Justin,
Sorry for the long delay in replying but I want to thank you for taking the time to help me with this. Your solution worked exactly the way I wanted it to. Unfortunately, after MUCH experimentation, I decided that I was trying to shoehorn something into moodle that it just isn't set up to do (yet?).
The best solution for me ended up being a hybrid where I use moodle assignments but have all work and feedback done on trinket.io. In this scenario the assignment activity is just there for record keeping.
Sorry for the long delay in replying but I want to thank you for taking the time to help me with this. Your solution worked exactly the way I wanted it to. Unfortunately, after MUCH experimentation, I decided that I was trying to shoehorn something into moodle that it just isn't set up to do (yet?).
The best solution for me ended up being a hybrid where I use moodle assignments but have all work and feedback done on trinket.io. In this scenario the assignment activity is just there for record keeping.
- Allows me to easily toggle the assignment's completion status by removing the student's submission.
- Allows me to provide a link, an assignment description, and submission instructions.
- Has a variety of availability settings.
- Has the option to notify students when I enter a grade.
- Has quick grading.
Student workflow:
- Open an assignment in my moodle course that contains a link to an assignment on trinket.io
- The student completes and submits their work entirely on trinket.io
- The student types the word done/complete/finished/etc. into the text box in the moodle assignment and clicks 'Submit', indicating that they have finished the trinket assignment.
- Receive a notification when I enter a grade into the moodle assignment.
- Go view my feedback on trinket.io
Teacher workflow:
- Receive a moodle notification that a student has submitted the assignment.
- Review and comment on student work entirely on trinket.io.
- Enter a grade in the moodle assignment using quick grading.
- If the student needs to modify or redo their work, remove their submission in the moodle assignment. This resets the assignment's completion status and the student then knows to go to trinket.io to see what I want them to fix.
- Repeat
This sounds like a lot, but I think it is better than having students embed their work in an activity not designed for embedding. It is also better than making students keep track of assignments, due dates, etc. on two separate sites. Doing it this way means that the moodle calendar contains all due dates, that moodle manages the completion status for everything a student has to do, and that the moodle gradebook contains grades for everything a student has completed.
The teacher workflow is not significantly different than using the assignment activity for any other assignment, especially if the teacher has two monitors - one for moodle, one for trinket.
Hopefully others can benefit from my experimentation.
Thanks again, Justin.