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6.23. Assignments Creation
Assignment Creation
Brightspace's assignment tool experience has a consistent navigation experience that has been applied to almost all toolsets from Assignments to Rubrics. The classic tabbed view has been transformed into a fully immersive page layout that has been simplified and organized around typical workflows to streamline work.
Assignment Workflow
In the assignment workflow, the page view becomes the workflow hub of the most common features. Most features are accessible within 1 to 2 clicks.
- The primary panel on the left contains frequently used fields that are always displayed. These fields are most relevant to learners and are the core details that include: assignment name, score, due date, instructions, and any attachments or links.
- The panel on the right organizes additional, more advanced options. When these options are collapsed, the summary text provides details about which settings are active. As a result, you can see everything at a glance with little to no scrolling, and without having to navigate through any tabs.
Getting Started
Select Assignment from the Navbar. The Assignment Submission Folders list will open. Choose New Assignment and enter an appropriate name in the Properties tab. Include a description of the assignment and instructions for the student to follow.
Availability Dates & Conditions
Expanding Availability Dates & Conditions exposes calendar entries for Start and End Date. Adding Release Conditions allows you to Create New or to Add Existing if there are previously created conditions. After choosing the Condition Type. Choose the Condition Details that match the need.
(Locking Options were replaced by Availability options.)
You can learn more from the Brightsapce Community (D2L) regarding the following:
- Availability Start Date Properties
- Availability End Date Properties
- Visibility and Access
Dates on the Calendar
It is no longer necessary to explicitly choose "Display in Calendar" while setting updates for assignments. An assignment date will populate automatically, but there is a priority.
- If the Due Date, Start Date, and End Date are used together. The Due Date will be the date added to the calendar.
- If the Due Date is not used, but the Start Date and the End Date are used together. The Start Date will be added to the calendar.
- If the End Date is used by itself, it will be added to the calendar. The use of this date type also limits a student's opportunity to review and should only be used when necessary.
It is recommended to use the Due Date as a minimum choice.
Special Access
Manage Special Access is an important feature to deal with emergencies and to meet accessibility needs. The option to Allow only users with special access is strongly discouraged.
Submission & Completion
There are several choices to make here starting with Individual or Group Assignment. Once selected, choose the category or create a new category. Submission Type includes File, Text, On paper to Observed in Person submission options. Choose the Files Allowed Per Submission and how Submissions are handled. Students may make one to multiple submissions and you may choose to only keep the last one. Enter an email address for Notifications.
Restricting File Extensions for Submissions
Instructors can now specify the extensions of files that learners can upload as assignment submissions. When an instructor is creating a file submission assignment. In this drop-down list, instructors can choose the restrictions they want.
Additionally, Brightspace blocks some files for security reasons. Additional information can be reviewed in the Brightspace Community (D2L). Files can also be blocked for invalid characters in the file name. Now an explanation is provided to clarify why files cannot be uploaded.
You can customize what is acceptable for your assignment that is included in the safe list of files.
Choose Custom File Extensions and enter file extensions that are allowed for file submissions. When this restriction is set, learners are presented with a list of acceptable file extensions for their assignments. When a learner attempts to upload a file submission for an assignment of a file extension type that the instructor has restricted, an error message appears.
For more information, see File types supported by Annotations (Brightspace Community).
Align Assignments to Categories
The new assignment creation experience supports the alignment of assignments to categories. Instructors can add new or existing assignment categories when creating or editing a new assignment.
Evaluation & Feedback
Additional Resources
To learn more visit the full tutorials in Knowledge Books. You may also watch a short video from D2L.