assignments

Loading...

Assignments

The Assignments screen is the fourth step/screen used in the 5 steps taken by most teachers when they create a new class. You should add at least one assignment before going to the next step.

The Assignments screen allows you to add, edit, delete and copy assignments. You can also use the "add and score" button to add and score an assignment at the same time.

Each category defined in the Categories Screen that does not have sub categories can have multiple projects or assignments associated with it. Each category you defined is available from the pull-down menu at the top of the form. Select the category you want then add, delete, modify, copy or move assignments in that category. If you do not see a category that fits an assignment you want to add, use the Categories Screen to add a new category before you add the assignment.

If your class has grading periods, all of the assignments for the currently selected grading period are shown. If your class does not have grading periods, you will see a "Only Display Current Assignments" check box below the Category drop down and if it is checked, you are only shown assignments that are due within the dates four weeks prior to and following the current date. If you check or uncheck the "Only Display Current Assignments" box, you need to click the Save button to make the screen redisplay the assignments that match your preference.

After you have finished modifying the assignment list, click the Save button to update the list of assignments. You can then work on another category by selecting it from the pull-down menu.

REQUIRED FIELDS (indicated by red type)

Assignment Name

ASSIGNMENT FIELD DESCRIPTIONS

Assignment Name (required field)
The title of the assignment. For example, "Read chapter one" could be the name you give an assignment.

Points

You can assign any number of points you want to an assignment. When adding a new assignment, the points column is given an initial default based on the value you specify in the My Account screen preferences section.

If you are like most teachers and do not weigh your assignments, the points you assign to each assignment have a direct impact on the students grade in the category because the students grade in the category is based on the total points they received out of the total possible points. Thus, an assignment with more possible points is more important to the grade in the category that the student receives.

TIP: If you have some assignments you want to keep track of that you do not want counted in the overall grades, put a zero in the points field.

Date Assigned
Enter the date the project was assigned, in the form of mm/dd/yyyy.

Date Due
Enter the date the project is to be completed, in the form of mm/dd/yyyy.

Notes about Dates:
Since assignment dates are needed for the student summary charts that show the student's performance versus the class's performance over a period of time, the Assignment screen will assign dates if you forget to enter them.

If you do not enter dates, the assigned date defaults to the first day of class and the due date defaults to the last day of class.

If you enter the date assigned and omit the date due, the date due defaults to the date assigned. If you enter the date due and omit the date assigned, the date assigned defaults to the date due.

If you enter an incorrectly formatted date assigned or entered a date that is prior to the start of class, the date defaults to the date of the first day of class. If you enter an incorrectly formatted date due or entered a date that is after the end of class, the date due defaults to the last day of class.

Extra Credit
The Extra Credit symbol ♦ is used in reports and screens to visually indicate which assignments are extra credit.

If you check the Extra Credit box, students that earn points for the assignment will get a boost to their grade. When the grading engine computes grades, the final computation essentially boils down to the number of points a student earns divided by the Total Possible Points. Points earned by students in Extra Credit assignments are not included in the Total Possible Points. Therefore, students that earn points in the Extra Credit assignments get a boost to their grade.

Extra Credit Example
Student X has turned in various assignments and has earned 700 out of 1,000 possible points (70%). Student X then turns in an extra credit assignment and earns 70 out of the 100 possible points in the assignment. The students grade is boosted to 77% because he has now earned 770 out of a possible 1,000 points.

Assignment Description
If descriptions are not shown, you can make the screen show the assignment descriptions and an Edit link for each description by checking the "Descriptions" box and clicking save. Click the "Edit" link for an assignment to pop up a window that lets you enter a description of what the student needs to do in order to successfully complete the assignment.

You can use the toolbar or your own HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) to improve readability. If you are creating your html in an editor and then "cut and pasting" the resulting html into the field, be sure you click the "Source" button before pasting. You should also make sure you do not include all of the html code from a stand alone page because it will not work correctly.

If you use hyperlinks in your HTML code, make sure you have quotes around the URL parameters so MyGradeBook can pop up new windows when they are clicked.

If you want to include graphics from other web servers, please make sure the graphics are coming from a server providing https:// (Secure Socket Layer) access. If you link to pages that are not using SSL, teachers, parents, and students in your group will be shown messages repeatedly telling them that some of the content is unsecured.

Please note that the following are some but not all of the types of activities that are not allowed your in your HTML.
· You cannot include advertisements or promotions for products.
· You cannot link to commercial sites unless it is for educational purposes.
· You cannot perform cross-site scripting.
· You cannot include disparaging remarks in a custom header.
· You cannot include obscene, illegal, or libelous material.

If you decide to use HTML, make sure that you add a space after any "<" symbols that you do not want interpreted as an HTML tag. Please note that <body>, <form>, <head>, <plaintext>, and <html> tags are automatically converted to their textual representations. If they are not converted, these tags can cause problems when you or your students try to view the pages on which they appear.

BUTTONS

Add and Score
The "add and score" button is displayed whenever you have a class and category selected. Clicking the "add and score" button takes you to the Scores by Assignment screen which lets you create and score a single assignment in one screen. The Scores by Assignment screen has its own "add and score" button so you can keep adding and scoring assignments without having to jump back and forth between the Assignments and Scores by Assignment screens.

Add
When you click the Add button, a new page appears that lists 5 empty assignments. The cursor appears in the Assignment Name field of the first empty assignment. Enter the name of the assignment. If you want to make entries in the other fields of this new assignment, simply press the Tab key to get to that assignment. Repeat until you have entered all the information you need for this assignment. If you decide you do not want to keep this new assignment, click Cancel and you will return to the previous screen with no additions applied. If this is the only assignment you want to add, either press the Enter key or click Save on the screen. This will update the file and take you out of editing mode. If you want to add more assignments, do not press Enter or click Save. Instead, click in the next available Assignment Name field. Repeat as needed until you have added all the new assignments.

Delete
Click in the checkbox to the left of the name of the assignment or assignments you want to delete. If you decide you do not want to delete a assignment, or have clicked on one by mistake, simply reclick the check box (or click Cancel). Once satisfied with all you deletion selections, click Delete .

After you click Delete, a confirmation window opens that lists the assignments you selected for deletion. Select either to keep the assignments or delete the assignments.

Copy
If you have multiple classes that use the same assignments, you can save time by checking the boxes next to the assignments you want to copy and clicking the copy button.

After you click the copy button, you see a list of all classes that have not ended more than 45 days ago which contain a category with the same name as the category you are currently using. By default, all of the classes are checked. If you want to copy the assignments to all of the classes, just click the copy button. If there are any classes that should not receive a copy of the assignment, uncheck them before clicking the copy button.

Change Category
Check the boxes next to the assignments that you want to change to a different category and then click the "change category" button. You will see a selection list of the other categories for the current class. Select a new category and again click the "change category" button.

EDITING AN ASSIGNMENT

Select the word in a field you want to change and type in the new value.

You can update as many fields as you want by repeating the process or tabbing between fields and making changes.

Click Save to update your assignments.

DISPLAY OPTIONS

You can modify the display options by checking or unchecking the options you want and clicking the Save button.

Only Display Current Assignments - This option is only shown if your class does not have grading periods. If this option is visible and checked, you are only shown the assignments that are due sometime within the four weeks prior to today's date and four weeks after today's date. Using this option generally displays fewer assignments which makes the screen display faster.
Descriptions - If this option is checked, you are shown and can edit the descriptions for each assignment.
Sort By Order Created - If this option is checked, the assignments will be displayed in the same order in which you added them. If this option is not checked, the assignments are listed in descending date due order.