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Moodle Assignment feedback guide

Explore the different options for grading Moodle assignments.

About upload offline feedback files individually

Uploading feedback files individually is an option that should only be used if you are marking a small group of students. You will also need more sustained internet access as you will need to individually upload feedback files.

Hide grades and feedback for an assignment

Grader Report menu opened and Gradebook setup highlightedYou must hide the individual assignment grade item while you are marking to ensure that marks and feedback are released at the same time to all students. To do this:

  1. Select Grades in the contextual navigation menu above the module name. The Grader report page opens
  2. Open the drop-down menu on the left of the page and choose Gradebook setup.
  1. Select the Edit link on the same row as the name of the grade item you are marking.
  2. Select Hide.

Edit settings opened for Test assignment and Hide highlighted

Access Submissions page

  1. Open the assignment from the module page. This opens the Grading summary page.
  2. If you are responsible for marking a specific group of students, select the relevant group from the groups drop-down menu. This will ensure that you are marking the relevant work.

  3. Select the View all submissions button to view the Submissions page.
  4. If you cannot see all the submissions you expect, check to see whether a filter has been applied. Filters can follow you from one module to another, and if another user has added a filter, it may still be in place. Remove the filters to see all submissions.
  • Alphabetic filter. Select All for both the First Name and Surname to clear

The first name surname filter

  • Options. Open the Filter drop-down menu, select No filter to clear any existing filter.

Bulk download assignment submissions

  1. Under the Options settings at the bottom of the Submissions page:
    • Check that Assignments per page is set to All.
    • Tick or untick the Download submissions in folders checkbox. By default, Moodle will create a separate folder for each student submission. If you want all student files to be downloaded into a single folder then you will need to remove the tick. 

  1. Scroll up to the top of the Submissions page. Select the Download all submissions button on the top right of the page.
    • If you only want to download submissions for certain students.
      • Check the box to the left of relevant students.
      • Scroll to the With selected...drop-down menu (above the Options settings) and choose Download selected submissions.
  2. A zip containing all of the student submissions will download to your computer. Each file is called "[Moodle identifier] assignsubmission_file_[file name]".
  3. Save the zip file to your university device or OneDrive.

Unzip folder of submissions and review

  1. Unzip the submissions and save them to your computer.
  2. You can now read the student submissions offline.
  3. You can use word track changes to add feedback comments for the student. Alternatively you can add feedback into the Coursework Coversheet and save the file when completed. This is the file that you will upload as feedback to the student.

Access student submission and grade

  1. After the assignment deadline, select the Grade button for the student you want to Grade.
  2. The grading page for the student will open.
  3. Confirm that the assignment grades and feedback are hidden prior to beginning marking.
    • The grading page should display a message: This grade and feedback (if present) is hidden in the Grade Report and is not available to the student. 
    • It this message does not display, go the Grader Report and hide the assignment grade item.

Upload feedback file and add general comments

You can use the Feedback comments input field to provide general feedback and upload an external feedback file. 

  1. Type any overall feedback for the student's submission into the Feedback comments input field.
  2. To upload an external feedback file select the file icon under Feedback files and select your file to upload, or drag and drop your feedback into the feedback area.
  3. Select Save and show next to move onto the next student to upload feedback and add grade in Moodle.
  4. Do not uncheck the Notify students box. Your feedback and grade is hidden as you selected to hide the Grade item at the start of this process.

Audio and video feedback

You can also provide up to 2 minutes of multimedia feedback by selecting the microphone icon or the camera icon from the text editor toolbar on the Feedback comments field. These files do not produce captions so you will need to provide written feedback for students to ensure that the feedback is accessible to all students. Students are not able to download multimedia feedback provided via the text editor in the Feedback comments input field.

Tips to prepare audio feedback

  • Focus on the quality of the feedback as opposed to the quality of the recording. Don’t feel like you have to correct small speaking errors by re-recording. You can correct these as you would do in conversation. Do avoid poor quality audio as this can deter from the quality of your feedback.
  • Structure your feedback. Prepare a draft of the key points you would live to cover before you record.
  • Try to stay positive. Even when providing developmental feedback try to end on a positive note.
  • Speak clearly.
  • Make explicit how the feedback can contribute to the student's development.

Navigate between student submissions

There are two ways to navigate between student assignments submissions within the grading page of the assignment.

  1. You can use the Save and show next to move button at the end of the grading screen to save your feedback and move onto to the next student submission.
  2. You can use the change user menu at the top-right of the grading page to move to the previous and next student or open the menu to select and navigate to the assignment and grading page for a specific student.

    Change user menu opened displaying all students

Release grades and feedback for assignment

  1. Select Grades in the contextual navigation menu above the.
  2. Select the Grader Report drop-down menu and choose Gradebook setup.
  3. Select the Edit link on the same row as the name of the grade item you are marking.
  4. Select Show.

This makes the grades and feedback visible and generates an email to students to alert them to their released grade and feedback.

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