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This image is the Assignments Tab page title bar. Like all title bars of the Faculty and Staff Support site, it is black and shows a picture of an instructor assisting a student.

Assignments Tab

(Populi Resources)

About this Page

This page will show you the most-used functions of the Assignments tab.  

 

On this page, you'll learn how:

  • to add and delete assignments groups, adding an assignment, editing an assignment

  • final grades are affected by weights and point-values

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Before moving forward, please review the Guide-Populi Effective Practices for this tab.

Assignment Tab Tutorials

Electronic Rubrics

Rubrics are tools that make the criteria for grading clear. Students can check their work against the stated rubric to ensure they've addressed the key components of an assignment. To know exactly what needs to be included in the assignment, always refer to the instructions document and the rubric.

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In all your online graduate courses, the instructions are found in the Info tab. In the past, the rubric was contained in the instructions. Now, the rubric will be found in the Info section of the submission area for that assignment. Use the "Tutorial-Electronic Rubrics" document below to understand how to access the rubric and feedback for each assignment. 

Explaining Grades

Grading with weights can be very confusing and involves a complex algorithm to compute, which is why Populi automatically calculates grades for instructors.  Weights can affect the point-values and distort their effect on a final grade.  Below is a description of how weights and "Assignment Groups"/categories affect the final grade of a course. 

 

The Assignment Groups in Populi divide the assignments into categories.  Each category is worth a weight.  The bigger the weight, the more impact those assignments have on the final weight.  Also, the less assignments a category includes, the more impact those assignments have an the final weight.  For example, if a category is worth 50% of the final grade and that category has 1 assignment, that assignment influences 50% of the final grade. If a category that has a 20% weight and has 10 assignments, a single assignment has a lesser impact. 

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Also keep in mind that the final grade won't fluctuate if the student consistently receives 100% in a category, despite not having 100% in another category.  The only time the final grade will fluctuate is when the assignments within a category is less than 100%.  For example, let's say a course has six discussion assignments.  The student receives 100% in the first five discussion assignments and receives an 80% on a paper in a different category for a final grade of 90%, depending on weights and such.  If the student scores a 100% on the sixth discussion, the grade won't rise because that category had already had 100%.  The student's grade will fluctuate if the student scores poorly on the sixth discussion or if the student scores well in categories that don't currently have a 100% in terms of grades. 

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If there is a concern that Populi is not calculating grades correctly, please let the instructional designer know.  

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