terraMOO NEWBIE Guide
Assessment in a MOO Using VASE

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To access the Virtual Assignment Server (VASE), go to your XPress Options.

The list of VASE assignments available for students to log into contains the name of the assignment, the course it is associated with, the name of the designer along with sign in and management options.

Students would scroll through the list to find the one they wanted to do and then click on the assignment title to initiate the subscription process.

A cover page for a VASE assignment follows a template that allows you to control and describe a number of features:

• the title of the assignment
• a subtitle of appropriate
• the course it is associated with
• a description. The first paragraph of the description is what will appear in the assignment list.
• evaluation criteria
• a hotlist of online references
• a biobiography of suggested other resources
• a further information link

Students can subscribe to this assignment from here by selecting to work on the project.

From this screen, designers can also manage and edit their assignment.

When working on a VASE assignment, students are presented with a FORM that they fill in.

Typically, VASE assignments are divided into SECTIONS - each section represents a thing the designer wants the student to do. Within each section, places that students can enter their responses are designed by the designer. Instructions for using the entry points are specified by the designer.

There is a reasonable variety of types of entry available in a VASE assignment to cater for a wide variety of assessment tasks.

Students working on their VASE assignments can SAVE and VIEW often (it is recommended they do this every 5-10 minutes). Each time they do this, their current work is written into the MOO database and therefore cannot be lost.

Students would press the BACK button to continue working after a save.

Notice in this instance, the student has ticked the "Allow this project's designer to view and comment on your work" box - this is particularly useful in receiving feedback during the writing process.

When a student is ready to submit their assignment (when finished), they click on the Save and Hand in Project button. They are reqired to CONFIRM that choice so it is less likely they can co it by accident.

Once an assignment is handed in, the student can no longer edit it - this is as it should be as it is now the designers job to assess it.

As project manager, you control many aspects of your assignment other than the design.

In this screen, you can see those assognments HANDED IN, those MARKED VIEWABLE by the participant (ie. not handed in) and a list of participants that have made a start on the assignment.

To mark a student's assignment, you click on the link in the "Ready for Evaluation" area. Notice that the MOO tells you WHEN the assignment was handed in - students cannot change this and gives you an absolute measure of the lateness of the assignment should mark penalties apply.

Sometimes students accidentally hand in an assignment before they are ready - you can undo that for them from this screen.

Public assignments are not generally a good idea as unless you want other students to be able to see completed assignments.

You can ARCHIVE or DELETE the assignment from here also when you are finished. Archived assignments do not appear in the VASE list. Deleted assignments cease to be - this is un-recoverable so be careful!

After clicking on any tick-boxes you deem appropriate, you must press the MAKE THESE CHANGES button.

When you ARCHIVE an assignment, it is removed from the list of active assignments - when you created it however, a link was created in your MY STUFF.

When you want to use the assignment again, go to your stuff, click on the link, manage it and uncheck the archive box.

Making a new VASE assignment is easy but BEFORE YOU BEGIN you need to have a clear idea of what you want your students to do and how you want them to do it.

VASE assignments suit certain sorts of writing and research tasks, NOT others - so use the tool prudently.

When starting out, you are asked some introductory details about your assignment such as:

• Title
• Course
• Number of Sections
• Description

The number of SECTIONS usually corresponds the the number of things you are going to ask your students to do.

The Description should be verbose and helpful - the first paragraph will appear in the VASE project listing screen.

You fill out the boxes then press the CREATE THIS PROJECT button.

General information about theassignment can now be specified, including:

• Logo
• Background colour
• Link colour
• Background image
• Submission options
• Number of sections

Save and continue on completion.

In this part of teh assignment creation process, you as teh designer get to choose what format the student will use to respond. You have many options for each section including:

• Title
• Subtitle
• Paragraph(s)
• Inset paragraph(s)
• Bulletted list
• Numbered list
• URL
• Image URL
• Audio URL

It should be noted that if you want your students to include illustrations, the images must be on the 'net somewhere already - they merely point to the URL of the image!

You are now required to enter the directions students are to take for each of your sections. You need to be careful that the directions are clear, and tell the students what to do where - a good measure of the quality of your instructions is HOW MANY QUESTIONS you get asked when the students are using your assignment.

It is usual to let students know what they should do with each input field you have created. Experience has shown that simple sections (lots of them) work better than complex sections (relatively few of them) but you need to see what works best for you and your classes.