Desire Learn Overview

Quickguide: The Dropbox

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.

How to Access the Dropbox

Click Dropbox on the course navigation bar.

In This Guide
Creating Dropbox Folders Setting Submission Dates and Deadlines Viewing and Assessing Dropbox Submissions Using Plagiarism Detection through TurnItIn

Edit multiple Dropbox folders at once

Create a new Dropbox folder

Edit the Dropbox folder

Category name

Dropbox due date

Indicates the Dropbox folder is a group assignment

Indicates the Dropbox folder is tied to a grade item Click the name of the Dropbox folder to see student submissions
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Desire2Learn Quickguide: The Dropbox (Page 2 of 8)

Creating Dropbox Folders

Dropbox folders are where students submit assignments. You should set up a separate Dropbox folder for each assignment students will submit through Desire2Learn. 1. From the Dropbox Folders page, click New Folder (Figure 1). 2. Enter the title of the assignment in the Name field. 3. Choose a folder type. Individual submission folder: Leave this option selected if you want each student to submit her own assignment. Group submission folder: Select this option if you want one assignment submitted per group. See the Groups quickguide for more information about working with Groups. Note: Group Dropbox areas are marked on the Folder List page with the Group Submissions icon. Any group member can submit and view files for a group Dropbox. 4. Assign the folder to a category (optional). If you have not created a category for this folder, click New Category, enter a name, and click Save. If you have already a category for this folder, select it from the Category drop-down menu. 5. Associate the folder with a Grade Item if you want submitted assignments to be tied to a column in your class Grades area. See the Grades quickguide for more information. If you have already set up a grade item for this assignment, select it from the Grade Item drop-down menu. If you have not created a grade item for this assignment, click New Grade Item (Figure 2). 6. If you will be assessing these submissions, enter the maximum number of points in the Out of field (Figure 3). Do this even if you are not using the Grades tool in Desire2Learn. 7. Add any instructions about submitting the assignment in the Custom Instructions text box.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Desire2Learn Quickguide: The Dropbox (Page 3 of 8)

8. If you have a file you want to make available to students, such as an assignment description or a sample paper, click Add a File and Browse to upload it from your computer. 9. Click Save. Note: To edit any of these settings later, click the Edit icon next to the Dropbox folder on the main Dropbox page.
Figure 4

Setting Submission Dates and Deadlines

Use these instructions to set the timeframe during which students can submit. You can set a start date, a deadline, or both. 1. From the Edit Folder page, click the Restrictions tab (Figure 4). 2. Select the appropriate date options: Has Start Date: Use this option if you do not want users to access a folder before a project is assigned. Has End Date: Use this option if you want to stop users from submitting assignments after a due date. 3. Use the calendar and time selectors to set the appropriate dates and times (Figure 5). 4. Select Display in Calendar to make the availability dates for the folder appear in the Events widget on your course homepage. 5. Click Save.

Figure 5

Use 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 Edit Folder page, click the Restrictions tab. 2. On the Restrictions tab, select Allow users with special access to submit assignments outside the normal availability dates for this folder. 3. Click Add Users to Special Access (Figure 6). 4. Select Has End Date.

Figure 6

Desire2Learn Quickguide: The Dropbox (Page 4 of 8)

5. Use the calendar and time selectors to set the deadline for the extended-access student(s). 6. Select the boxes beside the the names of the student(s) you want to give extended access (Figure 7). 7. Click Save Special Access. Once you have added special access permissions for students, they are listed in the Special Access section. You can edit or delete students' special access by clicking the Edit or Delete icons 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 textlevel 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. 1. From the main Dropbox page, click the name of the assignment you want to view submissions for. 2. The files that the students have submited will be listed under their names. Click the name of the submission you'd like to view (Figure 8).
Figure 7

Download Individual Submissions

Figure 8

Download All Submissions as a Zip File

Use these instructions to download a zip file of all student submissions. Each submitted file will be renamed with the submitting students name and the date and time it was submitted.

1. Click the checkbox at the top of the list to select all students. 2. Click the green download submissions button at the bottom of the list (Figure 9). A pop-up window will appear. 3. Click the name of the zip file that is created. 4. Use your browser's save dialog box to save the file to the appropriate location on your computer.

Figure 9

Desire2Learn Quickguide: The Dropbox (Page 5 of 8)

You can unzip this file, add your comments in the student submissions, and upload them when you are giving students feedback.

View Submissions Online, Leave Feedback and Enter a Score

The Leave Feedback 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. 1. From the main Dropbox page, click the name of the dropbox folder you wish to asses. 2. Click the Leave Feedback link beside the name of the student you want to assess (Figure 10). 3. Click the filename of the student submission to view it in the browser (Figure 11). Note: The online viewer will show common document file formats. For other file types, clicking the filename will prompt you to download the file. 4. In the Evaluation section, enter the student's score in the Score out of field, if applicable. 5. Enter your feedback for the student in the General Feedback field (Figure 12). 6. 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. 7. Click Save. 8. Click Next Student at the top of the screen to assess the next submission or Finish at the bottom to leave the grading screen.

Figure 10

Figure 11

Leave Audio Feedback

You can use Desire2Learn to directly record audio feedback on student submissions. Note that 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 Leave Feedback link beside the name of the student you want to leave feedback for. 2. Under Evaluation, click Record Audio (Figure 13).

Figure 12

Figure 13

Desire2Learn Quickguide: The Dropbox (Page 6 of 8)

3. The first time you use this feature, you will have to enable audio input through Adobe Flash. Click Allow and select Remember (Figure 14). 4. Click the red record when you are ready to speak into your microphone (Figure 15). You can enter up to a minute of audio feedback. 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 14

1. From the Folder Submissions page, click Email Unsubmitted Users or Email Unsubmitted Groups (Figure 16). 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. Note: If any member of a group submits an assignment to a group Dropbox folder, no one in that group is emailed when Email Unsubmitted Groups is selected.

Email Students Who Have Not Submitted an Assignment

Figure 15

Using Plageirism Detection through TurnItIn

TurnItIn allows you to check student work against a database of Internet sources, academic journals and publications, and student papers. In each submission, TurnItIn will highlight passages that match items in its database and provide links to the matched items in addition to providing an overall originality score. TurnItIn works for the following document types: MS Word, WordPerfect, PostScript, PDF, HTML, RTF, and plain text.

Figure 16

Desire2Learn Quickguide: The Dropbox (Page 7 of 8)

Note: TurnItIns originality score will count all matched text even if it is properly cited. Always look at the full originality report to verify plagiarism.

Enable Plagerisim Detection on a Dropbox Folder

To see plagiarism reports on student papers, you must first enable plagiarism detection on the Dropbox folder. You can do this as you are creating the folder or by editing it later. 1. On the Edit Folder page next to Plagiarism Detection, click Enable for this folder (Figure 17). 2. To modify advanced options, scroll to the bottom of the page and click Show Advanced Plagiarism Detection Options (Figure 18). To allow students to see the report and originality score, select Allow submitters to see Originality Reports. By default, all student submissions will be sent for plagiarism detection. To choose what submissions to check for plagiarism, select Identify individual submissions for plagiarism detection. To prevent TurnItIn for adding your students' papers to its database, deselect Allow other files to be checked against submission. 3. Click Save. You will be able to view the originality reports after students have submitted their work.

Figure 17

View Originality Reports

Note: Originality reports can take time to generate after the paper is submitted. It is usually only a few minutes, but it can take up to twenty-four hours. 1. On the main Dropbox page, click the name of the appropriate Dropbox folder. You will be taken to the submissions page. 2. Look at the list of submissions. The percentage in the Report column indicates the percent of the paper that TurnItIn matched in its database.
Figure 18

Desire2Learn Quickguide: The Dropbox (Page 8 of 8)

Note: If you set the folder to only check for plagiarism on certain students or if you enabled plagiarism detection after students already submitted an assignment, you will need to click the icon beneath the Report heading to submit the file to TurnItIn manually (Figure 19). You will then have to wait for the report to be generated. 3. Click the colored box next to the percentage to see the full originality report (Figure 20). Text matching a source document will be color coded and numbered with the corresponding sources list in the right-hand column. Click the source to view it in context. Note that if your student's paper matched a student paper at another university, you must request access from that University, which you can do by clicking on the source link.

Figure 19

Download the Originality Report

To download the originality report to your computer as printer-friendly PDF file, click the print/download icon on the bottom of the page (Figure 21). Note: You may have to allow pop-ups in your Web browser to download the PDF.
Figure 20