This article lists the current known issues and technical problems in Assign2 that are currently under investigation or have already been reported to the vendor for repairs.

This article describes how instructors can create online homework assessments using the Assign2 external tool in their eClass course. Assign2 allows students to capture long-form written work as image files that can be uploaded for instructors to mark online using a time-saving interface. 

This article describes how instructors can use the ExamVis external tool to provide students with feedback on their eClass exams. This tool, developed as a part of a TLEF project headed by Dr. Okan Bulut from the Faculty of Education, splits exam questions into subject matter categories that provide students detailed information on their strengths and weaknesses in those areas as well as a range of summary statistics. Dr. Bulut has provided this short overview of the tool.

For the Fall 2022 term, we have made a number of performance improvements over the summer as we continue to transition ExamVis to central support. Instructors should ensure to check the known issues before using the tool.

ExamVis can be added to an eClass course through Add an activity or resource > External tool > Select ExamVis from the list of preconfigured tools:

To get started using the tool, Dr. Bulut has prepared a user guide for using this tool that contains complete instructions.

Please note, since the tool is in open beta, instructors should be aware of the following known issues before opting to use ExamVis:

• The Description type question is not compatible with the tool. Descriptions will cause issues with calculating students correct total scores within question categories. If this type of question is required in a quiz, it/they can be added to a separate question bank category to prevent errors - this category would appear in the reports but not have any student scores associated. Note that collecting description questions will break the display of top visual graph, 'Radar chart'- per category scores and class averages will still be displayed in the Bar Chart below.
• Questions cannot be pulled randomly from categories into quizzes. If random order is required in a quiz, the shuffle feature can be used.
• Images within quiz questions cannot be added as base-64 encoded data (which commonly occurs when question text including images is pasted from word docs). These will cause the ExamVis tool to throw an http 504 error when loading the tool in a course. Base-64 encoded images can be identified by opening the html editor view of a question or answer and looking for either an image with a file name or an image consisting of a (very) long string of characters as in the screenshots below:
  
  
  • Not base-64:
    
    
    
    
  • Base-64:
    
    
    
    
• Very large courses (in terms of quizzes, question bank size, and overall content) may encounter errors when trying to load the ExamVis tool. This issue only appears intermittently and can sometimes be circumvented by launching the tool and running reports at off-peak hours when there is less overall traffic on eClass.
• Student reports are sometimes not fully generated on first attempt but if instructors click 'Generate reports' again, they should all appear.
• Student reports sometimes report that all student reports are generated when the actual number is lower and some reports are missing. This issue can sometimes be resolved by clicking 'Generate reports' again.
• ExamVis reports will not display correctly when questions with multiple versions are set to the default version setting 'Always latest' in quizzes. New versions of questions are created automatically every time a questions is edited so instructors who have made any changes to questions in ExamVis-enabled quizzes may need to manually change the version. This issue is being worked on by eClass developers. This issue can be resolved by selecting the latest version in the question's version dropdown (instead of 'Always latest'): 
  
  

Instructors encountering any issues should contact eClass support.

Marking Student Submissions

Once students have completed assignments, work can be graded by clicking the Marking option from the navigation dropdown at top left.

The grading interface allows multiple graders to score and markup either specific questions across all student submissions or entire student assignments at a time. Grades are entered at the top left:

New in September 2020: Instructors can rotate any student submissions that have been uploaded in the wrong orientation:

Using the Markup Tools

The markup tools allow graders to annotate directly onto students’ submissions. These tools available include the options to draw lines, highlight areas, and add correct or incorrect flags to students’ submissions. It is also possible to add reusable comments with the option of designated scores that can be shared across graders. 

New in September 2020: The following new keyboard shortcuts have been added to streamline marking tasks using the toolbar:

• [Shift + t] for text comment
• [Shift + l] for LaTeX comment
• [Shift + r] for rotate image
• [Shift + q] for select question mark
• [Shift + x] for select  cross X icon
• [Shift + y] for select tick right icon
• [Shift + b] for select brush in paint mode
• [Shift + p] for select pencil in paint mode
• [Shift + u] for unselect current tool
• [Shift + f] for toggle flag/unflag selected question  

The keyboard shortcuts can be customized to suit individual marker's needs using the keyboard icon in the top-right, then selecting Customize Shortcuts:

Specific features of the overlay toolbar are:  

• Navigate to Dashboard:

Graders can navigate to the Dashboard page using the back arrow button.

• Color Picker:

Graders can change the color of the pencil and brush (highlighter) tools by selecting from the color picker.

• Pencil Tool:

• Brush Tool:

• Correct and Incorrect Flags:

Graders can mark the submissions by placing a checkmark to denote a correct answer or a cross symbol for the wrong answer.

• Grade Commenting Tools: 

Adding Comments allows instructors to re-use common assignment feedback items and scores on common questions across student submissions. New in April 2021, both text and TeX formatted comments are added through the same icon:    

• Saving & Sharing Comments:

By checking Save, graders can reuse comments. Checking Share will allow any other other graders in the assignment to also reuse the comment for this question. Giving the comment a meaningful title is important for ease of re-use and by entering a score in the Marks field, it is possible to automatically add that score to a question when the comment gets re-used. 

New in April 2021, comments can have negative scores added.

Saved comments are added below the scoring field on the left side. To add a comment (and associated grade), click the + icon, position the mouse cursor (which switches into a comment icon) over the submission in the desired spot, the click again to enter it. 

New in April 2021, the text or score on a comment can be edited after creation by clicking the edit icon beside the comment name. Comments can also be deleted. Note: editing the score of a comment after it has already been used to score assessments will update all grades already entered (though it may be necessary to refresh your screen to see these change.)

• Delete Tool

Graders can remove markings, symbols and comments by selecting the item to delete then clicking on the delete icon.

• Quick Grade

The quick grading buttons appear to the right of the student's submission. These are similar to comments, where you choose one of the buttons that has a positive or negative score, click somewhere to add it, and it will show the grade (for example, +3 or -2) and add that to the student's grade.

Marking Workflow tools

The right hand column lists all the submissions for an assessment. 

The exams can be sorted using the filters:

Note: Marking is always blind unless Show student name is selected.

This article describes how instructors can manage their Assign2 assignments, ensure students have access to the assignment, adjust due dates, and release grades and feedback to students. See Creating Online Assignments Using Assign2 for details on setting up these assignments along with an overview of the tool. Note that these details refer to the Homework type of assessment, not the in-person PDF type.

Giving Students Access to Assignments

Once your assignment has been saved, it’s important to ensure your students can access the assignment. Assignments can be made available to students manually by toggling 'Open to students':

• From the dashboard, click on the Settings icon to the right of the page:
  
  
  
  
• Toggle the Open to students option on and click Save Settings:
  
  
  

Assignments can also be set to open at a specific time through 'Set open date' (available by updating the settings after the assignment has been created) and then entering the date and time when the assessment should automatically toggle open for student access:

Note: Date and time settings are set to the user's local time so instructors not in Edmonton will need to adjust their deadlines accordingly. eg. if an instructor is working remotely from Ontario and they want an exam to open at 8PM, they would need to set it to open at 10PM in their interface.

Managing Student Submissions

Students are automatically populated in Assign2 when an assessment is created. Please note: a known issue prevents student lists from populating when access restrictions are set on the external tool link. Instructors can hide assessments and release them manually as a workaround.

Your class list will be displayed in the “Students" tab in your dashboard:

If your class list changes (due to students adding or dropping) after an assessment is created, you can click the Update Users from LMS button in the top right corner to match up your roster.

The students table has several features:

• Student submissions appear in the 'Assigned Exam' column - the row will display 'Exam Not Assigned' if they have not submitted their assessment. 
• Instructors can locate specific students by searching or sorting to find their submission
• A preview of a student's submission can be viewed by clicking the magnifying glass icon beside their assigned exam.
• The available functions are located in the last column on the right. 
  
  
  
  
• The available actions include:
  
  
  • Viewing a student's uploaded files under Preview submission.
  • Review the full history of the submission and grading actions for all markers working on an assessment by selecting View Activity Logs:
    
    
    
    
  • Upload a student's submission in lieu (in case they haven't been able to upload it themselves) so that it can be graded online.
  • Set a different due date and time for a student. 
    • Note: Overridden dates and times must be added AFTER the questions are created in an assessment. These can be added initially as placeholders but the number of questions CANNOT be edited after any individual student overrides have been added. Adding an override will also adjust the submission count for these students on the dashboard page (even though they will not have accessed the assessment).
      
      
      
      
      
      You can click to filter only to show the students with active overrides. Overridden students will have the override button shown in blue for them:
      
      

Managing Deadlines

If you need to change the date or time the assignment is due or change whether or not late submissions are allowed, follow these steps:  

• Go to the Dashboard page in Assign2 and click on the Settings icon to the right of the page.

• Update the Due Date & Time as needed and click "Save Settings".
  • You can also change whether late submissions are allowed, make the assignment open to students, or make the marked assignment visible to students on this page.

• Date and time settings are set to the user's local time so instructors not in Edmonton will need to adjust their deadlines accordingly. eg. if an instructor is working remotely from Ontario and they want an exam to open at 8PM, they would need to set it to open at 10PM in their interface.

   

Releasing Grades To Students

Once all of the assignments are marked instructors can release the grades to students by pushing the scores to the eClass gradebook; students can also be shown their in-context marks and any added feedback for each question directly in Assign2 (see below).

Note that once grades have been pushed from Assign2 to eClass, it is no longer possible to adjust the total score for the grade item in the tool settings so ensure this is correct before proceeding.

Before releasing grades, ensure that on the Dashboard page, the "Fully Marked" column matches the "Total Exams" column.

Once all exams are marked scores must be transferred to the eClass by clicking Push Grades. This will upload each student’s mark for the assignment into the gradebook in eClass. Students will see their total mark received on the assignment in Gradebook unless you have grades set as hidden.

On your Dashboard, click the icon to the right of 'Fully Marked' to Push Grades:

An overlay will confirm if you would like to proceed and give the option to inlcude or exclude late penalties. Click “Push Grades” to confirm the action:

Making Grades AND Feedback Visible within Assign2

Instructors can allow students to view the mark they received on each individual question as well as any feedback or annotations you provided in Assign2 (in addition to seeing their total score in the course gradebook). Important note: displaying this contextual feedback to students will prevent any further submissions from being made for that particular assessment so this action should ONLY be taken after all students have completed their work.

To do this:

• Go to your Dashboard and click on the Settings icon.

• Toggle the “Students can view results” option on and then select “Save Settings”. 
• There are various options available that you can toggle on and off to show or hide different things such as grader name, comments etc.

Note: Students do not automatically receive a notification that this has been done so you will need to let them know that their results are now available for review in Assign2. When they click on the assignment in eClass again it will take them directly to their results.   

Creating PDF assessments:

The starting point for this type of assessment is to have the questions prepared in an existing PDF template file.

1. With that in hand, instructors should begin by following the steps for adding an Assign2 tool to their course, ensuring that the 'Grade' points selected matches what the eventual points total will be for the assessment. Once the tool has been added, click the tool link in the course and select In Person Exam:

2. Next, upload the PDF version of your exam file by drag-dropping or browsing. This file should contain all the questions and space for students to complete their answers as in this example file (used in the screenshots below):

3. Once uploaded, the PDF is opened in a preview mode that first shows the cover page for the eventual student copies:

4. Scrolling down, instructors will then create the question placeholders to be linked to the Assign2 grading interface. To add a question, click Add Question then drag-and-drop the blue question marker over top of the question in the underlying template, then enter the point-value for the question to match the assessment item:

5. Then repeat this process for every question in the assessment and once complete, scroll down and click Save.

Printing and Distributing Assessments to Students:

To provide an assessment to students, instructors must now download and print copies for their students. When printing, instructors should:

• select their printer's option to "Fit to page" or "Scale to fit - Print entire image" to ensure that the complete Assign2 barcode gets added to each page; AND
• ensure they print the exam in portrait orientation.

Important note: if an assessment is meant to be a 2-stage or group exam, this must be configured BEFORE the step below where any of the exams are generated. For more details see Delivering Group Paper (PDF) Exams Using Assign2. 

1. From the dashboard page, open the left nav menu using the icon at the top left, then select Download exams:

2. Click Generate extra exams:

3. On the 'Generate Exams' overlay, specify a file prefix and enter the number of exams required for printing, then click Generate:

4. This will produce a single zip file that can be downloaded and printed in a single job, creating the specified number of copies. This operation can be performed as many times as required - eg. for students in different sections, for students completing deferred exams, etc. Using a different file prefix for these cases can be useful in keeping the various printed versions separate. Note that the printed copies generated from exam file can only be used once - the barcode printed on each exam is how the system identifies and collates scanned, completed copies and associates them with the students who have completed them):

5. Once printed, these exams would now be given to students in-class who will fill in their name, CCID, and student ID number on their copy and complete their assessment:

Once exams have been created and generated these counts will be added to the assessment dashboard to the right of the count of students in a course:

Scanning and Uploading Assessments:

Once the student's completed work has been collected, instructors will need to scan and upload the paper copies for grading:

1. Scanning can be completed using standard office printer/scanners including continuous feed devices that output single PDF files. Scanning should occur at 200dpi resolution or higher and should be done on a darker setting. The resulting PDF file containing any number of individual student copies can be uploaded by opening the left nav menu via the icon at top left, then selecting Upload exams:

2. PDF files can be drag-dropped (or selected by browsing) through the dialog on the right. Please note: this process can be completed as many times as required based on the different scanned files. Once Upload is clicked, files are added to the files list on the left and the system begins processing them with progress tracked in the center:

3. Once the upload has finished scanning, the upload counts will be added to 'Fully Scanned' counts on the dashboard:

Scanning problems will be identified either from:

1. the Upload Exam File tab - from the Upload Exam File tab, open the failed pages interface by clicking on the document icon: 

2. or from the main Dashboard - from the Dashboard, open Partially Scanned:

Dealing with Partial Exam Uploads:

Images of any scanned but unmatched problem pages can be reviewed by clicking their link to try and resolve any issues manually by clicking the Partially Scanned icon. This page list all of the scanned pages for any incomplete or partial exams with a list of all pages within each specific exam also displayed, allowing the identification of any missing pages. Clicking on the page name will display a specific page if further review is necessary. You may have to go back to the original paper exam to verify the student and the associated exam:

If a barcode is missing or obscured you can view the page by clicking its link, and enter the barcode by clicking Enter Barcode: 

Enter the barcode, and click Process Page:

Assigning Exams to Students:

1. If students don't correctly bubble in their CCID, their exams can be manually associated with their eClass student account by clicking the link for Not Assigned:

 2. To link unassigned exams to particular students, the completed exam is displayed in a preview window. If an exam author can be identified, select their name from the dropdown list and click Assign Exam:

Marking Student Exams:

The Assign2 grading interface is accessed through the top left nav tray by clicking Exam Marking. Any exams that have ANY of their pages scanned will show up in the grading interface. The grading functions and workflows are the exact same as for online Assign2 assessments:

If multiple choice questions have been added to the students answer sheets, these are scored automatically.

Dashboard Overview:

The dashboard allows instructors to see their grading progress at a glance and overall details about their assessment:

Specific count details:

Instructors can use the Google Assignment external tool to create and distribute assignments from eClass. Students will access their assignments from eClass, but work and submit them in G Suite for Education. Instructors can then analyze and grade student work in G Suite. Assignment marks will automatically sync to the eClass gradebook.

Creating a Google assignment:

1. Click on Edit mode in the top right corner of your class page.

2. Locate the section in your course where you wish to add a Google Assignment.

3. Click on the Add activity or resource link.

4. Click on Google Assignment and a settings page will open.

General settings:

1. Enter a name for the assignment under 'Activity Name'.

2. Click on 'Show More' to expand the settings. It is recommended that you add a description of the activity here and check the box 'Show description on course page' so students understand what they need to do for this assignment. 

3. Under 'Grade', ensure you specify the correct number of points the assignment item will be scored out of.

4. Click on 'Save and Display' at the bottom of the settings page.

Linking your account to Google assignment:

The basic assignment details will be added by clicking on the assignment link in the course.

The first time an instructor uses Google assignments the tool will ask for permission to link to your CCID Google account and will require a confirmation:

If a personal account has been linked by mistake, you can Switch account:

Configuring Google assignment:

1. For information on Check plagiarism (originality) setting, see the notes below.

2. You can Attach files such as an 'assignment template' to your assignment or Create one as a Google Doc, Sheet or Slide.

3. Enter the Total Points for the assignment, ensuring it matches the score you set in the in eClass settings.

4. Enter the assignment due date.

5. You may also add a Rubric to the assignment.

Originality reports Google documentation:

• Originality reports do not detect all accounts of unintentional plagiarism or uncited content and should not be relied upon as the sole method for ensuring the academic integrity of written work.
• Originality Reports: https://support.google.com/edu/assignments/answer/9369242
• Originality reports within Google Assignments provide students with the opportunity to improve their writing by checking for missed citations or poor paraphrasing against billions of publicly available web pages and books.
• Originality report update December 2020: https://workspaceupdates.googleblog.com/2020/12/originality-reports-improvements-education.html.

University of Alberta plagiarism policy:

•  Students at the University of Alberta are subject to following the Code of Student Behaviour, including section 30.3.2(1) Plagiarism:
  • No Student shall submit the words, ideas, images or data of another person as the Student’s own in any academic writing, essay, thesis, project, assignment, presentation or poster in a course or program of study.
• Instructors should also make sure to review the Dean of Students directions for using plagiarism software.

Grading Assignments:

1. Go to the assignment in eClass and click to open it. Follow the guides below. These will allow you to review, comment, and grade the assignment submissions.

2. Once assignments are 'Returned' to students, the grades will be passed back into the eClass gradebook.

Additional Google documentation:

• Provide Feedback: https://support.google.com/edu/assignments/answer/9118234
• View Originality Report (optional): https://support.google.com/edu/assignments/answer/9392758
• Grade with a Rubric (optional): https://support.google.com/edu/assignments/answer/9344080
• Grade and return an assignment: https://support.google.com/edu/assignments/answer/9118349

Once the tool has been added, select "In-Person Exam": 

Next, upload the pdf version of your exam by drag-dropping or browsing. 

MCQ questions can be combined with the long form questions or the assessments can be MCQ only. The recommended practice is to provide the actual MCQ questions to students in a separate file or sheet(s). When Assign2 generates exams of this type, it will add a fillable set of answer bubbles in a block for the students to fill in.

When an exam will include MCQs, the uploaded template must include a blank page: either at the end of the exam when it will be combined with long form questions, or the template should be a single blank page if the exam will only be MCQ questions. During setup, the last blank page will give the option to either add normal questions OR an MCQ question (which will generate the MCQ answer bubbles.) The last page cannot contain both long-form and MCQ questions (once a regular question is added to the final blank page, the MCQ option will no longer be displayed.)

To add the multiple choice questions, click Add multiple choice. This will add a question marker to the page and allow the number of MC questions to be entered:

Once saved, this type of question will appear differently on the dashboard, showing the options for statistics, editing questions, and grading:

The process for generating, printing, and scanning exams is the same as for longform PDF assessments. When printed, MCQ assessments will contain the following page for student responses:

Correct answers for questions can be entered before or after exams are generated/scanned back by clicking the 'Edit questions' icon, then clicking the correct value for each answer to toggle it blue, then saving it at the bottom right. If answers are incorrectly keyed, they can be corrected after the fact (note: a current known issue requires that re-grading must be triggered by clicking 'Score exams' again): 

Note: The example above assumes that each multiple choice question is worth 1 point. The score for each question is determined by the total of multiple choice marks divided by the number of questions answered in the multiple choice setup page. So if you had ten questions worth 2 points each, you would enter the MCQ score as 20.

Once all submissions have been uploaded, the 'Score exams' icon will perform grading and compute the basic item analysis statistics (difficulty, and discriminative efficiency). Scored pages appear with the completed bubbles and completed grades in the standard Assign2 longform grading area:

Once any longform grading is complete (or immediately if none), these scores can then be added to the eClass gradebook by selecting Push Grades from the 3 dots menu.

MCQ Item Analysis Raw Data Download

Instructors can now download all their students individual responses to scored multiple choice questions:

Audio and/or Screen Recording Feedback

Instructors can now provide rich feedback when grading student submissions by either recording audio comments or screen recording completion of complex calculations:

Auto Resolve Exam Assignment Issues

If exams aren't correctly assigned to students, instructors can now use an 'Auto Resolve' tool to correclty identify them. This process uses advanced algorithms to identify any mis-assignment issues and should only be triggered after all the exams have been uploaded.