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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.

About In person Moodle Assignment and settings for exams

This guide provides an overview of settings that are useful to set or avoid when using a Moodle Assignment activity for an in person summative exam. The Moodle Assignment activity is a good submission type when you require students to type long form answers and require a similarity report to be produced.

In Moodle 4, you can set a time limit. Timed assignments have a fixed assessment window, with the indicative length being timed from the point at which the assignment is started. If a student submits the assignment before the due date but exceeds the time limit set, you can only review this when you select the Grade button to provide grades and feedback to students.  

If you need further help or information on using Moodle Assignments for exams, please contact LEaD Digital Education team (via IT Self Service Portal)  

Timed assignment as alternative to a paper-based exam

A timed Moodle assignment can be used if a student needs to take a paper-based exam on a computer.

Settings to note:  

  • Description The assignment description is visible before the student starts the timed assignment 
  • Activity instructions The activity instructions, including any attached files such as exam papers, are only available when students have clicked into the assignment to begin. 
  • Availability and Time limit Ensure that the assignment is available long enough to accommodate any additional time (see below). Ensure that the time limit has enough time is built in for students to read your instructions as well as to complete the assignment. 
  • Additional time Individual overrides can be granted for different students within the same assignment. 
  • Submission types You can require the student to upload a file or to type directly into Moodle.  
  • Restrict access To restrict access to this submission point, create a hidden group of students and restrict access to this group. Moodle automatically hides any activity restricted to a hidden group, so those students not in the group will be unable to view it. 
  • Student submits prior to due date and after time limit for timed assignment Timed assignments have a fixed assessment window, with the indicative length being timed from the point at which the assignment is started. If a student submits the assignment prior to the due date, but exceeds the time limit set, you will only be able to review this when you select the Grade button to provide grades and feedback to students 

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