All about assignments

How do I create an assignment?

To create a test or an assignment:

• Go to Tests & Assignments and click the New Assignment button.
• Type a Name of the assignment (such as Homework #1 or Final Exam) in the highlighted box.
• Choose an Assignment Type from the Assignment Type drop-down list.
• Choose a Grade Type for the assignment from the Grade Type drop-down list.
• Choose an Assignment Weight. This is the relative importance of this assignment compared to other assignments of the same type. For example, if this is a Homework assignment, and you choose Double, then this assignment will count twice as heavily as other (“normal” weighted) Homework assignments towards the final grade.
• Choose a Date Assigned.
• Choose a Date Due.
• Check the Extra Credit box if the assignment is for extra credit.

You should type in a long description of the assignment (such as the objectives or a list of the assignment questions) in the Description area. This will be the main source of information for students and parents viewing the assignment on the Web service. Also, you can save to or load from a text file by clicking the Save or Load buttons, or spell check if desired.

After you have created an assignment, you can grade it by clicking the Record Results button.

How do I delete an assignment?

Go to Tests & Assignments, highlight the assignment with the cursor and click on the Delete Assignment button.

How do I copy an assignment from one class to another?

Go to the Tests & Assignments screen.

• Select a class
• Select an assignment
• Right click on the assignment with the mouse

If you want to copy the assignment to All Classes, select the option “Copy Assignment To All Classes in Term”

If you want to copy to one class, right click with mouse and select Copy Assignment. Go to another class, right click with mouse, and select Paste Assignment.

How do I create a recurring assignment?

If you have a regular pattern of tests or assignments, use the Recurring Tests & Assignments feature to make it easy to create these periodic assignments. To create a recurring test or assignment:

• Go to the Tests & Assignments.
• Click on the Recurring Assignment… button. The Add Recurring Test or Assignment dialogue box will then appear.
• Type or select the assignment information in the Description and Test/Assignment Settings fields.
• In the Recurrence Pattern panel, choose how often you wish the assignment to be repeated. (You can use any number of days, weeks, or months as the interval.)
• Select the beginning date and the ending date for the assignments. By default, this range will span the entire term for that class.
• Choose the number of days between the assignment and the due date. For in-class tests and assignments, this can be zero.
• Check the box for Skip days class does not meet to indicate that assignments will not be assigned or come due on non-class days. Also, if this box is checked, non-class days will not be counted in the interval between the assignment date and due date.
• Check the box for Automatically put the due date in the assignment description to add the due date to the assignment description. For example, if you put Weekly Assignment in the Description field, checking this box will create assignment descriptions such as Weekly Assignment 10/4/10, Weekly Assignment 10/11/10, etc.
• Click OK to finalize your recurring tests or assignments.

Note: If you delete a recurring assignment, the program will ask if you want to delete only that individual assignment, or if you want to delete all recurring assignments. Use care to delete only the assignments that you actually want to remove.

Can I create additional assignment categories?

Go to Grading | Assignments and click on the Standard Assignments tab. Here you can select from fifteen Standard Assignment Types to use. If you need additional assignment types, click on the Custom Assignments tab. The Standard Assignment Types you select and the Custom Assignment types you create will be listed in the Type drop-down menu available in Tests & Assignments.

Can I weight assignment categories?

To weight assignment categories, go to the Classes screen, select a Class, and click on the Weighting tab. To use assignment type weighting, check the Use Assignment Type Weighting checkbox and drag the weighting bars left or right to indicate each assignment type’s respective percentage weight. For example, you could make homework count for 50% of the overall grade, quizzes 25%, and the final exam 25%. You may also make any assignment type count for 0% (i.e. be graded but not enter into the final grade.) The sum of the assignment weightings will always be 100% (if you have selected to make non-academic grades count towards final grade, part of this 100% may be apportioned to non-academic grades).

To suppress assignment type weighting, leave the checkbox for Use Assignment Type Weighting clear. Assignment types will then have no effect on grade calculations. Only individual assignments’ weights (as selected in the Tests & Assignments screen) will affect grades.