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Dropbox for Instructors


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Overview

Dropbox Setup

 

Editing the Dropbox

Student Submissions

About the Dropbox

The Dropbox provides a convenient way for students to electronically submit individual and group assignments and is a great way to have a paperless or nearly paperless course. You can provide feedback, assign grades, and return submissions with track changes all from a single location.

To access the Dropbox tool from your Course Home page, click the Dropbox link on the course navigation bar located near the top of the screen. The Dropbox Folder List will open and has five icons that run along the top of the screen: Folder List, New Folder, Re-Order, Delete, and Preview.

List of Dropbox icons

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Creating Dropbox Folders

To create a new Dropbox folder:

(The University Libraries have created a great resource for your students to assist them with avoiding plagiarism. We recommend placing the link in the Description box so that your students have it available when they submit their assignment. http://www.library.arizona.edu/help/tutorials/plagiarism/index.html)

  1. New Folder, located near the top of the Dropbox Folder List screen. Clicking New Folder will bring you to the Properties tab in the New Folder screen.

    Instructor view of Properties tab

  2. Type the name of the folder in the Name field.
  3. Decide whether or not this folder will contain individually completed assignments or group assignments. Once you have made your decision, select either Individual submission folder or Group submission folder under the Folder Type options. Please note that Group submission folder will only be available if you have already created Groups. 
  4.  If you select Group Submission Folder, use the Group Category drop down menu to select the appropriate set of groups for the assignment.
  5. If you will have several assignments that are similar, you may want to organize your Dropbox folders into categories. If you have already created Dropbox Categories, simply select the appropriate category from the Category drop down menu. You can also create a new Category by clicking New Category.

  6. In the Custom Instructions text box, you can type in any instructions you wish to convey to your students regarding the assignment. You can choose to enter text into one of two HTML Editors.  One tab, located above the text box, is labeled "Basic;" the other is "Advanced."  Both offer access to the Spell Check Spell Check Icon and Preview Preview Icon features. 
  7. If you would like students to be able to download a template form or a sample of a completed assignment, you can click the Add a File button under Attached Files to add a downloadable file for student use.
  8. You have the option to create submission options. These options include limiting the number of files allowed per submission as well as what should be done with submissions.

    9. options for dropbox submissions

  9. Click Save to save your changes.

    10. Using TurnItIn Plagarism Detection with a D2L Dropbox Folder

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To enable the TurnItIn's plagarism reports:

  1. Check the box to the right of Plagiarism Detection.

  2. After checking the Plagiarism Detection checkbox, a Plagiarism Detection Options section will appear at the bottom of the screen. Click Show Advanced Plagiarism Detection Options to reveal  different options for what the students are able to see and what TurnItIn will be checking submissions agains.

 

Please Note:

  1. When students upload a file to a D2L Dropbox folder that has plagiarism detection enabled, they will be required to accept a TurnItIn agreement that informs them their work will be stored in the TurnItIn database of papers. We recommend informing students at the beginning of the term that the course will be using TurnItIn and that if they have any concerns about this, they should contact you to discuss it.
  2. TurnItIn only supports the following file types. The use of any other file types may result in an originality report not being generated.

    +MS Word (.doc, .docx)
    +WordPerfect (.wpd)
    +PostScript (.eps)
    +Portable Document Format (.pdf)
    +HTML (.htm)
    +Rich Text (.rtf)
    +Plain Text (.txt) 

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 To connect your Dropbox to your Gradebook:

  1. If you have already created a Gradebook in D2L, you can choose to link your Dropbox folder to the corresponding grade item by selecting the item from the Grade Item drop down menu. You can also click New Grade Item to add a new item to your gradebook.
  2. If you choose to connect your Dropbox folder to a grade item, you will need to enter the value of the grade item in the Out Of field.
  3. Click Save to save your changes.

To add accessibility conditions to your Dropbox: 

  • Click the Restrictions tab for more Dropbox options:

Instructor view of Restrictions tab

  • Availability
    1. If you would like to set a start date to limit when your students can submit your Dropbox folder, check the box to the left of Only allow submissions after this date. Then use the Date and Time drop down menus to select your start date.
    2. If you would like to set an end date for your Dropbox folder, check the box to the left of Only allow submissions before this date. Then use the Date and Time drop down menus to select your end date.
    3. If you choose to set start/end dates for your folder, you may also select to Add Event to Schedule. Doing so will place the dates on the Events widget on the Course Home screen for students to see.
  • Additional Release Conditions - Click Create and Attach to add release conditions to your Dropbox folder.

To add accessibility exceptions to your Dropbox restrictions: 

  • Special Access - You can allow students with Special Access to submit assignments outside the normal availability dates for the Dropbox folder by clicking the Add Students to Special Access button.

Adding special access

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Creating Dropbox Categories

Creating Dropbox Categories allows you to better organize your folders. To create a category:

  1. Click the Edit icon Edit Iconto the right of the folder you would like to assign to a category.
  2. Click the New Category link to the right of the category field.

    New Dropbox Category pop up window

  3. Type the category Name.
  4. Click Save. The folder you are editing will automatically be placed in this new category.
  5. Click Save to save the changes to your Dropbox folder.

Please Note: You can also create a Dropbox category by clicking New Category when creating a new folder.

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Editing Dropbox Folders and Categories

To change Dropbox category or Dropbox folder information, simply click the Edit icon Edit Icon to the right of the category or folder name.

Dropbox folder list with emphasis on Edit Icons

You may also choose to edit several folders at one time by checking the box to the left of each folder and then clicking the Edit icon Edit Icon that can be found at the top and bottom of the Dropbox Folder List.

Please Note: When choosing to edit several folders at once, it is important to keep in mind that you will only be able to edit Folder Name, Dropbox Category, and Date Availability.

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Deleting Dropbox Folders

PLEASE NOTE: DELETING A DROPBOX FOLDER WILL PERMANENTLY DELETE ANY STUDENT FILES THAT HAVE BEEN SUBMITTED TO THAT FOLDER.

To delete Dropbox Folders:

  1. Click Delete located near the top of the Dropbox Folders List.
  2. Select the folders you would like to delete by checking the box to the left of the folder name.
  3. Click Delete Selected.

    4. Delete confirmation window

  4. Click Delete on the window that opens. If you have deleted all folders within a category, the Dropbox Category will no longer be visible to you on the Dropbox Folders List. It will only be available from the Category drop down menu on the Properties tab

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Deleting Dropbox Categories

To delete Dropbox Categories:

  1. Click the Delete Category icon to the right of the category that you would like to delete.

    2. delete button

  2. Click Delete on the window that opens. Deleting a Dropbox Category does not automatically delete the folders inside that category. Confirm Delete Category

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Re-Ordering Dropbox Folders and Categories 

When creating Dropbox Folders and Dropbox Categories, new folders are automatically placed at the top of the Folders List, unless they are assigned to a category; in which case they are placed at the bottom of the category. New categories are automatically placed at the end of the list.

Dropbox Folders and Categories:

  1. From the Dropbox Folders screen, click Re-Order located near the top of the Dropbox Folders List.
  2. Use the drop down menus to the right of each category and folder to select the order you would like them to go in and hit save when finished.

Dropbox re-order screen

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Viewing Student Submissions

When students have started to upload submissions to Dropbox Folders you will be able to keep track of how many files have been submitted, how many you have read, and how many you have flagged:

Instructor view of submission updates

Viewing the Users Tab

  1. To begin viewing student submissions, click the name of the folder the files were uploaded to.
  2. Notice that you are automatically taken to the Users tab of Folder Submissions.

    3. View of student submissions

  3. Click the name of a file to open it
  4. If you would like to download more than one file to your computer at a time, check the box to the left of each file and then click Submissions from selected users.
  5. Use the icons that run along the top and bottom of the list of student submissions to manage the files.

    6. Download icon - Download selected files
    Dropbox email icon - Email selected users
    Mark as read icon - Mark selected files as read
    Mark as unread icon - Mark selected files as unread
    - Delete selected files

Viewing the Files Tab

Click the Files tab to view a simplified list of files that have been submitted. On this tab, you can sort submissions by file name, date submitted, or who the file was submitted by. This is done by clicking the words Files, Submission Date, or Submitted By.

Instructor view of submitted files

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Searching Student Submissions

There are several different Search options that will help you sort through students' submissions. These options can be used on both the Users tab and the Files tab.

Instructor view of all search options

  • Use the View By drop down menu to sort by users, groups, or sections.
  • Use the Search For field and the Search In options to find specific student names.
  • Use the Last submission after and Last submission before drop down menus to narrow your list of student submissions to a particular time frame.
  • Use the Feedback drop down menu to sort through all students, students who have already been give feedback, or students who have not yet received feedback.

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Flagging Student Submissions

Dropbox allows you to flag student submissions for easy reference. To do so:

  1. Click the name of the folder you would like to view submissions for.
  2. Click the Flag icon to the left of the file name.

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Viewing TurnItIn Originality Reports

An Originality Report takes approximately 15 minutes to generate. The generation of the report starts as soon as the file has been successfully submitted. If the report is still being generated then you will see the phrase, "In Progress." It will be displayed to the right of the file name until the report is finished and then it will be replaced by a percentage bar graph.

Click the percentage bar graph to see the file's originality report.

Clicking the percentage bar graph displays the report in a new window. Each section of material that is similar to an existing text will be highlighted, numbered, and have a corresponding number to the right that will display the location of the similar text.

To view a source document, click  the > arrow or hyperlink on the right side. A popup window will appear. Click on Full Source View (in the upper right of popuup window) to view the entire document displayed on rightside of main window. 


Leaving Feedback and Grading Student Submissions

The Leave Feedback screen now enables you to view submitted assignments, interact with student profile data, leave feedback and grade a document all within one screen.

This screen can be broken into two main areas: a panel which contains student Submissions and the Evaluation panel. The Submissions List Panel allows to to download submissions to grade on your desktop or you can view them directly from the screen with the document viewer. To assign a grade and leave comments for a student, you would use the area on the right, the Evaluation panel.

The following file formats are are viewable online with the Dropbox document viewer:

MS Word (.doc, .docx)
MS PowerPoint (.ppt, .pptx, .pps)
Adobe Acrobat (.pdf)
Web (.htm, .html)
Plain text (.txt)
Images (.bmp, .gif, .jpg, .jpeg, .png)

NOTE: If you would like to make notes within a student’s document, the file would have to be a web file or a plain text file. Any other file type will nto allow you to edit directly within the Dropbox screen.

Access the Leave Feedback page

From the Folder Submissions page, click Leave Feedback beside the student’s name.

View a file submission in the document viewer

Viewing a file within the document viewer is only possible from the Leave Feedback screen. Click on the Leave Feedback link, and then click on the file that you would like to view. It will then appear within the document viewer on that screen.

Evaluating and grading submissions

If you’re using a Rubric to grade the assignment

  1. You can associate a rubric with a particular assignment and dropbox folder. You are able to provide scoring based on the criteria set up as well as give general and criterion-related feedback.
  2. Click on the associated rubric underneath Evaluation.
  3. In your associated rubric, choose a score for each criterion. You may also edit feedback for each criterion
  4. Select transfer rubric feedback to general feedback for the assignment.
  5. Click Save & Record to push your rubric assessment score and feedback into the submission's overall score and feedback area. If you would like to keep the rubric score separate from the overall score and prevent the transfer of rubric feedback into general feedback, click only Save.

If you are grading the assignment without a Rubric

 

  1.  
    1. You can enter the assignemtn scoore directly into the “Score out of” field. If you have associated a grade item with the Dropbox, you will see the informaiton listed next to the input box.
    2. Any comments or feedback you’d like to provide can be typed into the General Feedback field. Please note that any feedback you leave then using a rubric will populate into this box. It can be edited directly, however, this will not change any feedback left within the Rubric itself.
    3. You can Add a File or Record Audio as feedback.
    4. Click Save.

    2. Please Note: We strongly recommend only entering Feedback through the Dropbox tool for any folder that is connected to the Grades tool. Please do not use the Grades tool to leave feedback for Grade Items that are connected to the Dropbox tool. As long as you follow this rule then you will be all set. Whatever feedback is in the feedback box when you save will still be there when you are done saving, allowing you to continue to add text to the Dropbox Feedback box as often as you like for any student.

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