Assignment Details Drawer
Use the Assignment Details drawer to both edit existing assignments and create new assignments. All fields marked with an asterisk are required and must be entered before the assignment can be saved.
Associate Competencies with an Assignment
Add assignments
Delete an assignment
Manage Gradebook assignments
Attach files to an assignment
Delete an attachment from an assignment
Define rubrics
Field Descriptions
All fields marked with an asterisk are required and must be entered before the assignment can be saved.
Title*
The title for the assignment; this title will be displayed for the assignment in the assignment's header on the Gradebook page. You may enter up to 255 characters.
Date Assigned
The Date Assigned is optional. Clicking the field launches a calendar pop-up with valid dates for the current marking period highlighted. Non-school dates (based on your building's calendar) are not available for selection. When entered directly from the keyboard, dates use numeric M/D/YYYY form (4/13/2021 or 04/13/2020, for example). If you type in a date that is not valid for the marking period, an error will display noting that the date entered is not a date when the course meets.
Due Date*
Date the assignment is due. Click the field to display a calendar with valid dates for the current marking period highlighted. Non-school dates (based on your district's calendar) are not available for selection. When entered directly from the keyboard, dates use numeric M/D/YYYY form (4/13/2020 or 04/13/2021, for example). If you type in a date that is not valid for the marking period, an error will display noting that the date is not a date when the course meets.
Description
The description of the assignment. The description will display in Home Access Center if you publish the item.
Category*
Select the category for the assignment. For more information on selecting the categories for your class, refer to Selecting Gradebook Categories.
Rubrics/Competencies
Click the icon adjacent to Rubrics/Competencies to open the Competencies and Rubrics entry window. The displayed icon reflects the assignment's current rubric/competency status and will display as one of the following four icons:
| No rubric or competency is associated with this assignment. |
| A rubric (but no competency) is associated with this assignment. |
| One or more competencies (but no rubric) is associated with this assignment. |
| A rubric with competencies is associated with this assignment. |
Refer to Competencies and Rubrics Pop-up - Assignment Details Drawer page for more details.
Points*
The total possible points for this assignment. This does not limit the points that can be entered as a score, so bonus points should not be included here. Because points are used in the formula for calculating averages, this should not be set to zero.
If the assignment is defined as Extra Credit, the points here will not be included in possible total points.
Category averages are calculated based on points and weights. For example, if a student gets 7 points out of 10 on assignment 1, and 20 points out of 20 on assignment 2 and neither assignment is weighted, the student's average is calculated as (7 + 20) / (10 + 20) = 27/30 which is 90%.
Note: To base assignment scores on percentages, enter 100 in the assignment’s Points field for all assignments in a category. An entered score for the assignment can then be viewed/interpreted as a percentage of the total. The Weight field can be used to adjust the assignment's value with respect to other assignments in the category.
If a rubric is entered for the assignment, the points will be calculated based on the points for the highest performance level, and you will not be able to edit the points on this drawer or the Define Assignments page.
Note: Your administrator can configure the Points field's default value for new assignments. If you are not permitted to override this value, the field is disabled and displays the default. If the assignment is scored as a rubric, the default Points value is applied to the rubric's Assignment Points field.
Weight*
The relative weight of this assignment when calculating the average. When averages are determined, the weight is multiplied against both the score and the total number of points.
The average for a category is calculated as the [sum of (each score X weight)] / [sum of (each total points X weight)].
Note: Your administrator configures the Weight field's default value for new assignments. If you are not permitted to override this value, the field is disabled and displays the default.
Extra Credit
Indicates if the assignment is only used to allow students to earn extra credit. Three options are available:
Not Extra Credit - The regular calculations apply.
Add to Total Points - The extra points will be added to the numerator before averaging. Thus if a student had 180 points out of 200 possible points, plus 5 extra credit points, the average would be 185/200 or a 92.5 percent.
Add to Average - The extra points will be added after the average is calculated. Thus if a student had 180 points out of 200 possible points, plus 5 extra credit points, the average without the extra credit would be 180/200 or 90 percent. With the 5 extra credit points, the average would be 95 percent.
Extra Credit Notes:
- If your administrator has configured TAC to not allow extra credit assignments, this field always displays Not Extra Credit.
- If you use category weights to calculate averages, you cannot define a category to store only extra credit assignments. You must have at least one regular assignment included in a category that includes extra credit assignments.
- If an assignment allows a student to earn extra credit in addition to the possible score, select Not Extra Credit. For example, if a 10 point quiz has a 2 point extra credit question, then the assignment is not an extra credit assignment. When you enter student scores, you can enter more points than the possible points for the assignment to indicate that extra credit points were earned.
- Extra credit scores are only counted if not blank.
- The possible points are not included in the denominator before averaging for a category or a mark.
- Extra credit is never dropped as part of a Drop lowest score.
When calculating the value for a competency, extra credit assignments are ignored if the competency's accumulator type is Maximum Score, Most Recent Score, or Manual.
Publish
The publish tool lets you set the publish status for the assignment. An assignment's published status determines if the assignment and its scores can be viewed in HAC. Click the icon to change the assignment's published state.
Icon | Description | Action |
|---|---|---|
| not published | Assignment cannot be viewed in HAC. |
| assignment published | Assignment can be viewed in HAC, but no scores can be viewed. |
| scores published | Both assignment and scores are visible in HAC. |
Note: Your administrator assigns a default publish status for new assignments. If the administrator's configuration does not allow you to override the default setting, the publish status cannot be changed when creating an assignment nor can it be manually changed in the assignment's header on the Gradebook Entry page.
Cannot Be Dropped
Check if this assignment should not be dropped, even if it has a score that would be otherwise dropped by the Drop Lowest setting for its category.
If you have Drop Lowest set to 0 (zero) for all categories and mark averages, you do not need to check the box. No scores will be dropped unless you specify a drop lowest value greater than 0.
This field does not display when a student competency group is selected in Gradebook.
Highlight Failing Points
Select to use the Failing Score or Below Threshold indicator for this assignment. To use the Below Threshold indicator, you must also select the Highlight in Purple checkbox.
This field only displays if the Highlight assignment grades below a specified threshold checkbox is selected on the Settings page.
For more details, refer to Displaying Failing and Below Threshold Indicators.
Highlight Threshold Points
Enter the threshold value. A default Highlight Threshold Points value displays, if you entered a % Default value on the Settings page. This value is rounded to a whole number.
This field only displays if the Highlight assignment grades below a specified threshold checkbox is selected on the Settings page.
For more details, refer to Displaying Failing and Below Threshold Indicators.
Highlight in Purple
Select to display assignment scores using the Below Threshold indicator which is purple rather than the failing indicator.
This field only displays if the Highlight assignment grades below a specified threshold checkbox is selected on the Settings page.
For more details, refer to Displaying Failing and Below Threshold Indicators.
Attachments
A new assignment must first be saved before attachments can be added. Click Add to view the Attachments pop-up. Click Choose File, browse to locate the desired file, then click Open to attach the file. Enter details about the attached file in the Description column. You can also add links by selecting Link in the Type column. You can continue to add attachments and links from this dialog box; when done, click X to return to the Assignment Details drawer.
When attachments and links are added, they are displayed at the bottom of the Assignment Details drawer. Next to each attachment in the list are a pair of buttons labeled Download and Delete. Download lets you download the attachment from the assignment, and Delete removes the corresponding attachment from the assignment. Next to each link in the list, there are two options Open link and Delete. Use these options to access or remove the link from the assignment.