Guide to Building a Classic Activity

Classic Activity

A typical individual peer-assessment assignment where students submit something, peers assess one another, and then students receive their feedback (with options to revise & resubmit)

 

Standalone 

1. Once inside the course, click on Add Activity   

                                           

2. An activity selector will automatically open for you. By default it is set on build a New Activity and the classic activity type.

3. Select Classic as the activity type.  

4. Enter a name for your activity and click on Create Activity button 

5. An activity builder will automatically open for you. There are three “steps” to adding a classic activity within peerScholar: build activity, set dates, and customize grading.

 

 Build Activity: 

In this step, you are required to set up the three phases of an activity create, assess, and reflect.

Building the Create Phase:

1. Enter/Type/Cut and Paste your activity details into the activity instructions and resources text editor box.
   
   
2. (Optional) If you have any files that you wish to attach to the activity for your students to review, click on the attachment icon at the bottom of the activity instruction and resources box. The file you attach will be listed in this box.
   
   
3. (Optional) Click on the Advanced icon. Here you can further customize the settings of your activity. All of these have been preset to our default for a typical activity. However, you do have the option of editing these defaults, if you so wish. See Advanced Settings for more details
   
   
4. (Optional) Click on the Preview icon to see how the create phase will be displayed.
   
   
5. Click the Save and Close button if you want to save what you have built so far and need to leave the tool. Otherwise scroll down to build the assess phase.

 

Building the Assess Phase:

1. Select the number of peers you want students to review (NOTE: Choosing this number does not guarantee the number of reviews each student will get, that is based on your courses’ participation rate)
   
   
2. Click on Add Peer Assessment. There are 8 assessment types to choose from.
   
   
3. Click on the assessment type you wish to use in your assignment (NOTE: You must choose at least one for the assess phase) To include more than one assessment type, you must add each separately by clicking on Add Peer Assessment again.  Once a peer assessment has been added it will be listed in this area
   
   

Assessment Types

Choice - Students will choose an option from a list of alternatives during peer/self assessment. Type your assessment item in the criterion prompt text box; type your options to that multiple choice item in the option(s) text box(s). You must include at least one option (others can be deleted or added, as needed). You may also add values to each option by clicking on the cog icon; adding values is optional. You will be able to see your item(s) in the preview box. Click on Save.

Dropdown - Students will choose an option from a dropdown list of alternatives during peer/self assessment. Type your assessment item in the criterion prompt text box; type your options you want to appear in the dropdown. You must include at least one option (others can be deleted or added, as needed). You may also add values to each option by clicking on the cog icon; adding values is optional. You will be able to see your item(s) in the preview box. Click on Save.

Checkbox - Students will be able to choose multiple options from a list of alternatives during peer/self assessment. Type your assessment item in the criterion prompt text box; type your options you want to appear in the dropdown. You must include at least one option (others can be deleted or added, as needed). You may also add values to each option by clicking on the cog icon; adding values is optional. You will be able to see your item(s) in the preview box. Click on Save. 

Matrix Rating - Students will complete the matrix provided during peer/self assessment. Type your assessment item in the criterion prompt text box, add additional rows/columns as needed to create the matrix that you require and be sure to give them each a label. By default, the matrix starts with col1, col 2, row1, row2, etc.  You will need to complete your matrix as appropriate. When all of these steps are complete, click on Save.

Point - Students will enter a numeric value during peer/self assessment. Type your assessment item in the criterion prompt text box, type your minimum and maximum values. If you only want whole numbers for this assessment then make sure to place a checkmark in the box. You will be able to see your item(s) in the preview box.  When all of these steps are completed, click on Save.

Star Rating - Students will select a set number of stars during peer/self assessment. Type in the assessment item in the criterion prompt text box, select the number of stars you wish to include in the rating from the drop down menu and give the minimum and maximum star ratings a label (optional). You will be able to see your item(s) in the preview box. Click on Save

Scale - Students will choose a value from a linear scale during peer/self assessment. Type your assessment item in the criterion prompt text box, select your minimum and maximum values from the drop down menu and give them each a label (optional).  You will be able to see your item(s) in the preview box. When all of these steps are complete, click on Save.

Comment - Students will type in written comments during peer/self assessment. Type the assessment item in the criterion prompt text box.  You will be able to see your item(s) in the preview box. Click on Save.

1. (Optional) You can also allow peer assessments to include attachments, allow the review(s) to not be anonymous, to allow editing after submission, and to require students to have completed the create phase. To change these settings, click on Advanced Settings and choose the appropriate option.
   
   
2. (Optional) By default, self-assessment is ON. Student users are asked to complete a self-assessment following the completion of their peer assessment. If you wish, the self-assessment item(s) can be the exact same as the peer assessment item(s) that you added previously. Or you may edit, delete, or add self- assessment item(s).  To add a self assessment item, again you may choose from the same 8 assessment types.
   
   
3. (Optional) The instructions for the Assess Phase are pre populated with a description of the purpose of the phase and directions for the peer assessors. You may edit the instructions by clicking on the Edit icon.
   
   
4. (Optional) Click on the Preview icon to see how the Assess Phase will be displayed.
   
   
5. Click the Save and Close button if you want to save what you have built so far and need to leave the tool. Otherwise scroll down to build the reflect phase.

Building the Reflect Phase:

1. By default, revise and resubmit is ON. This allows students to see their feedback from peers and to edit their previous submission. 
2. By default, assess the feedback is ON and has been preloaded with an assessment item. You may edit or delete this item, or you may add another assessment item
3. (Optional). Click on Add Feedback Assessment to add another assessment item
4. (Optional) You can allow students to view who their peer assessors were by changing the anonymity setting. To change these settings, click on Advanced.
5. The instructions for the Reflect Phase are preloaded with a description of the purpose of the phase and directions for the student. You may edit the instructions by clicking on the Edit icon
6. Click on Preview to see how the Reflect Phase will be displayed.
7. Click the Save and Close button if you want to save what you have built so far and need to leave the tool. Otherwise click the Continue button to set the dates.

Set Dates: In this step, you will schedule the open and close dates for each phase, or you will select if you want each phase to be manually opened by the instructor.

1. Select which option you would like for setting due dates. You can either choose manual or schedule.

Manual: If you select the manual option there is nothing further to do in this step. Click the Save and Close button if you want to save what you have built so far and need to leave the tool. Otherwise click the Continue button to customize grading.

Schedule: If you select the schedule option, click Select Create Dates first. A calendar will open and will allow you to drag your cursor over the calendar. You will need to choose two dates here; the first is the day the Create phase will open and the second is the day the Create phase will close. Once you have made your two selections, click Confirm.  Your dates will now be displayed in the Set Dates section. By default, the phase will open at 12:01 am and it will close at 11.59pm. To edit these times, click on each time area, edit the time, and click Save. Repeat this step for the Assess phase and the Reflect phase.

1. (Optional) You may allow late submissions in the Create phase by sliding the toggle on.
2. (Optional) You may allow late submissions in the Reflect phase by sliding the toggle on.
3. Click the Save and Close button if you want to save what you have built so far and need to leave the tool. Otherwise click the Continue button to customize grading.

Customize Grading: In this step, you will set up how this activity will be graded by the instructor/ or teaching assistant. In general there are three elements that can be included in the activity grade: instructor and/or teaching team evaluations, peer ratings, and student participation. You can also assign teaching assistants to a set of students for grading in this step.

Option 1: Instructor and/or Teaching Team Evaluations:

1. Click on Instructor and/or teaching team evaluations. 
2. To add an assessment, click on the Add Assessment button. Choose one of the assessment types (hyperlink to assess phase set up section). It will be added to this section. Alternatively, you can import an assessment that you have used previously in peerScholar. Click on Import. You will be presented with a table with two tabs: activity assessments and all assessments. Select the assessment you want, you can select multiple assessment if you wish. Click Import. Your selections will now be added to this section.
3. Once you have an assessment in the instructor and/or teaching team evaluation section, you can assign points to it. Click on the points area and enter the points you wish the assessment to be worth.
4. (Optional). You can enable anonymous instructor grading, if desired.
5. Your assessments added in this section will appear in the Summary section on the grading page.

Option 2: Peer Ratings:

1. Click on Peer Ratings
2. Select which peer ratings (Assess, Reflect or both) you would like to add to your activity’s final grade. You then have several options to configure. First select how you wish the peer ratings to be calculated using the dropdown menu, and second click on the points area and enter the points you wish these ratings to be worth.
3. Your selections from this section will appear in the Summary section on the grading page.

Option 3: Student Participation:

1. Click on Student Participation
2. Select which phase you would like to use towards points for participation, including any subsections.  Click on the points area and enter the points you wish each selection to be worth.
3. Your selections from this section will appear in the Summary section on the grading page.

Assigning Teaching Assistants

1. Click on the Assign Grading button
2. If you have added teaching assistants to your course, you should see them listed in the table. If you do not see any teaching assistants listed, but there should be some there, you will need to add your assistants first before you can proceed.
3. When teaching assistants are listed, you have three ways to add students to each teaching assistant for grading purposes: Randomize, Bulk Assign or Assign Students. 

Randomize - students in the course will be randomly divided among the number of teaching assistants in your class.

Bulk Assign - this should be used when you have a large set of students who need to be associated with a specific teaching assistant (e.g. students belonging to a tutorial). You should have a CSV file with these students, with the necessary requirements in place (see note below). Click on Bulk Assign. Select your file from your computer. Then click Add Accounts.  Click Save Settings. NOTE: The following elements are required when using Bulk Assign: students must be in the course, you must have/use a matching variable (e.g. email address), and the group that they are apart of has to be in the database and already named.

Assign Students - a list of your students will open and you can manually assign student(s) to each teaching assistant. To assign a student to a teaching assistant click on the + icon next to each students name and select the teaching assistant from the dropdown menu. Click Save Settings. (Note: You can also un-assign students from a teaching assistant in this section).

1. Click Finish. Your activity will be saved, and you will be returned to the main activity page.