Overview
This article explains how to grade an Individual Assignment in Harmonize. Individual Assignments can be graded manually or with Auto-Grading.
In Individual Assignments, Auto-Grading is based on Milestone completion. Instructors can create Milestone requirements for posts and comments.
Most Individual Assignments require students to create a single post, but instructors can also require multiple posts or comments, either on the same date or across multiple Milestone due dates.
Individual Assignment posts are private between the student and the instructor.
Review Milestone Due Dates & Auto-Grading Settings
To review or update Auto-Grading settings:
- Open your Individual Assignment.
- Click Edit near the top right of the Harmonize window.
- Select Milestone Due Dates & Auto-Grading.
- You will be taken to a list of settings:
- 1 Participation Auto-Grading
- 2 Late Participation
- 3 Minimum Word Count for Posts
- 4 Minimum Word Count for Comments
- 5 Points and Requirements for each Milestone
- 6 Adding Milestones
Note: Late Participation and Points will only be available if auto-grading is enabled.
- Click Publish when finished.
By default, Individual Assignments include one Milestone, but instructors can add additional Milestones. Multiple Milestones can be useful for activities such as journals, repeated submissions, revisions, or reflections.
Grade Individual Assignments in Canvas
In Canvas, instructors can grade Individual Assignments in SpeedGrader.
To open SpeedGrader:
- Navigate to the Canvas assignment for your Individual Assignment.
- Open SpeedGrader.
The student's Harmonize activity will appear on the left side of SpeedGrader.
The student activity summary may include:
- 1 Student Posts and Comments: The posts the student created for the Individual Assignment as well as any comments the student created on their own work.
- 2 Word Count and TurnItIn Plagiarism Score: The word count for the post as well as the TurnItIn Plagiarism score if TurnItIn integration was used.
- 3 Student Milestones: A summary of the student's Milestone completion and, if applicable, how points were awarded.
- 4 AI Feedback Results: Any and all feedback the student received from the AI Coach if AI Student Coaching was enabled and the student used it.
Use the student activity summary to review the student's work, then enter or adjust the student's grade in the Canvas SpeedGrader panel.
Most Individual Assignments will include a single student post, but an assignment may include multiple posts, comments, or both.
When Does Student Work Appear in Canvas SpeedGrader?
When student work appears in SpeedGrader depends on whether Milestones are configured.
If Milestones are configured
Student work appears in SpeedGrader when:
- The student completes all Milestones, or
- The due date for the final Milestone passes, even if the student has not completed all Milestones.
If the student has participated but has not completed all requirements when the final Milestone due date passes, their existing work is sent to SpeedGrader.
If a student does not participate in the activity, Harmonize sends nothing to SpeedGrader.
If the activity remains available and the student completes the work after the due date, Harmonize sends the work to Canvas at that time. Canvas will mark the submission as late.
If no Milestones are configured
Student work appears in SpeedGrader when the student publishes their first post.
If a student does not participate in the activity, Harmonize sends nothing to SpeedGrader.
Grade Individual Assignments in Blackboard, Brightspace, or Moodle
In Blackboard, Brightspace, and Moodle, instructors can grade Individual Assignments from Grades & Activity.
To grade an Individual Assignment:
- Open the Individual Assignment.
- Click Grades & Activity in the top right of the Harmonize window.
- Select a student from the list.
The students activity will appear on the left with grading options on the right.
The student activity summary may include:
- 1 Student Posts and Comments: The posts the student created for the Individual Assignment as well as any comments the student created on their own work.
- 2 Word Count and TurnItIn Plagiarism Score: The word count for the post as well as the TurnItIn Plagiarism score if TurnItIn integration was used.
- 3 Student Milestones: A summary of the student's Milestone completion and, if applicable, how points were awarded.
- 4 AI Feedback Results: Any and all feedback the student received from the AI Coach if AI Student Coaching was enabled and the student used it.
- 5 Harmonize Grading Panel: Grading options including a rubric (if used), Grade field, Comment field, and Submit & Next button to send the score to the Gradebook.
Use the student activity summary to review the student's work, then enter or adjust the student's grade.
How Auto-Grading Works in Individual Assignments
Auto-Grading is disabled by default. If Auto-Grading is enabled, Harmonize automatically awards points based on whether students complete the Milestone requirements for the activity.
For each Milestone, instructors can:
- Set the number of points available.
- Set requirements for posts and/or comments.
- Set minimum word counts, if applicable.
- Adjust the Complete By date.
By default, late participation does not earn points. If you want late participation to count toward the student's grade, you can allow late participation when configuring Auto-Grading.
Grades pass back to the LMS gradebook when either:
- The student completes all Milestone requirements, or
- The final Milestone due date passes.
If a student has only partially completed the activity when the final due date passes, Auto-Grading awards points based on the requirements the student completed.
If Auto-Grading is enabled, instructors can still manually override or adjust a student's grade.
Once a grade has been given, either manually or through Auto-Grading, the student's existing posts and comments are locked and can no longer be edited.
Respond to Student Work in Harmonize
Instructors can also respond directly to student work from the Individual Assignment itself. This view shows the activity as the student experiences it and is useful for giving feedback directly on or alongside the student's submission.
To respond to a student's post, click Reply.
You can then:
- Type a response.
- Record a video or audio response.
- Record your screen while reviewing the student's work.
- Attach files or other media.
You can also provide feedback directly on certain types of student work by clicking on the items:
- Documents, Slides, & Spreadsheets: Highlight text or add pins and make text comments.
- Images: Add pinned text or draw directly on the image.
- Videos: Add timestamped comments tied to specific moments in the video.
If you only need to leave a general grading comment, you will typically do that from the grading area in your LMS or in Grades & Activity. The reply and critique tools in the Individual Assignment are best for feedback that should appear directly with the student's work.
For more detailed instructions, see:
- Recording Video in Harmonize
- Recording Audio in Harmonize
- Screen Recording in Harmonize
- Document Critique
- Timestamped Video Feedback
- Creating Image Annotations
Reviewing Work Before All Milestones Are Complete
For Individual Assignments with multiple Milestones, instructors may want to review student work before the activity is ready for grading.
Open the Individual Assignment directly in Harmonize to review the student's current posts and comments. The activity view reflects the student's current work even if it has not yet been sent to Canvas SpeedGrader or reached the normal grading point in Harmonize.
In most cases, instructors should wait until the student completes all Milestones or the final Milestone due date passes before assigning the final grade.
Assigning Separate Grades for Individual Milestones
If you need to assign a separate grade for each stage of a multi-step Individual Assignment, a different LMS setup may be required.
For example, in Canvas, instructors can:
- Create the Harmonize Individual Assignment as an ungraded activity that contains the student work.
- Create separate No Submission Canvas assignments for each graded checkpoint.
- Assign points and due dates to each Canvas assignment.
- Review the student's work in Harmonize while entering the appropriate grade in the corresponding Canvas assignment.
Because the student work and grades are housed in separate activities, instructors may find it helpful to open Harmonize and the LMS Gradebook in separate windows while grading.
Contact Harmonize Support if you need help setting up this type of workflow.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. Can students see one another's Individual Assignment submissions?
- No. Individual Assignments are private between each student and the instructor.
Q. Can an Individual Assignment include more than one post?
- Yes. Although many Individual Assignments require only one post, instructors can use Milestones to require multiple posts, comments, or both.
Q. Can students submit more than one type of content in a post?
- Yes. A single post can include multiple types of content, including text, documents, images, audio, video, and screen recordings.
Q. Why don't I see a student's work in Canvas SpeedGrader yet?
- If the assignment uses Milestones, the work will not appear in SpeedGrader until the student completes all Milestones or the final Milestone due date passes.
- To review work before then, open the Individual Assignment directly in Harmonize.
Q. What happens if a student has not submitted anything by the due date?
- If the student has not participated at all, Harmonize has no work to send for grading.
- If the activity remains available and the student completes the work later, the work will become available for grading at that time. In Canvas, the submission will be marked late.
Q. Does late participation earn points?
- By default, late participation does not earn points when Auto-Grading is enabled.
- Instructors can allow late participation to earn points in the Milestone Due Dates & Auto-Grading settings.
Q. Can I manually change an Auto-Grade?
- Yes. Auto-Grading can be manually overridden or adjusted.
Q. Can I use minimum word counts?
- Yes. Instructors can set minimum word counts for Individual Assignment posts.
- Only text entered directly in the Harmonize text box counts toward the minimum word count. Text contained in uploaded documents does not count.
Q. Can I use a rubric to grade an Individual Assignment?
- Yes. Harmonize Individual Assignments can include Harmonize rubrics.
- Canvas instructors can also attach a Canvas rubric to the Canvas assignment and use it in SpeedGrader. Canvas rubrics cannot be used for Harmonize AI Coaching.