Homework has many benefits for students including learning how to work independently, staying organised and taking responsibility for their part in the educational process. It also gives them a chance to review the lesson and go over the material again.
Assignments give teachers the ability to track student progress and to see if the student understands the lesson content.
Microsoft’s Office 365 now provides another educational tool in their arsenal of productivity apps. Teams is a collaboration tool for your classes with the ability to have discussion threads, document sharing, class notebooks (see my previous post) and assignments.
In this post I’m going to focus on the assignment aspect of teams. You can follow the video guide or the blog post below, I hope this helps you get the most out of Microsoft Teams!
How to view assignments for your class
Inside your class, click on the “Assignments” tab to view a timeline of all the set assignments for this group.
You can select either a horizontal or vertical timeline view of the assignments using the view selector (highlighted yellow below).
How to create a new assignment
To start setting work for students, click the “New assignment” button.
You are then prompted to enter the details of the new assignment
- Assign to: Select which classes to assign to (you can set it to more than one of your classes here!)
- Title: This is the title of the assignment.
- Instructions: Include a description here to help the student complete the assignment.
- Due date and time: When the assignment becomes late (you have the option to allow late hand-in below)
- Late turn-in allowed: If this is enabled, students can still hand-in work after the due date. This is required if you are using class notebook pages.
- Points: Turn this on to allow a mark allocation. Currently these are only available as a number score.
Documents can be added from OneDrive, your computer or from the OneNote Class Notebook. We are hopeful that SharePoint and other class teams will be added to this soon! There are two options for attaching these resources.
Attach reference materials
These documents are for the student to view as part of the assignment. You might include a PowerPoint, links to useful websites, etc.
Specify what students will turn in
Documents uploaded in this section can be edited by the student and submitted back as part of the assignment. This is particularly useful for things like worksheets.
When you have finished the assignment, you can either save it as a draft or assign it to the class. As soon as this is assigned to the class, it will appear in their assignment timeline and they will get a notification on their team mobile and desktop apps.
How to review completed assignments
Use the review button to bring up the assignment timeline and assignment submissions.
Select the relevant assignment from the timeline to show the student work.
Each student has:
- Student work: Links to files that the student has returned.
- Date turned in: The date and time that the student submitted their assignment.
- Feedback: Some written feedback for the student.
- Points: If you have chosen to enable this in your assignment, you can give the student a grade.
Students will not be able to see your feedback or grade until the “Post” button is clicked.
Click the “Export to Excel” button to download a spreadsheet of the assignments.
The grades spreadsheet shows all the assignments set to this class over the school year. It optionally shows grades, if enabled per assignment. No more manual marksheets! You could use this data to import or fill in MIS marksheets quicker.
Mobile Apps
One of the best ways to engage with students both inside and outside of school using Teams is to encourage them to use the mobile app. Students get instant notifications of any mentions, homework or graded assignments.
Teams automation and customisation
Teams is free for schools, check you have the license enabled to start using it. At Cloud Design Box, we can provision teams from MIS data and create an engaging and simple dashboard to access team data in SharePoint. We can also create student folders inside team sites and extend the experience even further, making it easier and increasing student and teacher engagement. You can find out more information on our website https://clouddesignbox.co.uk/.
Hi Tony
I am trying to create an assignment from existing, however, the team/class I want to get the assignment from is not showing up when it asks “choose a class to re-use from”.
Is there a reason why the particular team won’t show up in the options?
Hi Lisa,
It should be there as long as you are still an owner of that team.
Thanks,
Tony
Hi Tony
I am trying to create an assignment from existing, however, the team/class I want to get the assignment from is not showing up when it asks “choose a class to re-use from”.
Is there a reason why the particular team won’t show up in the options?
Hi Lisa,
It should be there as long as you are still an owner of that team.
Thanks,
Tony
Hi,
I am a middle school teacher. I do use teams a lot. I will like to know How to send back students assignments with my feedback and comments, but blocking them from making any change. I have had several cases of students whom I sent back a corrected assignment for them to see my comments, but they have changed it and lied stating that that was the original. It is important for them to see my comments, to learn from mistakes, but no changes to be done.
Hi Maria,
I believe that the assignment system is designed to be a feedback loop for students to attempt work again. All you have to do to disable this is ensure the due date is set (before the date you mark the work) and you have disabled late hand-in. This will stop them being able to re-submit the assignment. If you wanted to check the version history (to prove the student handed in the original work), you could open the team in SharePoint (from the files tab), go to all site contents, then all student work. You can then see all the submitted work rather than in progress. If you have allowed them to submit the work multiple times, you can bring up the menu next to the file and view the version history.
Hope that helps,
Tony
Hi,
I am a middle school teacher. I do use teams a lot. I will like to know How to send back students assignments with my feedback and comments, but blocking them from making any change. I have had several cases of students whom I sent back a corrected assignment for them to see my comments, but they have changed it and lied stating that that was the original. It is important for them to see my comments, to learn from mistakes, but no changes to be done.
Hi Maria,
I believe that the assignment system is designed to be a feedback loop for students to attempt work again. All you have to do to disable this is ensure the due date is set (before the date you mark the work) and you have disabled late hand-in. This will stop them being able to re-submit the assignment. If you wanted to check the version history (to prove the student handed in the original work), you could open the team in SharePoint (from the files tab), go to all site contents, then all student work. You can then see all the submitted work rather than in progress. If you have allowed them to submit the work multiple times, you can bring up the menu next to the file and view the version history.
Hope that helps,
Tony
Hi I am middle school teacher and our school switched over to Teams for the school’s hybrid model during these COVID days. I found they are having problems turning in video assignments to me. There seems to be a limit of less than 1 minute, which is about 50-100 megs compared to what is said online that we would have up to 15Gb. Is there a way around this limit or am I missing something?
Hi David,
There is a limit of 50Mb files to turn in: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/turn-in-an-assignment-in-microsoft-teams-e25f383a-b747-4a0b-b6d5-a2845a52092b#:~:text=If%20your%20teacher%20specified%20a,need%20to%20leave%20the%20app..
However, there is a future update planned to extend this: https://microsoftteams.uservoice.com/forums/599053-schools-and-universities/suggestions/32635636-upload-assignment-files-larger-than-50mb.
In the meantime, student could upload to their OneDrive and share a link with the teacher, or alternatively, we (Cloud Design Box), create student folders in each team for large file submission as part of our product https://youtu.be/1Ps5z6XthOo?t=1010.
Hope that helps,
Tony
Hi I am middle school teacher and our school switched over to Teams for the school’s hybrid model during these COVID days. I found they are having problems turning in video assignments to me. There seems to be a limit of less than 1 minute, which is about 50-100 megs compared to what is said online that we would have up to 15Gb. Is there a way around this limit or am I missing something?
Hi David,
There is a limit of 50Mb files to turn in: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/turn-in-an-assignment-in-microsoft-teams-e25f383a-b747-4a0b-b6d5-a2845a52092b#:~:text=If%20your%20teacher%20specified%20a,need%20to%20leave%20the%20app..
However, there is a future update planned to extend this: https://microsoftteams.uservoice.com/forums/599053-schools-and-universities/suggestions/32635636-upload-assignment-files-larger-than-50mb.
In the meantime, student could upload to their OneDrive and share a link with the teacher, or alternatively, we (Cloud Design Box), create student folders in each team for large file submission as part of our product https://youtu.be/1Ps5z6XthOo?t=1010.
Hope that helps,
Tony
Hi…do you know if I can share and use my co-teachers Forms quizzes in my class Team as an assignment? When she assigned it in her classes Team she can see the kid’s work and it grades the quiz for her. When I used the URL for a quiz she created as an assignment in my classes Team it does not show me the work and it does not grade it for me- it just shows me that the student turned it in and then nothing else????…..any idea what I need to do differently?
Hi Terri,
I don’t think that is going to work, you will need to go to “Create” and “Quiz” when creating the assignment. You will then see a list of your quizzes. When it comes to using one that someone else has created, I’m not sure if shared quizzes come up in that list, that might be something you have to submit to uservoice as it would be very useful for departmental collaboration. https://microsoftteams.uservoice.com/forums/599053-schools-and-universities
Thanks,
Tony
If your colleague makes the quiz in Forms and then shares it with you using the Duplicate link then you will be able to make your own copy in Forms. This copy will then appear in the list of forms when you set an assignment using the quiz option. If you set a Forms quiz by adding it as a link to a normal assignment then you don�t see the scores in assignments – you have to go into Forms to see scores.
Thanks Jenny!
Hi…do you know if I can share and use my co-teachers Forms quizzes in my class Team as an assignment? When she assigned it in her classes Team she can see the kid’s work and it grades the quiz for her. When I used the URL for a quiz she created as an assignment in my classes Team it does not show me the work and it does not grade it for me- it just shows me that the student turned it in and then nothing else????…..any idea what I need to do differently?
Hi Terri,
I don’t think that is going to work, you will need to go to “Create” and “Quiz” when creating the assignment. You will then see a list of your quizzes. When it comes to using one that someone else has created, I’m not sure if shared quizzes come up in that list, that might be something you have to submit to uservoice as it would be very useful for departmental collaboration. https://microsoftteams.uservoice.com/forums/599053-schools-and-universities
Thanks,
Tony
If your colleague makes the quiz in Forms and then shares it with you using the Duplicate link then you will be able to make your own copy in Forms. This copy will then appear in the list of forms when you set an assignment using the quiz option. If you set a Forms quiz by adding it as a link to a normal assignment then you don�t see the scores in assignments – you have to go into Forms to see scores.
Thanks Jenny!
Hi Tony,
I have been using the assignments feature on Teams but no matter what I click or change or edit students do not have the option to add their work to the assignment. That +Add Work option is completely absent from the assignment page. Is there any reason this would be? Any help appreciated, thank you!
Laurs
Hi Laurs,
Have you checked to see if you have a start date or close date for the assignment? Students cannot upload work before the start date or after the close date.
Hope that helps,
Tony
Hi Tony,
I have been using the assignments feature on Teams but no matter what I click or change or edit students do not have the option to add their work to the assignment. That +Add Work option is completely absent from the assignment page. Is there any reason this would be? Any help appreciated, thank you!
Laurs
Hi Laurs,
Have you checked to see if you have a start date or close date for the assignment? Students cannot upload work before the start date or after the close date.
Hope that helps,
Tony
I am not able to submit my assignment in pdf form .. I am a student btw…everytime I am trying to submit it shows the file could not be attached it is not accessible… what should I do
Hi Lallu,
You are best reporting this to your teacher. Any issues with assignments would need to be logged with Microsoft by the school.
Thanks,
Tony
I am not able to submit my assignment in pdf form .. I am a student btw…everytime I am trying to submit it shows the file could not be attached it is not accessible… what should I do
Hi Lallu,
You are best reporting this to your teacher. Any issues with assignments would need to be logged with Microsoft by the school.
Thanks,
Tony
Hi Tony. I am a middle school teacher and would like to be able to post assignments for my students to complete, such as note taking, but I do not always want them to submit the assignment back to me for a grade. Is there a way that students can have access to the assignment without it showing up as past due if they don’t turn it in to me?
Hi Wendi,
When the assignment is over, you could select all the students and return the empty work so it is no longer in progress. It will then not show as outstanding or late for any of the students.
Hope that helps,
Tony
Hi Tony. I am a middle school teacher and would like to be able to post assignments for my students to complete, such as note taking, but I do not always want them to submit the assignment back to me for a grade. Is there a way that students can have access to the assignment without it showing up as past due if they don’t turn it in to me?
Hi Wendi,
When the assignment is over, you could select all the students and return the empty work so it is no longer in progress. It will then not show as outstanding or late for any of the students.
Hope that helps,
Tony
Hi Tony,
I’m using Microsoft Teams desktop app as a student.
In the assignments section, after clicking the add work button and uploading my homework, I deleted the file before click the “turn in” button. When I uploaded the same file again (exactly the same file and same file name), it uploaded the file by bringing 1 to the end of the file name, so as if I had never removed the file.
And when I tried it a few more times, the result was the same. Since I uploaded the same file, the filename increased to 2,3,4 🙂 It’s normal? Because I didn’t upload a new one without deleting the old one. How does it detect that it is the same file and put 1,2 … at the end of the filename? I didn’t understand then i changed the filename, uploaded it again and turned in.
I was wondering why did this happen?
And another thing I’m wondering, can the teacher see those files I deleted before I turned in?
Thanks in advance,
Best Regards
Hi Melisa,
Each time you upload the file it will be saved in SharePoint in the background. Even when you remove it from the assignment, it looks like it still keeps it in the SharePoint site. Your teacher shouldn’t see the other files in the assignment app but they probably could find them if they went routing around in the backend.
Hope that helps,
Tony
Can’t I remove the file from sharepoint, right? If it’s possible, how can i?
Thank you for your quick response and explanation.
Best Regards
I think you might be able to do that. If yoou:
1. Go to the files tab and click Open in SharePoint
2. Click “Site Contents”
3. Look for the Student Work library
4. Find your file in this folder structure and delete it
I wouldn’t normally recommend this as deleting the wrong file will break the assignment submission.
Tony
You have been very helpful, thank you a lot.
Best Regards
Hi Tony,
I’m using Microsoft Teams desktop app as a student.
In the assignments section, after clicking the add work button and uploading my homework, I deleted the file before click the “turn in” button. When I uploaded the same file again (exactly the same file and same file name), it uploaded the file by bringing 1 to the end of the file name, so as if I had never removed the file.
And when I tried it a few more times, the result was the same. Since I uploaded the same file, the filename increased to 2,3,4 🙂 It’s normal? Because I didn’t upload a new one without deleting the old one. How does it detect that it is the same file and put 1,2 … at the end of the filename? I didn’t understand then i changed the filename, uploaded it again and turned in.
I was wondering why did this happen?
And another thing I’m wondering, can the teacher see those files I deleted before I turned in?
Thanks in advance,
Best Regards
Hi Melisa,
Each time you upload the file it will be saved in SharePoint in the background. Even when you remove it from the assignment, it looks like it still keeps it in the SharePoint site. Your teacher shouldn’t see the other files in the assignment app but they probably could find them if they went routing around in the backend.
Hope that helps,
Tony
Can’t I remove the file from sharepoint, right? If it’s possible, how can i?
Thank you for your quick response and explanation.
Best Regards
I think you might be able to do that. If yoou:
1. Go to the files tab and click Open in SharePoint
2. Click “Site Contents”
3. Look for the Student Work library
4. Find your file in this folder structure and delete it
I wouldn’t normally recommend this as deleting the wrong file will break the assignment submission.
Tony
You have been very helpful, thank you a lot.
Best Regards
Hi Tony
I set a load of assignments in the main “assignments” section and assigned the assignment to a class team. It came up in their channel but not in the assignments section of that specific team. What am I doing wrong?
Many thanks
Jess
Hi Jess,
I’ve had a quick go at doing this and it did appear for me in the assignment section of the team. I wonder if it just needs a refresh? Did you add a schedule date?
Thanks,
Tony
Hi Tony
I set a load of assignments in the main “assignments” section and assigned the assignment to a class team. It came up in their channel but not in the assignments section of that specific team. What am I doing wrong?
Many thanks
Jess
Hi Jess,
I’ve had a quick go at doing this and it did appear for me in the assignment section of the team. I wonder if it just needs a refresh? Did you add a schedule date?
Thanks,
Tony
Hi Tony,
I was wondering whether there was a quicker way to sort assignments to make marking quicker. Is it possible to view all the assignments that have been handed in for the whole week in one place? I have used categories for each day of the week, however some children are completing Monday’s work on a Wednesday. Is there a way to have this sorted so that I don’t have to keep going through each individual assignment to find those that have been handed in?
Hi Ash,
That sounds like a good idea but I don’t believe that is possible at the moment. I would recommend adding this to the user voice site.
Thanks,
Tony
Hi Tony,
I was wondering whether there was a quicker way to sort assignments to make marking quicker. Is it possible to view all the assignments that have been handed in for the whole week in one place? I have used categories for each day of the week, however some children are completing Monday’s work on a Wednesday. Is there a way to have this sorted so that I don’t have to keep going through each individual assignment to find those that have been handed in?
Hi Ash,
That sounds like a good idea but I don’t believe that is possible at the moment. I would recommend adding this to the user voice site.
Thanks,
Tony
I administer tests remotely as an assignment with an attached Word Document that the students edit and submit. I have a close time and no late submissions allowed. If a student does not show up to class and the assignment closes I believe they can still access the test document correct? Is there a way to prevent this? If not, an entirely different test would need to be made for the students who accesses later and then wants to “make it up”. Thanks for you input.
Yes, they would still see any previous assignments they have been set. The only way would be to not set the test to the individual student.
I administer tests remotely as an assignment with an attached Word Document that the students edit and submit. I have a close time and no late submissions allowed. If a student does not show up to class and the assignment closes I believe they can still access the test document correct? Is there a way to prevent this? If not, an entirely different test would need to be made for the students who accesses later and then wants to “make it up”. Thanks for you input.
Yes, they would still see any previous assignments they have been set. The only way would be to not set the test to the individual student.
How do I access the feedback given to my students under the “Returned for Revision” tab, after they have received final feedback under “Returned” tab?
Is there a history of feedback comments?
Good question, I’ve asked our trainers and will get back to you.
Thanks,
Tony
Looks like the turn in History doesn�t save feedback so best thing to do would be to date feedback and then add and date final feedback on top. Version history does save student changes so if it�s a resource uploaded and edited you can go back and see what the student added following feedback too. Also realised you can minimise the marking pane so you can view version history better too.
Hope that helps,
Tony
How do I access the feedback given to my students under the “Returned for Revision” tab, after they have received final feedback under “Returned” tab?
Is there a history of feedback comments?
Good question, I’ve asked our trainers and will get back to you.
Thanks,
Tony
Looks like the turn in History doesn�t save feedback so best thing to do would be to date feedback and then add and date final feedback on top. Version history does save student changes so if it�s a resource uploaded and edited you can go back and see what the student added following feedback too. Also realised you can minimise the marking pane so you can view version history better too.
Hope that helps,
Tony