Grading "Real World" assignments

Grading "Real World" assignments

by Troy Patterson -
Number of replies: 5

Hi. I've got a challenge for those who care to it take on. 

I'm looking for a way to grade real world assignments. Not just grade though, but have a documentable copy of that grading.

For one example, let's say that the students are presenting on a certain topic. (I do see other uses, such as Project-based learning, creating models, cooking an example dish, building a cardboard boat, etc). 

Current situation:

 We use the Assignment Module. The student doesn't have to submit anything. We have a rubric set up that the teacher then uses to grade and provide feedback. Some of the teachers will "forget" to mark the rubric "Released" to student. We then click on the rubric and select "Print". The rubric and Feedback is printed and then signed by the student. 

Ideal situation

The teacher pulls up a Rubric. The teacher has the list of students to pick from. The teacher uses the Rubric to grade appropriately. The teacher also provides feedback. A copy of the results are released to the student. The student acknowledges the receipt of the feedback. (This could be similar to the submission statement feature but at the end acknowledging receipt). There is a report or a print button to allow the teacher to print the rubric, the feedback and the student's acknowledgement. 

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In reply to Troy Patterson

Re: Grading "Real World" assignments

by Sam Mudle -

Have you looked at the Workshop activity?  It has rubrics and documentation with peer review.

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In reply to Sam Mudle

Re: Grading "Real World" assignments

by Troy Patterson -

Thank you for the reply and suggestion. I love the Workshop module. Unfortunately, this requires the submission of something. I'm really looking for a way to allow the teacher to provide feedback without a submission. 


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In reply to Troy Patterson

Re: Grading "Real World" assignments

by Colin Fraser -
Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Testers

That is a really, really interesting idea Troy. You have one of the most imaginative and talented Moodlers in Chris K. right there, we should be coming to you for this sort of thing, not the other way 'round.big grin. 

This would fit right in with a range of learning activities, not just PBL, but also Peer Instruction/Assessment, Socratic Seminars, just two I can think of off the top of my head, as well. 

I don't think anything like this exists at the moment, or if it ever has btw. I would think it would have to be a new plugin and the core feedback comments, or rubric, with grade attainment schema would have to be supplied when the assessment is produced. All the teacher would have to do is mark the right boxes and provide a grade, which is what you're asking for I think. I am also thinking a similar activity creation process to the Assignment, and it is the next step where the problem occurs. How do you edit the comments, or rubric, adding achieved grades? The current method the Assignment uses could be used as base code, only cutting out the uploaded files or online text, the editor there may do the trick, but it might not be enough for a formal rubric assessment. I really can't see a way of doing this without updating the grading mechanisms to provide you with something better than is. (But IANAD, so really don't know how hard or easy this may be.)

The real issue it the one where teachers are supposed to be providing feedback but don't. To me, that is not good, careless even, sets up kids by undermining student-teacher relations, unless they are providing feedback in a non-electronic manner, then not registering it in Moodle. That just sets up the teacher and threatens parent-student-teacher relations...mmmm.    

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In reply to Troy Patterson

Re: Grading "Real World" assignments

by Marc Pillich-Wright -

Hi Troy

I am trying to accomplish the very same thing.

Currently, I am using an assignment activity with all submission types 'unchecked' and selected 'No' in the submission settings for requiring students to 'click the submit button' and 'accept the submission statement'. Thus removing all student interaction.

I am using a rubric for the grading, which has an 'overall feedback' area for the teacher to complete at the end (Screenshot).

The problem comes with the printing... I have found some CSS that the site Admin can add to the theme (we are using Campus) that makes a pretty good job of things... 


But I would really like to restrict the output to the course name, student name, completed rubric and feedback (Remove the items in the red boxes).

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In reply to Marc Pillich-Wright

Re: Grading "Real World" assignments

by Troy Patterson -

Ah, another like soul. We have basically solved this issue the same way. Chris Kenniburg has been able to adjust the printing for me so that it comes out fairly OK (we don't have the items in the red box at the top or bottom). This may be because we are using the Fordson theme. However, the printing is still not perfect (we need to right click and pick "Print"). If there were a dedicated "print" function, more control would be achieved. For example, if the teacher enters comments at the end of the rubric line, those have to be expanded just prior to printing so that they aren't truncated.


I would also like the student to acknowledge the feedback. Preferably, the student could respond with thoughts on improvement, actions that they will take, etc. I would also like an "acknowledgement" button (just like the button that says that they have followed policies and not cheated when turning in an assignment). 


Here are my Submission settings:

Submission settings 

This would probably need to be another Activity Type. However, with the growth of blended learning, I truly believe that MANY, MANY teachers would find this extremely useful. 

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