Instructor Guide: Assessment for Credit

The Private Forum is great for sharing paper drafts and providing formative feedback.

Open the Private Forum from the top section of your course. Select the student you want to write to from the Separate Groups drop down list (see screenshot).

IMPORTANT Do not post a message without first selecting a group. Students cannot respond to posts that are not in their group. If sending a message to all students, use the Course Announcements forum.

While not required, we recommend working with each student to set a schedule for submitting milestones and providing feedback. Students have up to 30 days to submit their final paper from the start date. 

During your initial meeting with each student, select and agree upon the start date for their assessment period. Using a date calculator, calculate the due date for that student 30 days after the start date.

The student will complete the Confirm start and due dates activity in the course to formally agree to the date requirements.

You can use Zoom for meeting with students and/or hosting office hours. Zoom offers many features that make virtual meetings more accessible for students with disabilities.

How do I get support with my LATTE course?

For technical questions or problems with your LATTE course, contact the Online Course Support Center. You can get support by phone or chat between 9am and 9pm Eastern. After hours, they offer 24/7 support via email. The link to the Online Course Support Center is available (1) linked below, (2) in the sidebar of this guide, (3) in the Getting Started section of your LATTE course, and (4) in the upper right block of your LATTE course. Please also bookmark this resource so you have easy access to these support services moving forward. 

How do my students get support for their LATTE courses?

If you receive a question from a student with a technical question or problem about a course or the LATTE site itself, please direct them to the Online Course Support Center. Questions about the course content, due dates, and assignments are within your purview to answer.

The link to the Online Course Support Center is available for students (1) in the Getting Started section of their LATTE/GPS courses and (2) in the upper right block of their LATTE/GPS courses. Students also receive 24/7 support from this service.

Students will upload and submit their final papers through the Final Portfolio Submission activity in LATTE. The only accepted file formats for the paper are Word Document (.doc/.docx), OpenDocument Format (.odt), and Portable Document Format (.pdf).

Accessing Submissions

1. In the Assessment for Credit: Portfolio section of the course page, click the link for the Final Portfolio Submission activity.
2. Scroll down and click the gray View all submissions button.
3. In the Grade column for the student you want to grade, click the blue Grade button to open the Grading & Feedback page for that student. 

Teacher View

Referring to the screenshot below, (1) view the student’s name and email address, (2) annotate the submission directly in the browser, (3) download the submission, (4) score using the rubric and add feedback for each criteria (see below for more details), (5) display the full-width rubric as a lightbox, (6) change the display width of the submission and rubric, and (7) save the changes or save and show the next student’s submission.

Using the Rubric and Providing Feedback

1. In the Grade section of the grading page, click the level that you think best describes the student's performance for each criteria. Once selected, the levels are highlighted in light green. To view all levels for each criteria, either scroll to the right within the rubric panel using your touchpad or click the icon to display the full rubric as a lightbox; click the icon again to close the lightbox.
2. To give written feedback by individual criterion, scroll all the way to the right to display the text entry field. Enter your comments in this text box. You can give comments for all criteria this way. If you have displayed the rubric as a lightbox, the text entry field will also be available on the far right.
3. To give general or overall comments on the submission, scroll down past the rubric. Enter comments in the Feedback comments entry box below the rubric.
4. If you chose to download the submission and add your comments in Word or Adobe, upload your annotated document to the Feedback files box.
5. When finished, click the blue Save changes button to stop grading or click the blue Save and show next button to grade the next student's submission.

NOTE: Brandeis is transitioning from Sage to Workday. As of 7/19/2021, the instructions below are still accurate. However, if you receive instructions via email that differ from the ones below, follow those instead. 

At the end of each GPS term, you will submit students' grades to the Registrar. This process is done through Sage, not LATTE. You will receive a reminder from GPS before your grades are due. Please note the following points:

• Grades must be entered for all students.
• Do not enter NG (No Grade) for any student.
• An Excused Incomplete (EI) grade may be entered only if a student has made documented arrangements with you.
• In cases where no such EI arrangements have been made and students have missing work, you must enter the final grade earned. If you have any questions about any of these situations, please contact Student Services. 
• For graduate students, please note that any grade below a B- is considered unsatisfactory and will not earn credit.