LSU Online: Assignments and Assessments: Assignments

Assignments and Assessments

The assignment tool is used to present a variety of learning activities allowing you to view and submit assignments, papers, and projects electronically to your instructor. Assignments can be assessed in different areas of the course. Your instructor may provide a link to assignments on the course menu or a content area.

Assignments can be submitted in the following ways:

• Text typed into the Submissions area of the Upload Assignment page
• Files attached from your computer
• A combination of both text and attached files

Assignment Resubmission

Editing an assignment requires you to resubmit the assignment. Assignments can be set up by your instructor to (1) allow a single attempt, (2) allow unlimited attempts, or (3) allow a specific number of attempts. Your instructor may allow you to submit an assignment more than once for a variety of reasons. For example, your instructor can provide comments on your first draft so that you can try to improve your work.

If your instructor has not allowed you to submit an assignment more than once and you need to resubmit the assignment, contact your instructor to ask for the opportunity to resubmit the assignment.

Best Practices for Assignment Submissions

Some common best practices for preparing for online assignments are included below:

• If your instructor asks you to submit assignments through email or course mail, always send a copy to yourself. This allows you to have a record of your attachment. If you receive the message without attachments then your instructor will not have them either.
• Review and maintain awareness of all the different materials in the course. This is especially relevant because online courses have many different materials including textbook readings, content modules, and presentations. 
• Carefully read the course syllabus and the course schedule for deadlines.
• Make sure that you clearly understand the assignment or test topic. This includes any instructions, due dates, points possible, and any files provided by your instructor. Review this material ahead of time and contact your instructor if you have any questions.
• Use only letters and numbers in your file name. Uploaded files should not include special characters in the file name, for example, # ! % ?. Your instructor may require you to include your name as part of the file name.
• Do not attach multiple files with the same file name.
• If you are instructed to type text directly in the text box area on the Upload assignments page, use software such as Word Pad to create and save the text before pasting into the Submissions text box area. This will ensure that you have a copy on your local computer in case you accidentally delete the text.