Turnitin

Moodle 2.8: Forums

Channell C. WalkerLeave a comment

A discussion forum in Moodle is a tool that can be used for student interaction. Users in the course can come together in a forum to share ideas or ask questions in real time. Forums can be used to post announcements from the instructor, hold classroom discussions, host student group meetings, receive feedback from students, or host a Q&A.

Access the Forum Tool

  1. Log in with your NetID and password at moodle.rutgers.edu
  2. Go to the course you want to edit.
  3. Once in the course, turn editing on
  4. Then, scroll down to the lesson or week to which you want to add the discussion forum and click on “+ Add activity or resource”
  5. Choose “Forum” from the list of activities

General

  1. Input forum name
  2. The description is optional.
  3. If you want the description to be displayed on the course page then check the box next to “Display description on course”
  4. Then choose the forum type.
    • A single simple discussion: One topic everyone can reply to.
    • Each person posts on discussion: Every student can post exactly one new thread to a forum.
    • Q and A Forum: Students have to post first before seeing other posts.
    • Standard forum displayed in a blog-like format: An open forum where anyone can post a new topic that is displayed on the same page.
    • Standard forum for general use: An open forum where anyone can post a new topic.

Attachments and Word Count

  1. Make sure the maximum attachment size is set to the maximum upload limit, 100 MB
  2. Then, leave the maximum # of attachments as the default
  3. Display word count: This is optional, but if you want to show the word count of each post then change this to “yes”

 

Subscription and Tracking

  1. Subscription Mode: Allows participants in the forum to receive notifications. There are four options for this:

    • Optional subscription: The default setting where students can choose to receive emails about new posts in the forum.
    • Forced Subscription: Everyone receives emails about new posts in the forum and cannot opt out.
    • Auto Subscription: Everyone receives emails about new posts to the forum initially, but they can opt out at any time.
    • Subscription disabled: No one receives emails about new posts and they cannot opt in.
  2. Read tracking: An optional setting where you can see which posts have been read.


RSS

RSS feed for this activity is set to “None.” For this, if you want to set up a feed to follow the posts in this forum then you can choose between following the discussions or posts added.

 

Discussion Locking

Lock discussions after period of inactivity: After a determined period of time after the last post, a forum can be locked so that students cannot make any new posts.

 

Post Threshold for Blocking

  1. Students can be blocked from posting more than a given number of times in a given period.
  2. Time period for blocking, choose:
    • Do Not Block
    • Select the numbers of days between each post (1-6)
    • 1 week
  3. Post threshold for blocking
    • Max number of posts
  4. Post threshold warning
    • Sends students a warning as they approach the maximum number of posts

 

Turnitin Settings

  1. Using this service is entirely up to you, but it is a third-party service that scans students’ posts for possible plagiarism, though it is best to use it for midterms or finals.
  2. Just go down the list and answer each question based on the best fit for your forum.

 

Grade

  1. Grade Category: For forums to be graded you need to create a category in your grade book first. Then you can choose that category in this section.
  2. Grade to Pass: Input the grade needed for students to pass.

 

Ratings

  1. Roles with Permission to rate: You can allow students to rate each other’s work if you want, otherwise, leave it at the default settings.
  2. Aggregate Type: How the ratings will be combined to make up the final grade. Choose from the options in the drop-down menu.
    • No Ratings
    • Average of Ratings
    • Count of Ratings
    • Maximum Rating
    • Minimum Rating
    • Sum of Ratings
  3. Scale: Choose whether to have the grade as a scale or point system. If you choose Points, then input the maximum points in the Maximum Grade box.
  4. If you want to restrict the rating period to certain dates, then check the box and enter the dates using the data boxes or the calendar icons.

 

Common module settings

Visible – make sure it is set to show. That way students can see the forum.
Group mode – you will use this feather if you have already created groups.


Restrict access and Activity completion – allows you to release the assignment to students using a set of conditions. This is not necessary if you have an open and close date set. Activity completion gives you choices on how the assignment will be marked complete on the course page.

Moodle 2.8: Assignments

Channell C. WalkerLeave a comment

An assignment in Moodle is content students can interact with while going through the course to build on the theoretical material learned through the text content. They can be essays, worksheets, video responses, audio files, etc. Assignments can be added to the grade book during the initial setup or, later, as a gradebook item.

Access the Assignment Tool

  1. Log in with your NetID and password at moodle.rutgers.edu
  2. Go to the course you want to edit.
  3. Once in the course, turn editing on
  4. Then, scroll down to the lesson or week to which you want to add the assignment and click on “+ Add activity or resource”
  5. Choose “Assignment” from the list of activities

General

  1. Give the assignment a name.
  2. For the description, you can add the assignment instructions here or upload the instructions as a file. If you want the student to see the description on the course page, then check the box beneath the description text box.
  3. The additional files box is where you can upload an assignment document for students to download. To add a document file, drag and drop the assignment from your computer’s desktop or folder onto the arrow. You can also add the assignment file by clicking on the “Add file” button and browsing your computer or other files you have stored on the Moodle server.
    • Click on “Add file” button
    • Then select “Upload file” in the sidebar.
    • Click on “Choose file” button
    • Find the file on your computer, select it and click on “open.”
    • Add a Save as file name (optional)
    • Click on “Upload this file” button

Availability

The availability section is where you can input an open and close date for student access to the assignment.

  1. Allow submissions from: Check the enable box first, input the date using the data boxes or the calendar icon. 
  2. Due Date: Check the enable box first, input the date using the data boxes or the calendar icon. 
  3. Cut-off Date: This is the date to cut-off late submissions. 
  4. Remind me to grade by: If you’re setting up your assignments ahead of time, you may want to set a little reminder for yourself telling you to grade it by a certain date.

Submission Types

  1. Check file and/or online texts. It is recommended to check both boxes.
  2. Enter the max number of uploaded files a student can submit.
  3. Maximum submission size should be left at the default setting
  4. Accepted file types: Click on the “Choose” button to select the file types in the pop-up menu.
  5. (Optional) Check the box to enable a word limit and input the number. 

Feedback Types

  1. Feedback Types: choose the ways you would like to give feedback from the following options:

    • Feedback files
    • Feedback comments
    • Offline grading worksheet
    • Annotate PDF
  2. Comment Inline: Decide if you want to add comments to the submitted text. TIP: use a different colored text to make your comments stand out from the student’s work.

Submission Settings

  1. This section allows you to determine how students can submit their work for the assignment.
  1. Require students to click submit button – It is recommended to set this to “Yes,” in case a student accidentally submits the wrong file, this will give them the opportunity to check before submitting.
  2. Require students to accept the submission statement: This is an optional setting which is a statement based on the honor system stating the student will not cheat.
  3. Attempts reopened – Allows the student to submit the assignment multiple times, but you can choose if the assignment can be reopened only by the teacher or if the assignment is automatically reopened until the student earns a passing grade. If you do not want students to have multiple attempts, then choose “Never.”
  4. Maximum Attempts – This is the number of attempts or submissions students have. This feature becomes active when you set attempts to “Manually” or “Automatically until pass.”

Group Submission Settings

  1. If your assignment is for a group, then you would use this section along with the submission settings.
  2. Students submit in groups – change to yes.

Notifications

  1. This section allows you to say whether or not you want an email every time a student submits an assignment. This can clutter up your inbox and most people find it annoying especially since they can check for submissions on Moodle.
  2. It is recommended that students get notified about submissions as it is a form of receipt and reassurance that their assignment has been submitted.

Turnitin Settings

  1. Using this service is entirely up to you, but it is a third-party service that scans students’ papers for possible plagiarism. It is best to use it for midterms or finals. Just go down the list and answer each question based on the best fit for your assignment.
  2. TIP: The “Allow submission of any file type?” setting may not work for audio and video files. It’s best to use Turnitin for document file formats.

Grade

  1. You can grade by points or a scale such as ABCDF, pass/fail, etc. The option to choose a scale only becomes available when you choose “Scale” in the grade type.
  2. You have the choice of also using a grade guide or rubric as your grading method. A grade guide is similar to a rubric, but not as flexible.
  3. Grade Categories are first created in the gradebook and then they can be selected here.
  4. You can input the grade a student needs to earn in order to pass.
  5. Blind grading hides the student’s identity.
  6. Use grading workflow is for an assignment that needs multiple rounds of grading before the grade can be released to the students. To assign instructors to grade different parts of an assignment, change the “Use grading allocation” setting to “Yes.”

Click on “Save and Return to Course” to go back to the main course page.