Choosing Assignment Options
Assignment options allow you to determine essential behavior and characteristics of an assignment, whatever its type. You can create different kinds of assignments customized for the for the requirements of your course and the needs of your students. For example, you can allow unlimited takes of a homework assignment and limit takes of a final exam to only once--or the reverse, if it suits you. In addition to the number of takes and scoring, you can allow or disallow such things as revealed solutions, printing, and feedback (when available). You can even allow students to retake those specific questions they miss.
The options available for your assignment depend on the assignment type. For example, External assignments have only three option categories you can set, while a required test has eight. See Default Options in Assignment Types for more information.
Note: For simplicity, the properties for all possible options are described in this section. You may not see a particular option, if it is not available to that assignment type. Also the availability of options can be dependent on your current selections and whether a take has been initiated, so you may see some choices disabled.
Option Sets
You can choose to change the option settings for any type of assignment, if the default settings do not meet your needs. You can then save these customized settings as a predefined option set, which allows you to later reapply your preferred settings quickly and consistently. Your option sets are available for you to select every time you create the same assignment type.
The default option set for each assignment type, however, may be completely suitable for your needs. See the table in Default Options in Assignment Types for a detailed overview.
To create a new Option Set
- 1. On the assignment creation page, change the current options so they have the settings you wish save.
- 2. Click the Save as new set button to open the Save as New Option Set window.
- 3. Enter a descriptive name, and then click the Save button.
- 4. The new set is now the current option set. It has also been added to the Apply option set menu so you can apply it to other assignments of this type.
- 5. When finished, you can save your current assignment with this new option set, click the Publish button.
Note: The settings for Possible score, Password to take assignment, Assignment categories, Objective options (ASP only), and Prerequisite conditions are not saved as part of a customized Option Set. See Custom Option Set Guidelines for specific details.
Note: You also have an opportunity to save a new option set every time you publish an assignment with edited settings. A Save Option Set Changes window appears where you can opt to name and save a new set.
To apply a different Option Set
Verify that the set you want to apply is listed on the Apply option set menu for this assignment type. If not, you need to create it first.
To update an Option Set
- 1. From the Apply option set dropdown menu select the option set you wish to change.
- 2. Verify that the name of the set is correctly displayed.
- 3. Edit the specific options you want to change.
- 4. Click the Update set button. When the Update Option Set window appears, verifying the update, click Update.
- 5. To save your current assignment with this updated set, click the Publish button at the top of the page.
To rename an Option Set
- 1. From the Apply option set dropdown menu select the option set to rename. (You can't rename the Default Set.)
- 2. Verify that the menu displays the correct name of the set you want to rename.
- 3. Click the Update Set button. When the Update Option Set window appears, type in the new name for the set and click Update.
- 4. Verify that the menu now displays the correct new name.
- 5. To save your current assignment with this option set, click the Publish button at the top of the page.
To delete an Option Set
- 1. From the Apply option set dropdown menu select the option set you wish to delete.
- 2. Verify that the option set menu displays the name of the set you want to delete.
- 3. Click the Delete set button. When the Delete Option Set window appears, verifying the deletion, click Delete to proceed.
- 4. In the Apply option set menu, select the set you want to use in place of the deleted set.
- 5. Click Publish when you are done.
Custom Option Set Guidelines
Only some of your assignment option settings are saved to customized option sets. The following list provides a detailed overview.
- • Assignment Dates. No dates are saved. However, the state of the Same as Due Date check box is saved.
- • Availability As a Study Tool (ASP only): Single setting saved.
- • Assignment Takes: All settings saved.
- • Printing: Single setting saved.
- • Restrictions. Single setting not saved.
- • Grading:
- ° Carry all responses and feedback into subsequent takes. Saved.
- ° Possible score. Not saved.
- ° Carry all responses and feedback into subsequent takes. Saved.
- ° Score multiple takes using. Saved
- ° Assignment category. Not saved.
- ° Extra Credit. Saved.
- ° Curve factor. Saved.
- ° Pass/Fail at. Saved.
- ° Penalty when due. Saved.
- ° Subsequent late penalty. Saved
- • Questions. All settings saved.
- • Feedback during assignment. All settings saved.
- • Feedback after assignment. All settings saved, with the exception of specific dates.
- • Prerequisites. Not saved.
- • Quiz takes allowed within assignment take. Saved
- • Objective Options (ASP only). No settings saved.
Availability As A Study Tool
When selected, this option removes assigned Adaptive Study Plans content from the students' Study Tools page. If Hide the activity from students on the Study Tools tab is unchecked, students can work through assignment content as self-study before taking the assignment for a grade. By default, this setting is unchecked.
Assignment Takes
You use this option to determine how many times students can take an assignment. To specify the number of allowed takes, choose a number from the dropdown menu.
Note: As an evaluated, self-study assessment, ASP assignments are designed to provide students with a single, open-ended take only. You cannot change the number of times an ASP assignment is taken, however, you can limit the number of times students are able to take the Quiz.
The Unlimited option allows the student to complete the assignment as many times as desired before the Unavailable Date, if any. However, only the most recent 20 takes are saved.
When multiple takes are allowed, you can select which score is recorded for a grade using the assignment option for Grading > Score multiple takes using and selecting either Best score or Last score.
Note: If you do limit the number of takes for an assignment, please be sure your students know that submitting the assignment for grading uses up their assignment take.
This option lets you to set a limit for the time allowed for each assignment take.
- ° Select Unlimited to give students unlimited time to complete the assignment up until the due/unavailable date and time.
- ° Select the minutes option to specify a time limit for each take of the assignment. Enter the allotted time, in whole minutes, in the text box. If you set a time limit, the option to Allow student to save assignment and resume later is disabled.
Note: CengageNOWv2 allows you to set up an assignment with a time limit of 1 to 999 minutes. If you enter more than 999 minutes, a warning message will inform you that your changes cannot be saved.
This option, when selected, lets students stop working on an untimed assignment, save their work, and resume the assignment later. It requires that the previous option, Time allowed per take, be set to Unlimited. To require that students start and finish the assignment in one session (an exam, for example), clear the check box.
(Available only for ASP assignments)
The Enhanced Version setting generates a score that is the cumulative sum of all quiz items divided by the highest possible score. Learning progression within individual learning objectives is not scored.
The Classic Version setting generates a score that reflects the student's learning progression by objective (e.g., if a student gets all quiz items related to four of five learning objectives are answered correctly, the student's score will be 80%).
(Available only for ASP assignments) Adaptive Study Plans assignments consist of several sections of objectives along with a main quiz. You can use the Quiz takes allowed within assignment take setting to choose a value between 1 and 10 to limit how many times students can take the quiz. The default setting is Unlimited.
Printing
Select Yes to give students the ability to print Test or Homework assignments, even if they have not yet initiated an assignment take. This option prints the entire assignment without responses or correct answers. The items and algorithm values in the printed copy will match those found in the first take. The default setting for this property is No.
Example: You may want students to be able to work on the assignment on paper first, then use that copy to enter their answers online.
Note: Flash-based questions do not support the option to print, even though they are viewable in the print preview window.
Select Yes to give students the ability to print single items within a Homework or Test assignment take. The item is printed as it appears in the student's take, including the current response and any feedback as to whether the response is correct or incorrect. The default setting is No.
During an assignment take, if this option is set to Yes, a Print Item button will appear in the question heading along with any available resources. This option works independently from the option to Show additional resources.
Note: At this time, Flash-based questions such as General Ledger (CLGL) will not print, even though they may be visible in the preview window.
Restrictions
Use this option to set a password for the assignment. Your password can consist of up to 20 uppercase or lowercase alphanumeric characters. Students starting an assignment receive a prompt to enter the password before proceeding.
This option lets you set up assignments (such as final exams) that can be taken only after you have given students the password.
Note: Password information is not saved when you create a customized Option Set.
Grading
Note: Any changes you make to the Possible Score settings are saved with a specific assignment, and cannot be saved as part of an Options Set. All newly created assignments will continue to keep the default Possible Score settings until you change and save them in that assignment—regardless of any Option Set you apply.
You can use the options under Possible score to determine the score for your assignment.
For Homework and Test assignments the default score is typically 1 point per item. For example, an assignment with 20 questions has a default score of 20 points.
ASP and External assignments allow you to edit only the overall points. The default value is 10.
- ° Points. (ASP and External assignments only)
- ° Sum of item values.
- ° Specific points.
- ° Not graded.
Enter a new value greater than zero in the text box to change the overall possible points allowed for the assignment.
This option generates a possible score that is the sum of the point values for each item in Homework and Test assignments. To customize the points assigned to individual items, make an entry of zero or greater in the Weight text box adjacent to the item name and your assignment score is automatically adjusted.
In Homework and Test assignments, select this option to set a total number of possible points a student can earn, which is independent from the total item points.
For example, you might want a possible score of 25 points for the assignment even though the sum of the item points is equal to 20. This provides a way to change the relative importance, or weighting, of the assignment when calculating the course grade.
Note: You can also control weighting of assignments by placing them into grading categories. See Creating and Editing Custom Grading Categories for details.
Select this option to create an assignment you want students to undertake as practice coursework, but not contribute to their course grade. The assignment appears in your Gradebook with a status of either taken (ungraded), not taken (ungraded), or In Progress (
). Your students will see the assignment labeled as (Not Graded) on their Grades and Assignments pages.
Clicking the Gradebook status for an ungraded assignment opens the Edit Grade Details page where you can review your student's response, add a comment, or even delete selected Takes. Ungraded assignments cannot, however, be manually assigned a score. For more information, see Editing Grade Details.
When you have allowed multiple takes of an assignment, you can use this option to determine whether students will "Retake" an assignment as a totally new take or as a take with their previous answers preserved.
You have two options for calculating scores when you allow students to take an assignment more than once. The default settings will vary, depending on the assignment type.
This option is disabled, if Carry all responses and feedback into subsequent takes is set to Yes.
- ° Best score. Only the take with the highest resulting score for the entire assignment is reported.
- ° Last score. Only the most recent result for the entire assignment (including questions not answered) are kept.
Note: When you set a Prerequisite based on students getting a certain score on another assignment, using the Last Score grading method can cause students to undo a qualifying score if they do poorly on a subsequent take. Getting a lower score can cause the assignment with the prerequisite to become unavailable again.
Grading categories provide a way for you to group assignments, in order to weigh them collectively in final grade calculations. For example, you can create a category containing homework assignments and weight the category to equal 30 percent of the course grade. This weighting will apply whether the category contains 5 or 50 homework assignments.
The Assignment category menu appears as an option when you have one or more custom grading categories already established. Use the dropdown menu to select the appropriate category for the assignment (all defined categories are listed). If you do not want to place the assignment in a category, use Default.
Note: You create grading categories from the Gradebook overview page. See Creating and Editing Custom Grading Categories for details.
You can choose to make this assignment available for extra credit only. To do so, select the Extra credit check box.
Enter a numeric value of 10 through 400 to create a percentage that alters the effect of the assignment's score on the student's overall grade. The assignment grade is multiplied by the specified value; you do not need to enter a percent sign (%). If you leave this field blank, the default is 100%.
For example, if you enter 125% for an assignment that has a possible score of 8 points, a student who answered all questions correctly would receive 10 points. However if you enter 50% an assignment with a possible score of 8 points would yield only 4 points for full credit.
To grade an assignment as Pass/Fail (or "pass/no pass") enter the minimum percentage score required to pass the assignment.
For example, on a 10-point quiz, a Pass/Fail value of 65% would mark any score of 6.5 or more as a Pass and anything less as a Fail. Any Pass score will receive full credit (100%) for the assignment, and any Fail score will receive no credit (0%). Using the same example, a passing student score of 6.5 would receive 100% credit (10 points) for the assignment, while a failing score of 5.0 would receive 0% credit (0 points) for the assignment.
Note: When a take is completed, External assignments are automatically scored at 100%. If you use Pass/Fail for External assignments, you need to enter 100 as the value for the passing score.
Use the Penalty when due option to set a flat penalty for completing the assignment after the Date Due. You create this initial penalty by entering an appropriate value for the percentage deducted from the score (do not enter a % sign).
Example: You've set Penalty when due to 25%. A student scores 8/10, but the submission was after the due date. Your penalty of 25% is applied which makes the score 6/10.
Note: To allow for late assignments, you also need to provide an Unavailable Date. You can set dates while you are creating an assignment, or you can edit date information by clicking Edit next to an assignment name on the Assignments page. Also see Setting the Due and Unavailable Dates for additional details.
This option is available only when you have entered a value for Penalty when due. You can create a custom subsequent penalty by entering an appropriate value for the percentage deducted from the score (do not enter a % sign).
You can then use the Apply subsequent penalty dropdown menu to select an interval for the penalty to be subtracted from the students' score.
This dropdown menu is available only when a Penalty when due and Subsequent penalty are both applied. You can choose to have the penalty applied for every Hour, Day, or Week that the assignment is overdue.
Example: Imagine you have set the Penalty when due at 10% and the Subsequent penalty at 5% each Hour. Your student then scores 8/10 on the assignment, but submits the assignment 2.5 hours late. At due date, this score is reduced to 7.2/10, after the first hour the score drops to 6.8/10, and after the second hour the score drops to 6.4/10.
Note: The Subsequent penalty does not begin to accumulate until the end of the first specified period.
Questions
Questions can be authored as algorithmic, meaning that they can support a range of variable values. When a question is algorithmic, whether you make use of these regeneration possibilities depends on other settings you select on the Assignment Options page.
Note: For Test assignments, once a student has started a take, this option is disabled and you can no longer change question regeneration settings.
Use this option to allow regeneration of variable values every time your students begin the assignment. Then, if the Assignment Takes option is set for more than one, each time the student opens a new "Take," all algorithmic question values are regenerated.
Use this option to allow regeneration of algorithmic values only on the first "Take" of an assignment. Then, if multiple Takes are allowed, each time the student begins a subsequent Take, the algorithmic values will not be regenerated— the questions will look as they did to the student during their first attempt.
Use this option to have question values in your assignment that are the same to all students taking the assignment, and do not change between Takes.
You can choose whether to have the system create a different order for the items in the assignment each time it is generated. By default, questions won't be shuffled.
Shuffling items is useful if you are concerned about students copying answers from each other without bothering to read the questions or handing out answers to specific question numbers.
Note: If you create an assignment in which items build on previous items, do not shuffle your questions.
Use this option to remove the name or label of individual questions when students are taking assignments and when they are looking at the View Assignment Results page.
Selecting this option can be useful if you are concerned about students passing the content of assignments and tests to each other.
When this option is enabled, your students will have eBook and Exercise resources available to them during an assignment take.
Feedback during Assignment
Use these options to edit settings for default and custom feedback. The options available in this section will depend on the type of assignment you are editing.
Questions offering feedback display a Check My Work link students can use to see feedback on the current answer. This option lets you limit how many times the student can click Check My Work for each question on each assignment "Take."
A default feedback message that simply informs the student if an answer is correct or incorrect. With the check box selected, this information appears as part of the Check My Work feedback. Additional, specific feedback is provided only if the question has been authored to allow for it.
Feedback after Assignment
Use this option to determine when students are allowed to see their overall assignment score. Depending on your assignment type, you can choose between Immediately after take or set a specific Beginning date.
Select Never to disallow any review of the overall score.
Use this option to allow students to see additional details about each question except the correct answer. Depending on your assignment type, you can choose between Immediately after take or set a Beginning date for this option.
Select Never to prevent students from viewing the question content, their responses, and individual question scores.
When available, select Immediately after take or set a Beginning date for this option if, in addition to the rest of the question details, you want the students to see the correct answer for each question. Select Never to disallow the viewing of correct answers.
Note: For assignments that allow it, you can also edit options for Feedback after Assignment from the Modify Dates page. See Modifying Dates for details.
Prerequisites
You can use this option to prevent students from taking an assignment until a specific condition is met. The prerequisite you choose applies to every student in your course. When creating a customized Option Set, keep in mind that your settings for Prerequisites are not saved as part of the set.
Note: When you set a Prerequisite based on students getting a certain score on another assignment, using the Last Score grading method can cause students to undo a qualifying score if they do poorly on a subsequent take. Getting a lower score can cause the assignment with the prerequisite to become unavailable again.
When working with this option, use the dropdown list to select a type of prerequisite for your assignment. You are then presented with a series of cascading dropdown menus based on your selected prerequisite. The possible selections are as follows:
(Default) Leave this condition selected if you do not require any specific prerequisite to be met before an assignment take is allowed.
Select this condition to base the prerequisite on a score in another assignment.
- 1. Choose the type of score requirement (Greater than, Equal to, etc.)
- 2. In the Points box, enter the appropriate score expressed in Possible Score points. (To base the score on a percentage grade, use the Score percentage of prerequisite, listed below.)
- 3. Select an assignment from the Choose the assignment that is a prerequisite dropdown list.
- 4. To finish, see the instructions below for If prerequisite is not met.
Select this condition to base the prerequisite on a certain percentage score on a different assignment.
- 1. Choose the type of score requirement. (Greater than, Equal to, etc.)
- 2. In the Percent box, enter the appropriate value for the score percentage (do not include a percent "%" symbol).
- 3. Select an assignment from the Choose the assignment that is a prerequisite dropdown list.
- 4. To finish, see the instructions below for If prerequisite is not met.
Select this condition to base the prerequisite on completion of another assignment, regardless of score.
- 1. Choose the take requirement (Taken or Not Taken).
- 2. Select an assignment from the Choose the assignment that is a prerequisite dropdown list.
- 3. To finish, see the instructions below for If prerequisite is not met.
Select this condition to base the prerequisite on the amount of time spent working on another assignment.
If you set a prerequisite for this assignment, you must also choose what to do when the prerequisite tests "false" (that is, students do not meet the specified condition). You can use these properties to create customized lesson plans for different students.
- ° Student can see the assignment, but cannot take it. The assignment is visible to all students, but only those who have met the condition specified by the Prerequisites property can take it.
- ° Assignment is not visible, but counts towards the student's grade. The assignment is not visible to students who have not met the prerequisite, but the assignment does count toward their grades. This setting is for assignments whose details you do not want students to know in advance (such as most tests).
- ° Assignment is not visible, and does not count towards the student's grade. The assignment is not visible to students and is not counted in their grades unless they meet the condition specified by the Prerequisites property. Once they meet the prerequisite, the assignment becomes visible, must be taken, and counts towards their grades. This setting is useful if you want students to demonstrate proficiency before proceeding.
Objective Option
(Available only for ASP assignments) Adaptive Study Plans assignments consist of several sections of objectives and a main quiz. You can use the Objective Option feature to select content to exclude from your assignment. Simply select the check box next to the content you would like to exclude. The default setting is to include all objectives.
Create the Assignment
When you are done setting assignment options, selecting content, and have named your assignment, click the Publish button at the top of the page. At this point the Save Option Set Changes window may appear, asking if you want to save changes to the current option set.
- • Keep Don't save as new set selected to save your changes to this assignment only.
- • Select Update the set to save your changes to the current set. (This option appears when you are using one of your customized sets.)
- • Select Save as new set to create a new option set from your current selections. (This option appears when you are using a default set.)
- • Click Continue to save your selection and complete your assignment, or click Cancel to leave the page without saving to either the assignment or the set.
- • Click Publish if you are finished creating the assignment.
For new assignments, the Assignment Created page opens, while for existing assignments, you are returned to the Assignments overview page.
At this point, your assignment is complete and assigned to the current course. However, you still have the ability to work with and modify a new assignment by using the links on the Assignment Created page. You can also access this page later as the Assignment Summary page by clicking an assignment name on the Assignments page list. For details on all the available options, see Using the Assignment Created Page.
The Assignment Created page provides some or all of the following links, depending on the assignment type:
Loads the current assignment so you can review it and take it as a student would. This lets you verify that the assignment content, feedback, scoring, and so on, all work as intended.
Note: This option provides only a single assignment preview: your results are not recorded in the Gradebook. See Student View/Instructor View Toggle or To enroll yourself as a student for more information on making your own functional student account.
Opens the Assignment Information page for the assignment, allowing you to change the assignment name and dates. See Editing Your Assignment for details.
Opens the assignment in a new browser window, allowing you to set options before printing a blank copy of the assignment. (Not all assignments allow printing.)
Lets you customize the assignment dates, times, number of takes, and time allowed for particular students. This feature helps you make exceptions and accommodate the special circumstances of certain students without having to change the assignment options for the whole class. See Customizing Assignment Options for Specific Students for details.
Makes this assignment temporarily unavailable to your students, or makes an unavailable assignment available.
Restart the assignment creation process from the beginning.
Returns you to the main Assignments page.
