With the Assignment tool, it is easy to create and manage assignments in Brightspace. No more assignments lost in email and you can annotate right on the assignment.
Click a link below to jump to a specific section or browse through all the assignment changes.
- Brightspace assignment walkthrough video
- The main view of the new assignment experience
- Grading options
- Availability Dates & Conditions
- Submission & Completion
- Evaluation & Feedback
- Copy assignments
Below you’ll find a walkthrough video and screenshots of what you will find in the assignment tool.
Updated Jan 20, 2022
Brightspace assignment walkthrough
The main view of the assignment tool
This is a screenshot of the assignment tool. It has been streamlined to reduce scrolling and has clearer titles for the right side menu sections that used to be tabs.
The main portion of the page has a space for the assignment name, grading options, due date, assignment instructions, attachment options, and one click buttons to record audio or video for the assignment.
In Brightspace, you can hover over the attachment options to see a tooltip title of what it attaches.
At the bottom of the page next to the Save and Cancel buttons is a toggle control the visibility of the assignment.
On the right side of the screen are 3 menu boxes that you can open up for more options: Availability Dates & Conditions, Submission & Completion, and Evaluation & Feedback.
Grading options
The default grading option for assignments is ungraded. To change this, click the box under “Grade out of”. This then brings up more grading options.
There is now space to type the points total and an In Grades dropdown menu for linking or removing grade items. After you have given the assignment a points value, it will automatically create a grade item in your gradebook even if you do not use the Edit or Link to Exiting grades option to link a grade item. It will have the same name as your assignment.
Choose from grades
Clicking Edit or Link to Exiting brings up a popup box that you can create and link a new grade item. Or choose to link to an existing grade item.
A new grade item will automatically have the same name as your assignment. You can change this in the Gradebook if you choose. You can also choose a grade category for the item or pick a specific grading scheme.
To link to an existing grade item, choose it from the dropdown menu that appears.
Remove from grades
If you can see the In Grades dropdown menu, that means that a grade item has been automatically added to your gradebook with the same name as this assignment. Choose Not in Gradebook to remove the grade item. You will still be able to see the point value you have added but it will not be in the gradebook.
Reset to ungraded
This option will unlink the assignment from your gradebook and your Grade Out of box will reset to saying ungraded.
Availability Dates & Conditions
Click the triangle next to Availability Dates & Conditions title to open up those options.
This section includes options for Start and End dates, Release Conditions, and Special Access.
Submission & Completion
These are the options for file submission.
Select whether this is an individual or group assignment. Add an assignment category if you choose. *This is different than a gradebook category.
Choose file submission type: File, Text, On Paper, or Observed in Person.
Choose how many files are allowed per submission and which file submission is saved. Add an email address to be notified when an assignment has been submitted.
You also have the option of restricting which file type is allowed for submission from the Allowable File Extensions dropdown menu. You can reference this Brightspace page to see which file types are Annotatable Files.
Evaluation & Feedback
This section has options for adding Rubrics and Learning Objectives. You can also toggle on and off your annotation tool. This tool allows you to digitally mark up files submitted by students.
Turning on Anonymous Marking allows you to evaluate the assignment without seeing student names. This must be enabled before any submissions are made.
This also has the option to use our Turnitin integration to manage student file submissions.
Copy assignments
Previously, you could copy assignments in the same course or use the course copy tool to copy assignments to a different course. Now you can copy assignments to a different course right from the assignment page.
- Click the down arrow next to the Assignment title to bring up the context menu
- Choose Copy to Other Courses
- Click the checkbox next to the course(s) to copy the assignment to those courses
- Indicate if you want to also copy the associated rubric and grade item
- Click Next
- Double check your selection on the next screen then click Copy
Once the assignment is successfully copied, the you will see a message of Copy Complete with a green checkmark.
Hopefully you find the assignment tool from Brightspace to be an improvement and that it helps you in your assignment creation. As always, if you have questions please contact the IDAT team for any Brightspace help.