Configuring the Student Assignment Submission Interface

Overview

The student assignment submission interface in the student portal.

The student assignment submission interface allows students to view their open assignments and submit work for assignments from a school-configurable list of sources. 

The Assignments List

The list of assignments in the left-hand sidebar are all assignments where the dropbox submission status is not "Closed". Assignments are ordered by due date, with the earliest due date at the top of the list. 

The Assignment Submission Interface

Once an assignment has been selected, the student will see the assignment details, a discussion thread including files that have been attached and annotated feedback, the submission component (allows for text submissions or file attachments), and the assignment completion toggle. New to this experience: submissions no longer trigger the completion of an assignment, allowing students to actively collaborate with teachers in an iterative manner and choose when an assignment is marked complete. This change may require training for your students to remember to mark their assignments as complete but teachers do retain the ability to administratively mark assignments as complete in their interface.

Enabling the Student Assignment Submission Interface

Enabling this new functionality is quick and easy - simply toggle the "Assignment Submission Enabled" system parameter to "Yes" to point all portal components that route students to the student dropbox to this new portal screen instead. 

Configuring Assignment Submission Sources

The "Attach Files" button in the assignment submission interface allows students to attach files to an assignment from a school-configurable list of sources. The list of sources available to students is controlled at the portal level using portal configuration options in the "Assignment Submission Sources" category. All assignment submission sources marked "true" will be available to students within the student assignment submission interface.

The assignment submission sources configuration options for the student portal.

The assignment submission source selector in the student assignment submission interface.

Google Drive

The Google Drive integration within the student assignment submission interface allows students to attach files stored in their Google Drive to assignments managed in the Veracross LMS. There are a couple of key aspects of this integration that you should be aware of:

• Students must regularly renew the authorization for the student assignment submission interface to access Google Drive. The integration currently requires that students authorize the Veracross student assignment submission interface after an hour of non-use, meaning that students may need to authorize Veracross to access their Google Drive account multiple times per day. This restriction is a security feature outside of Veracross's control. We will continue to pursue an authorization window that better fit the needs of our schools and their students.
• Attaching a file stored in Google Drive will generate a static file based on the state of the file at the time it is attached and store that file in Veracross. The current Google Drive integration does not facilitate collaboration between students and teachers on Google-native files (Google docs, sheets, etc) directly within the Veracross LMS environment. 

Authorizing the student assignment submission interface to access files stored in Google Drive.

URL

The URL source in the student assignment submission interface allows a student to attach a file hosted outside of Veracross by designating the URL for the file. When the student designates the external URL, the system will attempt to access the file hosted at that location and generate a static version of it to store in Veracross. There are a couple of key aspects of this source that you should be aware of:

• Attaching a file hosted externally will generate a static file based on the state of the file at the time it is attached and store that file in Veracross. The current Link source option does not facilitate collaboration between students and teachers on files natively created in third-party systems directly within the Veracross LMS environment. 
• URLs must contain the file extension (example: .jpg) in order to be attached successfully.

Using the URL assignment submission source.

Webcam

The Webcam source in the student assignment submission interface allows a student to use the camera and microphone of their device to capture and submit an image or video file. When the student selects the Webcam source (labeled "Camera" in the student interface), their web browser will prompt them to authorize Veracross to use their device's camera and microphone. 

Using the webcam assignment submission source.

Screen Capture

The Screen Capture source in the student assignment submission interface allows a student to record a screenshare of their device's entire screen, an application window, or a specific browser tab.. When the student selects the Screen Capture source (labeled "Screencast" in the student interface), their web browser will prompt them to specify which part of their device's screen they would like to record.

Using the screen capture assignment submission source.