Online Activity Tips

Our LMS supports several gradable options:

  • Quiz can be standardized, set to display random questions and answers, timed, and set to a specific number of attempts.

    • Accommodations can easily be made to allow specific students extended time.

  • Assignment is a virtual dropbox for students to submit essays, homework, labs, etc. It accepts most file types and can also be limited to specific file types.

    • Use of rubrics for grading is supported.

  • Open Forum is a place where you and students can interact with each other on a common or open-ended topic.

    • Use of rubrics for grading is supported.

Flexibility is important:

  • Consider how you can leverage technology to offer assessments online.

  • Academic continuity may require adjusting deadlines for one, some, many or all students on your course.

  • Remember: Students may struggle with time management or their own emotional responses to disasters they are experiencing or have just experienced (Gravenberg, Carey-Butler, & Horowitz, 2008).

Preparing to use the LMS for assessment:

  • If you give paper exams, consider posting a low-stakes quiz in the LMS to give you and your students some practice using the online quiz tools.

  • If you assign papers or other written work in your class, post a practice assignment to provide you and your students with an opportunity to use this tool.

  • Some third-party tools may also link to the LMS gradebook (e.g., Cengage). If you are using these products, make sure to first consult our LMS Specialist, Leah Knowles.

  • SafeAssign and Turn-it-In may be used on assignments or test essay questions to determine the originality of student work.

Grading online:

  • The built-in grader allows you to give written feedback.

  • A rubric for assignments and forums can easily help you to apply consistent grading.


Gravenberg, E. V., Carey-Butler, S. R., & Horowitz, R. (2008). Learning from disaster: The lessons of Hurricane Katrina. Fairfax, VA: United Negro College Fund Institute for Capacity Building. Retrieved from https://www.uncf.org/pages/FDPRI-Reports