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Create Moodle Assignment guide

Moodle Assignment enables students to submit their coursework and allows the Lecturer to assess, grade and provide feedback.

Create Group Assignment with Similarity Report

This page provides an overview of how to create a Moodle Assignment where students submit in groups and where a Similarity Report is generated. When using group assignments you need to set up and apply groupings in addition to groups. This is because group submissions can disappear if groups are used and a student is in one group and is subsequently added to another group.

Settings not enabled

  • Anonymous submissions are not enabled.

Quickstart

If you are familiar with the assignment set up, you will only need to review:  

  • Feedback types and Submission settings (Group)
  • Group assignment settings.
  • Turnitin plagiarism plugin settings

Confidential submissions

Student submissions may contain confidential material. These could include:

  • Commercially sensitive material
  • Contact details such as telephone numbers or addresses
  • Personal details that could identify an anonymous participant

If submissions contain confidential material, they must not be stored on Turnitin's repository as they would then be included in future similarity searches. To exclude confidential submission from future searches, under the setting Store Student Papers select No Repository.

For confidential submissions, once the assessment process is completed and you have downloaded and securely saved a copy of the confidential submission, feedback and grade -  you can remove the paper from the Turnitin submission inbox. Please note that as the paper was not saved in the Repository it is not recoverable after it is removed.

 

Screencast: Create group assignment with Similarity Report

This screencast demonstrates how to create a group assignment with Similarity Report in Moodle 3.9. 

Create Moodle Assignment activity

  1. Turn Edit Mode on. 
  2. Open the relevant section. Select Add an activity or resource. Select Assignment from the Activities tab.
  3. In the General settings, write a meaningful Assignment name. This is the name that will be displayed on the module page and also in the gradebook.
  4. In Description, provide clear instructions to your students about the assignment. Consider adding a link to the student educational technology guidance.
  5. Check Display Description on module page to display the description beneath the assignment activity on the module page. If unchecked, the Description will only display when a student opens the assignment.
  6. Do not use Activity Instructions, as these will only display to students after they have opened the assignment (usually at the point of submission). This setting should only be used for timed Moodle assignments. 
  7. If required, in Additional files, upload any files you would like to attach to this assignment (e.g. assignment cover sheet or example submissions). Download links for the files will be displayed on the assignment page under the Description.

Availability

  1. In the Availability section, set the Allow submissions from date to indicate from when students will be able to submit their coursework. This is enabled by default. 
  2. Set the Due date to match the assignment deadline. This date displays on the module page it is added to the Moodle Calendar and the students' Timeline block.
  3. Check the box next to Enable to set a Cut-off date. This is the final date and time when coursework can be submitted. Any submissions added after the Due date will be marked as late. Once the Cut-off date has passed, the submit button will not display on the assignment.
  4. Disable or update the Remind me to grade by date. This appears in Timeline and Upcoming events block for staff enrolled on a module to remind them of grading deadlines.
  5. Do not use Time Limit. This feature is for setting timed assignments.

Submission types

  1. In Submission types, select the box to indicate if the submission will be online text or whether students will upload one or more files. 
  2. If Online text submissions are enabled, students type rich text directly into an editor field for their submission. Markers can comment on, and edit students' text directly. Tick the Enable box to set a word limit. Set the maximum number of words that each student will be allowed to submit.
  3. Set the Maximum number of uploaded files as required by the assignment. Advise students how many files they should submit in the assignment instructions.
    • Note: This is also the maximum number of feedback files that you can attach to each individual student when providing feedback. For example, if you want a student to submit one file but want to upload two feedback files then select three files.
  4. The maximum submission size defaults to the maximum upload limit for Moodle of 400MB. This default can be decreased if required. Please note: If you have Turnitin enabled on Moodle assignments that Turnitin's upload limit is 100MB.
  5. Accepted file types
    • The lecturer can specify the types of file the students may upload to the assignment. The file types may be added with their file extension, such as .png and mp3, or else as image/png and audio/mp3.
    • Accepted file types can be restricted by entering a semicolon-separated list of mimetypes, for example: 'video/mp4; audio/mp3; image/png; image/jpeg'. You may also limit to extensions by including the dot, for example '.png; .jpg'.
    • If the file types have been restricted, then when students attempt to submit the assignment, they will see a message telling them which files are accepted.
    • Leaving the field blank will allow all file types.

Accepted file types and names

If an assignment is set to allow any file type, Turnitin will accept a limited number of file types that are:

  • smaller than 100MB; even if the Moodle assignment is set up to accept files of 400MB
  • have a minimum of 20 words; and
  • fewer than 800 pages.

However, Feedback Studio cannot generate a Similarity Report for all file types so check Turnitin's accepted file types.

Feedback types and Submission settings (Group)

Feedback types controls how you can provide feedback. In most cases, you will not need to change these settings unless you have an online text submission. Set Comment inline to Yes for online text submissions.

  1. Set Require students to click the submit button to Yes if you want the option to Require all group members to submit from the Group assignment settings.
  2. The setting Require that students accept the submission statement is enabled by default on assignments. Do not change this setting as it is important that students understand what is required of them in regards to academic integrity prior to submitting an assignment.

Group assignment submission settings

  1. Set the Students submit in groups option to Yes to create a group assignment.
  2. Set Require group to make submission to Yes.
    • When a student who is not in a group attempts to submit Moodle will display a message You're not a member of any group; please contact your lecturer. The student will not be able to submit the assignment.
  3. Make your selection for Require all group members submit
    • If Yes is selected, then the assignment will not be classed as submitted until all members of the group have clicked the Submit assignment button.
    • This setting becomes selectable if you set Require students to click the submit button to Yes under the Submission settings.
  4. Select a Grouping in the Grouping for student groups drop-down menu.

Turnitin plagiarism plugin settings

  1. From the the Enable Turnitin setting select Yes.
  2. To allow students to view their Similarity Report, change the Display Similarity Reports to Students to Yes.
  3. Change Allow submission of any file type? to Yes if students are required to submit a variety of file types. Not all file types will generate a Similarity Report. 
  4. Select Where to Store Student Papers. 
    • The default option is Standard Repository which is suitable for most submissions. 
    • No Repository can be chosen for formative submissions or for a confidential projects/commercially sensitive dissertations which should not be included in future similarity searches. For confidential submissions, once the assessment process is completed and you have downloaded and saved a copy of the confidential submission, you can log a ticket on IT Self Service Portal to request that the assignment is removed from Turnitin. Please quote the Turnitin ID number in your request.
  5. Select the Report Generation Speed. This setting controls how quickly and how often Similarity Reports are generated.
    • Generate reports immediately (students can resubmit until the due date, After 3 submission, reports generate after 24 hours). Similarity Reports for the initial submission by each student are generated immediately. Students may resubmit as often as they wish until the Due date. Similarity Reports for the third or subsequent submission will require 24 hours before processing. Only the latest submission is available to the lecturer or student. Previous versions are removed. Student submissions will be compared against their peers submissions within the assignment on the Due date, which may then result in a change in the similarity index.
    • Generate reports on due date (students can resubmit until due date): Similarity Reports will not be generated for any submission until the Due date of the assignment. Students can resubmit as needed until the Due date and time but no Similarity Reports are generated. 
    • Generate reports immediately (students cannot resubmit): This option is not recommended as students are unable to resubmit and submissions are not checked against each other. Submissions must be deleted by the lecturer/course officer to enable resubmission. Similarity Reports for all submissions will be generated immediately. Students cannot resubmit papers.
  6. The remainder of the options enable you to exclude certain searches from a Similarity Report and we do not recommend that any of these options are changed. These Similarity Report should be filtered in the Feedback Studio during the marking process instead.
  7. You cannot use Feedback Studio for providing feedback on a group assignment so you can skip the Rubric option.

 

Related guidance

Notifications

In most cases, you will not need to change the Notifications settings.Screenshot of Notification settings on a Moodle assignment.

  • If you want all Lecturers and Programme Administrators on a module to be notified via email of late submissions change Notify graders about late submissions to Yes.
  • The Default setting for Notify students is Yes. Do not change this setting as it controls the generation of an email to students on release of grades and feedback.

Grades

  1. In the Grade settings, select the type of grade and the grading method. The most common settings are point and simple direct grading.
    • The other grading methods are Rubrics and Marking records.
  2. Anonymous submissions aren't possible with groups as the lecturer can see the membership of each groups.
  3. Use Marking workflow is an optional workflow that requires grades to go through a series of stages before they're released to students. 
  4. You can choose to Hide grader identity from students.
    • This option might be required if course officers are uploading feedback received from lecturers.

Common module settings & Save

  1. From the Common module settings, you can set Availability to Show or Hide on course page.
  2. You do not need to change the Group mode.
  3. Select Save and return to module.

Restrict access and Activity completion settings

You can use the Restrict access settings to control the availability of content and activities based on one or more conditions, including date and group. 

Activity completion allows you to set completion criteria for a specific activity or resource.

Activities or resources with a completion criteria display a circle next to them in the Module index. The circle turns green (and is filled in) when the student meet the criteria. On the main module page, a tick and the word "done" appears against the item when the student meets the criteria. This helps students manage their progress on a module and staff can easily review student engagement and progress against key activities.

You can combine Restrict access and Activity completion to provide structured pathways through your module.

Apply the settings

  1. Open the activity or resource.
  2. Select Settings from the contextual navigation menu above the module name. This opens the activity settings.
  3. Change the settings required.
  4. Select Save and return to module to save any changes made.

Related guidance

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