In the Dropbox tool, you have several options available to you.

You can create a New DropboxReorder your existing dropboxes, Delete the dropboxes or Preview what the dropboxes will look like to students. 

Student and Instructor views for dropboxes are different and you will want to preview your folders to make sure everything shows up properly for students. See How to impersonate the test student for detailed information.

Creating a New Dropbox

  1. Select Submit from the course navbar.

  2. Select Dropbox.

  3. Click the New Dropbox button on the Dropbox Folder page.

    On the Dropbox Folder page, 'New Dropbox' button highlighted
  4. Enter a Name for your dropbox folder.

  5. You can associate the Dropbox folder with an already existing grade item or create a new grade item. It is recommended that you create the Grade Item before creating the dropbox file as there are limited options when creating a Grade Item through the dropbox. See the Grades documentation for detailed information. You may also have dropboxes that are not associated with grade items.

    1. If you would like to link to an existing grade item, click In Grades and select Choose from Grades. Select Link to an existing grade item and select the grade item from the drop-down list. Click OK.

      In Choose from Grades window, Link to an existing item selected and an arrow pointing at the drop-down list
    2. To create a new grade item, enter the number of points the folder will be worth under Score out of. Select In Grades and select Choose from Grades from the drop-down. Select Create and link to a new grade item. If you would like to link it to a Grade Category select it from the drop-down list. Click OK. By default, the new grade item will have a weight of 10%. To change this see the Grades documentation.

      In Choose from grades window, 'Create and link to a new grade item' option selected and arrow pointing at 'Grade Category' drop-down list.
  6. Enter a Due Date for the Dropbox folder if desired.

  7. To create a description, enter it in the Instructions field. This can contain instructions to students about what they need to do for this assignment.

  8. To add an attachment, record audio, or record video use the toolbar below the Instructions field. The attached files are still visible after the dropbox Availability ends but not before the dropbox opens. If you would like to add an attachment that is not visible when the dropbox is locked, add it to the Instructions field using the Insert Stuff button.

    New dropbox page with Insert Stuff button in HTML editor highlighted. Toolbar at the bottom highlighted
  9. Under Availability Dates & Conditions you can set the availability of the Dropbox folder, add Release Conditions, and set up Special Access.

    Availability Dates and Conditions panel
  10. Under Submission & Completion, you can set the assignment type, submission type, and the number of submissions allowed.

    Submission and Completion panel with default settings
  11. Under Evaluation & Feedback, you can add a rubric, enable anonymous marking and enable Turnitin.

    Evaluation and Feedback panel with default settings selected
  12. If you would like the dropbox folder to be visible to students turn Visibility on, you will see a blue eye icon. When visibility is off, you will see a grey eye icon with a line through it.

  13. Once you have set all of the options and restrictions you want, click Save and Close. Once your folder is created you can edit the folder by clicking on the dropbox title and clicking the Edit Folder button, or by clicking the down arrow to the right of the folder title.

Managing Dropbox Submissions

  1. Select Submit from the course navbar.

  2. Select Dropbox.

  3. To view dropbox submission, click on the dropbox name. Before going into a dropbox to view submissions, you can also see how many files have been submitted in total, how many have been evaluated, how many are unread, how many are flagged and due dates, directly from your list of folders.

  4. Once you enter a dropbox folder, you can view submissions by User or by Submissions.

    Dropbox folder on 'User' tab with the 'Users' tab highlighted. Arrows pointing at students name and the file the student submitted titled 'Personal Chat.png'
  5. In both views, a number of tools are available to you to help you manage submissions.

    Dropbox folder on users tab

Providing Feedback and Grading Dropbox Submissions

You can provide feedback and bulk upload the feedback files but you cannot bulk add a score. Scores must be entered one submission at a time.

Grading Dropbox Submissions

  1. Select Submit from the course navbar.

  2. Select Dropbox.

  3. Select the name of the dropbox that contains the submission you want to evaluate.

  4. Once you enter a dropbox, you can view submissions by User or by Files. Feedback can only be added from the Users view.

  5. In the User view, you are shown a list of student names (or groups) followed by their submission.

  6. Click on the Evaluate link and you will be taken to an Evaluate page.

    Dropbox folder with a students submission and an arrow pointing at the 'Evaluate' link
  7. Under the Submission section, you are once again given the opportunity to view/download the file by clicking on the file name, download all files by clicking on the Download All Files button.

  8. Under Evaluation and Feedback on the right-hand side, you can assess the submission.

    Evaluation and feedback panel with a score of 15 out of 20 and 'Feedback' left in the Feedback field
  9. Once you have finished adding feedback, click the Save Draft button if you plan to release the feedback for all users at the same time later or click the Publish button if you want to release feedback to this user immediately.

  10. To move to the next student's submission you can click on the forward arrow on the top right-hand of the page or the back arrow to go to the previous student. If you have finished leaving feedback click the Back to Folder Submissions button on the top left-hand side of the page to return to the submissions view.

  11. From the dropbox submission view, you will either see a Draft Saved or Published links which will return you to the feedback page.

  12. To Publish Draft Feedback select the dropbox, check the box to the left of the submissions and click Publish Feedback

  13. Feedback from the dropbox will be automatically sent to Grades if you have your dropbox is linked to a grade item.

The Search Filter will need to be adjusted to find students without submissions. Click on Show Search Options, change the Submissions dropdown to Users without submissions or Show everyone, and click on the magnifying glass to refresh the search. Follow the steps above to Evaluate for these students too.

Dropbox folder with 'Hide Search Options' highlighted and 'Users without submissions' selected from the Submissions drop down list. Arrow pointing at magnifying glass.

Bulk Uploading Submission Feedback

An instructor can bulk download to the zip file, open the files on their computer and add markup or text feedback to the file, re-save it - but they need to keep the numbers at the front of the filename - and then bulk upload them to the dropbox. Let me know if you have questions about this.

  1. Select Submit from the course navbar.

  2. Select Dropbox.

  3. Select the name of the dropbox that contains the submission you want to provide feedback for.

  4. Select the dropbox submissions you wish to bulk publish feedback for by selecting the checkbox on the left of the table header of the submissions area on the Folder Submissions page.

  5. Select the Download option. A .zip file will be created, click Download.

  6. Open the .zip file on your device. You can add markup and/or provide feedback to the file and re-save it. When saving the document you must keep the numbers at the front of the filename.

  7. You can repeat step 6 for the remaining submissions in the .zip file.

  8. When ready, return to the dropbox and click Add Feedback Files button.

  9. Upload the .zip file in the same format that it was downloaded in and click Add.

  10. The feedback files should now be attached to the corresponding submissions.

Grading a Turnitin Dropbox

When grading a Turnitin dropbox, it is best to access the similarity report and enter the appropriate grade in the out of score box in the Turnitin interface.

  1. Select Submit from the course navbar.

  2. Select Dropbox.

  3. Select the name of the dropbox that contains the submission you want to evaluate.

  4. Once you enter a dropbox, you can view submissions by User or by Files.

  5. Click on the user's Turnitin Similarity report.

    Arrow pointing at students Turnitin Similarity percentage. The percentage is 100 percent
  6. After you have accessed the Turnitin Similarity Report you can provide feedback and add comments to the submission (optional). Under the instructor feedback layer (blue icons) there are the following options:

  7. In the report, enter the grade for the student in the out of score box.

    Turnitin feedback studio with arrow pointing at the score box.
  8. When you return to the dropbox and click the evaluate link you will see the option to use the score entered in the Turnitin out of score box.

    Evaluate Submission window with arrow pointing at 'Use this score' link and an arrow pointing at the score in the Evaluation panel
  9. Click Use this score and the dropbox feedback will save the grade from the Similarity Report in the LEARN dropbox (and Grades if connected).

  10. Click the Save Draft if you plan to release the feedback for all users at the same time later or click the Publish button if you want to release feedback to this user immediately.

Releasing Dropbox Feedback All at Once

In order to control when feedback is released to students, especially in situations where there are multiple markers, it is possible to save the feedback in draft format and make the feedback and marks available all at once. Make sure to use the Save Draft option when providing feedback.  This will prevent feedback from transferring to the gradebook (if you have an associated grade item in the gradebook) and will hide any feedback from the students.

  1. Select Submit from the course navbar.

  2. Select Dropbox.

  3. When ready to release the feedback, select the dropbox by clicking on the Dropbox name.

  4. Click the Publish All Feedback button. A confirmation window will appear before the feedback is published. Click Yes to publish and release the feedback.

    Publish All Feedback button highlighted.

Releasing Dropbox Feedback for Select Submissions

  1. Select Submit from the course navbar.

  2. Select Dropbox.

  3. When ready to release the feedback, select the dropbox by clicking on the Dropbox name.

  4. Select the dropbox submissions you wish to publish feedback for by selecting the checkbox on the left of the table header of the submissions area on the Folder Submissions page.

  5. Select the Publish Feedback. A confirmation window will appear before the feedback is published. Click Yes to publish the release the feedback.

    Checkbox beside students name highlighted. Publish Feedback option highlighted.

The Student View of Dropbox Folders

Students and instructors have very different views of the dropboxes. While instructors see the dropbox submissions, students see the dropbox instructions and have the ability to submit to the dropbox.

Instructors can preview dropboxes by Impersonating the Test Student.

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