Office of Distance Education Academic & Student Affairs, Colorado Mesa University D2L QuickGuide: Dropbox Overview The Dropbox tool allows you to set up assignments that students can turn in online. You can set up separate Dropbox folders for each assignment and set up start dates and deadlines. Once assignments are submitted, you can view them online, download them, check submission times, enter a score, add qualitative feedback, and return submissions with comments, all from within the Dropbox tool. You can also check for plagiarism through the Dropbox using TurnItIn (for more information about how to activate this plagiarism tool, see D2L QuickGuide: TurnItIn ). Once you have created your dropboxes, be sure to link them to the Course Map for student access. For instructions on how to do so, see D2L QuickGuide: Course Builder Adding Content. How to Access Dropbox 1. From any page in your course, click Edit Course on the Navbar. 2. Click Dropbox under Assessment. In This Guide Creating Dropbox Folders Setting Submission Dates and Deadlines Viewing and Assessing Dropbox Submissions Deleting Dropbox Folders Creating Dropbox Folders Dropbox folders are where students submit assignments. You should set up a separate folder for each assignment students will submit in D2L. 2. From the Dropbox Folders page, click New Folder (Figure 1). 3. Enter the title of the assignment in the Name field. 4. If you would like to enable TurnItIn, click the box to enable OriginalityCheck. Figure 1 Note: See D2L QuickGuide: TurnItIn for more information about enabling this function. 5. Choose a folder type. (Figure 2) 6. Individual submission folder: Leave D2L QuickGuide: Dropbox 5/23/2014 Page 1
this option selected if you want each student to submit her own assignment. 7. Group submission folder: Select this if you want one assignment submitted per group. (To use this option, you must have previously set up Groups. See D2l QuickGuide: Groups.) Note: Group Dropbox areas are marked on the Dropbox Folders page with the Group Submissions icon. Any group member can submit and view files for a group Dropbox. 8. Assign the folder to a category (optional). 9. If you would like to create a category for this folder, click New Category, enter a name, and click Save. 10. If you have already created a category for this folder, select it from the Category drop-down menu. 11. You can also add other categories here, so that you can choose them from the dropdown list in other assignments. 12. Associate the folder with a Grade Item if you want submitted assignments to be tied to a grade item in your class Grades area. (See D2L QuickGuide: Grades for more information.) 13. If you have already created a grade item for this assignment, select it from the Grade Item drop-down menu. 14. If you have not created a grade item for this assignment, click New Grade Item. 15. If you will be grading the submissions, enter the maximum number of points in the Out of field. 16. Add any instructions about submitting the assignment in the Instructions text box. 17. If you have a file you want to make available to students, such as a video, rubric, image, or sample paper, click Add a File (Figure 3). 18. In the pop-up window (Figure 4), select your file s source on the left, then click Upload. In another window, you ll select your file and click Open. You can also drag your file from your computer to Figure 2 Figure 3 D2L QuickGuide: Dropbox 5/23/2014 Page 2
the Drop files here box. Click Upload. 19. Click Add. 20. To change submission options, click the link Show Submission Options. Here you can make changes to the number of files allowed per submission, and which ones are kept (Figure 3). 21. Click Save to save your changes and then click on the Restrictions tab (Figure 5). Note: To edit any of these settings later, click the dropdown arrow next to the Dropbox folder name on the Dropbox Folders page and select Edit. Figure 4 Setting Submission Dates and Deadlines From the Restrictions tab, you will be able to set the timeframe during which students can submit items to the dropbox. You can set a start date, a deadline, or both. 1. From the Restrictions tab, do the following to set dates and times for the dropbox to be available (Figure 6): 2. Has Start Date: Use this option to set a date and time for a dropbox to become available for students. 3. Has Due Date: Use this option to set a date and time for the items to be due in the dropbox. 4. Has End Date: Use this option to set a final closing date for the dropbox (choosing this options allows students to turn in late work). 5. Click Save to save your changes. Using Special Access to Set an Extended Deadline Special Access permissions allow you to set different availability dates and times for specific students. For example, you could extend the deadline for a student who was unable to meet a deadline due to a personal emergency. 1. From the Restrictions tab, select Allow users with special access to submit assignments outside the normal availability dates for this folder. Figure 5 Figure 6 Figure 7 D2L QuickGuide: Dropbox 5/23/2014 Page 3
2. Click Add Users to Special Access (Figure 7). 3. Set the Start, Due, and End Dates for the special access (Figure 8). 4. Select the student(s) who will have the special access. 5. Click Save. Once you have added special access permissions for students, they are listed under Special Access (Figure 9). You can edit or delete students' special access by clicking the edit (pencil) or delete (x) icons that appear beside their names. Viewing and Assessing Dropbox Submissions Desire2Learn allows you to view submissions online alongside the grading interface or to download them. If you view submissions online, you can only provide holistic feedback. If you want to insert text- level comments on individual sentences and paragraphs, you must download the file, use your word-processing software to insert comments, and upload the modified file when entering student feedback. Download Submissions 2. Click the link to the dropbox you wish to grade. 3. Click the name of the student whose assignment you wish to download, then click Download (Figure 10). 4. You will then see a pop-up window with a zipped file that you can download to your computer for grading (Figure 11). 5. The file will be saved with the student s name, date of submission, and the name of the file (Figure 12). 6. You can then open the file, add your comments, save the file and upload to the dropbox for the student to view. Note: To download all student submissions at the same time, click the checkbox at the top of the list to select all students, then click the download button to download all submissions at the same Figure 8 Figure 9 Figure 10 Figure 11 Figure 12 D2L QuickGuide: Dropbox 5/23/2014 Page 4
time. View Submissions Online, Leave Feedback, and Enter a Score The Evaluate Submission page allows you to leave students feedback on their performance while viewing the assignment online. You can also enter a score, which will transfer to the Grades area if you linked the assignment to a Grade Item. 2. Click the name of the dropbox folder you wish to assess. 3. Click the Evaluate link beside the name of the student you want to assess (Figure 13). 4. Click the filename of the student submission to open it for viewing and grading in D2L (Figure 14). Figure 13 Figure 14 Note: The online viewer will show common document file formats. For other file types clicking the filename will prompt you to download the file. 5. In the Evaluation section that appears on the right side of the screen, enter the student's score in the Score box (Figure 15). 6. Enter your feedback for the student in the Feedback field. 7. If you have a separate file with feedback, such as a copy of a student paper you have made comments on, click Add a File and Choose File to upload it from your computer. 8. Click Publish to release the score to the student immediately. Click Save Draft to save your evaluation and release the score later. 9. Click Next Student at the top of the screen to assess the next submission or Back to Folder Submissions at the top to leave the grading screen. Leave Audio Feedback You can use Desire2Learn to directly record audio feedback on student submissions. Note that Figure 15 D2L QuickGuide: Dropbox 5/23/2014 Page 5
you must have Adobe Flash Player installed and a working microphone connected to your computer to use this feature. 1. From the Folder Submissions page, click the Evaluate link beside the name of the student for which you wish to leave feedback (Figure 13). 2. On the Evaluation page, click Record Audio (Figure 15). 3. The first time you use this feature, you will have to enable audio input through Adobe Flash. Click Allow and select Remember, then Close (Figure 16). 4. Click the red record button when you are ready to speak into your microphone (Figure 17). You can enter up to a minute of audio feedback. Figure 16 Note: If you make a mistake and want to start over, click the red record button again to pause. Then click Clear and click the record button again to start over. 5. Click the red record button again to stop recording when you have finished. 6. Click the green play button to preview your recording. 7. Click Add. You will see a.wav file listed under the attachments section. Click Save. Figure 17 Release Submission Grades from Drafts If you saved your evaluations as drafts, you can either click Publish on each submission or you can release all of the grades at once when you are finished grading. 1. To publish all, from the Folder Submissions page, click the checkbox at the top of the list to select all students. 2. Click the Publish Feedback button at the top of the list (Figure 18). A pop-up window will appear. 3. Click Yes to confirm that you want to publish your feedback. Figure 18 D2L QuickGuide: Dropbox 5/23/2014 Page 6
Email Students Who Have Not Submitted an Assignment 1. From the Folder Submissions page, click Email Users Without Submissions or Email Groups Without Submissions (Figure 19). 2. Enter your message in the Compose New Message pop-up. The email addresses of the selected students will populate automatically in the BCC field of the message. 3. Click Send. Figure 19 Note: If any member of a group submits an assignment to a group Dropbox filder, no one in that group is emailed when Email Unsubmitted Groups is selected. Deleting Dropbox Folders 2. From the Dropbox Folders screen, click the dropdown arrow for More Actions and select Delete (Figure 20). 3. Select the folder you would like to delete, then click Delete Selected (Figure 21). 4. At the Confirmation screen, click Delete (Figure 22). Figure 20 Figure 21 Figure 22 D2L QuickGuide: Dropbox 5/23/2014 Page 7