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Assessment settings for Workshops in Moodle

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In order to configure the assessment for a Workshop in Moodle, instructors need to build an Assessment form that consists of criteria by which students will assess their peers' submissions during the Assessment phase.

Configure the Assessment Form

The options available for configuring the Assessment form will depend on the Grade strategy chosen when the workshop was created. For more information on the available options and configuring a workshop, see Configure Workshop Options

Note: Changing the Assessment form and/or Grade strategy after students have submitted assessments will require students to submit their assessments again in the new form, duplicating the amount of work for each student who had submitted assessments. Previous assessments will not be carried forward into the new form, though the numerical overall score will be maintained. Changing back to the previous Grading strategy will restore students' previous assessments unless a student assessor has used the new Assessment form. 

  1. On your course page, click the name of the workshop activity. The Workshop page will open.

  2. On the Worshop page, select the Actions menu (Actions menu icon), a drop-down menu will open.

  3. From the drop-down menu, select Edit assessment form. The Editing assessment form page will open.

  4. The structure of the Editing assessment form page is different based on the Grading strategy (Accumulative grading, Comments, Number of Errors, Rubric) selected.

    • Accumulative grading requires students to assess their peers in relation to a set of aspects and give a numerical rating. In the Description box, enter a name for the Aspect of assessment. For allocating the Best possible grade / Scale to use from the drop-down menu, select either the maximum points for the Aspect of assessment, a scale of evaluation (see Standard & Custom Grading Scales in Moodle), or none. To determine the weight of the aspect of assessment out of the total assessment grade, in the Weight drop-down menu, select a value between 0 and 16.

    • Comments asks students to provide feedback without a numerical grade. In the Description box, enter a name for the aspect of assessment. Students will type their assessment comments for each Aspect.

    • Number of errors requires students to assess peer work by marking assertions as either success or error. In the Description box, enter a name for the assertion of error. In the Word for the error and Word for the success fields, type words corresponding to the error and success check boxes that students will use in the assessment. To determine the weight of the assertion of error out of the total assessment grade, in the Weight drop-down menu, select a value between 0 and 16. In the Grade mapping table, select the Grade for submission for each number of weighted errors. This is independent of the assessment grade the student receives. 
      Note: After adding new assertions, you must save your form by clicking Save and continue editing, Save and preview, or Save and close to have the new values reflected in the Grade mapping table

    • Rubric allows students to grade peer work based on their level of achievement for a set of criterions. In the Description box, enter a name for the Criterion of assessment. To build level grades for each Criterion, in each Level grade and definition row, type a definition and select a corresponding value from the drop-down. In the Rubric configuration section, select the Rubric layout as either List or Grid.

  5. To add blanks for Aspects, Assertions, or Criteria, click Blanks for 2 more aspects. Additional blanks will not be included in the assessment form unless they are filled.

  6. To save while configuring the Assessment form, click Save and continue editing.

  7. To preview the form, click Save and preview. The Assessment form preview window will open.

  8. To finish editing, click Save and close. The workshop page will open.

Allocate Submissions

In order to allocate submissions for peer assessment, the workshop must be in the Submission phase. To move the workshop between phases, click the Switch to phase icon (Screen shot of swtich to phase icon) adjacent to the target phase. Once students have submitted assessments, you may not remove their allocation to the student they have assessed. 

  1. On your course page, click the name of the workshop activity. The Workshop page will open.

  2. On the Worshop page, select the Actions menu (Actions menu icon), a drop-down menu will open.

  3. From the drop-down menu select, click Allocate submissions. The Submission allocation window will open.

  4. Allocate submissions for peer assessment using the Manual allocation, Random allocation, or Scheduled allocation tabs.

    • Manual allocation allows you to manually select reviewers and reviewees for each submission. Using the Add reviewer/reviewee drop-down menus, select the names of the students. The names will be added to reviewer/reviewee columns.

    • Random allocation allows you to allocate submissions for assessment automatically with a few specifications. To specify the Number of reviews per submission or per reviewer, in the Number of reviews drop-down menus, select the number of reviews and whether they are assigned to reviewers or to submissions. To override previous allocations, select the Remove current allocations checkbox. To allow students to assess their peers' submissions without having submitted anything, select the Participants can assess without having submitted anything checkbox.

    • Scheduled allocation allows you to schedule an automatic Random allocation at the transition from the Submission phase to the Assessment phase. To enable Scheduled allocation, select the Enable scheduled allocation checkbox. A message in the Current status section will inform you of the status, date and time for your Scheduled allocation. In the Allocation settings section, configure the settings for the random allocation (see Random allocation above).

      Note: Automatic transition between phases must be enabled (see Configure Workshop Options under Availability). The scheduled allocation is not executed if you manually switch the workshop into the assessment phase before the submissions deadline. You have to allocate submissions yourself in that case.

      Note:  When using Random allocation or Scheduled allocation and group modes:

      • When using Separate groups or Visible groups without specifying the group in the Common module settings of the activity, you can filter or select the group during Manual Allocation. This option is not available for Random allocation or Scheduled allocation.

      • When using Visible groups, to prevent students from reviewing submissions from within their own group, select the Prevent reviews by peers from the same group checkbox.

  5. To finish allocating submissions, click Save changes. A confirmation message will open.

  6. To confirm the allocation, click Continue. The Submission allocation window will open.

Start the Assessment Phase

Once submissions are allocated for peer assessment, the workshop is ready to be transitioned to the Assessment phase. There are two ways to start the Assessment phase:

  • Scheduled switch must be enabled if you are using Scheduled allocation. If enabled in the workshop settings, your workshop will be scheduled to switch automatically at the end of the submission phase (see Configure Workshop Options).

  • Manual switch should be used if the workshop is not configured to switch automatically at the end of the Submission phase, you must start the Assessment phase manually after allocating submissions.

To manually move the workshop to the Assessment phase:

  1. On your course page, click the name of the workshop activity. The Workshop page will open.

  2. At the top of the Assessment phase column, click the Switch to phase icon(Screen shot of swtich to phase icon). The Assessment phase column will activate.

Late Submissions

It is important that students submit on time to Workshop activities. Students who submit work after allocations have already occurred will not be allocated reviewers for their work, though you may allow for students without submissions to be allocated as reviewers of other students' work. Those submitting after allocations have been completed will need to be manually assigned as reviewers and reviewees, or the entire allocation for the class will need to be rerun. This is especially problematic for instructors using the scheduled allocation. For students who are allowed to submit late, see Allocate submissions. You may also opt not to allow students to submit late in the Workshop activity settings.