Assignments are very flexible - they can allow students to take tests online, or as a location to show instructions and due date for work completed elsewhere, or even as a place to show grades for in-class work. No matter how you plan to use your assignment, you can add and configure it here.

The first decision in creating an assignment is to choose the format. The format determines what (if any) interaction students will have on this page beyond the basics of seeing the due date, instructions, and their grade. You can read about each format in the selection popup that is shown when you begin adding your assignment.

Step One: General Assignment Information
This step contains the basic information about the assignment. The most important fields (after the assignment Name, of course) are the Due date field (which is the date and time by which students must finish all their work) and the Open value, which is the time when students are able to start working on the assignment. For Online Tests and File Upload assignments, student access to upload files or take tests will be limited to between these dates. For Basic assignments, they just serve as scheduling reminders for students regarding when they can start and finish the assignment.

Step Two: Format-specific Information
The information here changes depending on the assignment. For Basic format assignments that involve students doing reading, you can add details about what they are supposed to read. For File Upload assignments, you can set the minimum and maximum number of files that you will accept from students. And for Online Tests, there are many different settings you can use. For a complete list of all of them, please refer to the Faculty Guide document.

Step Three: Instructions and Files
This step lets you input a Description (which is shown any time students can see the assignment) and/or Instructions (which are only shown after students can begin working on the assignment), both of which help describe the assignment to your students. You can also add supplemental files here as well, which can be used to make available print-outs needed for the assignment, templates for files you want to accept, or any other supplemental content you want to distribute.

Once you have filled in everything you want for your assignment, use the "Save" button. If anything is missing, you will be notified at the top of the screen and areas that need your attention will be highlighted. Otherwise you will be taken back to the Main screen to continue work in your course (or in the case of Online Tests, you will be brought to the Test Builder to begin creating or importing your test).

For more detailed information about this process, including detailed information about every field and what it does, please refer to the e-Racer Faculty Guide.