Creating a Moodle assignment
This guide explains how to create and configure a Moodle Assignment.
1. Turn ‘Edit mode’ on
Go to your Moodle course page and use the toggle switch on the top right corner of your screen (within the UCL banner / menu) to begin editing the course.
2. Add the Assignment activity
Hover your mouse over the area of the course where you would like to add the assignment and click the + button that appears. Alternatively, click the + Add an activity or resource button located at the bottom of each course section.
Select the Assignment activity to be taken to the assignment settings page.
3. Input assignment details
Enter an assignment name.
Specify whether it is summative, formative or neither (dummy activity). Summative assignments can be mapped to SITS for transferring marks. For further guidance, see SITS Marks Transfer.
Provide clear instructions in the Description. This is always visible unless the assignment has been hidden.
Activity instructions will only be seen by students after they have opened the assignment.
You can attach Additional files for students to use in completing the assignment, such as answer templates or guidance documents.
4. Configure settings
Availability
Allow submissions from – Students will not be able to submit before this date. If disabled, students will be able to start submitting straight away.
Due date – This is when the assignment is due. Submissions are still allowed after this date but will be marked as late.
Cut-off date – If enabled, submissions will not be accepted after this date without an extension. If disabled, submissions will always be accepted.
Note: If a student submits before the due date, they can still edit or remove their submission after the due date until the cut-off date. To prevent any further changes, you must lock submissions. For further guidance, see Marking Administration in Moodle Assignment.
Submission types
File submissions (enabled by default) – Students upload one or more files as their assignment submission.
MyPortfolio Mahara – Used for assignments requiring submission of MyPortfolio pages or collections. Further guidance is available here:MyPortfolio (Mahara) Assignment in Moodle.
Online text – Students type their responses directly into Moodle using the text editor.
Large file submissions - Suitable for assignments requiring large uploads, such as multimedia content, high-resolution images, or software projects.
Note: For video assignments, follow the instructions in the How to create a Panopto Video Assignment guide.
Submission settings
Allowed attempts – For summative assignments, set this to 1. Multiple attempts allow students to resubmit work, with each attempt receiving separate grades and feedback, but earlier submissions are less accessible to markers and can complicate grading.
Require students to click the submit button – If enabled, students must click Submit to confirm their work is final. Until then, submissions remain in draft status. After submission, students cannot make changes unless an instructor reopens the attempt.
Important: Only enable the submit button requirement when necessary, as students may assume uploading a file automatically submits their work.
Group submission settings
Students submit in groups – If enabled, students submit work as part of a default or custom group. Further guidance is available here: Group Submissions using Moodle Assignment.
Grade
Grade type – This must be set to point or scale for grades to be published to students.
Grading method – Here you can change grading method to Marking Guide or Rubric. Further guidance is available here: Moodle Assignment Marking Guides / Moodle Assignment Rubrics.
Anonymous marking – Student names will be hidden from Tutors and Non-editing tutors. Course Administrators can still view student identities with this setting enabled.
Student identities may be revealed to tutors at any time by clicking on the Reveal student identities option from the Action drop-down menu on the Submissions page. Revealing identities will automatically make grades and feedback available to students, but it will not push grades to students or gradebook if Marking Workflow is enabled.
Hide grader identity from students – Enable this setting to hide the grader name from students.
Use marking workflow – If enabled, marks will go through a series of workflow stages before being released to students. This lets you keep grades and feedback hidden until you are ready to release them. It is also useful if you want to show your progress in grading, or co-ordinate multiple markers. For more information, see Marking (grading) workflow (Moodle doc).
Digital Education strongly recommends using Marking Workflow as:
It provides greater control and transparency in the marking process
It allows partial release of marks
It enables marks to be released while student identities remain hidden
Use Marking allocation – If enabled together with marking workflow, markers can be allocated to particular students.
Allow partial release of grades while marking anonymously – This option is available on an anonymous assignment after enabling Marking workflow. This is required in order to stagger grade release on an anonymous assignment, while maintaining anonymity for markers throughout the process.
Hiding grades – By default, marks and feedback become visible to students individually as soon as you save them. If you want to release all grades at the same time, you will need to manage their visibility manually.
We strongly recommend using Marking workflow to control when grades are released. For further guidance, see Marking (grading) workflow (Moodle doc).
If you are not using Marking workflow, you must manually hide the relevant grade item in the Grader report. Refer to Grading hiding (Moodle doc) for instructions.
Multiple markers – Careful coordination is essential, particularly if one marker is grading downloaded submissions offline using a marksheet. Before re-uploading marks, ensure you communicate with any other markers to avoid overwriting grades or feedback.
Offline marking – Markers who prefer offline marking can download student submissions, review and annotate them on their device, then upload feedback and grades back into Moodle. For detailed guidance, see: Offline Marking and Uploading Feedback.
Turnitin plagiarism plugin settings
Enable Turnitin to compare submitted work against academic publications, web content, and previously submitted papers. Turnitin generates a similarity report highlighting matched text and providing a similarity score. Further guidance is available here: Using the Turnitin Plagiarism Plugin on a Moodle assignment.
Important: When Turnitin similarity is enabled in a Moodle assignment, all grades and feedback should be entered in the Moodle assignment only, not in Turnitin Feedback Studio. Turnitin should be used solely to access the similarity report.
5. Save the assignment settings
Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Save and Display.
Next steps
Marking Administration in Moodle Assignment
Offline Marking and Uploading Feedback
Different Marking Approaches in Moodle Assignment
Moodle Assignment Marking Guides
Note: Further guidance on the Moodle Assignment activity is available from Moodle.
If you have a specific question about the tool please contact the Digital Education team.