Assignments

Beginning September 1, 2021, you will be able to select Ouriginal in Quercus assignments if you decide to use plagiarism software for that assignment.

Turnitin is not be available as of October 15, 2021, and you will not have access to any Turnitin reports as of that date.

Please ensure that you are using the updated plagiarism detection tool wording in your syllabus outlined in 2. Conditions of Use on the webpage - https://teaching.utoronto.ca/ed-tech/teaching-technology/pdt/#pdt1. 

Additional information is available in the University of Toronto ACT memo.

For more information regarding academic integrity, please visit the UTM Academic Integrity Website.


Overview

The Assignment tool allows students to submit written assignments directly within Quercus. This gives instructors (or anyone with grading privileges) the option of assigning grades and providing feedback (e.g., as a message attached to the grade) within Quercus. Assignments can be added to any module, and you can create as many of them as you need.

Once your students have submitted their assignments, you will be able to view and grade their work using the SpeedGrader tool that is accessed via the Gradebook. You may also want to provide a link for your students to the instructions for students on how to submit and verify assignments in Quercus.

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Online Assignments

If you have questions about online assignments that will meet student learning outcomes and objectives please contact Ann Gagné, Educational Developer, Robert Gillespie Academic Skills Centre - ann.gagne@utoronto.ca or Dianne Ashbourne, Educational Developer, Robert Gillespie Academic Skills Centre - di.ashbourne@utoronto.ca.

The Assignment tool allows students to submit written assignments directly within Quercus. This gives instructors (or anyone with grading privileges) the option of assigning grades and providing feedback (e.g., as a message attached to the grade) within Quercus. Assignments can be added to any module, and you can create as many of them as you need.

Once your students have submitted their assignments, you will be able to view and grade their work using the SpeedGrader tool that is accessed via the Gradebook. You may also want to provide a link for your students to the instructions for students on how to submit and verify assignments in Quercus.

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Create a Quercus Assignment

1. Select Assignments from the Course Navigation Menu.

Course menu - Assignments

2. Click on the + Assignment button.

Add Assignment button

3. On the next page, enter an Assignment Name.

4. In the Rich Content Editor field, enter instructions for how students must complete or submit their assignments. You can also link to or upload an assignment file and/or rubric by using the Content Selector in the Sidebar.

Create an Assignment - Steps 3 and 4

5. Enter Points for the assignment. Note: "Points" represents the scale used to mark the assignment (e.g. /5 or /100), and not the relative weight of the assignment within the course. For assignment weighting, please see the Assignment Groups and Weighted Grades page.

6. Select the Assignment Group from the drop-down menu. The percentage weight within the total of the course can be set by first creating Assignment Groups and assigning Assignment Group Weights.

7. In the Display Grade as drop-down menu, select the method (Percentage, Complete/Incomplete, Points, Letter Grade, GPA Scale, or Not Graded) you want to use for grading.

8. Check the "Do not count this assignment towards final grade" box if you do not want this assignment to be used in the calculation of the students' final grades.

Assignment settings steps 5, 6, 7, 8

9. Select the Submission Type that you want to accept from the drop-down menu:

  • Online (default):  allows you to collect student submissions in the form of a webcam photo, files, or O365 submissions.

    Notes:
    • If you need to restrict the file type, then please consider and communicate to your students all possible file types you would need for example .doc, .docx, .xls, .xlsx, etc.
    • The Use Webcam option will not be available if the file upload type is restricted
    • If students are required to use their webcam for a file upload assignment, they will be prompted by their browser to give permission to use their camera
    • Students can upload media files up to 500MB and other files up to 5 GB
    • Student submissions will not count against the course storage quota
    • Instructors can view uploaded student submissions, including webcam photos in the SpeedGrader

          Instructions for students submitting an online assignment can be found at the link below.
          https://library.utm.utoronto.ca/faculty/canvas/assignments#online

  • No Submission: creates a column in the Gradebook that allows you to give students a grade for an activity with no submission (e.g., participation marks).
     
  • On Paper: creates a column in the Gradebook that allows you to give students a grade for an assessment that is submitted during class.
     
  • External Tool: choose this option when you would like students to submit their assignments using an integrated tool (e.g. peerScholar).
     

Assignment settings Step 9


Notes:

  • Students can only submit one submission type per assignment submission.
  • Quercus will retain the most recent Assignment settings
  • You may want to consider asking students to stick to certain fonts if submitting Word format file submissions in Quercus, as indicated in the following link: Files and fonts that can be viewed in SpeedGrader.

    When students submit Word format file submissions in Quercus that contain fonts not listed in the link above, or if you would like them to add layered text or images, the SpeedGrader DocViewer will resize the text, causing it to not be visible.

    If you would like students to submit assignments using other fonts than indicated in the link above, or if you are asking them to add layered text or images, then it is recommended that you ask students to create and submit a PDF file for their assignment submission.
     

10. Please contact us if you are interested in setting up Group Assignments, Peer Review Assignments, or Moderated Grading.

Assignment settings - Step 10

11. In the Assign to section, you can assign the assignment to an individual student or course section.
Note: If you have a student who has been granted an accommodation from UTM Accessibility Services, please see the Accommodations in Quercus instructions.

12. Enter a Due Date. Submissions can be accepted after this date, but they will be tagged as "Late" in the Gradebook.
Note: Currently, when you download the Gradebook it does not indicate which submissions are late. This information is only available in the Gradebook and SpeedGrader.

13. Enter an Available from and Until date.  
Please note: Until = the date and time when students can no longer submit an assignment.

14. Check the "Notify users that this content has changed" check box if you want to notify users when you have made changes to the assignment.

15. Save (create a draft of your assignment so you can publish it later) or Save & Publish the Assignment to make it available to students.

Assigment settings steps 11, 12, 13, 14, 15

Optional: After you Save or Save & Publish the assignment, you can add a Quercus Rubric.

Click on the link below for more information on creating assignments in Quercus.

Quercus Support Resources - Assignments
https://q.utoronto.ca/courses/46670/pages/assessments?module_item_id=107166#assignments

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Create a Journal Assignment

Currently, Quercus does not have a Journal tool available, but you can use a graded individual group discussion to create a journal assignment that allows students to submit posts that will only be seen by the instructor, and that the instructor can provide feedback for.

To do this, you would begin by creating individual groups by following the instructions below.

Part 1: Create individual student groups

Part 2: Create a graded group discussion

Below are instructions for creating a graded group discussion:

1. Go to Discussions in the course menu.

2. Click on the + Discussion button.

Add Discussion
 

3. Fill out the name of the journal assignment in the "Topic Title" field and the instructions for the assignment in the rich content editor box.

4. Verify the other discussion ""Options", ensuring that you check the box next to "Graded".

5. Next to "Group Discussion", check the "This is a Group Discussion" box, and choose the "Group" Set that you created earlier from from the dropdown menu.

6. Enter the assignment settings, including the "Points Possible".

7. Enter the availability dates for the graded group discussion, if applicable.

Discussion options
 

8. Click the Save button to continue editing at a later time or the Save & Publish button to make the discussion visible to students and to create a grade column in the Gradebook.

Save button
 

The students will now be able to access this graded group discussion by either selecting Discussions from their course menu, or from their Group Homepage menu.

Grading Journal Assignments using individual graded groups discussions

Instructors can access the journal assignments/graded discussions and provide replies to student posts by either going to the graded discussion within each student's Group Homepage, or clicking on Discussions or Assignments from the course menu.
Instructors can view journal entries, provide comments and grades. They can access the SpeedGrader for the assignment by selecting Discussions or Assignments from the course menu, selecting the journal assignment/graded discussion and then clicking on the 3 dots (next to the "Edit" button) and then the SpeedGrader link. They can also access the posts by going to Grades from the course menu and hovering their mouse next to the grade column header for the journal assignment/graded discussion and clicking on the arrow, and then on the SpeedGrader link.

Note: Instructors can only assign a mark to the entire journal assignment/graded discussion, and not each individual discussion post.

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Create an Audio/Video Assignment

A Quercus assignment can be created to accept an audio or video file.

Students can either submit an audio or video file from their device, create an audio or video file when submitting the assignment using their webcam and microphone or submit a Website URL of a link to a video that is streamed on a platform such as MyMedia.

More detailed information on how to create an audio / video assignment can be found at the link below.
https://utm.library.utoronto.ca/faculty/canvas/assignments/audio-video
 

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Modules with Requirements and Prerequisites

You can control how students access content by creating modules with requirements and prerequisites. This can be done for example by setting

  • the first module to have a “Requirement” to complete a second module or
  • the second module to have a “Prerequisite” to complete the first module.

Requirements can be used to ask students to

  • View specific items
  • Mark an item as done
  • Post a reply in a Discussion Board or contribute to a Page
  • Submit an assignment, a graded discussion post, or complete a quiz Note:  Submissions must be made by students, the instructor cannot manually submit a grade for students.
  • Meet a minimum score (for any graded item)

More information on Requirements is provided at the link below:
https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-13134-415261967

 

Prerequisites can be used to require students to complete modules in a particular order.  For example, it is possible to lock a module until a student completes a different module. However, unless completion requirements are set for prior modules, students will still be able to access upcoming modules.

When specifying a prerequisite module

1. Go to Modules in your course menu
2. Find the module, click on the three dots and select Edit
3. Click the Add Prerequisite link
4. In the Prerequisites drop-down menu, select the module that must be completed Note: More than one prerequisite can be added
5. Click on the Update Module button. When changing prerequisites that have been already fulfilled by students, a box will appear asking if these students can proceed (if so, click the Continue button) or if the modules should be re-locked, requiring students to complete the prerequisites again (click the Re-Lock Modules button).

Note: The prerequisite(s) that are set will be indicated in the module header.

More information on Prerequisites is provided at the link below:
https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-13092-415241433

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Assignment Submission Reports

If you require further information about a student's submission, you can use technology-based resources, such as

For more information regarding academic integrity, please visit the UTM Academic Integrity Website.

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Additional Resources

Canvas Instructor Guide - Assignments
https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Instructor-Guide/tkb-p/Instructor#Assignments

 

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