How to create an Assignment

Lecturers can use the Assignments tool to create and edit assignments. Students can also use the Assignments tool to upload and submit assignments directly in the Brightspace Learning Environment, eliminating the need to email their work to lecturers. On paper submissions, and observed in person assignments are also available and do not require file submissions to be made in Brightspace.

This manual will show how to:

Once an Assignment has submissions, it is no longer possible to change the assignment type (individual or group). In this case, a notification will be present on the top of the Edit Assignment Homepage.

Creating an Assignment

Navigate to your course, in the green navigation bar,

1. Click on Assessment, a drop-down menu will appear
2. Then click on Assignments

Click Assessment, then Assignment

On the Assignments homepage, under the Assignments heading,

3. Click on the blue button New Assignment

Assignments homepage - create New assignment

Assignment homepage Settings

This will open the New Assignment settings window. On the left side, you will see the most common settings used in Assignments. On the right, you will see drop-down menus that will allow you to change more settings (links to Availability Dates & Conditions; Submission & Completion; Evaluation & Feedback).

Assignment homepage
1. Name

Give the assignment a clear name. Using keywords such as Assignment 1, Submit, or Group work in the assignment's name can help identify the activity for the students once you add the assignment to the (sub)module in your Content.

Also, this name will be displayed on the Assignments homepage.

This field is obligatory.

To avoid confusion, clearly indicate in the title that the Assignment is a Group Assignment 

2. Grade Out Of

Under Grade Out Of the maximum points for the assignment that can be assigned,

1. Click on the Ungraded box, new options will appear

Underneath Score out of, click on Ungraded box
  1. Set the score points
  2. Click on In Gradesbook, a drop-down menu will appear
More options under Score Out Of

If a value is entered, the denominator value for a user's submission score must be a number between 0.01 and 9999999999.

For further information, please visit:  How to create a Grade Item

2.1. In Grades

There are three grading options that can be selected

Choose the Grade Type
1. Edit or Link to Existing

When selecting the option Edit or Link to Existing, a pop-up window will appear

Only one Assignment can be linked to a grade item; use Grade Item Categories for multiple Grade Items with a similar assignment type (for example Lab reports)

The Create and link to a new grade item option is not recommended when a Selectbox grade item Type is needed for Fail/Pass grades

Edit or Link to Existing
  1. Create and link to a new grade item - to create and link a new grade item
  2. Link to an existing grade item - to link an existing grade item to the assignment
2. Not in Gradebook

This option allows having Grade Out of maximum points without having a grading item linked to the assignment and will not be recorded in the Grades tool

If the Assignment was linked to a grade item, this option will remove the linkage

3. Reset to Ungraded

This option does not allow to provide a grade nor grade item for the assignment. This will revert to the default Ungraded option

3. Due Date

Under the heading Due date,

1. Click on the box 

Due date box

A monthly calendar will appear,

2. Select a date 

OR 

Click on Set to Today

By default, students can still submit after the due date, but the submissions are marked as late. If submissions should no longer be possible, see End Date under Availability Dates & Conditions

Select a due date
4. Instructions

Use this space to describe the Assignment and to give instructions for the students

The instructions will also appear when adding the Assignment to Content

For more information, please visit: the Editor

Instructions - Editor
5. Attachments

It is possible to add video or audio recordings, links or documents or links to external sources to support the assignment

Add attachments
  1. File Upload - to Upload a File from your computer
  2. Attach Link to Existing Activity - to attach a link to an existing activity via a Brightspace quicklink
  3. Attach Weblink - to link to an external website
  4. Attach from OneDrive - to attach a link from OneDrive
  5. Record Audio - to add an audio message (when a microphone is available)
  6. Record Video - to add a video message (when a webcam is available)
6. Availability, Dates & Conditions

When expanding this Heading further restrictions and options can be added to the Assignment

availability and conditions
1. Start Date

The Start Date indicates the date the submission will be opened to students

When there is no Start date the Assignment will be immediately  available to students

2. End Date

The End Date indicates the date the submissions will be completely closed to students

Students will still be able to view the Assignment, but will no longer be able to open nor submit the Assignment

3. Add Release Condition

Additional release conditions can be added to the Assignment

For further information, please visit: Release Conditions

4. Manage Special access

Special Access can be granted to specific students

For further information, please visit: Special Access

7. Submission & Completion

When expanding this Heading further settings and options can be added to the Assignment

Under Submission Completion
1. Assignment type

For the Assignment Type, specify if this is an Individual or Group Assignment

Assignment settings - Submission type

1. Individual Assignment - for student to submit their Assignment individually and be assessed as such

2. Group Assignment

For students to submit their Assignment as a group and be assessed as such

Groups must be created beforehand to set an Assignment as a Group Assignment

Select the Group Category,

  1. Click on the downward arrow, a drop-down menu will appear 
Group Assignment - Select Group Category
2. Category

Select to which category you want the assignment to be part of

Category

The categories can be created/edited in Edit categories

3. Submission type

Select under Submission Type how students will submit their assignment

Assignment settings - submission type field

Depending on the submission type, several options are available, which are described in the following sections

File submission

Students will upload their assignment as a file

  • This can be anything ranging from a Word® document or pdf-file to a webpage or video

For further information, please visit: Assignment submission file requirements

Assignemnt type
  1. Under Files Allowed Per Submission, select whether students are allowed to submit:
    • Multiple files per submission(Unlimited) or
    • A single file per submission (One file)
  2. Under Allowable File Extensions, select which kind of file students should submit:
    • No Restictions
    • PDF only
    • Annotable files, includes all file types that are supported by the Annotation tool in Assignments
    • Files that can be previewed without conversion, such as .HTM, .HTML, .MHT, .MHTML, and .BMP
    • Images and Videos
    • Custom Files Type, you can enter file extensions that you want to allow for the submissions. When this restriction is set, students are presented with a list of acceptable file extensions for their assignments
  3. Under Submissions select whether:
    • All attempts should be saved (All submissions are kept)
    • Students can only submit a file once (Only one submission allowed)
    • Only the last submission is saved (Only the most recent submission is kept)

When the Only the most recent submission is kept option is selected, make sure that students are aware that the last student to upload documents should upload all documents; when students choose to divide the workload, with this option only the last submission will be used.

Similarly, when the Only one submission allowed option is selected, the assignment will be closed to submissions if any group member uploads (a) file(s).

If students should be allowed to submit multiple files, select Unlimited combined with All submissions are kept.

Text submission

Students will enter the assignment as text within the assignment. Images or URLs can also be submitted.

When you select Text submission as a submission type for your assignment the following options appear

Assignment type - Text submissions

Then, under Submissions select:

  • Whether all submissions are saved (All submissions are kept), 
  • If only the last submission is kept (Only the most recent submission is kept), or 
  • If only a single attempt is allowed (Only one submission allowed)
On paper submission & Observed in person

With this option, students submit their assignment as hard copy, instead of through Brightspace. When opting for this setting grading is still possible via Brightspace.

When you select On paper submission or Observed in person as a submission type for your assignment you will have the following options: 

Under Marked as completed,

  1. Click on the downward arrow, a menu will appear
  2. Select one of the following options:
    • Manually by learners - students will mark the assignment as complete themselves
    • Automatically on evaluation - the assignment will be marked as complete after the assignment has evaluated by a teacher
    • Automatically on due date - the assignment will be marked as complete on the due date, regardless of submission or evaluation

With these two options the student can only see the title and the description of the assignment, and (if selected) the rubric

Assignment type - On paper submission
4. Notification Email

Notification Email is only available with File submission and Text submission types

Be aware that this option will send a message for each submission, and therefore it is not recommended for large groups

Notification Email
  1. Enter email or multiple emails -  to send an email when a student submits an Assignment
8. Evaluation & Feedback

When expanding this Heading further tools and options can be added to the Assignment

Evaluation and Feedback seetings
1. Rubrics

Under Rubrics it is possible to assign a Rubric to the Assignment

For more information, please visit: How to create a rubric

1. Click on Add rubric, a drop-down menu will appear

2. Select one of the following options:

  • Create New - to create a new Rubric

OR

  • Add Existing - to add an already Existing Rubric
Add Rubric to Assignment
2. Learning Objectives

The Learning Objectives are not yet available

Learning Objectives
3. Annotation Tool

The Annotation tool is selected to be on by default

  • Check the box if you want the annotation toolbar available when reviewing students
  • Uncheck the box if you want to hide the annotation toolbar in the document viewer of the submission

For more information, please visit : The Annotation Tool

Annotation tool
4. Anonymous Marking

Tick the box Hide student names during assessment when student names should not be visible when evaluating and grading submissions. 

This option is only available for File Submissions and Text Submissions

Anonymous Marking
5. Turnitin integration

Assignments can be linked to Turnitin to detect plagiarism

For more information, please visit : How to use Turnitin® in Brightspace

Turnitin integration

Saving and making the assignment visible

The progress or the assignment is not automatically saved while being created

Once you are finished creating the assignment, you can decide to make the assignment visible or invisible for students.

Save and Close, Save, Cancel and Visibility
  1. Save and Close  - to save and close the current Assignment settings and return to the Assignments homepage
  2. Save - to save the current Assignment Settings
  3. Cancel - to not save a recently created assignment or to not save editing changes in an already existing assignment
  4. Visibility - to make the Assignment visible/invisible to students

You now know how create an Assignment in Brightspace!

Want to know more about Assignments via Brightspace?

Please visit: