Brightspace: Creating Assignments

To create an assignment: 

1. Go to your course 

2. Click on "Content" 

3. Go to the module you wish to create the assignment in 

4. Click on "Upload/Create" 

5. Click on "New Assignment" 

6. Type in the name for your assignment in the "Name" box 

7. If you wish for the assignment to be graded, enter the amount of points in the "Grade out of" box 

   1. This will automatically create a column in the Grade Book for this assignment. There is no need to manually create a column for this assignment. 

8. Enter the Due Date for the assignment in the "Due Date" box 

9. Enter your instructions for the assignment in the "Instructions" box 

10. On the right hand panel, click on "Availability Dates & Conditions" 

11. Here you can set up when the assignment will become available and when it will no longer be available 

12. Under "Start Date", enter the Date and Time you would like the assignment to become available. 

    1. Once you enter a start date an option will become available below called "Before Start", the default will be "Visible with access restricted" but there are more options if you click on "Visible with access restricted" 

       1. Visible with access restricted – this means that students will be able to see that the assignment exists but will not be able to access it and see the instructions 

       2. Visible with submission restricted – this means that students will be able to see that the assignment exists and will be able to see the instructions, but cannot submit the assignment 

       3. Hidden – This means that students will not be able to see the assignment until after the start date has passed. 

       4. Add availability dates to Calendar – check this box if you want students to see when the assignment will become available on the Calendar tool in Brightspace (will not affect their Outlook calendar or Google calendar unless they subscribe to it) 

13. Under "End Date", enter the Date and Time you would like the assignment to no longer be available to students. 

    1. Once you enter an end date an option will become available below called "After End", the default will be "Visible with access restricted" but there are more options if you click on "Visible with access restricted" 

       1. Visible with access restricted – this means that students will be able to see that the assignment exists but will not be able to access it and see the instructions 

       2. Visible with submission restricted – this means that students will be able to see that the assignment exists and will be able to see the instructions, but cannot submit the assignment 

       3. Hidden – This means that students will not be able to see the assignment after the end date has passed. 

       4. Add availability dates to Calendar – check this box if you want students to see when the assignment will become unavailable on the Calendar tool in Brightspace (will not affect their Outlook calendar or Google calendar unless they subscribe to it) 

14. Release Conditions are similar to the Adaptive Release rules in Blackboard. This means that the students must completed a condition set by the Instructor before they can access the assignment. These are not required 

    1. If you choose to use Release conditions: 

       1. Click on "Add Release Condition" 

       2. If you are starting from scratch, click on "Create New".  

          1. Select the Conditon Type that you want to use 

          2. Fill out the desired criteria to fulfill the condition 

       3. If the condition already exists because you used it on another assignment, click on "Add Existing" 

          1. Select the existing release condition from the list 

15. Special Access restricts access to the assignment to a subset of users as indicated by the instructor. This is not required. 

    1. If you choose to use Special Access: 

       1. Click on "Manage Special Access" 

       2. Choose whether you want users with special access to submit outside the availability dates or if only those with special access can access the assignment 

          1. Brightspace uses the word "folder" here but they mean whatever piece of content you are working with. 

       3. Click on "Add Users to Special Access" 

       4. Set the special access that you wish to use and add the users that will have special access. 

       5. Click "Save" 

       6. Click "Save and Close" 

16. Click on the "Submission & Completion" section 

17. Under Assignment Type, choose whether it is an individual assignment or group assignment 

18. Under Category, you can organize your assignments into categories. This is not required but if you choose to use these categories, choose the category you want the assignment to be associated with. 

    1. This category is different from categories used in the Grade Book. 

19. Under Submission Type, choose the appropriate type of submission 

    1. File Submission – Students will be uploading a file from their computer or cloud drive into Brightspace for grading 

       1. Files Allowed per Submission – This indicates how many files will be attached to each assignment submission. If expecting more than one file to be submitted, choose Unlimited 

       2. Allowable File Extensions – This indicates what file extensions you want the students to be submitting to ensure you receive files you are expecting. 

    2. Text Submission – Students will be typing their response directly into Brightspace 

    3. On paper submission – Students will be submitting physical paper responses 

       1. Marked as completed – Choose when you want Brightspace to mark this assignment as completed 

          1. Automatically on Due Date – The assignment will receive full credit on the due date of the assignment 

          2. Manually by Learners - Students mark the assignment as completed, Instructor will need to grade manually afterwards. 

          3. Automatically on evaluation - Assignment will be marked as completed after instructor evaluates the assignment 

    4. Observed in Person – Students will be submitting or presenting the assignment in person. 

       1. Marked as completed – Choose when you want Brightspace to mark this assignment as completed 

          1. Automatically on Due Date – The assignment will receive full credit on the due date of the assignment 

          2. Manually by Learners – Students mark the assignment as completed, Instructor will need to grade manually afterwards. 

          3. Automatically on evaluation – Assignment will be marked as completed after instructor evaluates the assignment 

20. Click on the "Evaluation & Feedback" section 

21. If you want to use a Rubric, you can attach one by clicking on "Add Rubric" 

    1. If you are creating a new rubric, select "Create New" 

       1. Enter the Name of your Rubric in the Name field 

       2. Choose whether you want Analytic or Holistic type of Rubric 

       3. Choose type of scoring you would like to use 

       4. Reverse level order switches whether it goes high to low or low to high 

       5. In the left most column add the Criteria you want to use for grading 

          1. Use "+ Add Criterion" at bottom of rubric to add additional Criteria to the rubric 

       6. In the top row, Add the gradation you will use to indicate levels of completion and point value for each 

          1. Use "+" to left or right of top row to add additional levels of evaluation 

       7. Click on "Add Criteria Group" to add additional groups of criterion to the Rubric 

    2. If you are using an already existing rubric, select "Add Existing" 

       1. Select the existing rubric from the list that populates 

22. If you are using Learning Objectives, you can attached those learning objectives to the assignment 

    1. This will require the learning objectives to be created by the Instructor 

23. If you would like to use the annotation tools, check the box for "Make annotation tools available for assessment" 

24. Turnitin Integration – If you would like to attach Turnitin to check for plagiarism, click on "Manage Turnitin" 

    1. Turnitin can only be enabled for File Submission or Text Submission assignments, no other submission type can use Turnitin. 

    2. Check "Enable Similarity Report for this folder (assignment) to check the submission against other submissions in the Turnitin database 

    3. Check "Allow learners to see similiarity scores in their submissioin folder" to allow students to see how Turnitin evaluated their paper. 

    4. Choose whether you want Turnitin to check all submissions or specified submissions 

    5. Check "Enable Online Grading for this folder" if you would like to use Turnitin's tools for grading as opposed to Brightspace's tools 

    6. Choose whether you want to automatically sync grades or manually sync grades back to Brightspace 

    7. Click on More Options 

    8. Under "Submit Papers to" choose whether you want Turnitin to save the papers in their database for future evaluations or not. 

    9. Check "Enable Grammar Checking using ETS e-rater technology" if you would like to use that 

    10. Choose whether students can resubmit to the assignment through Turnitin 

    11. Choose if you would like to exclude bibliographies, quotes, or small sources 

    12. Choose what sources you would like to compare against 

    13. If you are using a template for the assignment, you can upload the template so that Turnitin doesn't count it towards the similarity score. 

    14. Click Submit 

    15. Click Save 

    16. Click Save and Close