Set up an Assignment in Moodle

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Setting up a submission for a written assignment

To set up an online submission area on a Moodle page:

  • Navigate to your Moodle page and enable Edit mode  Illustrative image
  • Click on add an activity or resource at the end of the section you want it to appear in  Illustrative image
  • From the activity list, select Assignment  Illustrative image
  • Give the assignment a name and add a Description and/or Activity instructions if needed. A description can be made to be visible on the Moodle page, whilst activity instructions will appear for the student in their submission screen  Illustrative image  
  • Under Availability, add the submission's due date and due time  Illustrative image
  • Optional - Under submission type, file submission is selected by default. Also by default, the maximum number of files allowed for submission is set to 20. Change this if you want to limit the number of files each student can submit 
  • Optional - Under accepted file types, the default assumes you will want to use Turnitin. This restricts students to submitting particular file types e.g. PDF*, Word, PowerPoint. 
    • If you want students to upload a specific file type, or you want to leave it open, select ‘choose’ then add different file types (or select ‘all file types’). Turnitin will ignore anything it can't read, but the file will still be available to you for downloading  Illustrative image
    • If you want to complete feedback through annotation on Microsoft Word, you may want to unselect everything except Microsoft Word (.doc, .docx). This will force students to submit in your required file type  Illustrative image
    • When you have made your selections, scroll to the bottom of the 'Accepted file types' window and click Save Changes 
  • Optional - Under group submission types, there is an option for group work (these are covered in the how to set up a group submission guide
  • Optional - Under the Turnitin plagiarism plugin section, Turnitin is on by default. In certain situations you can turn it off through the ‘Enable Turnitin’ option e.g. if students need to submit something other than essay files such as consent forms etc. 
  • Once you have made your selections on the ‘student tasks’ page, click Save and return to course 

Back on your Moodle page you will see the submission link with this icon.

*Please note that a PDF generated by scanning a document cannot be read by Turnitin.  For a PDF to be readable by Turnitin then it must be saved as a PDF through Word or the programme being used.  Scanned PDFs should only be used when it is for handwritten work or for anything not in a digital format (such as developed photographs or scrapbooks)


Setting up a video submission 

If you are asking your students to record and submit a video submission, please follow this guide: Setting up an assignment for video submissions

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