An assignment ()allows teachers to collect work from students, review it and provide feedback including grades. The work students submit is visible only to the teacher and not to the other students unless a a group assignment is selected.

One of the first decisions you will need to make is how you want your students to submit the assignment. You can ask students to type text directly into VSTAR Learn, or students can submit digital content (via attached files), such as word-processed documents, spreadsheets, images, audio and video clips. Or they can ask student to do both, upload a file or files and type text directly into VSTAR Learn. Each has its own pros & cons.

• Online text box in VSTAR: easily edited; student can comment on the submission; direct feedback; can still attach files (diagrams, photo, media etc.) if needed.
• Upload a file: students can use the editor of their choice and take advantage of functions not found in VSTAR Learn (such as word count).

When you create an assignment, a column in the gradebook is automatically generated for that assignment. Scores assigned to student submissions will display there.

The assignment activity can also be used as a tool to remind students of an off-line assignment they need to complete and its due date (i.e., not necessarily to collect submissions online). This will still generate a column in the gradebook where student grades can be recorded.

An assignment has an “available from” date before which students cannot submit anything, and a “due date,” after which submissions are marked as “late.”  Teachers can also choose to enable a “cut-off” date after which submissions are no longer accepted.  All of these date settings are optional, however, if you want the assignment’s due date to appear on the course calendar, you must enable a specific due date.

When reviewing assignments, teachers can leave feedback comments and also upload files, such as marked-up student submissions, documents with comments, or spoken audio feedback. Assignments can be graded using a numerical or custom scale or an advanced grading method such as a rubric. Final grades are recorded in the gradebook.