Maximum submission size - set as appropriate to your assessment requirements (we recommend 100MB).
Accepted file types - We recommend that you ask students to upload a PDF file to avoid conversion and loss of formatting when their file is downloaded/viewed in different operating systems. PDF is also more reliable format if you intend to mark on Moodle. However, if MS Word is your requirement that should also be fine.
1.4. Feedback types
Ensure that Feedback comments, Annotated PDF, Feedback files, Offline grading worksheet and Audio feedback (PoodLL) are all ticked.
1.5. Feedback criteria
Ignore this whole section of settings. Do not enter anything and move to the section below.
1.6. Submission settings
Leave the Submission settings to the default settings (as shown below).
Information: We have locked “Require that students accept the submission statement” to ‘Yes’. Students must accept the School’s Academic Integrity Statement (below).
1.7. Group submission settings
Leave the Group submission settings to the default settings (as shown below).
1.8. Notification
Leave Notification to the default settings (as shown below).
1.9. Turnitin plugin settings
Important: Enable Turnitin.
Turnitin cannot handle image files, so if students will submit these (e.g. in quantitative subjects) do not enable Turnitin.
Visit How to enable Turnitin similarity reports within Moodle assignment activities for information on how to enable Turnitin.
Before configuring the settings for Turnitin, you should familiarise yourself with the LSE policy on the use of Turnitin and your departmental policy on the use of Turnitin.
1.10. Grade
Set the Grade settings according to your departmental practice. Set Anonymous submissions (this hides the identity of students from markers) and Use marking workflow to ‘Yes’.
Important: The above settings are necessary, particularly for those departments intending to mark online and/or who wish to release grades via Moodle.
Recommendation: Because it acts as safeguard against any accidental release of grades and/or feedback to students, we recommend that you keep ‘Use marking workflow’ enabled, irrespective of whether you intend to mark online/offline. Please see our guide, Use Marking workflow for Assignments, for more on this.
1.11. Common module settings
Important:
Until you have completed the Restrict access settings below, you need to keep the Availability setting below to Hide from students
This hides the Assignment link from the course’s homepage and students cannot access it.
Availability - set this to Hide from students (see note above).
Group mode - set this to Visible groups. This setting is particularly useful for Moodle courses with multiple Markers. During the marking process, markers will be able to filter the submissions table by seminar group if necessary (and download only the relevant seminar group submissions), You can read more about Group mode in our guide, Groups and Grouping.
Important:
Students who are automatically enrolled on a Moodle course through the integration with LSE for You are also allocated to the appropriate seminar groups on Moodle.
However, manually enrolled students, or self enrolled students, will need to be added groups manually.
1.12. Restrict access
IMPORTANT: To ensure that the Assessment paper file is not accidentally released to students prior to the release time, and that it remains hidden from the students up until then, we highly recommend that you add this additional security criterion (i.e. restrict access until that date and time).
In Restrict Access set up an access restriction to ensure the Assignment link is not accessible from the course’s homepage up until the set Allow submission from date and time.
Click Add restriction…
Click Date from the pop-up window that appears.
Set the Date criterion. You must select the same Date and time as the Allow submissions from date and time you entered in the Availability section above.
Note:
The eye icon to the left of the Date information is a toggle with two states: the eye is either open (as above) or appears with a strikethrough.
With the eye open (recommended), the Assignment link will be shown as greyed out on the course’s home page but students will not be able to access the link until the date restrictions allow. It may be reassuring to students to be able to locate their assessments within the Moodle courses in advance (similar to how students might locate an exam hall in advance of an exam).
If you toggle the eye icon so it appears with a strikethrough (not recommended), it will completely hide the Assignment link from the course’s homepage until the date restrictions allow.
Whichever option you choose, the link will become fully visible and accessible as soon as the date restriction criterion is met.
1.13. Activity completion/Tags/Competencies
Ignore the Activity completion, Tags and Competencies settings.
1.14. Save the Assignment settings
Scroll to the bottom of the screen and click on Save and Return to course button. You will be able to see the Assignment link on the course home page (hidden) as shown below.
1.15. Make the Assignment link visible to students
Note: Now that you have completed the Restrict Access section it is safe to make the Assignment visible to students. While visible, it will remain unavailable to students (i.e. they cannot access it until the release date).
From the course homepage, use the Assignment’s Edit drop-down menu, and click Show.
The Assignment link on the course homepage appears as below. As you can see it will remain greyed out for students (i.e. not available) because of the restrict access date criterion added.
2. Set up an Assignment for previous year students (i.e. if they are examined in a different paper)
Note: If you have students who have deferred or are resitting and who are required to answer a different paper than current year students, you must create a different Assignment link for these students.
You can create the second Assignment from scratch or you can duplicate the original Assignment and replace the Assessment paper file and the Coversheet for submission with the appropriate alternatives.
To duplicate the existing Assignment select ‘Duplicate’ from the drop-down settings menu accessed via the cog icon to the right of the Assignment activity
Name the duplicated Assignment in a way that clearly signposts to students that the assessment is relevant to them and not other groups (e.g. Resit 2019/20 year students).
Some departments choose to to create Assignment links for deferred students on separate Moodle courses (e.g. a dedicated Departmental page). If you choose to do this, DO NOT forget to enrol the deferred students. Automatic enrolments only apply to current year teaching courses.
3. Providing for students with Central Exam Adjustments (CEAs)?
Note: If you have students with CEAs taking 24-hour assessments, 48-hour assessments, 72-hour assessments, One-week assessments, Two-week assessments, Three-week assessment or Longer coursework pieces type of assessments, you don't have to do anything. The School has agreed that the above types of assessments already cover CEAs. Therefore, no adjustment will be necessary for these students.
For Time limited assessments with a common start/finish time for all students and Time limited assessments to be taken at any time within a 24-hour window (delivered using the Quiz activity) you need to apply additional time where required. Please email the Student Services team if you have queries in advance of any assessment.
4. Set up a dummy/practice Assignment
Recommendation:
We highly recommend that you set up an Assignment to replicate exactly how your students will access and take their assessment.
From the students' perspective this will give them the opportunity to practise taking the Assignment and follow the necessary steps (e.g. create and submit a requested file format, produce a single file in a specific format (if required), practice embedding images (if required)).
It will reduce anxiety and help students identify any problems/questions they may have prior to the real submission.
It may also help you identify any gaps in your instructions.
D. Student guides
Eden Digital has produced the following student guides:
E. Additional information
The section below provides further information that you might find useful.
Student view
For full guidance on how students upload their assignments please see our Guide for Students.
Below is a short summary of the steps students will take to submit an assignment with our recommended settings.
On the course page, students can see the due date and whether or not they have submitted.
Students click on the link and, if the assessment opening date has been reached, they will see the instructions and be able to access the files with their assessment questions.
When students are ready to submit and click on the Add submission button, the academic integrity statement is displayed. They must tick this or they will not be able to submit. Student can drag and drop their files into the files area below the submission statement.
Once students have checked the submission statement box, uploaded the correct file type and clicked save changes, they will be sent a submission notification by email and see this status window.
Marker views
Please see the Assessment section of our Moodle How-To guides for detailed guidance on marking on Moodle. For detailed information on marking workflow, please see Use Marking workflow for Assignments.
The following is a short summary of how submitted assignments display if the recommended default settings have been kept. Because Anonymous submissions has been enabled, participants names are not displayed.
To grade, click on the big red GRADE button:
Staff can set marking workflow state.
Whatever marking workflow state has been set will be reflected in the submission.
The marking workflow state can also be set in bulk from the submissions table.
