When Susie and I had the faculty respond to a short survey, there was a lot of interest from you on learning more about the different features of two particular Moodle activities: Assignments and Quizzes. These are probably two of the most commonly used Moodle activities (Forums are also very common) at Morningside and there is probably more to them that you are aware.
Even I have learned a few new strategies for using these tools recently and this year one of my goals is to share these with all of you. This Fall I focus on Moodle Assignments.
Basics:
The Moodle Assignment is basically the drop-box feature in our learning management system (LMS). Instructors provide instructions and materials for students to complete and then students submit their work electronically through Moodle. Instructors then provide feedback and grade the assignments, turning them back electronically through Moodle. Here is a document outlining this basic process.
Assignment Options:
There are many different options available that you’ve likely noticed if you have ever included one of these in your course. For example, there are different feedback types, different grading mechanisms, you can use something called ‘groups,’ you can enable multiple attempts, you can use a ‘quickgrade’ or you can grade students one screen at a time. I’ll discuss using some of these different features in future blog posts, however, In this installment I want to give you one tip that might help the grading process go just a tad bit faster – the Download All Submissions feature.
Using Download All Submissions:
After your students have all uploaded their assignments to Moodle there are really two ways to download the files onto your computer so that you can provide feedback on their assignments. 1) you can click on each individual student file and download them individually or 2) you can download all files as a batch. There are a few benefits to using process #2: First, there is WAY fewer clicks and less waiting for downloads and second, using the download all submissions option automatically names the files with the students names. So you don’t need to depend on students properly naming their files for you to identify them on your computer! Here is a short 30 sec video demonstrating how to do this.
The one drawback that I can think of is this. You really need to wait until after the due date to use this bulk download process in the most efficient manner, so if you are someone who likes to grade as assignments come in, this process might not be the best to use. This bulk download does not recognize if you have downloaded the same file previously. It’s still possible to use it, there is just more file management that needs to occur on the instructor’s end (i.e. moving new files into your assignment files and ignoring student files that you have already saved).
This process can help speed up grading by basically reducing the time it takes to download each individual student’s file to your computer. Additionally, using this process also makes it possible to do a type of bulk upload (to be discussed in a future blog post! – This is a feature I just learned about myself).