Overview

An essay assessment is an assessment type that requires learners to submit their response in essay form.  Learners use the built-in HTML editor to submit their essay and can include unlimited attachments—such as images, PowerPoint presentations, videos, and more—along with their response.

1. Access a course or class.
   
2. Click Assessments from the course/class navigation menu.
   
3. Click + Add.
   
4. Click Essay.
   
5. Enter the Essay assessment instructions and details in the Add Essay assessment pop-up.
   
6. Click Save.

1. Access the Essay assignment.
   
2. Click the Samples tab.
   
1. Note, you may have to click the three dot menu to access the Samples tab.
   
3. Click Add in the Sample answer section.
   
4. Use the HTML editor to add a sample answer.
   
5. Click Save.

The Edit pop-up displays.

1. Click the Options tab.
   
2. Select the Allow learners to comment on other student's submissions checkbox to enable the setting. 
   

Learner submissions

1. Access the Essay assessment.
   
2. Review the instructions.
   
3. Click Prepare answer.
   

1. Use the HTML editor to write an essay.
   
2. Learners can click Add attachments to upload one or more attachments such as Word documents, pictures, videos, and more.
   
3. Click Save and submit for grading once they are satisfied with their submission.
   
4. Or, learners can click Save but don't submit yet if they want to edit their work or add additional attachments.
   

1. Access the Essay assessment.
   
2. Click Prepare another answer.
   

1. Click the Submissions tab.
   

Please note if the attachment is very large, a notification will be sent to the learner that the file was unable to be converted to an attachment.

If learners have more than one submission they can view previous submissions:

1. Learners click History to view a history of all submissions.
   

On the History page, learners can view previous assessment submissions. To access a particular submission, learners:

1. Click the  icon in the Show column.
   

Scoring and grading Essay assessments

1. Click Assessments from the course navigation menu.
   
2. Click the Essay assessment.
   
3. Click the To score tab.
   
1. Academia platform users will click the To grade tab.
   
4. Click the icon in the Show/Score column.
   

1. Enter a score in the Score widget in the right panel.
   
2. Enter a comment in the Comment widget (optional).
   
3. Click Post to post the comment.
   

Please note that the annotations will be visible for learners only when you enter the score for the submission.

Peer-reviewed assessment

Peer reviewed assessments allow learners in a course to review each other's work via a rubric and add comments. This feature is available for Essay assessments in instructor-led and blended courses.

Please note that peer reviews are not used for grading purposes, only for providing useful feedback to other learners.

To use this feature, administrators must first install it in the App center. To install the app, administrators:

1. Click Admin in the primary navigation menu.
   
2. Click App center from the fly-out menu.
   
3. Install the Peer reviewed assessments app in the Assessment section.
   

1. Click Assessments from the course navigation menu.
   
2. Click the Essay assessment.
   
3. Click edit in the Assessment widget on the right panel.
   
4. Click the Options tab.
   
5. Check the Peer reviews checkbox.
   
6. Anonymous reviews: Enable this setting if you do not want learners to know who provided the peer review.
   
7. Assigning reviews: Select if you would like peer reviews to be assigned automatically or manually.
   

If an assessment has peer reviews enabled, it is indicated with the peer review icon on the course Assessments list.

1. Click Assessments from the course navigation menu.
   
2. Click the Essay assessment.
   
3. Click the Scores tab.
   
1. Academia platform users will click the Grades tab.
   
4. Review the Peers assigned column.
   

Manually assigning peers

1. Click assign in the Assigned peers widget.
   

1. Course learners display in the left column.
   
2. Users that are assigned for peer reviews are listed in the Selected column on the right. 
   
3. Select users and utilize the right and left arrows to add or remove users from the Selected  list.
   
4. Click Save.
   

Automatically assigning peers

1. Click Assessments from the course navigation menu.
   
2. Click the Essay assessment.
   
3. Click edit in the Assessment widget on the right panel.
   
4. Click the Options tab.
   
5. Select Automatically in the Assigning reviews section.
   

1. Reviews per user: Enter the number of reviews you would like per user. 
   
2. Peer assign date: Select the date for peers to be assigned.
   
1. Please note that if you leave the date field blank it will default to the due date of the assessment or the end date of the course if the assessment doesn't have a due date.
   

1. If enough learners have completed their assessments for peer review assignments to be made, each learner is notified they have assessments to review (notification shown below).
   
2. If automatic peer assignments cannot be made by the system, the instructor is sent a notification with the reason for the failure.
   

Please note that once automatic peer assessment is done, an instructor can still manually assign peers. 

1. Reviewers can fill in a rubric (if enabled for the assessment) or leave a comment in the right panel.
   

1. Click Assessments from the course navigation menu.
   
2. Select the Essay assessment.
   
3. Click the Reviews given tab to access reviews they have given.
   
4. Click the Reviews received tab to access reviews they have received.