Add an Assignment: Workshop Settings

This support page describes how to set up a workshop - an interactive assignment where students can both submit their own work, and critique the work of their peers.


1) Adding an Assignment: Workshop

With the editing turned on, in the section you wish to add your workshop, click the "Add an activity or resource" link (or, if not present, the "Add an activity" drop down menu ) and choose Workshop. All settings may expanded by clicking the "Expand all" link top right.

Click on any image below to enlarge


2) The "Adding a new Assignment: Workshop" screen will be displayed

3) Name

Whatever you type here will form the link learners click on to view the workshop, so it is helpful to give it a name that suggests its purpose.

4) Description

Add a description of your workshop here. Give an overview of what happens and when, and what students need to know or do to succeed. To display the rich text editor, click "Show editing tools" and drag the handle bottom right of the editor to expand it.

5) Display description on the course page

If this box is ticked, the description will appear on the course page just below the name of the workshop.

6 a)  Grading Strategy

What you choose here determines the assessment form students will use and also the strategy for grading submissions. For more detailed descriptions see Grading StrategiesNote: Grading strategies can't be changed once we have entered the submission phase of a workshop

    • Accumulative grading: Comments and a grade are given regarding the aspects of the workshop specified.
    • Comments: Comments are given but no grade can be given to the specified aspects
    • Number of Errors: A yes/no assessment is used and comments are given for specified assertions
    • Rubric: A level assessment is given regarding specified criteria

6 b) Grade for Submission

This sets the maximum grade a student can attain from a teacher for a given submission. It is scaled between 0-100. If you have set up any Grade Categories, you will see a picklist

6 c) Grade for Reviewing

Sets the maximum grade a student can receive for reviewing other students’ work. It is also scaled between 0-100. If you have set up any Grade Categories, you will see a picklist.

6 d) Decimal places in grade

Decide here how many decimal places are allowed in the grade.

7) Submission settings


7a)  Instructions for submission

Students see this when they click on the link to the Workshop. Explain here what they need to do to make a successful submission (it may also help to refer them back to general instructions for using the Workshop - how to find out when the deadlines are and what they do at each stage).

7b) Maximum number of submission attachments

If you wish students to attach files, select how many here, up to a maximum of 7. If you leave it at 0 then they can only enter text.

If you allow files, then note that some students may choose to enter text - so you may need to stipulate whether students should upload files or enter text. If either, then in the Instructions for Review, flag up to students that there may be some variation in how they access the submissions.

7c) Maximum Submission Attachment Size

Decide here how large a file students can upload. The size will depend on the course upload limit.

7d) Late Submissions

Ticking this box will allow students to submit after the deadline. Please note that if late submissions are allowed, there is no way to automatically allocate assessors to them. A Teacher will need to manually allocate assessors to these late submissions.

(Allocation settings are explained below - they will be made after these workshop settings have been saved by clicking the “Allocate Submissions” link highlighted with a red box in the picture of the dashboard. See the section Submission phase.)

8a) Instructions for Review 

Students see these instructions when the Workshop is in Assessment Phase. They are important to students' understanding of the task before assessing their classmates’ submissions.

After these workshop settings have been saved, Teachers can access further settings related to allocating assessments. See the section Set up phase.

8b) Use self-review

Checking this box means that students may be allocated their own work to assess. This will depend on Moodle's allocation i.e. the larger the group of students the less likely it is that anyone will be allocated their own work.

9a) Overall Feedback Mode

If this is enabled, a text box appears at the bottom of each assessment form for reviewers to give an overall comment about the submission. Depending on whether is it set to "Enabled and optional" or "Enabled and required", reviewers will either have the choice of leaving overall feedback or they will be forced to do so.

9b) Maximum number of overall feedback attachments

Choose here how many (if any) files you wish reviewers to attach to their overall feedback, up to a maximum of 7.

9c) Maximum overall feedback attachment size

Decide here how large a feedback file students can upload. The size will depend on the course upload limit.

9d) Conclusion

It is possible to add some text which the students will see once they reach the end of the workshop process. It is a good idea to signpost students to how they can access the assessments they have received.

It might also include suggestions on what students should do next.

10) Example submissions

There are three options in this drop down menu: The first option means that the assessment of the example submission is voluntary, while the second and the third ones make it mandatory, which either requires students to assess example submissions before submitting their own work or after their own submission but before peer-assessment.

Note: Assessments of the example submission are not counted when calculating the grade for assessment.

11) Availability

All dates - open for submissions from, submissions deadline, open for assessment from and assessment deadline - are displayed in the course calendar.This section deals with setting submission times and assessment times for the workshop. That is the time when students can start submitting as well as the deadline for submitting, and similarly the time assessments for other students’ work start and when they must finish assessing other students work.

Availability lets a teacher decide if they want a workshop with a closed schedule or one that is open ended. Setting an opening time but leaving the deadline open makes it an ongoing activity. To set the opening time and deadline for either submissions or assessments teachers must click the enable button next to the option they want to set. Once the enabled has been checked the 5 drop down boxes will be activated and available for change.

The first three boxes correspond to the date and we can either set this box by box or by selecting the date in the calendar that pops up when any of the date boxes are selected. The last two boxes correspond to the time in 24 hour time, the first of the two being hours and the second being minutes. Teachers simply set the desired time for each of the sections they wish to activate.

If teachers check the box "switch to the next phase after the submissions deadline", the workshop will automatically switch to the assessment phase about 10 minutes after this date/time.

Note that even if Switch to the next phase after the submissions deadline is enabled a teacher will need to manually move the workshop into Submission Phase and click on Close to conclude the workshop and reveal the assessments.

12) Common module settings

See Common module settings

13) Restrict access/Activity completion

These settings are visible if Conditional activities and Activity completion have been enabled in the site and the course.

14) Save and Display to access further settings

Click on the Save and Display button to proceed to further settings related to how submissions are allocated to students to assess.


15) See Workshop Phases for more information on how these work.