Assignments

Recommended Practice

Reasoning

Chances are that you give your students assignments. For this you use the Assignment Tool in Vista.

Assignments are usually outlined in a MS Word document. In addition to the actual assignment, the following or similar elements also should be present.

  • Start date/due date
  • Statement of when the assignment will be graded
  • Scoring criteria for assignment (rubric or checklist)
  • File naming convention for the assignment submission
  • How to hand in the assignment
  • Instructions for the actual assignment
  • Example or model of what you expect for a good assignment (use student sample if you have one)

All instructions to complete the assignment should be contained in the same document as the assignment. Do not duplicate instructions for the same assignment in another document in the course. When the student prints the assignment, ALL pertinent instructions should be in the same document.

See examples of assignments (Word documents):

Assignment example 1
Assignment example 2

How to Use the Assignment Tool

Reasoning
Add the assignment tool to the appropriate learning module. In the Comment area of the tool, include a short message to the student:

Below, you see a document named "assignment_1.doc." This is your assignment. Download it, and follow the directions. When you have completed the assignment, return it to this assignment area.

Attach the assignment document to the Assignment tool, and set any other settings as necessary.

Excess information should not be given in this area of the assignment tool. As stated previously, all instruction should be in the assignment document itself.

See the example below. Notice how there are short instructions and an attachment with complete instructions for the assignment.

Other Considerations

Reasoning

If you have multiple assignments in your course, be consistent in the way you name them, and use some type of naming convention. Example:

Assignment 1 - LM1
Assignment 2 - LM2

What does the LM1 and LM2 mean?

The LM1 = Learning Module 1
The LM2 = Learning Module 2

Keep the names as short as possible. For each assignment that you create, there is a corresponding column in the grade book with the same name.

This is a "usability" issue for the student. Being consistent in the way you label content items promotes course familiarity for students.