Preferences...3 Basic Calculator...5 Math/Graphing Tools...5 Help...6 Run System Check...6 Sign Out...8

Transcription

1 CONTENTS GETTING STARTED SYSTEM SETUP FOR CENGAGENOW USING THE HEADER LINKS Preferences Basic Calculator Math/Graphing Tools Help Run System Check Sign Out As a live, Web based program, CengageNOW is regularly updated with new features and improvements. Please refer to the CengageNOW online Help for the most current information. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. i

2 Contents MANAGING COURSES SETTING UP COURSES AND SECTIONS Building a Course Manually Copying an Existing Course Importing a Course Using Your Course/Section Created Page Creating Course Sections MODIFYING COURSES Editing Course Information Setting the Courses Page Display Options Viewing Your Course Summary USER ENROLLMENT OPTIONS CREATING AND MANAGING ASSIGNMENTS USING THE ASSIGNMENTS PAGE Uploading Files Advanced Assignment Page Options CREATING ASSIGNMENTS Assignment Types Overview Starting the Assignment Creation Process CREATING A HOMEWORK OR TEST ASSIGNMENT Available Questions Choosing the Content Source Select Included Questions CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016

3 Contents CREATING MEDIA QUIZ ASSIGNMENTS CREATING A READING ASSIGNMENT CREATING A SELF ASSESSMENT ACTIVITIES ASSIGNMENT CREATING A COLLEGE SUCCESS FACTORS INDEX ASSIGNMENT CREATING AN ASSIGNMENT FROM STUDY TOOLS Creating Assignable Study Tool Assignments USING AN ASSIGNMENT ALREADY IN YOUR ACCOUNT CREATING AN EXTERNAL WEB LINK ASSIGNMENT CHOOSING ASSIGNMENT OPTIONS Option Sets MANAGING AND EDITING ASSIGNMENTS Using the Assignment Created/Summary Pages Editing Assignments PRINTING ASSIGNMENTS Setting Printing Options Editing Headers and Footers CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016

4 Contents ARCHIVING ASSIGNMENTS Using the Archived Materials Page Archiving Your Materials Retrieving Archived Assignments Copying Items from Archived Materials Deleting Archived Items WORKING WITH ASSIGNMENT TEMPLATES Using the Assignment Templates Page Creating a WebQuiz Importing and Exporting Assignment Templates MANAGING GRADES GRADEBOOK TERMINOLOGY USING THE GRADEBOOK OVERVIEW PAGE Basic Options Gradebook Preferences Filtering Gradebook Assignments Using an External Gradebook Column Creating and Editing Custom Grading Categories EDITING GRADE DETAILS Editing Assignment Scores Editing Problem Scores Adjusting Multiple Assignment Scores USING THE STUDENT GRADE DETAILS PAGE CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016

5 Contents EDITING ASSIGNMENT DETAILS Assignment Details Page Basic Options Assignment Details Page Advanced Options QUERYING STUDENT DATA CUSTOMIZING ASSIGNMENT OPTIONS FOR SPECIFIC STUDENTS EXPORTING A COURSE GRADEBOOK CREATING GRADE REPORTS Student Responses Report Learning Outcomes Report Student Response Statistics Report Custom Report VPL Report VBL4 Report MANAGING USER ENROLLMENT MANUALLY ENROLLING INSTRUCTORS OR STUDENTS Manually Enrolling Instructors Manually Enrolling Students Enrolling Yourself as a Student Removing Users from a Course or Section USING THE STUDY TOOLS PAGE WORKING WITH STUDY TOOLS CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016

6 Contents AUTHORING IN CENGAGENOW WORKING WITH SELF AUTHORED QUESTIONS CREATING FOLDERS FOR SELF AUTHORED QUESTIONS CREATING NEW QUESTIONS Working with the Problem Editor The Problem Editor Toolbar The HTML Editor Creating a True/False Question ACCESSING CENGAGE TECHNICAL SUPPORT USING YOUR LMS TECHNICAL SUPPORT CONTACTING NELSON TECHNICAL SUPPORT CENGAGENOW SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS INDEX CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016

7 GETTING STARTED Welcome to CengageNOW, the course management and learning system that gives you easy, online access to your courses, materials, and students at your pace and on your schedule. This comprehensive User Guide serves as reference manual to help instructors get started using CengageNOW. When setting up and managing your instructional materials, you can refer to this guide for helpful information. Note: Because of the variety of Learning Management Systems, the availability of some features can vary depending on the LMS used to access CengageNOW. Audience This guide helps instructors get started with CengageNOW when accessed through their institution s Learning Management System. The focus is on helping instructors when managing their account, creating assignments, managing their gradebook, setting up a course, and overseeing course enrollment (when available). The CengageNOW Gradebook Page CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 1

8 Getting Started SYSTEM SETUP FOR CENGAGENOW To use CengageNOW, all you need is an Internet connection and a computer with basic requirements running a Windows or Macintosh operating system. To check your computer s ability to run CengageNOW and find links for the supported Web browsers and plug ins, see the CengageNOW System Requirements on page 207. After signing in, it is advised that you run the CengageNOW System Check from the Global Actions Menu (person icon) at the top of most pages. If you need to make any updates, you can click the help icon in the System Check s Results pane to access instructions for browser settings and directions for downloading the appropriate add ons. USING THE HEADER LINKS The global navigation area at the top (header) of most pages in CengageNOW provides a convenient menu of helpful tools and options. Here you will find the links that open your Course (or Courses), Assignments, Gradebook, and Study Tools pages. The link to the page you currently have in focus is highlighted in blue. The Header Links It s important to always use the buttons and links provided in CengageNOW to log out or go to another page. If you use your browser's Close button or Back/Forward buttons instead, you may unintentionally lose modifications from your current session. Note: When your browser window is scaled down, the header links to your pages in CengageNOW are consolidated into a single drop down menu. On the top right side of most page headings in CengageNOW are two buttons that provide you with help and useful resources. Global Actions Menu Click this button to access a list of system Tools and Help options. Use a link below to see details on a specific system resource: CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 2

9 Getting Started Preferences Preferences on page 3 Basic Calculator on page 5 Math/Graphing Tools on page 5 Help on page 6 Run System Check on page 7 Sign Out on page 8 Cengage Technical Support Click this icon to open the Cengage Learning tech support site in a new browser window. This site contains helpful links to downloads, tutorials, a live online chat, and articles for instructors and students. The Preferences link, available from the Global Actions Menu (person icon), opens a window that allows you to control the general appearance of your CengageNOW pages and determines access to certain advanced features. When you are finished changing your preferences, click Save These Changes to keep them, or Cancel exit without saving. Your changes will take effect when you load a new page. The Preferences Window CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 3

10 Getting Started Setting display options This setting lets you control the default appearance of all CengageNOW pages with Show All Options/Hide All Options links. To show all options by default on all pages, select Show All Options. To hide any additional or expert options by default on all pages, select Hide All Options. Selecting Hide All Options will keep additional or expert options out of the way until you need them. If you use the expert options frequently, you may wish to have your CengageNOW pages show them by default. You can always change this setting manually on any page. Table length This setting allows you to set page lengths of 20, 50, or 100 items. For example, you can use this setting to display a list of 100 students as one page of 100 students, two pages of 50 students each, or five pages of 20 students each. To divide long lists of information, select the check box for Break up a table into separate pages when it contains more than the following number of entries. You can then select the number of entries per page from the adjacent drop down menu. To display long pages displaying the complete list of entries, clear the check box. Order of assignments in dropdown menus Use this setting to select the default sorting method for assignment lists throughout CengageNOW, such as those in the Assignments and Gradebook pages. Printing Options Click View/Select Print Options to specify how your assignments will be printed. You can also access Printing Options from the Assignments and Assignment Templates pages. See Printing Assignments on page 99 for details. Note: Some printing options won't be available unless you have an assignment selected. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 4

11 Getting Started Account Information Basic Calculator Click View/Change Account Information to open the Change Account page. You can use this page to update contact details, language preferences, password, account settings, , and other information associated with your user profile. (This option is not available to all accounts.) Clicking this link in the Global Actions Menu opens CengageNOW s Basic Calculator in a pop up window. This provides you with quick access to a simple calculator that includes functions for addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, erasing the last digit or number, and clearing all. For advanced calculations, use the scientific Calculator which is located in Global Actions Menu > Math/Graphing Tools. Note: When taking an assignment, students may see an additional link to the Basic Calculator. Math/Graphing Tools Clicking this link in the Global Actions Menu (person icon) opens the CengageNOW Math/Graphing Tools. This window offers tools to assist users with authoring questions, completing assignments. and taking tests. Math/Graphing Tools CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 5

12 Getting Started Help The heading in the Math/Graphing Tools window will provide you with links to the following features. Calculator. A scientific calculator. 2D Grapher. Enter expressions to create two dimensional graphs that include circles, arcs, parabolas and other shapes. 3D Grapher. Enhanced to include a graphing toolbar, the 3D Grapher is scalable on 3 axes. Customizable number of grid spots allows greater flexibility in creating graphs. Graphs can be rotated, and the screen offers zoom capability. Math Glossary. A list of math terms. Math Syntax. This reference lists common math terms, describes them and provides examples of correct syntax. Shapes Library. Create and modify basic shapes in your graphs without writing complex expressions. Units Translation. This tool easily converts a wide range of units, from Activity to Work and Energy. While using CengageNOW, you can get online help by opening the Global Actions Menu (person icon) in the heading of almost any page. Clicking this link opens a drop down menu where you can select between accessing the Textual Help or running a diagnostic System Check. Some systems may also provide a link to a series of Training Videos. Clicking the Textual Help link opens the entire CengageNOW Help System from its introduction, with the associated Table of Contents, Search, and Index tabs displayed. On most CengageNOW pages, you can get help for specific features by clicking an adjacent help icon. When you open the CengageNOW Help System by clicking one these icons, the Contents, Search, and Index tabs are hidden. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 6

13 Getting Started Run System Check Clicking the Run System Check link in the Global Actions Menu (person icon) starts the CengageNOW System Check. This is a test used to confirm that your system and browser settings meet the CengageNOW System Requirements. If you should need to make changes to your browser settings or update any software, the System Check s Results pane will provide you with a link that opens a specific page in the CengageNOW Help system containing the appropriate instructions or download links. Action: To run a CengageNOW System Check 1 Open the Global Actions Menu (person icon) at the top of the page and click Run System Check. The CengageNOW System Check opens in a new browser window. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 7

14 Getting Started Action: To run a CengageNOW System Check 2 When the process is finished, check the Results pane for information on downloads or help topics. 3 Click the Contact Tech Support link if you need further assistance with updating your system. 4 Click the Close Window link at the top of the window to exit. Note: Also see the CengageNOW System Requirements on page 207 for additional details on updating your system. Sign Out Use the Sign Out link in the Global Actions Menu (person icon) to close your current session. This officially logs you out of CengageNOW and informs the system that you are done. If you simply close the browser window without signing out, there is a chance that you may lose unsaved work, or that your session will not terminate successfully. Your log in session expires automatically after 2 hours of inactivity, however, a warning overlay will pop up to inform you when 10 minutes remain. If you are using your account normally you do not need to worry about your session expiring. Each time you click to load a new page or save an entry, your session timer resets. Be sure to sign out by clicking the Sign Out link if you need to leave your computer for an extended period. Note: Always use the provided CengageNOW buttons and links to go to another page. If you use your browser s Close button or Back/Forward buttons instead, you may unintentionally lose work from your current session. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 8

15 MANAGING COURSES In CengageNOW a course serves as a container for managing and organizing the assignments, grades, and other activities and information you provide online for your students. Some institutions may supply you with a Course Summary page that simply serves as a handy reference to important information about your prebuilt course. In this case, you are not required to create your own course. When your CengageNOW course is set up in your primary learning management system, you can immediately begin creating new assignments, managing any existing assignments, and monitoring your Gradebook. The Course Summary Page See Setting Up Courses and Sections on page 11 if your version of CengageNOW supplies a Courses page with course management features. Note: The Course Key appearing on the Course Summary page is used only by other instructors to create a copy of your course. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 9

16 Managing Courses Basic Course Summary Page Features Course Summary The name of the course you are currently logged into. Instructor's Course Key This is the key code that allows you or other instructors to create a copy of the current course. Students do not need a Course Key to access your course. Courses can be created in your primary learning management system by entering a Course Key which creates a copy of an existing course already populated with its assignments or by creating a new, empty course and adding/creating your own assignments later. Note: When a Section Key is used to create a copy, it creates a new course that includes the assignments from the original parent course in addition to assignments unique to the section. Course Dates The start and end dates for your course. Managing Assignment Dates Click the modify assignment dates link to open the Modify Dates page. From this page you can manage the dates and the availability of assignment scores and feedback for all the assignments in your course. This is especially useful for copied courses that need to have dates for several assignments adapted to a new term. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 10

17 Managing Courses SETTING UP COURSES AND SECTIONS Some institutions, may provide a version of CengageNOW that supplies the Courses page. This page allows you to create, copy, or import new courses and sections, or you may also be able to use a Cengage Learning template to create a course with prebuilt assignments. The Courses Page Before you can create a course, be sure to have at least one current Cengage Learning product registered to your instructor account. You can then create a new course in minutes, or quickly copy or import an existing course (and most of its contents) for re use. You have three basic processes to choose from when creating a course: Build a Course Manually. Use this option to create an empty course shell. Afterwards you can populate the new course your own assignments. For details, see Building a Course Manually on page 13. Copy an Existing Course. Use this option to either create a course from a copy of an existing course or by using a template course. During this process you can modify the course s basic information and dates. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 11

18 Managing Courses These types of courses are already populated with assignments. After the course is created you can add additional assignments and modify the existing assignments as needed. For details, see Copying an Existing Course on page 17. Import a Course via a File Previously Exported from CengageNOW. Use this process to import and adapt a previously exported course from another CengageNOW account or institution. For details, see Importing a Course on page 24. The Choose Process Page Courses may be set up by an administrator or lead instructor, particularly for large classes with multiple sections such as discussion groups or labs. With course sections grouped under the parent course, the lead instructor can control assignment lists and grading across all of the sections. For details, see Creating Course Sections on page 31. To manage and adapt existing courses for changing circumstances or new purposes, see Modifying Courses on page 35. To learn about enrollment methods, see User Enrollment Options on page 39. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 12

19 Managing Courses Building a Course Manually When available, you can quickly build your own course from scratch when using the CengageNOW course creation wizard. Once you create the course shell, you can add assignments to the course manually and enroll students afterwards (depending on the procedure at your school). Action: To build a Course Manually 1 If necessary, click the Courses link in the header to open the Courses page. 2 Click the Create a New Course button to open the Choose Process page. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 13

20 Managing Courses Action: To build a Course Manually 3 Select Build a Course Manually and click the Continue button to open the Course Information page. 4 Use the Textbook drop down menu to select the book you registered for this course and any related digital products. No selection is necessary, however, if there is only one book available. (Required) This selection determines the materials from which you can choose content for course assignments. 5 When available, make a selection from the IAC titles that may be listed adjacent to Digital product student will buy. (Required) 6 Enter the Course Name. This can be the name of the course as it appears in your department or institution catalog. (Required) 7 Enter the Course Number. This can be the number of the course as it appears in your department or institution catalog. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 14

21 Managing Courses Action: To build a Course Manually 8 Click on the date field to use the calendar widget to select the appropriate dates for the Course starts on and Course ends on input boxes. (Required) Note: The Course starts on and Course ends on dates are used by default if you later create copies of the course or its sections. 9 (Optional) Select or deselect the option to Allow student to send s to the instructor while taking assignments. By selecting this option, you can receive s from students to your account registered with Cengage Learning. These s will contain the student s message and a link to the content they are questioning. 10 (Optional) Select the checkbox next to Require students to provide a student ID on login if you need to set up unique and anonymous student identification for your course. When enabled, this option forces students to create their IDs. This feature is especially useful when generating reports for large classes where it is likely that students may have similar names. You also have the ability to create and/or edit individual Student IDs from the Gradebook page. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 15

22 Managing Courses Action: To build a Course Manually 11 To proceed, click Create Course and the Course Created page opens. Your new course is ready to go, however, at this point it does not contain any assignments. Under the Likely Next heading on the Course Created page are helpful suggestions for additional tasks. You can add assignments to it with Create an Assignment, Export or Copy the course, or Create a Section. You can also Edit Course Information or simply Return to Course List. See Using Your Course/Section Created Page on page 29 for more details. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 16

23 Managing Courses Copying an Existing Course By selecting the option to Copy an Existing Course, you can quickly copy one of your current courses or a Cengage Learning template course as a way to reuse assignments, sections, and settings. If you use one of your pre existing courses, the copy will not include data such as student takes, grades, and enrollment. After your new course is created, you can update basic course information, dates, and enroll your new students. Once you have selected Copy an Existing Course from the Choose Process page, you can choose between the options to Start with a course already in your account or Modify a template course designed by Cengage Learning. Note: Depending on your textbook, the option to Modify a template course designed by Cengage Learning may be disabled. For more details, see Modifying a Template Course Designed by Cengage Learning on page 21. Starting with a Course Already in Your Account The option to Start with a course already in your account is available to any instructor who has a pre existing course in their CengageNOW account. Action: To copy one of your existing courses 1 Click the Courses link to open the Courses page, if necessary. 2 Click the Create a New Course button and the Choose Process page opens. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 17

24 Managing Courses Action: To copy one of your existing courses 3 Select Copy an Existing Course, then select Start with a course already in your account. 4 Select a course from the Available Courses pane on the Choose Course page. (Required) When you highlight a course name, basic information on that course is displayed to the right of the Available Courses pane. 5 (Optional) If your account includes inactive courses you can choose to have them displayed by deselecting the option to Show only active courses. 6 Click the Continue button when you have the appropriate course selected. This opens the Course Information page. 7 Enter a new Course Name to replace the default Copy of naming convention. (Required) 8 (Optional) Enter a new Course Number. You can use the course number as it appears in your department or institution catalog. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 18

25 Managing Courses Action: To copy one of your existing courses 9 Use the calendar widget to enter new Course starts on and Course ends on date and time. (Required) Note: The dates you select now are also used to set the default Course starts on and Course ends on dates for any copies of the course or sections that are created later. 10 (Optional) Adjust the assignment dates by selecting the option to Adjust all assignment dates based on moving the start date of the first assignment to:, and then using the calendar widget to select a new date and time. Click Done when you are finished and all assignment dates in the course are adjusted relative to the new Start Date selected for the first assignment. If you choose not to adjust the assignment dates, all assignments are automatically given the same start and due/unavailable dates as the course start and end date, respectively. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 19

26 Managing Courses Action: To copy one of your existing courses 11 (Optional) Select or deselect the option to Allow student to send s to the instructor while taking assignments. By selecting this option, you can receive s from students to your account registered with Cengage Learning. These s will contain the student s message and a link to the content they are questioning. 12 (Optional) Select the checkbox next to Require students to provide a student ID on login if you need to set up unique and anonymous student identification for your course. When enabled, this option forces students to create their IDs. This feature is especially useful when generating reports for large classes where it is likely that students may have similar names. You also have the ability to create and/or edit individual Student IDs from the Gradebook page. 13 Click Create Course when the Course Information is complete. The information for your new course is now displayed on the Course Created page. 14 Under the Likely Next heading on the Course Created page are helpful suggestions for additional tasks based on the make up of this specific course. You can add assignments to it with Create an Assignment, Export or Copy the course, Modify Dates, or Create a Section. You can also Edit Course Information or simply Return to Course List. For more details, see Using Your Course/Section Created Page on page 29. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 20

27 Managing Courses Modifying a Template Course Designed by Cengage Learning Depending on the type of textbook you are using, you may have a course template provided by Cengage Learning. You can use these templates to create new courses already containing prebuilt assignments, which are designed to work with that textbook s content. Later, however, you can edit these assignments or create your own assignments to include additional questions and content from any of your other registered materials. Action: To create a course from a Cengage Learning course template 1 Click the Courses link to open the Courses page, if necessary. 2 Click the Create a New Course button and the Choose Process page opens. 3 Select Copy an Existing Course, and then select Modify a template course designed by Cengage Learning. 4 Click the Continue button to open the Choose Template page. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 21

28 Managing Courses Action: To create a course from a Cengage Learning course template 5 If your textbook contains multiple templates, select one from the Template dropdown menu that appears. (Required) 6 Enter a new Course Name. (Required) You can use the name of the course as it appears in your department or institution catalog. 7 Select the appropriate dates for both the Course starts on and Course ends on date fields. (Required) 8 You can click on the date field or calendar icon to open the calendar tool for the date field. Note: The dates you select now are also used to set the default Course starts on and Course ends on dates for any copies of the course or sections that are created later. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 22

29 Managing Courses Action: To create a course from a Cengage Learning course template 9 (Optional) Adjust the assignment dates by selecting the option to Adjust all assignment dates based on moving the start date of the first assignment to:, and then using the calendar widget to select a new date and time. Click Done when you are finished and all assignment dates in the course are adjusted relative to the new Start Date selected for the first assignment. If you choose not to adjust the assignment dates, all assignments are automatically given the same start and due/unavailable dates as the course start and end date, respectively. 10 (Optional) Select or deselect the option to Allow student to send s to the instructor while taking assignments. By selecting this option, you can receive s from students to your account registered with Cengage Learning. These s contain the student s message and a link to the content they are questioning. 11 (Optional) Select the checkbox next to Require students to provide a student ID on login if you need to set up unique and anonymous student identification for your course. When enabled, this option forces students to create their IDs. This feature is especially useful when generating reports for large classes where it is likely that students may have similar names. You also have the ability to create and/or edit individual Student IDs from the Gradebook page. 12 Click Create Course when the Course Information is complete. The information for your new course is now displayed on the Course Created page. 13 Under the Likely Next heading are helpful suggestions for additional tasks based on the make up of this specific course. You can add assignments to it with Create an Assignment, Export or Copy the course, Modify Dates, or Create a Section. You can also Edit Course Information or simply Return to Course List. For more details, see Using Your Course/Section Created Page on page 29. Since all assignments start and due dates are set to match the course start and end dates, you may want to use the Modify Dates option where you can bulk edit the dates for all assignments in your course. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 23

30 Managing Courses Importing a Course If you have access to a course or section previously exported from CengageNOW, you can quickly import and modify it to create a new course. This allows you to recreate the entire course with less effort than rebuilding it from scratch, and can ensure consistency with the original version. An exported course includes its sections (if any), course assignments, and other general course information in an encrypted XML file. It does not include the specific Course Key information, students, instructors, and grades. The instructions below are for importing a course as part of the course creation process. Note: You cannot import courses exported from newer versions of CengageNOW. Action: To import a previously exported course 1 Click the Courses link to open the Courses page, if necessary. 2 Click the Create a New Course button to open the Choose Process page. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 24

31 Managing Courses Action: To import a previously exported course 3 Choose Import a Course via a File Previously Exported from CengageNOW and click Continue. The Choose File page opens. 4 Click the Choose File button. Locate the course export file (.ECX format) you want to import, select it, and then click Open. 5 Confirm that the correct filename appears to the right of File to Import and the Choose File button. Click the Continue button when you are done to open the Course Information page. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 25

32 Action: To import a previously exported course 6 If necessary, use the drop down menu listing your registered textbooks to select the primary Textbook for this course. If there is no designated core book, the Textbook menu will display Select a textbook... The selection you make determines the default materials from which you can create course assignments. The Textbook drop down menu may also display the core textbook or Personalized Study book previously associated with the imported course. Note: The course textbook will not appear on the menu if you have not yet registered it. In this case, you can cancel the import and register for the book before proceeding. 7 Update or confirm the imported Course Name. This can match the name of the new course as it appears in your department or institution catalog. (Required)

33 Managing Courses Action: To import a previously exported course 8 Update or confirm the imported Course Number. This can be the number of the course as it appears in your department or institution catalog. 9 Enter the appropriate dates in the Course starts on and Course ends on text boxes for the course information. (Required) You can click the date field or calendar icon to open the calendar tool for the date field. Note: These dates are also used to set the default Course starts on and Course ends on dates for any copies of the course or sections created for this course later. 10 (Optional) Adjust the assignment dates by selecting the option to Adjust all assignment dates based on moving the start date of the first assignment to:, and then using the calendar widget to select a new date and time. Click Done when you are finished and all assignment dates in the course are adjusted relative to the new Start Date selected for the first assignment. If you choose not to adjust the assignment dates, all assignments are automatically given the same start and due/unavailable dates as the course start and end date, respectively. 11 (Optional) Select or deselect the option to Allow student to send s to the instructor while taking assignments. By selecting this option, you can receive s from students to your account registered with Cengage Learning. These s contain the student s message and a link to the content they are questioning. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 27

34 Managing Courses Action: To import a previously exported course 12 (Optional) Select the checkbox next to Require students to provide a student ID on login if you need to set up unique and anonymous student identification for your course. When enabled, this option forces students to create their IDs. This feature is especially useful when generating reports for large classes where it is likely that students may have similar names. You also have the ability to create and/or edit individual Student IDs from the Gradebook page. 13 When the Course Information is complete, click Create Course. The new course is displayed on the Course Created page. At this point, all of the course assignments are using options settings from the imported course. 14 If you have no further actions to take at this time, click Return to Course List. You can also add new assignments to your course with Create an Assignment, click Modify Dates to adjust the dates of the assignments imported with the course, or you can use the Create a Section to add a section. You can also opt to reuse this course by selecting either the Copy Course or Export Course options. You can also make changes to Course Information by clicking Edit Course Information. See Using Your Course/Section Created Page on page 29 for more details. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 28

35 Managing Courses Using Your Course/Section Created Page You are directed to the Course/Section Created page once you complete the process of creating either a course or section. You can use this page as a way to review the general information for your newly created course or section and use the provided links for a Likely Next. The Course Created Page On the left side of the page, the Course Created page displays the course or section information highlights: Course Key. Directs students to a Cengage Learning page designed specifically to help students self enroll in your course. Click the Student Registration Instructions link to open an form, which you can use to send a self enrollment URL either to your own account for forwarding or directly to your students, whichever is more convenient. Course Name Course Number Course Starts On and Course Ends On dates. Sections (if any). Click the section name link to see the Section Summary page for that section. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 29

36 Managing Courses On the right side, this page also contains links under the Likely Next heading which provide easy access to additional tasks associated with creating a new course or section. Create an Assignment. This link starts the assignment creation process where you can create one or more new assignments for the course. For more information, see Creating Assignments on page 49. Modify Dates. For courses that are already populated with assignments, you can access the Modify Dates page. From this page you can edit the assignment Available, Unavailable, and Due dates. You can also determine the display of assignment details, responses, and scores. Edit Assignments. For a course with assignments, or a section with its own uninherited assignments, this link takes you to the Edit Assignments page where you can modify the dates for several assignments at once. For details, see Editing Assignments on page 93. Create a Section. From the Course Created page, this link starts the process for creating a new section for the current course. For details, see Creating Course Sections on page 31. Copy Course. From the Course Created page, this link starts the process of making a copy of the current course. Export Course. From the Course Created page, this link starts the process to export the current course. Edit Course Information. This link opens the Course Information page, where you can change the course s name, dates, and so on. For details, see Editing Course Information on page 35. Return to Course List. This link takes you back to the main Courses page. Note: If you are creating a section, you will instead see links labeled Edit Section Information, Create Another Section, etc. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 30

37 Managing Courses Creating Course Sections If you need to set up several classes with similar curricula and schedules, you have two options. You can create multiple copies of a course, or create multiple sections from a parent course. Several copies of a course. This method allows you to modify each course s assignments independently. However, making any global changes later will require you to edit every course separately. Multiple sections of the same parent course. This method allows you to create sections with a separate gradebook, with the textbook, assignments, options, and due dates inherited from the parent course. However, assignment dates can later be edited independently at the section level One common use for sections is setting up a main lecture course with several lab sections taught by adjunct instructors. Each instructor can manage the gradebook for his or her own section, but cannot alter the content or options in the parent course. Sections are also useful to a single instructor who teaches several identical classes. This allows the instructor to maintain separate grade books for each section while managing content and assignment dates across all sections from the parent course. You or any adjunct instructors have the ability to create unique assignments for specific sections, but in general, sections are most useful where the class assignments and due dates are very similar if not identical. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 31

38 Managing Courses Additional Section Features The parent course instructor is enrolled as an instructor in all sections. To delegate section grading and assignment creation to another instructor, simply enroll that instructor into the section and have them manage the Gradebook. Sections can include both parent assignments and section assignments. Content in parent assignments cannot be edited at the section level. Note: On the Assignments page, you will see an icon in the Status column that indicates which assignments are Assigned to Parent Course. Sections do not inherit Uploaded Files from the parent course, however, they do inherit assignment categories. Both the parent course instructor and section instructor can review and edit grades for a particular section, or create and edit additional assignments. Section instructors can edit the dates and feedback options of any assignment without affecting the assignments in the parent course or other sections. Section instructors cannot edit the Assignment Name, Late Penalty, or Practice settings of parent level assignments. Editing assignment dates at the parent course level will not override date changes made by the section instructor. The section instructor can customize the due dates and number of assignment takes for specific students on the parent assignments, if needed. Action: To create a course section To create a course section, you will first need to create your parent course. You can then create the section beginning on the Course List page (described below), or from the parent course s Course Created or Course Summary page. 1 On the Courses page, click the Create section link in the Actions column for the appropriate course to open the Section Information page. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 32

39 Managing Courses Action: To create a course section 2 Enter the Section Name following the format used at your school and enter the appropriate Section Number. 3 To enter new dates for this section, enter the dates you want in the Section starts on and Section ends on fields using the calendar tool. 4 (Optional) When available, select the checkbox next to Allow students to send s to the instructor while taking assignments. With this feature enabled, students can send an from their assignment take. The will contain their question, the information identifying the specific assignment, and a link that allows you to view the assignment content on CengageNOW. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 33

40 Managing Courses Action: To create a course section 5 (Optional) Select the checkbox next to Require students to provide a student ID on login if you need to set up unique and anonymous student identification for your course. When enabled, this option forces students to create their IDs. This feature is especially useful when generating reports for large classes where it is likely that students may have similar names. You also have the ability to create and/or edit individual Student IDs from the Gradebook page. 6 Click the Create Section button to save and create your new section. This opens the Section Created page. 7 From the Section Created page, you can Create an Assignment for this section, Create Another Section or Export Section, further Edit Section Information, or simply return to the course list. The remaining steps for creating a course section is the same as for creating a course (other than some fields being labeled section instead of course ). For more information, see Building a Course Manually on page 13. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 34

41 Managing Courses MODIFYING COURSES Over time, you may find it convenient to reuse most or all of an existing course. The Courses page includes functions for reviewing course content, archiving courses, and an advanced clipboard interface that makes it easy to copy and paste entire courses for a new term. Please remember these points when working with controls on the Courses page: By using the CengageNOW system Clipboard you can reuse existing courses. Simply select and copy a course, and then update the basic information and dates to use it again. As a way to copy a section, you can create the new section and then copy/paste the assignments from the existing section into the new section. This allows you to select which assignments to include in the new section. Archiving a course or a section moves it and its contents to the Archived Materials page for storage. You can continue to manage archived items or return them at any time to their original working area in CengageNOW. Editing Course Information After you have created a course or section, you have the option to edit its name, number, and other information as needed. Action: To edit your course information 1 On the Courses page, click the Edit link in the Actions column for the course you want to edit. The Course Information page for that course opens. 2 Depending on your course content, you can edit the selected course or section s name, number, start and end dates, or options as needed. Note: You cannot edit the Start Date, if your course already has students enrolled. 3 When your changes are complete, click the Save button to save your changes. The Course Summary page will open, where you can review your changes. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 35

42 Managing Courses Setting the Courses Page Display Options Action: To change information on your Courses page You can easily add or remove the type of information appearing on your Courses page by clicking the link to Change Information Displayed Below. As you make changes in the Courses Page Display Options page, a dynamic Preview window allows you to see your changes as you make them. 1 On your Courses page, click the Change Information Displayed Below link. The Courses Page Display Options page will open. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 36

43 Managing Courses Action: To change information on your Courses page 2 Select or deselect from the information categories for your Courses and Sections. You can choose from the following options: Course/Section Number Course/Section Key Start Date End Date Instructors # of Students Enrolled Note: The columns for Actions and the course or section Name always appear by default. 3 Use the Preview window at the bottom of the page to see how your updates will affect your Courses page. 4 Click Save when you are done or click Cancel to quit without saving. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 37

44 Managing Courses Viewing Your Course Summary To view the general information for your course or section, click the course or section s name on the Courses page. The Course Summary page opens (Section Summary for sections). The Course Summary Page The Summary page displays the course or section information highlights and a link to information for student self enrollment: Course Key. This link directs students to a Cengage Learning page designed specifically to help with self enrollment in this course. Click the Student Registration Instructions link to distribute this information to your students via . Note: In some Learning Management Systems, you will be notified when the Course Key is only used by instructors for creating a copy of a course or section. Course Name Course Number CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 38

45 Managing Courses Course starts on date Course ends on date Sections (if any). Click the section name link to see the Section Summary page for that section. When you are finished reviewing the information on this page, click Return to Course List to go back to the Courses overview page. USER ENROLLMENT OPTIONS Once your course or section is created, the method for determining how students are enrolled depends on the procedures in place at your school. For example, student enrollment is sometimes managed by a CengageNOW administrator or a lead teacher. Generally, students can enroll themselves by logging into their campus Learning Management System and entering the access code for their textbook. They may even have the option to pay later and start the course using a free trial that lasts for a limited time. Also, in systems that allow it, you may be able to maintain control over student enrollment and add assistant instructors to your course sections by manually enrolling them yourself from the Users page. See Manually Enrolling Instructors or Students on page 180 for details. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 39

46 CREATING AND MANAGING ASSIGNMENTS You can easily create a variety of assignments in CengageNOW, including Homework, Tests, Reading, Self Assessments, Media Quizzes, and Study Tools assignments (also known as Personalized Study Plans). Depending on your discipline and text, CengageNOW allows you to adapt assignments bundled with your book, choose specific questions to build your own assignments, or even author new questions. In addition, you have an extensive range of options to customize how each assignment works, and you can update these settings with ease. The Homework and Test assignments you create are also automatically saved as Assignment Templates, which provide a pool of assignments for you to adapt for future use in other courses. To help distinguish between Assignment Templates and assignments, you can consider: An Assignment Template is a set of questions you have chosen for an assignment. Think of it as an unassigned assignment. An assignment is the set of questions plus the options you assign to it for use in a specific course instance. The Assignments Page CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 40

47 Creating and Managing Assignments USING THE ASSIGNMENTS PAGE To work with assignments, click on the Assignments link to get started. If you have not yet created a course (or been enrolled in one as an instructor), you will need to do that first. See Setting Up Courses and Sections on page 11 for details. If you have used the page before, assignments are listed for the last course you selected. To view assignments for a different course, select that course from the Course or Section drop down list. Note: Depending on how you ve set your CengageNOW Preferences, it may be necessary to click Show All Options to display advanced controls. Basic activities you can perform on the Assignments page include the following: Create assignments Click the Create Assignment button to build new assignments using questions from your CengageNOW Study Tools or other content sources. See Creating Assignments on page 49 for more details. Upload Files Click the Upload Files button to open the File Management page where you can upload files into the CengageNOW server for your use and for your students to access. See Uploading Files on page 43 for more details. Search assignments Use the Search Assignment Names field above the assignments list to find specific assignments quickly. Type in part or all of an assignment name, and click Go to display only matching items. To return to the full assignment list, click the Show all assignments link. Print assignments In assignments that provide it, click Print in the Actions column to create printed copies of your assignments for in class use. Note that the answer key is included by default. See Printing Assignments on page 99 for more details. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 41

48 Creating and Managing Assignments Save assignments Click Save in the Actions column to download a copy of your assignment in a PDF or RTF format. (Some assignment types do not support this option.) Edit assignments Click Edit in the Actions column to modify your assignments. Depending on the assignment type, you can update by adding new content, editing assignment information, or changing the assignment options. See Editing Assignments on page 93 for more details. Create questions Click the Self Authored Questions link to access a page where you can create or modify questions using CengageNOW s authoring editors. You can later use these questions in your assignments. See Working with Self Authored Questions on page 151 for more details. Status Icons The Status column displays icons which allow you to see at a glance the assignment s grading status, availability, and for sections, whether it is assigned at the parent course level. At the bottom of the page is an expandable Icon Key containing a legend describing the icons that may appear as labels for assignments or students with special conditions. Status Icons Note: It may be necessary to scroll the Assignments page horizontally if most columns are selected for display. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 42

49 Creating and Managing Assignments Uploading Files The Upload Files button, available from the Assignments page, opens a page where you can upload files from your local computer onto the CengageNOW server. Students can download these files from their CengageNOW Assignments page by clicking the View Files from Your Instructor button. Parent courses do not share uploaded files with their sections. However, when courses are copied or archived they will retain their files. Action: To upload and manage files in CengageNOW 1 Click the Assignments link to open the Assignments page. 2 Click the Upload Files button and the File Management page will open. By default, the amount of space you have available on the CengageNOW server is 100 mb. At the top of the page, you can see the amount of storage space you have remaining. Note: Adjunct instructors with limited course access are able to view files but not upload them. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 43

50 Creating and Managing Assignments Action: To upload and manage files in CengageNOW 3 Select and drag a file to upload in the Drag and drop files here area. The file name and upload date will appear in the table above. You can also click the Upload File button to browse through your system files to make a selection. Click Open to load the file onto the CengageNOW server. 4 (Optional) Create a folder by clicking the New Folder button. You can then organize your files by loading or dragging them into the appropriate folder. 5 To the right are controls you can use to manage your uploaded files. (Optional) Click the pencil icon to open the Edit File dialog box. Enter your description in the text box and click OK when you are done. Your description will also appear to your students on their View Files page. (Optional) Click the trash can icon to delete a file. (Optional) Click the arrow icon to download a file. Advanced Assignment Page Options The advanced options on the Assignments page can be hidden or displayed through the use of the Show All Options/Hide All Options toggle. You may need to click the Show All Options link, if these controls are hidden. Assignment Page Advanced Options View Archived Materials Click this link to go to the Archived Materials page, where you can see the assignments that are stored and not currently in use. Archived assignments are removed from the assignments list but remain available for you to view, retrieve, delete, or copy. See Using the Archived Materials Page on page 112 for more details. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 44

51 Creating and Managing Assignments Self Authored Questions Click the Self Authored Questions link to access a page where you can create or modify your own questions using CengageNOW s authoring editors. Later you can use your self authored questions when creating assignments, in addition to drawing pre made questions directly from your Cengage textbook. See Authoring in CengageNOW on page 190 for details on authoring questions. Reorder Assignments Click this link to open the Reorder Assignments page where you can customize the order of assignments on your Assignments page. You can select an assignment by left clicking an assignment name and then dragging the highlighted assignment with your cursor into the desired location. Once you are done, click Save & Return to save the list and return to the Assignments page. Click Cancel exit without saving. The Reorder Assignments Page CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 45

52 Creating and Managing Assignments Change Information Displayed on This Page Click this link to open the Assignments Page Display Options page, where you can specify what information you want displayed on the Assignments page. As you make changes, you can view the new layout in the Preview area. This preview updates dynamically as you change your selections. Click Save before exiting. The Assignments Page Display Options Choose assignments and then select an option below You can use the controls in this section of the Assignments page to archive, delete, modify dates, or cut/copy assignments to different courses. Select one or more assignments that you wish to work with, and then click the appropriate command: Modify Dates. Clicking this button opens a page where you can edit the dates for the selected assignment(s) and determine the display of assignment details, scores, feedback. When you ve set an Unavailable Date for an assignment, you also choose an option to set a penalty on late assignments. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 46

53 Creating and Managing Assignments Depending on how you want to adjust your assignments dates, you can select from links to see three views of the Modify Dates page. These options include Specify Same Dates for All, Specify Dates for Each, or Adjust all assignment dates based on the earliest Available Date. Adjust all assignment dates based on the earliest Available Date (highlighted below) to: allows you to set the date and time for all assignments relative to the assignment with the earliest Available date. The earliest date field is highlighted in blue and you can enter the new Available date in the field that appears next to the link. The Modify Dates Page Use the calendar icon adjacent to an entry field to quickly choose the desired date and time. Selecting the views to Specify Dates for Each or Adjust all assignment dates based on the earliest Available Date will also give you a field to set an Unavailable date. The Modify Dates page has fields allowing you to determine the display of assignment scores, details, responses, and feedback. Any changes you make are updated in the same settings available on the Assignment Options page. Note: When Never is selected for Show Assignment Score, the options for Plus Show Details, Responses, Scores and Plus Solutions and Extra Feedback are automatically disabled and set to Never; any previously entered dates are also removed. When Never is selected for Plus Show Details, Responses, Scores, the options for Plus Solutions and Extra Feedback are automatically disabled and set to Never; any previously entered dates are also removed. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 47

54 Creating and Managing Assignments Cut. Removes the selected assignments from the course and copies them to the CengageNOW Clipboard (not available in integrated systems). Copy. Places a copy of the selected assignments onto the CengageNOW Clipboard. Delete. Permanently removes the selected assignments from the course without copying them to the Clipboard. Archive. Removes the selected assignments from the course and moves them to the Archived Materials page, where they are stored for later use. Archived items can be managed or returned at any time to their original working area in CengageNOW (not available in integrated systems). See Archiving Your Materials on page 113 for more details. Paste. Inserts the assignments currently on the Clipboard into the assignment list for the course. Note: You can set your Preferences in CengageNOW so all pages have their advanced options displayed by default. See Preferences on page 13 for more details. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 48

55 Creating and Managing Assignments CREATING ASSIGNMENTS CengageNOW allows you to create several types of custom built assignments, including Homework, Tests, Reading, Media Quiz, External Web Link, Self Assessments, and Study Tools assignments. You can also use your Assignment Templates to create assignments for new courses quickly. Each type of assignment offers a distinct set of options you can use to specify what content is presented to your students, how it is presented, when it is available, how it is graded, and so forth. Assignment Types Overview Your first step in creating an assignment is to make a selection from the Choose Type page. Depending on your book s content, you may be able to choose from the following assignment types: Homework. This option appears if you have homework question banks available in your textbook, or have self authored questions. The default settings for Homework include unlimited takes, unlimited time per take, save and resume, and a score progress display. You can also allow students to print the assignment and view question feedback and hints a specified number of times. See Creating a Homework or Test Assignment on page 55 for more details. Test. This option appears if you have test question banks available in your textbook, or have self authored questions. The default settings for Tests include one allowed take, no score progress display, and no question feedback or hints. You can change the number of takes, the time allowed per take, and restrict access with a password, among other options. For details on the available options and default settings for Homework and Test assignments, see Choosing Assignment Options on page 85. Media Quiz (interactive video with questions). The Media Quiz option provides a pool of several Media Quiz problem types, which include videos and related questions. This option is only available if you have media resources available within your textbook. During the assignment creation process, you can choose to make this content into Homework or a Test. The type of assignment you choose will affect the default assignment options such as takes allowed and feedback. You can also choose to assign a grade or not (which makes it a Not Graded assignment). See Creating Media Quiz Assignments on page 67 for more details. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 49

56 Creating and Managing Assignments Reading. The Reading assignment type allows you to assign an entire chapter or section for your students to read. Reading assignments are supplied a grade by default. However, you can remove the score and simply provide this assignment for practice, as a way to direct students to specific material and track their time spent. See Creating a Reading Assignment on page 69 for more details. Self Assessment Activities (SAA). When available, the SAA assignment type identifies your students characteristics, strengths, and weaknesses by presenting them with a series of questions designed to evaluate personal traits based on their responses. As students progress through an assignment they encounter stages such as an initial evaluation, an interpretation, experimentation, a quiz, and a final review. Students can save and resume their SAA assignment, however, they allowed to submit for grade only once. The assignment options for SAA assignments include editing the point value, selecting a prerequisite, and setting permissions for student access to feedback. See Creating a Self Assessment Activities Assignment on page 71 for more details. College Success Factors Index (CSFI). When available, CFSI assignments measure your students ability to be successful in college over the long term. Questions delve into topics such as lifestyle, work habits, competitiveness, family support, and attitudes towards college in general. Assignment results are presented as a bar graph showing whether the results of each success factor are in the Good, Average, or Watchline category. The ability to create this assignment type is available when the appropriate textbook is registered to your account. The options for College Success Factors Index assignments include setting Post Test availability, choosing to assign a score, selecting a prerequisite, permissions for student access to feedback, setting the number of takes, and the due date. See Creating a College Success Factors Index Assignment on page 74 for more details. Assignable Study Tool (Including Personalized Study Plans). This option is available if your textbook resources include Personalized Study assets. Each Personalized Study learning module provides a diagnostic Pre Test, Personalized Study Plan, and Post Test. These Study Tools allow you to set up anything from a single assignment to a complete series of assignments that you can edit for content or options. See Creating an Assignment from Study Tools on page 76 for more details. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 50

57 Creating and Managing Assignments Use a Homework or Test Assignment Already in Your Account. This option takes you to the Assignment Template page where you can create an assignment or a WebQuiz from any of your templates. For more information, see Using an Assignment Already in Your Account on page 82. External Web Link. This assignment type allows you to set up material from outside CengageNOW as if it were a CengageNOW assignment. You can also set up External assignments to include CengageNOW content, by first creating a WebQuiz using an Assignment Template. For more information, see Creating an External Web Link Assignment on page 84. Starting the Assignment Creation Process Once you choose the type of assignment, your first tasks are to name it, and set its availability dates. The steps and options available after that depend on the assignment type you are creating. Note: CSFI and SAA assignments follow a somewhat different procedure for naming and setting dates, see Creating a College Success Factors Index Assignment on page 74 or Creating a Self Assessment Activities Assignment on page 71 for details. Action: To begin creating an assignment 1 Click the Assignments link to open the Assignments page. 2 If necessary, select the appropriate course from the Course or Section drop down menu. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 51

58 Creating and Managing Assignments Action: To begin creating an assignment 3 Click the Create Assignment button and the Choose Type page opens. The options available to you depend on the content in your course materials. Assignment Information Once you select a type of assignment, you can enter information for the assignment s name, dates, and late penalty options. When you are editing section assignments you may have the option to set preferences for the display of feedback and assignment scores. Except for minor variations in wording, the Assignment Information page is similar for most assignment types. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 52

59 Creating and Managing Assignments Action: To enter assignment information If you are creating a number of assignments, planning the naming scheme in advance can save you some time renaming them later. Note: When creating a CSFI or SAA assignment, you only need to enter the assignment Available and Due dates. If you wish, you can edit the CSFI assignment name after it is created. See Creating a College Success Factors Index Assignment on page 74 or Creating a Self Assessment Activities Assignment on page 71 for more details. 1 Enter the Assignment Name you want to use. The assignment name can include special characters, but must be unique and contain no more than 120 characters. (Required) Use the calendar widget to select the Assignment Available On date. This is the date/time on which students can start taking the assignment. (Required) 2 (Optional) Select the Assignment Due On date. This is the date/time by which students must have submitted the completed assignment to avoid any late penalties. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 53

60 Creating and Managing Assignments Action: To enter assignment information 3 (Optional) Uncheck the Same as Due Date option and use the calendar tool to select enter an Assignment Unavailable On date that is after the due date. This allows your students to submit a late assignment (perhaps with a late penalty). If a student is working on the assignment when the Unavailable date and time arrives, the assignment is stopped and scored on progress to that point. Unavailable assignments are marked Closed in the student s Actions column on their Assignments page. 4 (Optional) Add a penalty to a late assignment by selecting the Penalty for Submissions After Due Date check box and making an entry for the percentage to be deducted (the default value is 10%). You can also set preferences for subsequent penalties, if desired. (Penalties can also be set from the Modify Dates page.) An Unavailable date must be provided to enable this option. 5 (Optional) When editing section assignments you may also set dates for the options to Show question details, student responses and question scores and Show correct answers and feedback. Use the Reset dates to match course assignment dates button to return the dates to the values set in the parent course. (Not all LMS platforms allow course sections.) Note: If the parent course assignment has Never or Immediately after assignment take selected for any of the feedback options, those date options will not appear on the Assignment Information page. 6 Once the appropriate assignment information is correctly entered, you click Continue and the Content Selection page for your selected assignment type opens. To continue with the steps for your selected assignment type, see the following sections: Creating a Homework or Test Assignment on page 55. Creating Media Quiz Assignments on page 67. Creating a Reading Assignment on page 69. Creating an Assignment from Study Tools on page 76. Using an Assignment Already in Your Account on page 82. Creating an External Web Link Assignment on page 84. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 54

61 Creating and Managing Assignments CREATING A HOMEWORK OR TEST ASSIGNMENT Homework and Test assignments use much of the same content and are built much the same way. These assignments give you the most control over content selection and behavior. See the Assignment Types Overview on page 49 for more details. Once you have selected either a Homework or Test assignment type and entered its Assignment Information name and availability dates you can select content on the Available Questions page. You work through the Available Questions page in two steps: Choose Content Source. First you will select the chapters and sections as the initial selection pool from which you will draw your assignment questions. Select Number of Available Questions from Each Type. In this second step, you can use several filters to refine the pool of available questions drawn from your selected content. Following the Available Questions page, you will then view, select, and arrange questions individually on the Included Questions page. Available Questions Choosing the Content Source Use the steps outlined in the table below to select your assignment content Action: To choose the assignment content source Use the Choose Content Source step to select chapters, sections, and folders from which you want to draw questions or other items for your assignment. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 55

62 Creating and Managing Assignments Action: To choose the assignment content source 1 Select one or more question banks, chapters, or sections from which you want to draw questions or other items for your assignment. 2 Expand the textbook titles to select from individual chapters or sections. Titles with either a + or an Expand all button contain additional items. Click on an option to view the hidden items. Folders with either a or a Collapse all button can be minimized to hide the currently displayed items. Click on an option to hide the list of items. 3 Select the check boxes next to the content you wish to use and click the Continue button. The lower half of the page will refresh to display the filtering options for narrowing down your choices to specific question types and their characteristics. See Question filtering options on page 58 for more information. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 56

63 Creating and Managing Assignments Available Questions Select Number of Available Questions The Select Number of Available Questions from Each Type step allows you to filter the content you have already selected by the types of available questions and their authored characteristics. Note: Regardless of the number of available questions you draw from initially, please be aware that your finished assignment can have no more than 200 questions. As you apply filters, note the number of questions tally. This filtered to number updates each time you change a filter setting and click the Filter button. Action: To apply item filters 1 Make your selections on any filters you wish to apply (as described in the following sections). 2 To see the result of your current filter settings, click the Filter button. (See the descriptions above for the appropriate filtering options.) CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 57

64 Creating and Managing Assignments Action: To apply item filters 3 After filtering, you can adjust how many of each question type you want to include in your assignment by entering a value in the appropriate box. Note: If you enter a number smaller than the total number available for a particular question type, the questions are drawn at random. 4 (Optional) You can click Select None to clear all fields and then enter new values for how many of each question/problem type you wish to include. Click Select All to get all the available questions. 5 When you are satisfied with the filtering and size of your set of questions, click the Continue button and the Included Questions page will open. See Select Included Questions on page 60 for details. Question filtering options Below are descriptions for the filtering options you may use when selecting questions. Your available filtering options will depend on your book s content and how questions are authored. Filtering by Difficulty This filter allows you to narrow the selection of available questions by their difficulty rating. The difficulty rating of each question is determined by the question s author and can range from Easy to Easy Moderate, Moderate, Moderate Difficult, and Difficult. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 58

65 Creating and Managing Assignments Filtering by Branching If there are any Branching questions in the selected content, you will see an option for Questions use branching? with a Yes checkbox checked by default. Branching is multi question problem type in which the server dynamically directs students through a series of questions according to their previous answers. You can use this filter to select or eliminate Branching problems from your pool of questions. To eliminate Branching problems from the pool of questions for your assignment, deselect the Yes checkbox. However, if you want to include Branching questions, leave the checkbox selected. Filtering by Gradability A key feature of CengageNOW is the availability of electronically graded assignments. You also have the option to include questions that require manual grading. Questions with electronic gradability can be evaluated automatically by CengageNOW. The status of a student s response can be made available as a feedback option while taking an assignment, or can be calculated immediately after the assignment is submitted for grading. Questions with manual gradability require your subsequent review and grading of every student s work (essay questions, for example, require manual grading). Items that are not gradable include non question items such as reading, illustrations, or comments. ( Not gradable items are rare in CengageNOW) All available gradability ratings are selected by default. If questions you selected don t match a filtering option, that option will not appear on the page. For example: if all the questions you selected can be electronically graded, manual gradability will not be available as a filtering option. Note: Remember, if you intend to use automatic grading only, you need to clear the selection for Manual gradability. Otherwise, you may be required to grade any manually graded problems individually before proceeding with electronic grading for the assignment. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 59

66 Creating and Managing Assignments Filtering by Question Value Generation Questions that are authored using algorithms (typically mathematical and statistical questions) can regenerate new values and correct answers each time the question comes up in an online assignment and each time it is printed (for example as a printed test). This provides great flexibility and enables you to use the same basic question repeatedly. Conversely, nonalgorithmically generated question values are identical for each Take of the assignment. If both types of questions are present in the content you selected, both types are selected by default. You need to deselect the question generation method you want to exclude. (You must include at least one). Filtering by Related Concepts This filter allows you to select questions by their related concepts as defined by the question author. All concepts used in the questions you selected are listed in the Concepts box. Please note that some questions may be associated with several related concepts, and that excluding any one associated concept excludes that question. All available concepts are selected by default. To limit the list to those containing a specific term, type the term into the Narrow list of concepts to: box and click Go. If you wish to exclude questions that have no associated concepts, clear the check box for Include questions not associated with concepts. Select Included Questions With your content now filtered, you re ready to review and tailor the individual questions for your Homework or Test assignment on the Included Questions page. The simplest way to do so is by selecting specific questions and moving them from the Available Questions list on the left to the Organize Included Questions list on the right. You can also create question pools which allow assignments to randomly select from predetermined sets of questions. The Included Questions Page Questions from book content typically are named by the source textbook s title, chapter, section, and question name or number. For example, a file name ending in corresponds to chapter 1, section 7, question 12 in your textbook. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 60

67 Creating and Managing Assignments Selecting an individual question name will display the question in the Question Preview window at the bottom of the page. The question in the preview window will function exactly as it does when students are taking their assignment. The Included Questions Page CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 61

68 Creating and Managing Assignments Once you move the selected question to the Organize Included Questions list and select a question by highlighting it, the preview window will offer two additional options: Edit Question opens the selected question in the problem type editor. From here, you can re author the question for this assignment only. Change Point Value opens a window in which you can change that question s current point value. Questions generally have a default value of 1.0, but you can edit that value to adjust the impact the score will have on the assignment. Note: If you want to weight the whole assignment relative to others, you can edit the Possible score or place the assignment in a custom grading category. See Creating and Editing Custom Grading Categories on page 143 for details. To author a new question for this assignment, you can use the Create a Question. Please note that questions created via this link are for use in the current assignment only. To learn more about authoring questions, see Authoring in CengageNOW on page 190. Once you have the assignment the way you want it, you can assign it to a course, print it, or save it as an Assignment Template. Action: To preview and select questions 1 To preview a question, click its Question Name in either list on the Included Questions page. The question is then displayed at the bottom of the page under the Question Preview heading exactly as it appears to your students. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 62

69 Creating and Managing Assignments Action: To preview and select questions 2 Select questions for your assignment by clicking the adjacent check box(es) and then clicking the Include button. The questions will move to the Organize Included Questions list. To move a specific question from the Available Questions list to the Organize Included Questions list, select it and then click the Include button. To choose from additional questions, click the Add More Questions button at the bottom of the page. You can then filter and select from a new list of questions from your registered content to add to your current Available Questions list. To get more questions from which to choose, click the Add More Questions button at the bottom of the page. You can then select and filter additional questions from your registered content to add to your current Available Questions list, while retaining those already selected. 3 (Optional) You can rearrange questions on the Organize Included Questions list by dragging and dropping them into a different order. 4 Click the Delete button, which appears adjacent to a question in the Organize Included Questions list, to remove items individually. 5 To remove all content from an assignment, you can click the Delete All button. To complete the assignment options now and put the assignment on line for your class, click the Continue button to go to the Assignment Options page. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 63

70 Creating and Managing Assignments Action: To preview and select questions 6 When all of the questions you want to include are selected and arranged as you want them, you have two options: Set options and assign. If you are ready to put your assignment online for your class, click the Continue button. This opens the page where you set the Assignment Options (e.g. Prerequisites, Time allowed) before assigning it. Save your assignment as a template. If you are not yet ready to assign your test or to set Assignment Options, click the Save Without Assigning button. This saves your assignment as an Assignment Template. See Working with Assignment Templates on page 116 for details on using templates to create specific assignments. 7 On the Assignment Options page, set the options for the assignment or assignments. Note that default options for Homework and Test assignments can vary slightly. 8 Once you have the options set to your liking, click the Create Assignment button at the bottom of the page (or the Done button when editing it later). The Assignment Created page opens. At this point, your assignment is complete and assigned to the current course. However, you still have the ability to work with and modify an assignment using the links on the Assignment Created page. 9 If you are finished, click Return to the Assignments List. Note: You can also access the Assignment Created page as the Assignment Summary page by clicking an assignment s name on the Assignments list. For details on these links, see Managing and Editing Assignments on page 91. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 64

71 Creating and Managing Assignments Creating and Editing Question Pools You can create one or more Question Pools as a way to randomly generate assignments from customized sets of questions you assemble. When initially creating pools, you can select a set of questions, set a point value per question, and determine the number of questions from that pool to display during your students take. Then during the take, the assignment will randomly choose the number of questions you designate from those available in each pool. When your students resume or retake an assignment using Question Pools, these subsequent attempts recreate a new set of questions from the pool, although there is a possibility of a question being reselected. Question pooling does not affect the algorithmically generated content in your questions. Note: In order to have new questions selected for each take, the Assignment Option for Scoring when multiple takes are allowed must be set to one of the non merge options: i.e. Keep 20 results, use best one or Keep one result, overwrite on each take. Action: To create and manage question pools With content already selected and filtered on the Choose Content Source page, you are ready to preview and select the individual questions to put in a new or preexisting Question Pool. Note: The steps in the instructions below begin from the Included Questions page in the assignment creation wizard. To review the steps to begin the process of creating an assignment, see Creating a Homework or Test Assignment on page From the Included Questions page, preview individual questions in the Available Questions list by clicking the question name. The question is automatically displayed in the Question Preview window at the bottom of the page. 2 Select questions for a new Question Pool by clicking the adjacent check box(es) and then choose the option to Create New Pool from Selected Questions from the Include Selected Questions drop down menu. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 65

72 Creating and Managing Assignments Action: To create and manage question pools 3 Click the Create button and the Create Question Pool dialog box will open. Click Cancel to exit without saving. 4 Enter a descriptive Name for your new Question Pool, the number of Score points for each question, and enter a number for Select to determine how many questions from the pool are randomly selected to use in the assignment. Note: By clicking the adjacent pencil icon in the Organize Included Questions list, you can open the Edit Question Pool dialog box and edit the information described in step 4 in any of your pools. 5 Click Create and your new Question Pool will appear in the Organize Included Questions list. (The new pool is also included in the Create New Pool from Selected Questions drop down menu, allowing you to add more questions later.) 6 (Optional) To create more pools, click Add More Questions and from the Choose Content Source page you can select and filter additional content. Then continue these steps until you have populated your assignment with the desired number of questions and pools. Note: To add more questions to an existing pool, choose one of the pools already in the Create New Pool from Selected Questions dropdown menu and click the Add button. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 66

73 Creating and Managing Assignments Action: To create and manage question pools 7 (Optional) If you are using multiple Question Pools, you can reorganize your assignment by clicking and dragging pools in the Organize Included Questions list. 8 Click the Delete button, which appears adjacent to a question in the Organize Included Questions list, to remove items individually. To remove all content from an assignment, you can click the Delete All button. Note: Clicking Delete All removes Question Pools from both the Organize Included Questions list and the Question Pool drop down menu. However, the questions used in those pools will continue to appear in the Available Questions list. 9 When you have all of the Question Pools you want to include populated and arranged as you want them, you have two options: Set options and assign. If you are ready to put your assignment online for your class, click the Continue button. This will open the page where you set the Assignment Options (e.g. Prerequisites, Time allowed) before assigning it. Save your assignment as a template. If you are not yet ready to assign your test or to set Assignment Options, click the Save Without Assigning button. This saves your assignment as an Assignment Template. See Working with Assignment Templates on page 116 for details on using templates to create specific assignments. CREATING MEDIA QUIZ ASSIGNMENTS CengageNOW offers you the option to create a Media Quiz assignment type, which is a prepackaged assignment consisting of interactive, multi media content featuring video presentations along with a set of related questions (a transcript is available for students who are unable to listen to the video). You create Media Quiz assignments much as you would a Homework or Test assignment; the main difference is that the individual items are already selected for you, as part of the Media Quiz package. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 67

74 Creating and Managing Assignments You can create a Media Quiz assignment from the Assignments page, as long as your course textbook contains this kind of content. Once you have made the appropriate selections for your assignment, you can decide on a range of options. Action: To create a Media Quiz assignment 1 Open the Assignments page and if necessary, select the appropriate course or section from the Course or Section drop down list. 2 Click the Create Assignment button and the Choose Type page opens. 3 Select the Media Quiz (interactive video with questions) option. 4 Click Continue and the Assignment Information page opens. 5 Enter the assignment name and select the appropriate dates from the calendar widget. See Assignment Information on page 52 for details. 6 Click Continue and the Assignment Content page opens. (Clicking Cancel at any point returns you to the Assignments overview page.) 7 You can also filter the list of selections by choosing one of the following options: Select Only Auto Grading, if you want to the list only quizzes that require manual grading. Enter search terms in the Search Assignment text box and click the Search icon to narrow the list to that criteria. Click the Clear icon to return the list to its default state. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 68

75 Creating and Managing Assignments Action: To create a Media Quiz assignment 8 Click any assignment name to open a Preview of the content. Click the Close button on the preview window to return to the Assignment Content page. 9 Select the button next to the appropriate content for your assignment. 10 Click Continue when you have finished making your selections and the Assignment Options page opens. From this page you can click Preview to see the assignment and select the Assignment Type to before setting the assignment options. See Choosing Assignment Options on page 85 for information on the available assignment options and their default settings. 11 When you are done setting options, click the Create Assignment button and the Assignment Created page opens. At this point, your assignment is complete and assigned to the current course. However, you still have the ability to work with and modify an assignment using the links on the Assignment Created page. Note: You can also access this page later as the Assignment Summary page by clicking an assignment s name on the Assignments page list. For details, see Using the Assignment Created/Summary Pages on page If you are finished, click Return to the Assignments List. CREATING A READING ASSIGNMENT You can create Reading assignments to track your students progress through course ebook chapters. Although most course reading tends to be treated as untracked self study when accessed from the Study Tools page, you may wish to set up reading assignments to verify students have looked at the material. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 69

76 Creating and Managing Assignments You can begin creating a Reading assignment by clicking the Create Assignment button on the Assignments page. When you have finished creating your new assignment, you have the ability to go back and edit its contents, student access, and other options. Action: To create a Reading assignment 1 On the Assignments page, select the appropriate course from the Course or Section drop down list. 2 Click Create Assignment and the Choose Type page opens. 3 Select the Reading option. 4 Click Continue and the Assignment Information page opens. 5 Enter the assignment name and select the appropriate dates using the calendar widget. For details, see Assignment Information on page Click Continue and the Choose ebook page will open. 7 Find and select the appropriate chapter or section for your assignment to begin. Students open the book at the assigned section, however, they continue to have access to the entire book. Note: If your course textbook allows you to select multiple chapters, a reminder that you are creating multiple assignments appears. These assignments share the same initial options. You can customize the individual assignments later if you wish. 8 (Optional) When your assignment allows it, click Continue to open the Assignment Options page. From this page you can set special conditions for your assignment. See Choosing Assignment Options on page 85 for details. 9 When you are finished click the Done (or Create Assignment) button. The Assignment Created page opens. At this point, your assignment or set of assignments is complete and assigned to the current course. However, you still have the ability to work with and modify an assignment using the links on the Assignment Created page. 10 If you are finished for now, click Return to the Assignments List CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 70

77 Creating and Managing Assignments CREATING A SELF ASSESSMENT ACTIVITIES ASSIGNMENT Self Assessment Activities (SAA) assignments identify the strengths and weaknesses of your students character traits. After reviewing their results, students gain better self knowledge and awareness so that they may consider areas for self improvement. While working through their assignment, students will encounter the following steps: Self Assessment.The Self Assessment consists of a series of questions, which depending on the assignment content may consist of ranking items into a preferred order, rating statements according to personal preferences, answering true/false questions, or paired responses where a complimentary value is assigned automatically. For some question formats, it is also possible for the Self Assessment to allow students a limited number of selections before making the remaining items inaccessible. Interpretation. The Interpretation step is the results page for the student s responses from the Self Assessment step. Students are presented with a bar graph with an interpretation of their answers. Experiment. (Optional) The Experiment step provides students with the same set of self assessment questions to use as practice, so they can see how changing their answers affects the outcome. Quiz. The Quiz consists of several questions that are in either multiplechoice or true/false format. After the student submits their Quiz, the results are displayed with any associated feedback. Students are only allowed to answer and submit a Quiz once. Review. The Review allows the student to review the results of their Quiz. The review step is disabled until the Quiz is submitted. Note: SAA assignments are only available when you have the appropriate textbook registered with your Cengage Learning account. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 71

78 Creating and Managing Assignments Action: To create a Self Assessment Activities assignment Unlike many CengageNOW assignment types, you do not edit Assignment Options as part of the assignment creation process. You can, however, use links on the Assignment Created page and the Assignments overview page to edit these options if you wish. 1 Click the Assignments link, if necessary, to go to the Assignments page. 2 Make the appropriate selection from the Course or Section drop down menu. 3 Click the Create Assignment button to open the Choose Type page. 4 Select the Self Assessment Activities option. 5 Click Continue to open the Choose Assignment(s) and Provide Dates page. 6 Find the appropriate sections or chapters and click the check box next to those you want to assign. The assignment name is provided and the Available field will pre populate automatically with the course start date. If you wish, you can choose a different date. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 72

79 Creating and Managing Assignments 7 Action: To create a Self Assessment Activities assignment Enter a Due date (Required). 8 Click Done when you are finished and the Assignment Created page will open. At this point, your assignment or set of assignments is complete and assigned to the current course. However, you still have the ability modify assignment information and options by using the links on the Assignment Created page or the Edit link on the Assignments page. 9 If you are finished for now, click Return to the Assignments List. Later, you can also access the Assignment Created page as the Assignment Summary page by clicking an assignment s name on the Assignments overview page. For details, see Using the Assignment Created/Summary Pages on page 92. Note: Setting the Assignment Options is not part of the Self Assessment Activities assignment creation process. Assignment Options allow you to edit settings for Prerequisite, Grading, and Feedback after Assignment options. See Choosing Assignment Options on page 85 for more details. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 73

80 Creating and Managing Assignments CREATING A COLLEGE SUCCESS FACTORS INDEX ASSIGNMENT You use College Success Factors Index (CSFI) assignments to assess your students ability to succeed in higher education. These assignments determine in each of 10 different categories where students may need to receive additional support or intervention to be successful. The CSFI Pre Test helps to identify students strengths and areas for improvement, while the Post Test measures student progress against the Pre Test results. Test results are also displayed as a bar graph showing in which factors the student is categorized as being Good, Average, or Watchline. CSFI Cross Student Summary A green bar indicates proficiency in a factor. A blue bar indicates a low to high average proficiency in a factor (as compared to other students nationally). A red bar indicates that further improvement is needed in a factor. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 74

81 Creating and Managing Assignments Action: To create a College Success Factors assignment Unlike most CengageNOW assignment types, you do not edit Assignment Options as part of the assignment creation process. You can, however, use links on the Assignment Created page and the Assignments overview page to edit options if you wish. 1 On the Assignments page, if necessary, select the appropriate course. 2 Click Create Assignment and the Choose Type page will open. 3 Select the option for College Success Factors Index. 4 Click Continue to open the Choose Assignment(s) and Provide Dates page. 5 Find the appropriate section(s) to select as assignment(s) and click the check box next to those you want to assign. Each section you select will become a separate assignment. The assignment name is provided and the Available date will pre populate with the course start date. 6 Click Done and the Assignment Created page will open. At this point, your assignment or set of assignments is complete and assigned to the current course. However, you still have the ability modify assignment information and options using the links on the Assignment Created page and the Assignments overview page. 7 If you are finished for now, click Return to the Assignments List. Later, you can access the Assignment Created page as the Assignment Summary page by clicking an assignment s name on the Assignments overview page. For details, see Using the Assignment Created/Summary Pages on page 92. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 75

82 Creating and Managing Assignments CREATING AN ASSIGNMENT FROM STUDY TOOLS You can create graded or ungraded assignments from your CengageNOW Assignable Study Tools (also known as Personalized Study products), which come bundled with your course textbook. These assignments can include diagnostic Pre Tests, interactive content, and Post Tests (chapter quizzes) to assess your students grasp of the material. Study Tools assignments allow you to assign entire sets of interactive content quickly, as well as track and grade each student s work. You can easily assign a single Personalized Study chapter, selected chapters, or all chapters in the book. Many books allow you to set a range of additional options: Exclude selected content, such as the Pre Test or particular chapter sections. Set late penalties. Limit the number of takes and time allowed. Allow students to save a take in progress and resume it later. Hide assigned Pre Tests, Post Tests, or Worksheets from the student s Study Tools view. Note: Students are able to access all of their Study Tools content on an ungraded self study basis. If you choose not to hide self study chapter materials, students will see the assignment content on their Study Tools page. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 76

83 Creating and Managing Assignments Creating Assignable Study Tool Assignments Before you can begin creating an assignment or a series of assignments, you must select a course or section in which to place it. Note: Be sure students understand that they must complete their Study Tools assignments from their Assignments page to receive credit for the assignment. Action: To create an Assignable Study Tools assignments 1 Open the Assignments page and select the appropriate course from the Course or Section drop down list. 2 Click Create Assignment and the Choose Type page opens. 3 Select the option for Assignable Study Tool (Including Personalized Study Plans). 4 Click Continue and the Assignment Information page opens. 5 Enter the assignment name and appropriate dates. For details, see Assignment Information on page 52. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 77

84 Creating and Managing Assignments Action: To create an Assignable Study Tools assignments 6 Click Continue and the Choose/Customize AST page will open. 7 Find the appropriate chapter or chapters for your assignment(s). (Click on the + or icons next to an item to view or hide its contents.) Select the chapter or chapters you want to use, and then click Continue. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 78

85 Creating and Managing Assignments Action: To create an Assignable Study Tools assignments 8 At this point, you will take one of two paths: If you selected multiple chapters, you will be reminded that you are creating multiple assignments with the same Available, Due, and Unavailable dates, and the same initial options. Later, you can customize these details and preferences for hiding sections from your students self study, if you wish. Click Continue to go to the Assignment Options page (see step 9 below). If you selected just one chapter, the Customize Assignable Study Tool Options pane will appear at the bottom of the page. You can include or exclude specific chapter sections, including the diagnostic Pre Test, Post Test, or Worksheet depending on the chapter content. See Customizing Assignable Study Tool Options on page 80 for details. 9 Once you have selected your preferences for the diagnostics and assets in your assignment, click Continue (or the Done button, if editing it later) and the Assignment Options page will open. 10 On the Assignment Options page, set the options for the assignment or assignments. See Choosing Assignment Options on page 85 for details. 11 When you are done setting the assignment options, click the Create Assignment button (or the Done button, if editing it later). The Assignment Created page opens. If you created multiple assignments, you will see them listed on the drop down menu at the top. At this point, your assignment or set of assignments is complete and assigned to the current course. However, you still have the ability to work with and modify an assignment using the links on the Assignment Created page. Note: If you choose not to hide the Pre or Post Tests, students will see the same content as both Assignments (graded and ungraded course assignment tracked in the Gradebook) and Study Tools (ungraded selfstudy). CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 79

86 Creating and Managing Assignments Customizing Assignable Study Tool Options When you are creating Study Tools assignments from a single Personalized Study chapter, or editing one later from Edit Assignments, you can use the Customize Assignable Study Tool Options pane to choose specific tests or sections to hide or include. Use the Pre and Post Test Options to assign only the chapter diagnostic Pre Test, the Post Test, or both. If you include the Pre Test, you can then choose whether to record the score. Use the check boxes to include or exclude specific Learning Assets or chapter sections from the assignment. Note: These selections only appear on the Customize Assignable Study Tool Options page if you have chosen a content with Pre Test and Post Test sections. Note the check boxes to I would like to hide the pre test from the selfstudy view or I would like to hide the post test from the self study view. These settings will hide the tests on the students Study Tools page until the end of the class. Similarly, you may also be able to select or deselect the option: I would like to hide the Worksheet from the self study view. (For certain titles, this may be the only option available.) These options ensure that students access these tests only as part of the scheduled class assignment, and prevents them from practicing on the tests independently ahead of time. Once the course ends, the students are able to access the tests for self study from their Study Tools page again. Caution: You don t have to hide assigned Pre Tests, Post Tests, or Worksheets accessed from the Study Tools page. However, please be sure your students know to access any course assignments from their Assignments page. Any work they complete on chapters accessed from their Study Tools page is ungraded self study only. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 80

87 Creating and Managing Assignments When creating Self Assessment assignments you will see a menu with options for choosing the extent of comparative feedback generated for your students. Make a selection to determine what information your students see when comparing their assignment results with other students in CengageNOW courses. All students in this course. All students in any current course for which this current course s instructor is an instructor. All students in any course (current or past) for which this current course s instructor is an instructor. All students in any course (current or past) at this institution. All students anywhere. When you have customized the assignment content to your liking, click Continue to proceed to the Assignment Options page (when creating a new assignment), or click Done to return to Assignment Summary page (when editing an existing assignment). Setting options for multiple Study Tools assignments When you create Study Tools assignments from multiple chapters, all of the assignments are created using the same Available, Due, and Unavailable dates and default grading. After the assignment set is created, you can access and edit the options for each assignment individually by clicking the Edit link on the Assignments overview page or using the editing links on the Assignment Summary page. Once you have the assignment options set to your liking, click the Create Assignment button at the bottom right of the page. Note: You can access the Customize Assignable Study Tool Options and Assignment Options pages once your assignment is created. See Creating and Managing Assignments on page 40 for more details. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 81

88 Creating and Managing Assignments USING AN ASSIGNMENT ALREADY IN YOUR ACCOUNT As part of the assignment creation process, you can create an assignment from one of your templates by selecting the option to Use a Homework or Test Assignment Already in Your Account. The questions are already included, you only need to enter the assignment information and select the assignment options. Action: To use a Homework or Test assignment already in your account 1 From the Assignments overview page, click Create Assignment to open the Choose Type page. 2 Select the option to Use a Homework or Test Assignment Already in Your Account. Click Continue and the Assignment Templates page will open. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 82

89 Creating and Managing Assignments Action: To use a Homework or Test assignment already in your account 3 Choose the appropriate template by selecting the check box next to its name and click the Assign Template button. The Select a Course or Section page will open. Note: If the template you selected is already assigned, a message will appear explaining that the two assignments will be linked. Click OK to continue or click Cancel to create an assignment from a copy instead. 4 Use the Course or Section drop down menu to select the appropriate course and the Choose Type page will open. 5 Select either Homework or Test as the type of assignment. For more information on the difference between these assignments, see Assignment Types Overview on page Click Continue and the Assignment Information page will open. 7 Enter a name for your assignment and set the date options, and click the Continue button. See Assignment Information on page 52 for more details. 8 Click Continue and the Assignment Options page will open. 9 Select your options as needed and click the Create Assignment button when you are done. See Choosing Assignment Options on page 85 for more information. 10 The Assignment Created page will open. You can work with and modify the assignment using the links on the Assignment Created page. At this point, your template based assignment is complete and assigned to your course. The new assignment is accessible from the Assignments page. The Assignment Template will remain and continue to be available for creating additional assignments. Note: You can also access this page later as the Assignment Summary page by clicking an assignment s name on the Assignments page list. For details, see Using the Assignment Created/Summary Pages on page 92. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 83

90 Creating and Managing Assignments CREATING AN EXTERNAL WEB LINK ASSIGNMENT Creating an External Web Link assignment provides you with a way to make your assignments available to students outside of the CengageNOW platform. You can also use this assignment type to set up online material from outside CengageNOW as if it were a CengageNOW assignment. For example, by creating a WebQuiz and using the URL to create an External assignment, your students will be able to take it from the Assignments page in CengageNOW. Note: There is an option to create an External Gradebook Column as a Gradebook place holder you can use to manually enter points for offline assignments that otherwise would not be included in the CengageNOW course score (not available in integrated systems). See Using an External Gradebook Column on page 142 for more information. Action: To create an External Web Link assignment 1 Create a WebQuiz using an Assignment Template. See Creating a WebQuiz on page 122 for the procedure. Before you leave the WebQuiz Properties page, copy the WebQuiz URL onto your system clipboard. 2 On your Assignments page, make a selection from the Course or Section drop down menu. 3 Click Create Assignment and the Choose Type page will open. 4 Select the External Web Link option and click Continue to open the Assignment Information page. 5 On the Assignment Information page, enter the assignment name and effective dates you want to use, and click Continue. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 84

91 Creating and Managing Assignments Action: To create an External Web Link assignment 6 In the URL box, paste the URL you copied from WebQuiz Properties for the assignment, and click Continue. 7 On the Assignment Options page, you can set additional assignment options. For information on the available assignment options and default settings, see Choosing Assignment Options on page Once you have the options set to your liking, click the Create Assignment button at the bottom of the page (or the Done button when editing it later). The Assignment Created page opens. You may now review the finished assignment to edit the name, dates, or options, change the URL, or modify print settings. You can also reorder or delete assignments as needed. See Managing and Editing Assignments on page 91 for details. CHOOSING ASSIGNMENT OPTIONS The assignment options you select determine the essential behavior and characteristics of an assignment. You can create different kinds of assignments customized for the needs of your courses and your students. You can allow a Homework assignment to be taken an unlimited number of times, for example, and a Test assignment only once or the reverse, if it suits you. In addition to number of takes and scoring, you can allow or disallow such things as hints, revealed solutions, and feedback (if available). You can even allow students to retake those specific questions they miss. The default options and settings available for your assignment will depend on the assignment type. For example, Reading assignments have only a few options you can set, while a required Test has almost twenty. If you do not see a particular option in your assignment, it is not available to that assignment type. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 85

92 Creating and Managing Assignments Note: The Penalty for submissions after due date option is now available on either the Assignment Information or Modify Dates pages. Default Options for Common Assignment Types Assignment Option Homework Test Media Quiz Reading CSFI and SAA AST This table shows the key differences in the default option settings for each main assignment type. Cells with an asterisk (*) indicate settings that cannot be changed. Assignment type Not available* Not available* Homework Not available* Not available* Not available* Takes allowed Unlimited 1 Homework: Unlimited Unlimited 1* 10 Test: 1 Take Time allowed per take Save assignment and resume Unlimited* Unlimited Unlimited* Unlimited* Unlimited* Unlimited Yes* No Yes* Yes* Yes* Yes Allow printing before 1st take No Not available* Not available* Not available* Not available* Not available* Exclude Post Test option Not available* Not available* Not available* Not available* (CSFI only) No, Post Test is available 50 days after Pre Test has been taken Not available* Prerequisite None None Not available* None None None Password to take assignment Not available* None Not available* Not available* Not available* Not available* Possible score 1 point per question 1 point per question 1 point per question 10 points CSFI 1 point SAA 1 point per quiz 10 points CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 86

93 Creating and Managing Assignments Default Options for Common Assignment Types Assignment Option Homework Test Media Quiz Reading CSFI and SAA AST Scoring when Keep 20 Keep 20 Best Score Keep 1, Not avail Keep 1, multiple results, results, use overwrite able* overwrite takes are merge on last one each take* each take* allowed each take (Results can Keep 20 not be results, use merged when best one if Branching there are questions are Branching included) questions Scoring when multiple takes are allowed When Branching questions are present Keep 20 results, merge on each take Keep 20 results, use last one Best Score Keep 1, overwrite each take* Not available* Keep 1, overwrite each take* Assignment categories Default Default Default Default Default Default (Available only when categories are used.) Curve factor of: None None 100% None None None Pass/Fail at: Extra credit: None None No No None None None None No No No No Numerical tolerance Exact Exact Exact* Exact* None* None* Regenerate Yes, each Yes, each Yes* Not avail Not avail Not availalgorithmic student on student on able* able* able* questions first take only first take only CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 87

94 Creating and Managing Assignments Default Options for Common Assignment Types Assignment Option Homework Test Media Quiz Reading CSFI and SAA AST Shuffle questions Not shuffled Not shuffled Shuffled* Not available* Not available* Not available* Hide question labels Not hidden Not hidden Not hidden* Not hidden* Not available* Not hidden* Check My Work clicks allowed Unlimited Not available* Tests: No* Homework: Yes, 1* Not available* Not available* Not available* Use custom feedback if available Yes Not available* Not available* Not available* Not available* Not available* Question attempts before hints 1 Not available* Not available* Not available* Not available* Not available* Show overall assignment score only (immediately after take) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Plus, show question details, student responses, and question scores (immediately after take) Yes No Homework: Yes Tests: No Not available* Yes, Immediately after take Yes Plus include correct answers postsubmission feedback No Not available* Not available* Not available* Not available* Not available* CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 88

95 Creating and Managing Assignments Default Options for Common Assignment Types Assignment Option Homework Test Media Quiz Reading CSFI and SAA AST Enable print Yes (at the No Not avail Not avail Not avail Not availing (as per date/time of able* able* able* able* Feedback the last feedafter Assign back after ment set assignment tings) event) You can set your assignments to have a limit on the number of allowed takes. If you choose to limit takes, please be sure your students know that submitting the assignment for grading uses up one of their assignment takes. Note: See the CengageNOW Textual Help for additional details on each assignment option. Option Sets If the default options for an assignment type do not meet your needs, you can create a customized option set. You also can save your customized sets as a predefined Option Set that you can save and apply to other assignments. Applying an option set is faster than re selecting your preferred settings every time you create or modify an assignment. With option sets, you can apply your preferred options quickly and consistently as you create assignments of any type. For example, you can configure an option set for Homework that allows multiple attempts, an unlimited time frame, and feedback hints. You can create another set for quizzes that allows only one attempt and a limited time frame, etc. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 89

96 Creating and Managing Assignments If you have previously saved an Option Set you want use for the current assignment, use the Apply Option Set drop down menu to select it. Completely scroll through the page to review and edit all the available options. Once you have finalized your options settings, you can use the controls at the bottom of the page to either create the assignment, or cancel and completely exit the assignment creation wizard. If you have edited any options, you are given the choice to save your changes for later use. Action: To create a new Option Set The default set for each assignment type may be all you need. Creating your own custom option sets can save you time, however, if you anticipate customizing the same settings for more than a couple of assignments. 1 On the Assignment Options page, change the current option settings to those you wish to have in your new option set. Note: The settings for Possible score, Not graded, Password to take assignment, Assignment categories, and Prerequisite conditions cannot be saved as part of a customized Options Set. 2 Click the Save As New Set button at the top of the page. 3 When prompted, name your new option set and click OK. 4 The new set is becomes the Current Option Set. It also is added to the Apply Option Set menu so you can apply it to other assignments of this type. 5 To save your assignment with this new option set, click the Create Assignment, Create Test, or Done button at the bottom of the page. Note: If you edit one of your customized Option Sets, the update is not applied to assignments that are using the earlier version of that set. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 90

97 Creating and Managing Assignments MANAGING AND EDITING ASSIGNMENTS You can print, save, and edit any of your assignments listed on the Assignments page. Simply use the links for common options on the Assignment Created page, the Assignments overview page Edit link, or click on the assignment name to go to its Assignment Summary page, where you can modify almost every aspect of its content, appearance, or behavior. For example, on Homework and Test assignments, you can add questions, reorder items, change the due dates, scoring, or other options, or even re author current questions. In many cases, you may find yourself copying a proven assignment and editing parts of it to suit a new class. The Assignment Summary Page The Assignment Created page is the last page that appears when you have completed the assignment creation process. You can also access this page later as the Assignment Summary page by clicking an assignment s name on the Assignments page list. For details, see Using the Assignment Created/Summary Pages on page 92. The Assignment Summary/Assignment Created pages provide you with several links for modifying and managing your assignment. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 91

98 Creating and Managing Assignments Using the Assignment Created/Summary Pages As Student Loads the current assignment so you can review it and/or take it as a student would. This lets you verify that the assignment content, hints, scoring, and so on, all work as intended. Note: This option provides only a single assignment preview: neither the take nor the score will be recorded in the Gradebook. See Enrolling Yourself as a Student on page 185 or Using the Student View/Instructor View Toggle on page 12 for more information on making your own functional student account. Print Assignment Opens the Printing Options page for the assignment, allowing you to set a wide range of printing options before printing or saving the assignment. See Printing Assignments on page 99 for details. Save Assignment As PDF or RTF Opens the Printing Options page for the assignment, allowing you to set a wide range of printing options before saving or printing the assignment. See Printing Assignments on page 99 for details. Edit Assignment Information Opens the Assignment Information page, which allows you to change name, date, and late penalty options for your assignment. See Assignment Information on page 52 for details. Edit Assignment Content For Homework and Test assignments, this option opens the Included Questions page, allowing you to remove items, add new book items, edit questions in place, or add new self authored questions. See Editing Assignments on page 93 for details. For Study Tools assignments, this opens the Choose/Customize AST content page, from which you can change Pre and Post Test options Edit Assignment Options Opens the Assignment Options page for the assignment, allowing you to change assignment scoring, grading, and other overall assignment behavior. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 92

99 Creating and Managing Assignments Customize Assignment Options for Specific Students Allows you customize the assignment dates, times, number of takes, and time allowed for particular students. This feature helps you make exceptions and accommodate the special circumstances without changing options for the entire class. See Customizing Assignment Options for Specific Students on page 165 for details. Take This Assignment Offline/ Online Makes the assignment temporarily unavailable to your students, or makes an unavailable assignment available. Create Another Assignment Restarts the assignment creation process from the beginning. Return to Assignment List Returns you to the main Assignments page. Editing Assignments After you create an assignment, you still have the option to go back and change the assignment s information, options, and included questions or other content. Note: If the assignment s current status is Assigned, not yet due, you may want to take it offline while you are working on it. In addition, you should consider whether changes to the assignment will affect students who have already taken it, or affect overall class grading. You can access the Options for Editing window by clicking the Edit link in the Actions column on the Assignments main page. From this window, you can choose from one of three options for editing assignments. (Not all options are available for all assignments.) CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 93

100 Creating and Managing Assignments Options for Editing Window Edit Assignment Information. Selecting this option opens the Assignment Information page where you can adjust the Name, Date Available, Date Due, and Date Unavailable for the selected assignment. For more details, see Assignment Information on page 52. Edit Assignment Options. Selecting this option takes you to the Assignment Options page where you can redefine the characteristics and behavior of your assignment. See Choosing Assignment Options on page 85 for more information. Edit Assignment Content. Selecting this option takes you to the Included Questions page where you can add, remove, or even create new selfauthored questions for that particular assignment. See Editing Content in Assignments on page 94 for more details. Whenever possible, finish editing your questions before making the assignments available to students. If you edit questions in an active assignment, you may create grading inconsistencies between those students who take the assignment before you make your changes and those who take it after. Also, please keep in mind that when you create or edit questions from within an assignment those changes are available only from that assignment. Editing Content in Assignments Once you have created an assignment, you still have the option to edit its content. Depending on the assignment type, you can remove questions, add additional questions, customize the questions or other content in place, or create and insert new self authored questions of your own. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 94

101 Creating and Managing Assignments Deleting questions from a Homework or Test assignment Action: To remove questions from Homework and Test assignments 1 On your Assignments page, select the course containing the assignment you want to edit from the Course or Section drop down menu. 2 Click the Edit link in the Actions column for the assignment you want to edit. The Options for Editing window will popup. 3 Select Edit Assignment Content and click Continue to open the Included Questions page. 4 Select the question(s) you want to remove, and then click Exclude Selected. 5 When you have finished your edits, click Done to save your changes and return to the Assignments page. Adding questions to a pre existing Homework or Test assignment Action: To add questions to Homework and Test assignments 1 On your Assignments page, select the course containing the assignment you want to edit from the Course or Section drop down menu. 2 Click the Edit link in the Actions column for the assignment you want to edit. The Options for Editing window will popup. 3 Select Edit Assignment Content and click Continue to open the Included Questions page. 4 Click the Add More Questions button at the bottom left of the page and the Choose Content Source page will open. 5 Use the Choose Content tools to select and filter additional questions from the designated course textbook and your self authored questions. See Available Questions Choosing the Content Source on page 55 for more details. 6 When you have finished your edits, click Done to save your changes and return to the Assignments page. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 95

102 Creating and Managing Assignments Editing questions in Homework and Test Assignments Use the steps below to customize questions taken from book content. The changes you make will only affect content in your current assignment, the questions in the book are unaffected. Action: To edit content in Homework and Test assignments 1 On your Assignments page, select the course containing the assignment you want to edit from the Course or Section drop down menu. 2 Click the Edit link in the Actions column for the assignment you want to edit. The Options for Editing window will popup. 3 Select Edit Assignment Content; click Continue to open the Included Questions page. 4 Click the name of the question you want to edit so that it displays in the Question Preview pane at the bottom. 5 Click the adjacent Edit Question link (some assignments do not allow the editing of content). The Problem Editor opens with your copy of the current question available for editing (your edits do not affect the book original). For an introduction to the Problem Editor, see Authoring in CengageNOW on page When you have completed editing the question, click save or save as to save it, and then click Done to return to the Included Questions page. The edited question will appear in your Included Questions list. 7 When you have finished your edits, click Done to save your changes and return to the Assignments page. Creating new questions for Homework and Test assignments Use the steps below to author your own question for the specific assignment. The question you create will be available for this assignment only. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 96

103 Creating and Managing Assignments If you want your self authored question to be available for other assignments, don t create it from within an assignment as described above. Rather, create it independently from the Self Authored questions page. The question is then selectable as an Available Question for any assignment you create. Action: To author new questions for Homework and Test assignments 1 On your Assignments page, select the course containing the assignment you want to edit from the Course or Section drop down menu. 2 Click the name of the assignment. 3 On the Assignment Summary page, click Edit Assignment Content. 4 In the introductory text at the top, click the Create a Question link. The Self Authored Questions page opens. 5 Select the type of question you want to create and type in a name in the Question name input box. 6 Click the Create New Question button and the Problem Editor page opens. For an introduction to the Problem Editor, see Authoring in CengageNOW on page 190 for details. 7 When you have created the question, click save or save as to save it, and then click Done to return to the Included Questions page. Your new question will appear in the Organize Included Questions windrow. 8 Select where you want to insert your new question by dragging and dropping it into the appropriate position. 9 When you have finished your edits, click Done to save your changes and return to the Assignments page. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 97

104 Creating and Managing Assignments Editing content in Study Tools assignments As opposed to Homework and Test assignments, Assignable Study Tool assignments can consist of several integrated, ready made segments. While you cannot edit individual questions or content in these segments, you can change Pre and Post Test options. Action: Editing content in existing Assignable Study Tools assignments 1 On your Assignments page, select the course containing the assignment you want to edit in the Course or Section drop down menu. 2 Click the Edit link next to the name of the assignment and the Options for Editing window will open. 3 Select Edit Assignment Content and click Continue. 4 On the Choose/Customize AST page, you can modify which sections are assigned, which learning assets are included, and whether to hide the Pre or Post Tests. 5 When you have completed your selections, click Done to save your changes and return to the Assignments overview page. Editing content in External Web Link assignments Use the steps below to alter the URL used for a Web Link assignment. Action: Editing an External Web Link assignment 1 On your Assignments page, select the course containing the assignment you want to edit in the Course or Section drop down menu. 2 Click the Edit link next to the name of the assignment and the Options for Editing window will open. 3 Select Edit Assignment Content and click Continue. The Assignment Content page will open. 4 Edit the URL leading to the site where the assignment content is located. 5 When you have finished your edits, click Done to save your changes and return to the Assignments overview page. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 98

105 Creating and Managing Assignments PRINTING ASSIGNMENTS CengageNOW provides a wide range of options for creating printed versions of your CengageNOW Homework and Test assignments. You can shuffle problems and regenerate values so that students get a unique version of the test every time you print it. This option increases your ability to easily retest and reinforce learning and helps reduce the potential for cheating. You can also print copies of an assignment for a specific course and particular students. You have the option to print assignments from the Assignments, Assignment Created, Assignment Summary, and the Assignment Templates pages. Action: To print an assignment from the Assignments page 1 If the assignment you want to print is not in the current course, use the Course or Section drop down list to select the appropriate course. 2 Find the assignment you want to print, and click the Print link in the Actions column, or you can use the Save option to export the assignment as either a PDF or RTF document so you can edit it in another application. (Some assignment types cannot provide a print or save option.) 3 In the Printing Options window, make any desired changes and click Print. Your browser s Print dialog box opens in front of a preview of the printed assignment. 4 Click OK in the Print dialog box to send the file to your printer. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 99

106 Creating and Managing Assignments Setting Printing Options You can customize almost every aspect of your current assignment s print layout in the Printing Options window and save your settings for use on other assignments. You can access the Printing Options window in any of the following ways: Function Looks like this... Click Preferences in the Global Actions Menu, and then click View/Select Print Options in the Preferences window. On the Assignments page and click Print in the Actions column. (Some assignment types cannot be printed.) On the Assignment Templates page, select the check box for an Assignment Template and then click the Print button. (Click Show All Options to display the button, if necessary.) On the Assignment Created and Assignment Summary page, click the Print Test (or Print Assignment) link under the Output Test heading. Make the desired changes in the printing preferences, and click Save These Changes to save your settings as the defaults for all subsequent print jobs, or click Print to print the selected assignment or Assignment Template without saving the settings. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 100

107 Creating and Managing Assignments Output Format (PDF/RTF) You can create PDF (Portable Document Format) files or RTF (Rich Text Format) files of some assignment types. You can then print these files from outside CengageNOW with the appropriate application. PDF RTF This file format preserves your document s appearance, regardless of how it was created. To view or print PDF files, you need the free Adobe Reader software, available at (To edit PDF files, you need Adobe Acrobat or Acrobat Pro.) RTF is supported by many word processors, including Microsoft Word (Word 2000 or later recommended) and OpenOffice. Note: If you work with an RTF file in Windows WordPad and then open it in Word, use the Web View option to display it properly. Save Paper Click the Save Paper button to switch your print options to settings that use the least amount of paper. (This is the CengageNOW default layout.) Choosing this option automatically sets values that will help you to save paper, but it also overrides all your previous print settings. A confirmation pop up window will appear to verify your decision. Click OK to proceed, or click Cancel to return to the Print Options page. The Save Paper settings are as follows: Output Format: PDF What to Print: Assignment with Keys Versions: No regeneration or shuffling; 1 version Fonts: 12 pt. Helvetica CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 101

108 Creating and Managing Assignments What to Print Layout: One column; answer fields not included; no lines between choices or problems; Multiple Choice answers fit page width; horizontal true/false choice position. Header and Footer: For the selected assignment, page numbering for both questions and answers starts at 1. Print Style: Standard Copy Selection: Not enabled Sorting Options: Keep in current order Advanced Layout: Embed all fonts used; Show commas in numbers; Minimize blank space. Image/Graph Size: Image height or width limited to 2 inches Section Breaks: Hidden Paper: Medium quality, 100% scaling, 8.5 x 11 These settings determine what is included in the print file. Assignment Only Select this option to print assignment questions without answers. Assignment with Keys Select this option to print assignment questions with an answer key on a separate sheet. Note that this is the default setting. Assignment with Problem Codes Select this option to print assignment questions labeled with each source problem s CengageNOW name or code (for example, gfia ). This helps you identify questions even if they have been shuffled or had their values regenerated. Full Form Select this option to print everything questions, answer keys, and problem codes. Keys Only Select this option to print only the answer keys for the assignment. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 102

109 Creating and Managing Assignments Versions Fonts These options let you create distinct test versions from a single set of questions. By shuffling sequences and regenerating algorithmic values, you can create as many unique versions of the assignment as you want. These options help you reinforce learning and reduce the potential for cheating. You may choose one or more of the following options: Regenerate Algorithm Values Select this option to regenerate the values of all questions in the assignment that were created using algorithmic values. This option will have no effect on questions authored with constant (non algorithmic) values. Shuffle Order of Choices Select this option to reorder the answer choices randomly within each question. Shuffle Order of Problems Select this option to reorder questions randomly in each section of the assignment. Note: If you select this option, you can t use a custom sort order for the questions in the assignment. If you use a custom sort order, you cannot select this option. Number of Versions Enter the number of different versions of the assignment that you want to print. The default value is 1. These settings determine the typeface and size for the assignment. Font type Select the typeface to use for printing the assignment from the dropdown menu. Font size Use the drop down menu to select the size of the type. (A font size of 10 or 12 is typical for printed material.) CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 103

110 Creating and Managing Assignments Layout These options control how questions and answers are arranged on the page. One column Select this option to produce a document printed with all items in a single column. Two column Select this option to produce a document printed with two columns. (This option is not available for RTF output.) Include Answer Fields Check this box to print a short answer line for each question: 1, 2, etc. Lines between choices Use the drop down menu to set the number of blank lines (0, 1, or 2) between answer choices. Lines between problems Enter the number of blank lines between problems. Make Multiple Choice answers fit page width Select this option to arrange Multiple Choice answers to take full advantage of each line s available width. Make Multiple Choice answers display in two columns Select this option to arrange Multiple Choice answers in two columns. Always place Multiple Choice answers one per line Select this option to print Multiple Choice answers in a single column. True/False choice position Header and Footer Choose whether True/False answers are to be displayed vertically (on separate lines) or horizontally (on the same line). These settings determine how the headers and footers you create in the Edit Headers and Footers window will be applied. See Editing Headers and Footers on page 108 for information about the window. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 104

111 Creating and Managing Assignments For All Assignments Select this option to apply your header and footer settings to all of your assignments. For Selected Assignment Select this option to change the header or footer for the selected assignment only. (Select the assignment before you open the Printing Options window.) Start page numbering for questions from Select the check box and enter the beginning page number for questions. Start page numbering for answers from Select the check box and enter the page number for the first page of answers. View/Select Click this button to open the Edit Headers and Footers window. (The button is displayed only if you select the For all assignments option or if you selected an assignment before opening the Printing Options window. See Editing Headers and Footers on page 108 for information about the window. Note: If the following options are not displayed in the window, click Show All Options to access them. Print Style These settings determine how to translate elements from an online assignment to the printed version. estyle Select this option to make the printout resemble an on screen assignment. For example, the assignment will print with option buttons next to each Multiple Choice or True/False answer for the student to mark. Standard Select this option if you don t want to include on screen elements on the printout. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 105

112 Creating and Managing Assignments Put grid lines around column multiple choice questions Copy Selection Select this option to apply grid lines around Multiple Choice questions and answers. Grid lines make the choices and pairings more visually distinct. These selections give you the option to print assignments for particular courses or students. Select Course Select this option to print or quick view the assignment for a particular course at print time. You ll select the course from a dialog box that appears whenever you print the assignment. Print Assignments for selected students Sorting Options Select this option to print or quick view the assignment for a selected student or group of students at print time. You will need to check Select Course to make the Print Assignments for selected students option available. With these options selected, when you print an assignment, a dialog box will appear that allows you select the course and from specific students within the chosen course (or section). These options let you put the assignment questions in a specific order. Note: You won t be able to select a sorting option if you selected to shuffle the order of problems under Versions. Keep in current order Select this option to keep questions in their original order. Sort by problem code Select this option to organize questions in each section in ascending order by CengageNOW problem code (for example, gfia ,...54,...55, etc.). Sort by problem type Select this option to organize questions in each section by problem type (Multiple Choice, True/False, etc.). CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 106

113 Creating and Managing Assignments Sort by difficulty Advanced Layout Select this option to organize questions by difficulty. These options determine specialized effects in the formatting of your printed assignment. Print formulae in italics Select this option to make formulae stand out from the plain body text. Embed all fonts used Select this option to embed fonts in the print file. Embedding fonts ensures that the text will be printed in the original fonts, even if the printing software or printer doesn t have that font installed. This option will increase file size. Show commas in numbers Select this option to show commas in numbers larger than 999. Clear this option for graphs, as they are usually easier to read without commas. Keep questions and answers on the same page Select this option to keep each answer on the same page with its question, even if much of an adjacent page must be left blank to do it. Minimize blank space Image/Graph Size Select this option to allow a question to be printed at the bottom of one page with its answer printed at the top of the next page. Limit image height or width to 2 inches Select this option to limit the size of printed images and graphs to a maximum of 2 inches by 2 inches. (This size is usually adequate for graphs and can save paper.) Original size Select this option to print images and graphs at their original dimensions. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 107

114 Creating and Managing Assignments Section Breaks Paper Hidden Select this option to start each section of the assignment immediately after the preceding section. New page Quality Select this option to start each section of the assignment on a new page. Select a print quality of Low, Medium, or High from the drop down menu. (Print resolution depends on the capabilities of your computer, the printer driver used, and your printer. You normally do not need to use High except for complex graphics.) Scale content to Enter a percentage by which to scale text on the printed page, relative to the right margin. For example, a line of text that reaches the right margin at 100% will reach only halfway at 50%. Page width Sets the width of the page. The default is 8.5 inches. Page height Sets the height of the page. The default is 11 inches. Editing Headers and Footers The header and footer of an assignment are at the top and bottom, respectively, of each page. Headers and footers can include page numbers, the date, the assignment title, the student s name, and other information pertinent to the assignment. You can specify different information for the first (title) page of the assignment and the subsequent pages. Access the Edit Headers and Footers window by clicking the View/Select button in the Header and Footer controls. (The button is displayed only if you select the For All Assignments option or if you selected an assignment before opening the Printing Options window.) CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 108

115 Creating and Managing Assignments Using the Edit Headers and Footers window This window lets you view the current header and footer, choose a different header or footer, or create a custom header or footer by modifying any of the ready made templates. When you access the window, the current headers and footers are displayed in the four editing windows. The top two windows are for the first page header and footer. The bottom two are for the header and footer that appear on the subsequent pages. Click Save to save your modified headers and footers as part of the print setup. Header/Footer Templates You have several ready made header/footer templates available. To choose a template, select it from the Templates drop down menu at the bottom of the window. Use blank if you want to start completely from scratch. Select Custom Option #1 or #2 for basic workable layouts. Use #1 using tables or #2 using tables as your starting point if you want more control over the header/footer spacing and layout. You ll use the CengageNOW HTML Table Editor if you customize one of these. See Advanced Header/Footer Layout on page 110. Macros You can customize any of the header and footer templates by typing in text or by selecting header and footer macros from the Insert macro dropdown menu at the bottom of the window. These macros insert the variable text you want to appear in a certain spot, such as the page number or the assignment name. Try not to insert more macros or text than you really need, or the headers and footers may appear crowded or off center. Macro options include the following: Page number Current date Version number Assignment name Number of answerable questions CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 109

116 Creating and Managing Assignments Total possible points Student name Student ID Instructor name Course name Advanced Header/Footer Layout If you want a fine degree of layout control over your assignment headers and footers, you can lay out each header and footer as an inserted table. This provides you better control over element spacing, word wrap, and justification. The easiest way to start is to select #1 using tables or #2 using tables from the Templates drop down menu. You can then view the header and footer layout in the table editor and make adjustments. The easiest way to start is to select #1 using tables or #2 using tables from the Templates drop down menu. You can then view the header and footer layout in the table editor and make adjustments. To start from scratch, select the blank template, and lay it out using the HTML toolbar s Insert Table drop down menu. ARCHIVING ASSIGNMENTS Note: Depending on the features available through your Learning Management System, archiving may not be available in your version of CengageNOW. CengageNOW s archiving feature lets you store assignments you are not currently using on the Archived Materials page. Archived items are readily available for you to retrieve, copy into a new course or section, or delete permanently. You can access your archived materials by clicking the View Archived Materials link available on your Assignments page. You may need to click the link to Show All Options on the Assignments page, if the link is hidden. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 110

117 Creating and Managing Assignments The Archived Materials Page Archived items can be returned at any time to their original working area in CengageNOW. To retrieve an assignment that was archived with its associated section or course, you are prompted to retrieve the relevant section or course as well. If you are a section level instructor, you must have the course level instructor retrieve your course level items for you. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 111

118 Creating and Managing Assignments Using the Archived Materials Page The Archived Materials page shows the organization of your archived items. The archived items themselves display a file cabinet icon. Use the tips provided below when working on the Archived Materials page. Click the + or icon on each branch of the hierarchy tree to view or hide its contents. Use the Expand All and Collapse All links to either open or close the entire hierarchy tree. Use the check boxes to select items and item groups for retrieval, copying, or deletion. Use a search filter to find a particular to limit the list. Enter the appropriate information in the box, and click the Search button. Click the Clear button to return the list to its original state. Some items will auto select according to your selections, showing that the items were archived or organized as a group. Similarly, items with a dashed check box have one or more dependent items selected (an assignment in a course, for example). If an icon displays a lock, you will need the necessary system permissions to retrieve, copy, or delete those items. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 112

119 Creating and Managing Assignments Archiving Your Materials Archiving will move the selected content to Archived Materials page. You can retrieve archived materials at any time. Action: To archive specific assignments within a course 1 On the Assignments page, first select the appropriate course from the Course or Section drop down menu (if necessary). 2 Click the Show All Options link, if the additional options are not already displayed. 3 Select one or more assignments to archive. 4 Under Choose assignments and then select an option below, click the Archive button. 5 Click OK in the Archive verification window, and the selected assignment(s) will be moved to the Archived Materials page. Retrieving Archived Assignments Retrieving an item from Archived Materials moves it back to its original location in Assignments page. Action: To retrieve specific assignments 1 Open the Archived Materials page by clicking the link on the Assignments page. 2 Select the assignments you want to retrieve, and click the Retrieve Selected Items button. 3 In the Archived Materials Confirm Item Retrieval window, review your selections. 4 Click the Retrieve selected items button to finalize the retrieval, if your selections are correct. If necessary, you can use the Change current selections button to return to the Archived Materials page where you can make new selections. You can also click Cancel to quit and return to the Archived Materials page where you can make new selections, if necessary. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 113

120 Creating and Managing Assignments Copying Items from Archived Materials You can copy assignments from Archived Materials to the CengageNOW clipboard and then paste the items directly into a new course or section. This shortcut makes it easy to retrieve and update an archived item for a new use and saves you the work of creating it from scratch each time. Action: To copy archived assignments 1 On the Assignments page, use the Course or Section drop down menu to select the course that originally contained the archived assignments you want to copy. 2 Click Show All Options to display all options, if they are hidden. 3 Click the View Archived Materials link. 4 On the Archived Materials page, select the assignments you want to copy, and click the Copy Selected Items button. Note: To return the archived assignments to the original course, use Retrieve Selected Items instead. 5 Click the Assignments link near the top left of the page. 6 On the Assignments page, if necessary, select the course or section into which you want to paste the copied assignments. 7 Click Paste to open the CengageNOW Clipboard window. You may need to click Show All Options if the Paste option is hidden. 8 Click the Paste Selected Items button and your copied assignments should now appear in the selected course or section. Click the Close Window button to exit the clipboard when you are done. You can also click the Cancel button to quit and return to the Archived Materials page without making any changes. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 114

121 Creating and Managing Assignments Deleting Archived Items You can delete items permanently from your archive if you feel you need to reduce clutter or save disk space. Keep in mind that deleted items are gone for good. If there is any chance you may need to access that assignment or associated student grade again, it s best to keep it in archived materials. Caution: It s strongly recommended that you adhere to the system default selections and prompts when deleting items. For example, say you archive an entire course but later delete some of its assignments. If you later retrieve that course, its Gradebook records will reflect only the remaining assignments and won t match other course records you might have. Delete only those items you are certain you will never need again. Action: To delete specific archived items 1 Open the Archived Materials page by clicking the link on the Assignments page. 2 Select the assignments you want to delete, and click the Delete Selected Items button. 3 In the Archived Materials Confirm Item Delete page, review your selections, and click the Delete button, or you can click the Cancel button to return to the Archived Materials page without making any changes. To change your selections, click the Change current selections button and edit your selections as needed before deleting them. Note: If your selected archived assignment is assigned to a course or section, it cannot be deleted. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 115

122 Creating and Managing Assignments WORKING WITH ASSIGNMENT TEMPLATES An Assignment Template is a by product of creating an assignment. It is essentially just the set of questions you ve selected from your source materials a generic unassigned assignment and is a convenient resource for creating new assignments. Assignment Template Page Note: Depending on the features available through your Learning Management System, Assignment Templates may not be available in your version of CengageNOW. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 116

123 Creating and Managing Assignments Using the Assignment Templates Page The Assignment Templates page allows you accumulate a personal store of assignment materials and question banks to be mixed and matched according to your course needs. Use Assignment Templates to manage, modify, and assign the templates you build or to publish them as WebQuizzes or online tutorials. Action: To access the Assignment Templates page 1 Click the Assignments link to open the Assignments page, if necessary. 2 Click the Create Assignment button and the Choose Type page will open. 3 Select the option to Use a Homework or Test Assignment Already in Your Account. 4 Click Continue and the Assignment Templates page will open. Managing Assignment Templates The Assignment Templates page is your storehouse for assignment content that you use repeatedly. Its features help you find the Assignment Templates you want quickly. Assignment Template Folders You will start with a My Assignment Templates folder to store the assignments you create. If you wish, you can click its create sub folder icon to create additional folders for organizing and storing your templates. You can delete or rename these subfolders as necessary. Sorting the Assignment Templates list Status Click the column headings for Assignment Template Name, Size (number of questions), and Modified date to sort them in ascending order. Click the same heading again to reverse the order. A blue clock status icon in the Status column indicates that the template is available as a WebQuiz. You can click the icon to check the URL, or to unpublish the WebQuiz. An orange clock status icon in the Status column indicates that the Assignment Template has been assigned to one or more courses. You can click the icon to see the courses to which it has been assigned. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 117

124 Creating and Managing Assignments Advanced Assignment Template Options To see these additional Assignment Template page options, click Show All Options. To conceal them, click Hide all options. Assignment Template Advanced Options Go to a content source Use this drop down menu to go to the Assignments page, the Self Authored Questions page, and the Archived Materials page. This gives you quick access to areas where you may have content related to your Assignment Templates. Assignment Template Manager This drop down menu lists additional actions you can perform on your Assignment Templates. For most of them, you select an Assignment Template, and then select the action from the Assignment Template Manager menu. Publish as a WebQuiz. Posts your Assignment Template as a quiz at a Web address (URL) so it can be accessed outside of CengageNOW. See Creating a WebQuiz on page 122 for details. Rename. Provides a quick way to rename an Assignment Template. Check for errors. Analyzes the HTML code in the selected Assignment Template for common spelling, technical, and structural errors and lists the results with links to problem areas. This is an important step in checking Assignment Templates that contain questions you have authored or edited yourself. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 118

125 Creating and Managing Assignments Print Save Edit Export. Exports your CengageNOW Assignment Templates to other CengageNOW users or to several other educational software packages. See Importing and Exporting Assignment Templates on page 123 for details. Import. Imports CengageNOW Assignment Templates, Test banks, and other assignment source files. See Importing and Exporting Assignment Templates on page 123 for details. Use this button to print the selected template using your current printing options. Use this button to open the Printing Options page, where you can save the selected template in either a PDF or RTF format. Use this button to open the Template Summary page, where you can select between editing the information or content. Quick view Use this button to preview the selected template rendered in HTML (Web page format). This view gives you an idea of how the assignment will appear when printed out or viewed online. Assign Template Click this button to place the selected template into a course as an assigned assignment. See Assigning an Assignment Template on page 120 for more details. Create Assignment Click this button to start the process of creating a new assignment to be saved on your Assignment Templates page. See Using an Assignment Already in Your Account on page 82 for more details. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 119

126 Creating and Managing Assignments Assigning an Assignment Template You can create a new assignment from one or your existing Assignment Templates by assigning it to a different class and adapting the options as needed. The new assignment will then be accessible from the Assignments page. The template remains intact and is available for creating additional assignments. Action: To assign an Assignment Template 1 On the Assignment Templates page, select the Assignment Template you want to assign, and then click the Assign Template button. Note: If the template you selected is already assigned, a message will appear explaining that the two assignments will be linked. Click OK to continue or click Cancel to create an assignment from a copy instead. 2 When necessary, select the course or section in which you want to use the assignment from the Courses or Sections drop down menu. The Choose Type page opens. 3 Select the type of assignment you want to create from the template, and click Continue. See Starting the Assignment Creation Process on page 51 for more information about the assignment types. The Assignment Information page opens. 4 Enter the new name and dates you want to use for this application of the assignment, and click Continue. See Assignment Information on page 52 for details on editing assignment information. The Assignment Options page opens. 5 Change any of the options as needed for this particular usage of the assignment. When finished, click the Create Assignment button to assign this new usage of this assignment to the selected course. The Assignment Created page opens with your new assignment ready and assigned to the selected course. At this point, your template based assignment is complete and assigned to your course. However, you still have the ability to work with and modify the assignment using the links on the Assignment Created page. You can also access this page later as the Assignment Summary page by clicking an assignment s name on the Assignments list. For details on these links, see Using the Assignment Created/Summary Pages on page 92. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 120

127 Creating and Managing Assignments Renaming an Assignment Template You can change the name of an Assignment Template to account for a change in its content or purpose. Note: If you want to retain a copy of the Assignment Template with its original name, copy the template first, paste it, and then rename the copy. Action: To rename an Assignment Template 1 From the Assignment Templates Manager drop down menu, select Rename and the Rename Assignment Template page will open. 2 Type the new name for your assignment template into the New template name text field, and click the Rename button. The Assignment Template will now appear on the Assignment Templates page with its new name. Editing an Assignment Template You can edit an Assignment Template to rename it, add new items, remove items, or change the item order. You can also change the internal authoring for questions (for advanced users only). Action: To edit an Assignment Template 1 On the Assignment Templates page, click the name of the template you want to edit. (You may get a warning, if the template is being used in an assignment.) The Template Summary page opens. This page offers links to Edit Template Information, Edit Template Content, and other options much like those available on the Assignment Summary page. For details on how to use the tools on these pages, see Using the Assignment Created/Summary Pages on page After you are done, click Return to Assignment Templates to save your changes and exit the page. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 121

128 Creating and Managing Assignments Creating a WebQuiz You can easily publish your Assignment Template as a WebQuiz, which makes it available from a Web address (URL). By creating a WebQuiz you can provide access to the assignment by anyone using just a browser, with or without CengageNOW. Users go to the appropriate URL generated by CengageNOW to take the WebQuiz. The WebQuiz results are then reported to you via e mail. WebQuizzes offer an important tool for online assessment. You can post an accessible, customized WebQuiz from any CengageNOW Assignment Template to an entire class in a matter of minutes. You also have the option of setting up the WebQuiz as an external assignment. This allows you to create a different assignment name and set several assignment options that aren t available for a regular WebQuiz. In addition, students can see the external assignment on their Assignments page and can start it with the Take button (rather than having to use the URL you send them). The WebQuiz Properties Page Note: You may want to inform your students that WebQuiz sessions expire after 60 minutes of inactivity. After the session expires, students will lose their current answers (but may be able to re take the assignment, depending on its settings). CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 122

129 Creating and Managing Assignments Action: To create a WebQuiz 1 Click the Assignments link to open the Assignments page, if necessary. 2 Click the Create Assignment button and the Choose Type page will open. 3 Select the option to Use a Homework or Test Assignment Already in Your Account. 4 Click Continue and the Assignment Templates page will open. 5 From the Assignment Templates page, click Show All Options if you have not already done so. 6 Select the checkbox for the Assignment Template you want to post on the Web. 7 From the Assignment Template Manager drop down menu, select Publish as a WebQuiz. 8 On the WebQuiz Properties page, select Publish as a WebQuiz, and then click the Save my changes button. CengageNOW will display the generated URL (Web address) for your WebQuiz. 9 At this point, the WebQuiz is complete. Click the Return to Assignment Templates link to exit. You may copy and paste the URL into an or text document to distribute to your students. To access the WebQuiz again, find it on your Assignments page, marked with the blue clock status icon. By clicking the blue clock icon you can retrieve the assignment s URL. Note: To learn how to set up the WebQuiz as an External Web Link assignment so that the quiz can be accessed from the student s Assignments page, see Creating an External Web Link Assignment on page 84. Importing and Exporting Assignment Templates You can choose Import from the Assignment Template Manager to import CengageNOW Assignment Templates, Test banks, and other assignment source files. Any valid file saved using the CengageNOW Export as XML option can be imported into your system. If these files have been exported with all necessary linked content, you can import and use them without access to the parent Test bank. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 123

130 Creating and Managing Assignments Importing Assignment Templates Action: To import an Assignment Template 1 From the Assignment Template Manager drop down menu, select Import and the Import Assignment Templates page will open. 2 Click the Choose File button and navigate through the folders on your system to locate the file(s) you want to import. 3 If you want to give the imported file a new name, type the name in the New file name box. However if you have several files to import, use the Add more files link to add more files to the list. 4 Click the Import button to import the selected files. Once the file has been imported, it will be available on the Assignment Templates page for you to view, edit, or assign. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 124

131 Creating and Managing Assignments Exporting Assignment Templates in XML format You can export the Assignment Templates you create in CengageNOW to many different formats. These formats include CengageNOW s native XML format, as well as WebCT (Blackboard CE), Blackboard, or ExamView, among others. This lets you share your CengageNOW Assignment Templates with colleagues or use them in other software packages. Exporting an Assignment Template as XML CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 125

132 Creating and Managing Assignments Export to other CengageNOW users Select Export as XML. This is CengageNOW s native format and ensures full support for all problem types. The XML option lets you export an Assignment Template from the CengageNOW database as an XML file that can be loaded (imported) onto any CengageNOW server. This means you can move or share the test you created on your personal (local) server to your school s LAN or to your account on the CengageNOW server at Note: You can export Assignment Templates individually to XML in the BCA format. You can also export multiple files as a single compressed ZIP file, allowing them to be stored or ed more conveniently. Include CengageNOW problem content When you build an assignment from CengageNOW content, you are creating a set of dynamic XML links to the items in your CengageNOW book and forms. If you are exporting an Assignment Template to someone who may not have access to the same CengageNOW book you used to build the Assignment Template, you can select Include CengageNOW problem content. Including the content in the export file results in a larger file but ensures that the assignment will work correctly whether or not the user has access to the same book. Note: Including problem content for CengageNOW problems de links the exported problems from the source book. This means that if the problems are subsequently updated in the CengageNOW source book, the exported, de linked problems will not be dynamically updated. On the other hand, self authored questions and CengageNOW book problems that you have copied and modified are already de linked and will always include problem content when exported. Action: To export an Assignment Templates as an XML file 1 On the Assignment Templates page, select the files you want to export. (Multiple files are exported in a single compressed ZIP format file.) 2 Select Export from the Assignment Template Manager drop down menu (click Show All Options if necessary), and the Export Assignment Templates page will open. 3 (If necessary) Select the check box for Include CengageNOW problem content if you want to ensure that the assignment will work correctly whether or not the user has access to the same book. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 126

133 Creating and Managing Assignments Action: To export an Assignment Templates as an XML file 4 Click Export as XML from the list. (You may see a warning message if the data type is not supported.) 5 Depending on your system you may need to click Save, confirm the file name and location, and then click Save again to complete the export. Exporting Assignment Templates to other software You can export CengageNOW Assignment Templates to several other educational software packages and classroom response systems, including Blackboard, WebCT (Blackboard CE), ExamView, and TurningPoint. Note: CengageNOW supports a large number of problem types that are not available in or supported by other software packages. As a result, the export format you select determines the type of questions you can export. Action: To export an Assignment Template to other software 1 On the Assignment Templates page, select the file you want to export. Note: Files exported to non CengageNOW software must be exported one file at a time. 2 From the Assignment Template Manager drop down menu (click Show All Options if necessary) and select Export. 3 Click the link for the desired export format and follow the on screen instructions to finish the export. Depending on the export format, you may need to enter the appropriate naming convention, choose the image type, the assignment type, etc. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 127

134 MANAGING GRADES CengageNOW automatically grades everything possible to grade electronically, marks items that must be manually graded, and calculates a student s final grade or grade to date. Once a student finishes an assignment, you can use tools found in your Gradebook to review the answers and score any items requiring manual grading. If necessary, you can adjust scoring for any item, student, or assignment. Note: If your course is part of an integrated system, scores in CengageNOW and your host learning management system are automatically updated when you initially log in. You can manually perform this process by clicking the Synchronize Scores button. CengageNOW also offers a wide range of grade reporting options to help you summarize and analyze individual and class performance. You can review these reports online or print them out in a variety of formats. GRADEBOOK TERMINOLOGY There are many ways to customize and weight grades. Familiarize yourself with the following Gradebook terms to understand how the course grade is calculated: Total Score The Total Score for student progress is the sum of each assignment s score multiplied by the assignment s weight. You can also find the Total Score for the course displayed (in parenthesis) in the Total Score column heading. This is the total possible points for the course, including any hidden assignments. Most problems have a default score of 1.0 for a correct answer, and so an assignment score equals the number of correct answers. However, CengageNOW offers many ways to set up and score problems to adjust or weight this value: You can allow for partial credit for some responses. You can edit the possible score for individual questions from the Included Questions page. See The Included Questions Page on page 60 for details. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 128

135 Managing Grades You can alter the possible score of the entire assignment with the Possible score and Curve factor of options. See Choosing Assignment Options on page 85 for details. You can adjust the scores of groups of assignments by placing them in a custom category and weighting the category. See Creating and Editing Custom Grading Categories on page 143 for details. Note: Only assignments that are past due or have already been taken are included in the student s total score. Any points from extra credit assignments are then added to the total. Overall Grade This is a percentage calculated as the sum of assignment points earned to date divided by the possible score. Any custom Grading Categories that are used are also applied. Possible Score This is the number of points a student could earn for an assignment, if he or she achieved a perfect score. The student s actual gradebook score can be modified by other factors such as category weighting and curve factor. The Gradebook page displays the possible score in parenthesis next to each assignment name, while the Assignments page displays it in the Possible column Extra Credit Assignments can be assigned as extra credit by creating a custom grading category. Points earned as extra credit are added to the points earned, but not to the total possible score, when calculating the total grade (Total Score / Possible Score = Total Grade). For example, suppose you set up a class with nine regular assignments and one extra credit assignment. If each assignment is worth 10 points, the possible score for the course is 90. But a student who scored 100 percent on everything, including the extra credit assignment, would score 111 percent for the course (100/90 = 1.11). CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 129

136 Managing Grades Category Score Category Score represents a student s grade for each category of assignments in the course. Grading categories are optional; you create them on the Gradebook page as a means to adjust score weighting for a whole group of similar assignments. If you have not created any assignment categories beyond the initial default category, the default category score is the final score for the course. See Creating and Editing Custom Grading Categories on page 143. An assignment s category score is calculated as follows: Category Score = (Total Score/Possible Score) x Category Weight (if any). The category weight is a value that you determine. Only categories containing at least one assignment that has been taken or is past due are counted. Final Score The final score is the sum of the category scores and reflects the student s grade for the course. If a category is empty (i.e., the assignments have not yet been taken), that category s score is excluded. USING THE GRADEBOOK OVERVIEW PAGE The Gradebook overview page displays the names of all students enrolled in a course and their individual scores for assignments. The possible score for each assignment appears in parenthesis below the assignment name. A gradebook shading feature you can turn off or on highlights which student assignments are falling into a specific percentile. See Gradebook Preferences on page 138 for more details. Expand the Perform student and assignment actions or Manage Columns menus to access links to additional tools. Clicking the Show All Options link will reveal options for setting preferences for the appearance of your Gradebook page; clicking Hide All Options will simplify your page. When available, clicking the Synchronize Scores button refreshes the Gradebook data between CengageNOW and your institution s Learning Management System. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 130

137 Managing Grades The Gradebook Overview Page Once a student finishes an assignment, you can use tools found in your Gradebook to review the answers and score any items requiring manual grading. If necessary, you can adjust scoring for any item, student, or assignment. Note: Assignments that your students have saved to resume later will display an In Progress icon and their current score. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 131

138 Managing Grades Basic Options These tools listed in the tables below are always available on your Gradebook overview page. Function Looks like this... The CengageNOW Report Creator gives you a quick way to view overall or cumulative course grades, grades for particular assignments, individual student responses, or export the entire Gradebook. Reports are generated in file formats that can be printed, viewed onscreen, or exported to other software (i.e. spreadsheet applications) for further editing. Select a report type from the drop down menu and the Report Creator page opens. For more information, see Creating Grade Reports on page 171. The Export Course Gradebook option allows you to export the information from your Gradebook as a file format for importing into an alternate course management system or editing in a spreadsheet or database application. See Exporting a Course Gradebook on page 169 for more information. Course or Section. When working in a system that allows multiple courses, this drop down menu allows you to select and manage a different course. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 132

139 Managing Grades Function Looks like this... Edit Grading Categories. This link opens a page where you can create, manage, and weight your own custom categories. See Creating and Editing Custom Grading Categories on page 143 for details. Show All Options/Hide All Options. This link determines whether the Gradebook Preferences are displayed. See Preferences on page 13 for information on setting this option for all your pages in CengageNOW. Gradebook Sorting Options. By clicking any active (blue) column heading you can organize the Gradebook table by that column in ascending or descending order. The sort order is indicated by the arrow icon. The columns for Student Name, Total Score, and Total Time Spent also have an X button that when clicked, hides those individual columns. The Manage Columns menu allows you to restore hidden columns. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 133

140 Managing Grades Function Looks like this... Manage Columns. A menu with selections allowing you to hide or restore columns and filter which assignments are displayed by type and date, grading status, or date criteria. (Some learning systems may not have all options available.) Also see Filtering Gradebook Assignments on page 140. Note: The Student Name also serves as a link to the Student Grade Details page. Synchronize Scores. Click this button to automatically refresh the Gradebook information with any changes that may be pending. Sorting Student Names: To limit the names listed in a course with many students, you can select an alphabetical range from a drop down menu located to the right on the green show all options bar. Select the appropriate alphabetical grouping (i.e. An Run) to refresh the list. You can also use the Previous and Next links to browse the pages of student names in sequence. The Enter Student text box allows you to search for a specific student s information, enter part of the student s name, and click the Find button. When you would like to return to the full list of students, click the Show all students link. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 134

141 Managing Grades Student and Assignment Actions Open the Perform student and assignment actions drop down menu to select one of the following management tools: Adjust Multiple Scores. This link opens the Adjust Multiple Scores page, where you can adjust students scores for multiple assignments in a course. You can adjust scores up or down by a designated amount (percent or points) or reset scores to a specific value. See Adjusting Multiple Assignment Scores on page 154 for details. Query Student Data. This link opens the Gradebook Search page, where you can use different criteria to find student grades for a course or assignment. This page is a handy reference for viewing student performance in their courses or in individual assignments. See Querying Student Data on page 163 for more information. Customize Assignment Options for Specific Students. This link opens the Select Assignment and Students for Custom Options and Dates page, where you can modify assignment availability, dates, and other options for individual students. Use this feature to accommodate special circumstances for specific students without having to adjust options for the entire class. See Customizing Assignment Options for Specific Students on page 165 for more details. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 135

142 Managing Grades Create External Gradebook Column When available, the External Gradebook Column is a place holder in your Gradebook you can use to manually record grades for offline paper assignments or labs done outside of CengageNOW. As your students complete their assignments, you enter their grades which are then calculated into their course score. This information is also included on your students Assignments and Grades pages. (External Gradebook Column option is not available in integrated systems.) See Using an External Gradebook Column on page 142 for more details. Synchronize Scores In systems that provide it, this control allows you to manually synchronize scores between CengageNOW and the Gradebook in your primary Learning Management System. You can find the Synchronize Scores button on both the Gradebook and the Assignment Details page. To synchronize all scores in your CengageNOW Gradebook with your host course management system, click the Synchronize Scores button on the Gradebook page. To synchronize the score for a single assignment, click the assignment name on the Gradebook page to open the Assignment Details page. Then click the Synchronize Scores button to synchronize the score for the selected assignment. CengageNOW automatically synchronizes scores for the following events, when they affect an assignment take counting towards the course score. To ensure the two grade books are in sync, however, you can use the Synchronize Scores button to manually integrate them at any time. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 136

143 Managing Grades A student submits an electronically graded assignment or a previously unsubmitted Take is submitted when the Unavailable Date arrives. When you edit or delete an assignment score or the score for an individual item in a submitted Take of record. When placing a submitted assignment in a grading category or changing the weight of a category, thus changing the score. Any changes to an assignment s numeric tolerance, penalty, item point value, graded/practice status, or extra credit status. When adding or removing items from a submitted assignment, thus changing the possible score. Manage Columns Use the Manage Columns drop down menu to choose to display or hide specific gradebook columns, filter which assignments are displayed, or View Hidden Assignments. You can also quickly hide columns and assignments from the Gradebook page by clicking the X icon in the column headings. Note: When available, establishing Student IDs is useful for large courses or when you have students with similar names. This information is also part of the output when exporting your Gradebook. Status Icons At the bottom of the page is an expandable Icon Key containing a legend describing the icons that may appear as labels for assignments or students with special conditions. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 137

144 Managing Grades Gradebook Preferences Use the Gradebook Preferences to control what kind of information is included on your Gradebook page. To display this feature, click the link to Show All Options; you can also click Hide All Options to simplify your view of the page. Gradebook Preferences Check the box next to an item to include the information on the page or to use it as part of the score calculation. Use the radio buttons to select between display styles. Assignments You can use this option to sort the list of assignments by your pre defined assignment Categories or by their Due Date, in either an ascending or descending order. The default setting is by Categories in ascending alphabetical order. Then additionally, within each category, the sort order is ascending due date (primary) and ascending alpha (secondary). Grades You can choose to display your Gradebook s course score either as a Percentage or as Total points (raw score only, does not factor in category weighting), or when available simply display the assignments as either Taken/Not Taken. An assignment can contribute its earned and possible points to the course score by one of two methods: In method 1, the assignment has reached its unavailable date. In method 2, the assignment has not yet reached its unavailable date, but the student has submitted the most recent take. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 138

145 Managing Grades Enable Shading. Select this check box to allow color coded shading of your students scores. Using this option can make it easy to quickly review and scan scores. If your preference is to display scores as Total Points rather than as a Percentage, Enable Shading will continue to color code your Gradebook scores as described. Lowest (red). below 70%. 3rd Quarter (orange). 70% to 79.99%. 2nd Quarter (yellow). 80% to 89.99%. Top (green). 90% or above. Drop Lowest Scores When available, Drop Lowest Scores option allows you to determine the number of low scoring assignments to drop from the course score calculations. Making a selection from the drop down menu controls how the assignments are selected. Note: Please refer to the online Textual Help for additional details. Respecting grading categories. This option allows you to enter a number of assignments to exclude from individual grading categories (if any). Ignoring grading categories. This option allows you to enter a number of assignments to exclude from the course overall and ignores grading categories (if any). Note: If Gradebook Preferences are set to display Taken/Not Taken or Total points, Ignoring grading categories will be the only available option for Drop Lowest Scores. Once your selections are complete, click Apply Changes to refresh the Gradebook page and see your changes. Click Hide All Options if you prefer to keep the Gradebook Preferences hidden. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 139

146 Managing Grades Filtering Gradebook Assignments The Edit Assignment Filters feature allows you to determine which assignments appear on your Gradebook page and customize the contents of gradebook exports. You can select criteria to filter assignments based on assignment type, grade status, or dates. Your selections can also determine the contents of Gradebook Reports exported as Excel and Text Editor files. Action: To filter assignments appearing on your Gradebook page 1 Go to your Gradebook page by clicking the Gradebook link in the heading. 2 Click the Manage Columns button and select Edit Assignment Filters from the dropdown list. The Assignment Filters window will open. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 140

147 Managing Grades Action: To filter assignments appearing on your Gradebook page 3 Select the appropriate check box under Date Filters to choose a date or a range of dates to apply as a filter. Date filtering is based on the Available, Due, and Unavailable dates displayed on the Assignments page. Date overrides set on the Customize Assignment Options for Specific Students page are not considered. 1. Choose from Available, Due, and Unavailable to select a date category. 2. Choose from After, Before, or Between in the drop down menu that appears to determine the association between the date type and the date you define in the next step. 3. Define the appropriate date or range of dates and times in the next field by using the calendar widget. Note that dates are inclusive, so when searching for "before" date it really means "before or on" the specified date. Note: Assignments created without a Due Date or an Unavailable Date will display when the After filter is applied, as CNOW considers them as being set to a very distant date. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 141

148 Managing Grades Action: To filter assignments appearing on your Gradebook page 4 Select to filter by Assignments Type by deselecting one or more check boxes. At least one assignment type must be selected. You can choose from Homework, Test, Reading, Adaptive, Assignable Study Tool, and External. Note: Media Quiz assignments are classified as either Test or Homework, depending on your choice for Assignment Type when the assignment was created. Selecting or deselecting External affects the display of External Gradebook Column and External Web Link assignments. 5 Select to filter by Grading status by selecting or deselecting Graded or Not Graded. 6 (Optional) Click Apply Defaults at any time to remove all filtering selections and exit the Assignment Filters window. Your Gradebook page will refresh automatically. 7 When you are done, click Submit to apply your filtering selections. Clicking Cancel will return you to your Gradebook page without making any changes. When your filter selections are submitted, the Gradebook will only display the assignments within the filtering criteria you specified. Using an External Gradebook Column Some course management systems may provide you with an External Gradebook Column to serve as a place holder for assignments that your students take outside of CengageNOW. In this way, you can reserve a place in your Gradebook to manually enter points for paper assignments or lab projects that otherwise would not be included in your students CengageNOW course score. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 142

149 Managing Grades Once the results for the offline assignment can be determined, you can enter the grades manually. The grade for this assignment is calculated in the course score along with the electronically graded CengageNOW assignments. Your students can see information for the assignment from their Assignments and Grades page. Action: To create an External Gradebook Column 1 From your Gradebook page, use the Course or Section drop down menu to select the appropriate course. 2 Click the Create External Gradebook Column button to open the Create External Gradebook Column dialog box. 3 Enter the appropriate information for the Assignment Name, Possible Score, and Student Note. Note: Your Student Note will appear as a pop up comment on the student Assignments page. Please keep your message to less than 60 characters. 4 Click Create and the Gradebook will refresh, showing your new assignment column. A corresponding column will also appear in your Assignments page. As the offline assignment is completed, you can enter the grades for individual students from your Gradebook page. You can also edit the assignment information by clicking the pencil icon in the column header or delete the column entirely by clicking the trash can icon. 5 Your students will see details for their offline assignments from the CengageNOW Grades and Assignments pages. Information for the Due Date, Date & Time Submitted, # of Submissions, and Time Spent/Allowed are not available. Creating and Editing Custom Grading Categories By using custom grading categories you can group assignments into types (i.e., Homework, Extra Credit, or Quiz ) so that they can be weighted collectively in final grade calculations. For example, you can create a category containing homework assignments and weight them to be 30 percent of the course grade. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 143

150 Managing Grades The Edit Grading Categories Page Once you have created one or more grading categories, you can assign individual assignments to them by using the drop down menus on the Edit Grading Categories page. You also have the ability to change an assignment s category from the Assignment Options page. When an assignment is assigned to a category, a color coded bar will appear at the top of their column on the Gradebook page. This enables you to tell at a glance which category an assignment belongs to. The Edit Grading Categories page provides a color code key for the categories in use. These category colors are assigned in the order they are created. To have the same category colors for all of your courses, note the order in which you created them, and repeat that order for all your courses. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 144

151 Managing Grades By default, categories are organized in ascending alphabetical order on your Gradebook page, however, you can drag and drop individual category rows on the Edit Grading Categories page to reorganize the order in which they appear. Note: Using categories is optional. If you do not create your own custom categories, all assignments will remain in the Default category. Action: To create custom categories 1 From the Gradebook overview page, select a course or section from the drop down menu. 2 Click the Edit Grading Categories link and the Edit Grading Categories page will open. 3 In the box next to the Add button, enter a name for your category (for example, Homework, Practice, or Final Exam ). 4 Click Add and your new category appears in the Category Name list. 5 Enter a value in the % of Grade column to determine the percentage of the total course grade this category represents. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 145

152 Managing Grades Action: To create custom categories 6 (Optional) Add a comment about the category. 7 Any portion of the course score not allocated to a custom category will remain in the default category. 8 Click Save to save your changes and stay on the page, or click Save & Return to return to the Gradebook overview page. Click Cancel if you want to exit without saving. Note: You can also weigh assignments individually using the Possible score and Curve factor of which are available on the Assignment Options page. You can use these options regardless of whether the assignments have been put in a custom category. Action: To place assignments in categories 1 From the Gradebook overview page, select the appropriate course or section in the drop down menu. 2 Click the Edit Grading Categories link to open the Edit Grading Categories page. 3 Locate the Category column in the Assignments table in the lower half of the page. 4 Use the drop down menus in the Category column to place assignments in the appropriate category. 5 Click Save to save your work or click Save & Return to save and return to the Gradebook overview page. Click Cancel to exit without saving. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 146

153 Managing Grades EDITING GRADE DETAILS The Edit Grade Details page lets you view and edit individual student scores, delete selected takes, edit the time spent on a take, and make editing notes in a Comment field for later viewing. The lower half of the page contains a preview area where you can see question details and your student s responses for each take of the assignment. The Edit Grade Details Page You can get to the Edit Grade Details page from the Gradebook page by clicking the score you wish to view or edit. You can also edit assignments marked not taken. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 147

154 Managing Grades Note: Assignments created with Personalized Study Tools or Media Quiz content will not have the option to edit the scores of individual questions. You can, however, see question details and your student s responses. To edit grade details for a different assignment for the current student, select the assignment from the drop down menu under View a different assignment and the page will automatically refresh. To edit the score for another student, select the student s name in the drop down menu under View the grades for a different student. Editing Assignment Scores The middle section of the Edit Grade Details page allows you to edit aspects of the overall assignment score. To access these fields, select the Grade by assignment score option. Editing Assignment Scores CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 148

155 Managing Grades Depending on the type of assignment and content, the Edit Grade Details page will provide the following controls. View a different assignment Choose an assignment from the drop down menu to select a different assignment for editing without leaving the page View the grades for a different student Choose a student name from the drop down menu to see work by different student without leaving the page. Save and Return Saves your work, adds one take to the student s assignment if there were none previously, and returns you to the Gradebook overview page. Save Changes and Continue Editing Saves your changes in progress while you continue editing without leaving the Edit Grade Details page. It also can add one take to the student s assignment, if there were none previously. Return Without Saving Allows you to exit and return to the Gradebook overview page without saving your changes. However, any deleted takes or edits that were saved in progress will remain. Customize Assignment Options Opens the Customize Assignment Options for Specific Students page where you can edit date and take preferences for the student and assignment currently selected. (The available options depend on the assignment type.) For more details, see Customizing Assignment Options for Specific Students on page 165. Grade by item scores Selecting this option enables the ability to edit the scores of individual questions. Grade by assignment score Selecting this option enables the ability to edit the overall assignment score. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 149

156 Managing Grades Assignment Score Allows you to view and edit the student s overall assignment score by entering the number of correct answers. (This yields the same result as changing it on the Assignment Details page). Any late penalty previously assigned will still apply. When you save the grade change, the score is marked on the Assignment Details page as manually graded. When you edit and save the score, an option to Reset to Electronic Grade will appear; you can select the checkbox and save to return the score to its original, electronic grade. Adjusted Score Displays the value of penalty applied, and the assignment s score after the penalty is subtracted. Gradability Any time you view an assignment on this page and click one of the save buttons, the Your Evaluation column on the Assignment Details page shows the assignment as Evaluated, along with the date. When you manually change a grade and save your changes, that item is marked as Graded. To mark an item as Graded that you have not manually adjusted, check My grading is complete. # of Attempts When available, this field shows the number of times the student has taken the assignment and the maximum takes allowed (for assignments set up to allow multiple takes). For some assignments, you can edit the number of attempts. If the assignment option for grading is set up as either Keep one result, overwrite on each take or Keep one result, merge on each take, you will see an input box that allows you to edit the number of attempts. You can use this box to increment the number of attempts to account for an offline (paper) take of the assignment, for example, or to roll back the number of attempts to allow a student another take. Time Spent Use this field to modify the recorded amount of time the student has spent on this assignment. The assignment Time Spent is the total of the time spent answering each question and any time the student spent at dialog boxes, reading messages, or loading items during the assignment. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 150

157 Managing Grades Date Completed Displays the submission date and time for the assignment. Take In assignments that allow multiple takes, you can use the Take check boxes to select a specific take to view or delete. The take with the best score is selected by default. Re Open Most Recent, Submitted Take Use this feature when you want to allow a student to continue working on a previously submitted assignment. Your student can then click the Resume button on the Assignments page to proceed with the submitted take (the student s Assignments page may need to be refreshed for the button to display). The Re Open Most Recent, Submitted Take button may be disabled under the following conditions: The most recent take is not yet submitted. The assignment status is not takable (offline). The condition you set for the Prerequisite assignment option is not met (if any). The assignment is not resumable (e.g. timed Tests are not resumable). The Unavailable Date has passed or the Start Date has not yet arrived. The student is no longer enrolled in the course or the student account no longer exists. The student cannot get a higher score if the take is reopened (e.g. if the late penalty will cause the highest score the student can get to be lower than their score in the last take). Comment Use this field to enter a short note tracking your changes. The comment is also visible from the Notes column of your Student Grade Details page. Delete Selected Take After a student has taken an assignment, you can delete one or more specific takes. For example, if the student has an extended computer failure during a test, you may want to delete that take altogether. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 151

158 Managing Grades The takes are displayed with sequential numbers and results. To delete a take, click the check box next to any take to select it, and click the Delete Selected Take button. Once you have clicked delete, the selected take and all of the associated responses are reset, and the student can attempt the take again. Use caution when deleting a student take; this action cannot be undone and it is automatically saved by the CengageNOW server. You generally cannot delete takes with scores that you have previously edited manually. Exceptions are: assignments that allow multiple takes, have takes remaining, and are set to Overwrite on each take. Note: After deleting a take, do not click Save and Return as doing so automatically adds a take. In this situation, to exit the Edit Grade Details page, use Return Without Saving. Reset to Electronic Grade (Optional) To return your edited score back to its original value, select the check box for Reset to Electronic Grade and click Save and Return or Save Changes and Continue Editing. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 152

159 Managing Grades Editing Problem Scores The lower half of the Edit Grade Details page allows you to view and edit the results of individual problems in Homework and Test assignments. To access these fields, select the Grade by item scores option. Action: To edit individual problem scores 1 On the Edit Grade Details page, click on an item name in the Items list. The screen on the lower right refreshes, displaying the item name and the content of the question. Below that is the correct answer (if different from the student s answer). 2 (Optional) You can click the Open Item in New Window link to see the question content in a larger window. 3 Enter a new score in the Score input box. 4 To save all your changes, click Save and Return or Save changes and continue editing. Note: Individual item scores cannot be edited in Study Tools and Media Quiz assignments, but you will be able to edit the overall assignment score. Details for individual questions are displayed, and can be viewed but not edited. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 153

160 Managing Grades Adjusting Multiple Assignment Scores In addition to editing assignment scores one at a time from the Edit Grade Details page, you can edit students scores for multiple assignments in a course. This powerful feature lets you adjust scores up or down by a designated amount (percentage or points) or reset scores to a specific value. In addition to allowing you to modify assignment scores, this page can indicate incomplete assignments, offline assignments, and assignment scores that have already been modified by late or custom penalties. Action: To adjust all scores 1 Select the appropriate course from the Course or Section drop down menu. 2 Select Adjust Multiple Scores link from the Perform student and assignment actions drop down menu to open the Adjust Multiple Scores page. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 154

161 Managing Grades Action: To adjust all scores 3 Select the scores you want to modify. To select all scores for the course, click the Select All link. To deselect all scores, click the Select None link. To select all scores for a specific assignment, select the check box next to the assignment name. You can select multiple assignments. To select all scores for a particular student, select the check box next to the student s name. You can select multiple students. To select individual assignment scores for specific students, select the check box for each score. You can select multiple individual scores. 4 Under Choose an adjustment option, select an option for adjusting the selected scores. To raise the scores by a specified percentage or number of points, select Add. To reduce the scores by a specified percentage or number of points, select Subtract. To set all selected scores to a particular value, select Set To. 5 Enter the value of the score adjustment in the adjacent box. For example, to adjust the value by 15 percent or 15 points enter 15. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 155

162 Managing Grades Action: To adjust all scores 6 Select Percent or Points, as appropriate, for the adjustment value. 7 Under Settings, you can choose to allow negative scores or extra credit for adjusted scores, or enable the Automatic Preview selection. 8 Click Save Changes and Return to Gradebook to accept your grade adjustments and return to the Gradebook overview page. You can also click Save Changes and Continue Editing to keep working on this page or click Return Without Saving to discard your modifications and return to the Gradebook overview page. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 156

163 Managing Grades USING THE STUDENT GRADE DETAILS PAGE From the Gradebook overview page, click a student name to go to the Student Grade Details page. This page displays all assignment grades for an individual student in a particular course. Assignments are organized by category (if custom categories are used). The Student Grade Details Page When you have created and assigned your own custom grading categories, the assignments are grouped into tables by category. You can simplify the appearance of the page by clicking an assignment category heading to expand or minimize the list. See Creating and Editing Custom Grading Categories on page 143 for more information. The Student Grade Details page offers the following tools: Overall Grade Overall grade is the score as a percentage with the weighing of the grading categories factored in. This score is calculated as (points earned/possible score) x category weight. If your Gradebook Preferences are set to display Total Points, the overall grade is not shown, as the influence of any categories is not included. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 157

164 Managing Grades View the grades for a different student Select a name from this drop down menu, which contains all students enrolled in the course. Go Back to the Gradebook Clicking this button returns you to the Gradebook overview page. Sorting the Assignment Display Clicking a heading expands or collapses the assignment information for that grading category in the table. Assignments are organized by category (if any). In Progress An In Progress status icon indicates any assignment(s) the student has saved to resume later. Depending on your Gradebook Preferences, the student s overall course score is calculated as follows: When the Gradebook Preferences are set to Total points, any assigned categories will not impact the score and the percent correct is calculated as points earned/possible score. When the Gradebook Preferences are set to Percentage, if categories are used they will impact the score and the percent correct is calculated as (points earned/possible score) x category weight. If categories are not being used, the percent correct uses the standard calculation where points earned/possible score. Note: To see detailed information on the student s responses and edit scores for a particular assignment, click the score in the % column to open the Edit Grade Details page. See Editing Grade Details on page 147 for more information. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 158

165 Managing Grades EDITING ASSIGNMENT DETAILS The Assignment Details page displays all student scores and details for a single assignment for you to review and edit. For questions in most CengageNOW assignments, CengageNOW automatically evaluates the student's answers and then enters grades, scores, and other information as soon as the student completes the assignment. At some time, however, you may find it necessary use the Assignment Details page to manually edit assignment results. From this page, you can edit scores at either the assignment or question level. By turning on the score editing mode, you can edit scores at the assignment level for any of the students in your course. By clicking an active score link you can go to the Edit Grade Details page where you can view and edit scores for individual students and their responses. The Assignment Details Page To get to the Assignment Details from the Gradebook overview page, click on an assignment name. (To go to the Student Grade Details page instead, click on the student s name.) CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 159

166 Managing Grades Assignment Details Page Basic Options These options are always available from the Assignment Details page. See Assignment Details Page Advanced Options on page 162 for information on the options available when you click the Show All Options link. Report Creator Select a report type from the drop down menu, and click Go. The Report Creator opens. For more information, see Creating Grade Reports on page 171 for more details. Export Course Gradebook Select this option to export a file containing information from your Gradebook page. You can then take this exported file and import it into a database or spreadsheet application. See Exporting a Course Gradebook on page 169 for more information. Export Assignment Data Allows you to save information from the currently selected assignment to your computer as a Microsoft Excel (.CSV) file. The file is organized with students sorted alphabetically by their last name and contains the following details. Student Name CNOW ID Course Grade Assignment Score (Correct / Possible) Custom Penalty Number of Attempts Time Spent Gradability Your Evaluation Note: The default naming convention for the file is gradebook_export_yyyy MM dd hh mm ss," which contains the year, month, day, hour, minute, and second the file was created. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 160

167 Managing Grades Go Back to the Gradebook Click this button to return to the Gradebook overview page. In Course or Section Name Use this drop down menu to select a different course or section to view. Select a different assignment to view from the drop down list. Enter Student To search for a specific student s information, enter the student s name, and click the Find button. Change Category Click Change Category to go to the Edit Grading Categories page, where you can create and manage custom grading categories, and place assignments to weight their grade in your course. See Creating and Editing Custom Grading Categories on page 143 for more details. Synchronize Scores When available, you can click the Synchronize Scores button to update the score between course management systems for the selected assignment. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 161

168 Managing Grades Assignment Details Page Advanced Options You may need to click Show All Options to access these options. Please note that some of these controls are hidden when no students are enrolled. Assignment Details Advanced Options Edit All Scores on This Page This command causes the Assignment Details page to refresh, allowing you to edit the score and custom penalty values for a student without navigating to the Edit Grade Details page. Student Actions Click to open a drop down menu containing a list of gradebook management tools. You can then select one of the options described below: Customize Assignment Options for Specific Students This feature lets you modify assignment availability, dates, and other options for individual students. See Customizing Assignment Options for Specific Students on page 165 for details. Adjust Multiple Scores This feature lets you adjust students scores for multiple assignments in a course. You can adjust scores up or down by a designated amount (percent or points) or reset scores to a specific value. See Adjusting Multiple Assignment Scores on page 154 for details. Query Student Data This command takes you to the Gradebook Search page, where you can use different criteria to find student grades for a course or assignment. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 162

169 Managing Grades QUERYING STUDENT DATA Select the Query Student Data option in the Perform student and assignment actions drop down menu to open the Gradebook Search page. This page helps you view details on student performance by course or assignment. The Gradebook Search Page The filters you select determine what additional search options are available, and you can use more than one filter parameter at a time. Click the Add Criteria button to bring up another row of filter boxes, or remove rows by clicking the Remove Criteria button. Note: In situations where you are selecting multiple options for your search criteria, your search is performed in an "AND" fashion rather than an "OR" fashion. When you are done selecting filters, click the Search button to view the Search Results page with all possible matches displayed according to the search criteria you set. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 163

170 Managing Grades If you want to reset your search criteria before performing a search, click Clear to return the Gradebook Search page back to its original state. To start another search you can click Search Again from the Search Results page. To begin a search, make a selection to Search Within either a Course or Assignment, and then define your search parameters using the following criteria: Search criteria with Course selected: Adjusted Score (as a percent or points) Unadjusted Score (as a percent or points) Student Ranking Search criteria with Assignment selected: Content Name (assignment name) Taken at Time Spent Times Taken Has Taken Is Manually Graded Can Take Assignment Adjusted Score (as a percent or points) Unadjusted Score (as a percent or points) Note: The Adjusted Score reflects any manually edited grades, custom grading categories, late penalties, curve factors, or the pass/fail setting when the student is able to receive full points for the assignment. (If you selected Total points in Grading Preferences, category weighting is not factored in to the Adjusted Score.) The Unadjusted Score takes into account only the grades you have edited manually. The other adjustments listed above do not have an impact. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 164

171 Managing Grades CUSTOMIZING ASSIGNMENT OPTIONS FOR SPECIFIC STUDENTS You can customize the assignment dates, times, number of takes, and time allowed for particular students. This feature helps you make exceptions and accommodate the special circumstances of certain students without having to change the assignment options for the whole class. Select Assignment and Students for Custom Options Note: If you adjust the settings for dates, maximum takes, or time allowed per take for a specific student s assignment the Exception Made for Student status icon indicates those students and assignments with modifications on your Gradebook page. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 165

172 Managing Grades Action: To customize assignment options for specific students 1 On Gradebook overview page open the Perform student and assignment actions dropdown menu and select Customize Assignment Options for Specific Students to open the Select Assignment and Students for Custom Options page. Note: You can also open the Select Assignment and Students for Custom Options page by clicking a button on the Edit Grade Details page. 2 If necessary, select the appropriate assignment from the drop down menu. 3 Select the students that require the customized assignment settings. To select all of the students, choose the check box at the top of the list. Note: If you have many students, you can use the Find Students search fields to locate a specific student quickly. Enter your search criteria and click Find student. 4 Once you have both the correct assignment and student(s) selected, click the Continue button. The Customize Assignment Options for Specific Students will open. 5 The Customize Assignment Options for Specific Students page lists your selected student(s). 6 If needed, use the Change Selected Students link to return to the previous page where you can select different students. Note: Before you opt to Change Selected Students, first click Save. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 166

173 Managing Grades Action: To customize assignment options for specific students 7 You can make the following changes to the assignment s settings for the selected students. Each student s initial settings match the settings for the assignment. Status. Select whether the assignment is specifically Assigned or Not Assigned to the student. Available. Set the date and time when the student can begin the assignment. Select Use Default to use the assignment s settings, select Any Time to allow the student to begin the assignment whenever he or she likes, or enter a specific date and time when the student can begin the assignment. Due. Select Use Default to use the assignment s settings for due date and time, select Not Specified to remove the deadline for the student, or enter a different date and time by which the student must complete the assignment. Unavailable. Select Use Default to use the assignment s settings, select Not Specified to make the assignment always available, or enter a different date and time when the assignment will become unavailable to the student. Maximum Takes Allowed. Select Use Default to use the assignment s settings, select Unlimited to let the student take the assignment as many times as he or she likes, or enter a different number of takes that the selected student may have. (This option is not available for CSFI assignments.) Note: If you want to modify an option for all the students listed on the current page, you can edit the settings in the row labeled Apply to Students Listed Below. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 167

174 Managing Grades Action: To customize assignment options for specific students 8 When you are done customizing assignment options for this combination of assignment and student(s), you have several options available to you: Use the Assignment drop down menu to keep your currently selected student(s) and switch to a different assignment. A confirmation dialog box gives you the option to save your current changes or cancel without saving. Click Save to simply save your changes and stay on the current page. Click Change Selected Students to return to the Select Assignment and Students for Custom Options and Dates page where you can make all new selections and start again. Click Done to save your changes and return to the Gradebook page. Click Cancel to exit. A confirmation dialog box gives you the option to save your current changes or exit without saving CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 168

175 Managing Grades EXPORTING A COURSE GRADEBOOK The Export Course Gradebook feature allows you to create a file containing the data from your Gradebook overview page. You can choose to export all but your hidden assignments, or you can choose to export the filtered information you have selected for display. Information is organized automatically so that student last names are sorted alphabetically. Once you make your selections, you can save the file to your computer for editing as spreadsheet or text file, or for import into another course management system. Action: To export a course Gradebook 1 Click the Gradebook tab and confirm that you have the appropriate course selected. 2 (Optional) Open the Manage Columns menu and select Edit Assignment Filters to set filtering criteria to limit the assignment data included when exporting a Microsoft Excel or Text Editor file. See Filtering Gradebook Assignments on page 140 for details. 3 Click the Export Course Gradebook link, which is located just below the Report Creator drop down menu. The Export Course Gradebook dialog box will open. 4 From the Format to Export: drop down menu, select a file format (your choice depends on if you need to use the file in a spreadsheet or as an import into another system). CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 169

176 Managing Grades Action: To export a course Gradebook 5 (Optional) If you selected Microsoft Excel or Text Editor as the file format, you will see the options to Export All Assignments or Export Only Filtered Assignments (see step #2). 6 Click Export and the File Download dialog box for your system opens. 7 Choose a location on your computer to Save the file (or select Open to view the file in an application). Note: The default naming convention for the file is gradebook_export_yyyy MM dd hh mm ss," which contains the year, month, day, hour, minute, and second the file was created. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 170

177 Managing Grades CREATING GRADE REPORTS The CengageNOW Report Creator feature gives you a quick way to view overall or cumulative course grades, grades for particular assignments, or individual student responses. These reports are generated in file formats that can be printed, viewed on screen, or exported to other software (for example, a spreadsheet application) for further editing. You can select between several types of reports from the Report Creator dropdown list. Most reports offer basic options which are very similar, while the Custom Report has a wide variety of filters and types of information to choose from. Generally, Gradebook reports require that you select basic display options only, such as the following: Which assignments and students to include. How to identify students (by name, sign in ID, or student ID). How to display scores. Page layout and formatting. Student Responses Report The Student Responses Report displays student performance results based on the responses associated with specific questions. This report can be filtered to display results for more than one student. If the assignment was taken, the individual student responses, the question content, and any feedback can be displayed. Click the appropriate link in the report and the question content will appear in a new browser window. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 171

178 Managing Grades The Student Response Report Creator Action: To create a Student Responses Report 1 If necessary, click on the Gradebook link in the heading to open the Gradebook page. 2 In the Report Creator drop down list, select the Student Responses report type and the Set Up Report page will open. 3 Select the appropriate student(s), assignment, and display settings for your report. 4 Click Create Report when your filtering and display selections are complete. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 172

179 Managing Grades Action: To create a Student Responses Report 5 Click Print Report to send a copy of the report, as it appears on your screen, to the printer. For more on print options, see Setting Printing Options on page To save the report in another format to edit or print, select the format you want, and click Export Report..pdf reports can be viewed in Adobe Reader..rtf reports can be viewed, edited, and printed in Microsoft Word 2000 (or above) and similar word processor applications..txt reports are tab delimited text files that can be viewed in a text editor or opened for viewing in a spreadsheet application (such as Microsoft Excel )..csv comma separated files that can be viewed, edited, and printed in Microsoft Excel or a similar spreadsheet applications. 7 Click Exit Report Creator to return to the Gradebook page. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 173

180 Managing Grades Learning Outcomes Report By selecting Learning Outcomes you can create a report displaying a summary scores for students you have selected as well as the associated Concept for each question in the selected assignment(s). The Learning Outcomes Report Concepts are tags that content authors can apply to a question to indicate the ideas or learning objectives measured by the question. Concepts are typically used to demonstrate student achievement on benchmarks specified by various accreditation bodies. As needed, a question can have many concept tags, just one, or none at all. The information in this report is sortable in ascending or descending order by clicking the heading in the Student column. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 174

181 Managing Grades Student Response Statistics Report This report provides response statistics for each question in the selected assignment(s), including Students Who Answered, Students Who Earned Full Credit, Possible Score, Average Score, Maximum Score, Standard Deviation, and Time Spent. The Student Response Statistics Report Creator The information in the Student Response Statistics report is sortable in ascending or descending order by clicking the column headings. You can view the content of any question by clicking the adjacent magnifying lens icon. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 175

182 Managing Grades Custom Report This report allows for the selection of several information categories which give you a broad overview of the selected assignment(s). You are able to choose from filters determining details such as Assignment Scores data, Assignment Takes data, Total Time Spent, Student Participation. These various categories are course level data on scores and student ranking. The Custom Report Creator Note: For specific information on creating Custom Reports, see the CengageNOW online Help. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 176

183 Managing Grades VPL Report The VPL report displays performance results for the assignment matching the selected lab. The VPL report generates a printable class report with data for every student in your class who has taken the assignment. The information displayed includes summary data for participants and standard deviations for proportions correct and reaction times. At least two enrolled students will need to have taken the VPL assignment in order for the report to be generated. Note: This type of report can only be created when the course textbook contains compatible content. To create a VPL report 1 If necessary, click on the Gradebook link in the heading to open the Gradebook page. 2 In the Report Creator drop down list select VPL and the Report Creator: VPL Report page will open. 3 Select the appropriate lab from the drop down menu and click the Create Report button and your report will be displayed. Note: You can go back to change your report by clicking the Change Setup button. This will close the current report and reopen the Set Up Report options 4 (Optional) Click the Print link to create a printable copy of the report and open your system s Print dialog box. Click Print to send the report to your printer as it appears on your screen. Note: In addition to setting the number of columns in the Wide Reports option, you can also set the page orientation to Landscape in your system s printing Preferences. 5 (Optional) Click the Export to Spreadsheet link to save the report as a.csv file that can be viewed, edited, and printed in Microsoft Excel and similar spreadsheet application files for further editing or printing. 6 When you are finished managing your report, click the Exit Report Creator button to return to the Gradebook overview page. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 177

184 Managing Grades VBL4 Report The VBL4 report displays performance results for the assignment matching the selected lab. The VBL4 report generates a class report displaying scores as a percentage for every student in your class who has taken the assignment. At least one enrolled student will need to have taken the VBL4 assignment in order for the report to be generated. Note: This type of report can only be created when the course textbook contains compatible content. To create a VBL4 report 1 If necessary, click on the Gradebook link in the heading to open the Gradebook page. 2 In the Report Creator drop down list select VBL4 and the Report Creator: VBL4 Report page opens and your report is displayed. 3 Click the Exit Report Creator button to return to the Gradebook overview page once you are done. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 178

185 MANAGING USER ENROLLMENT Depending on your institution s options, you can use the features on the CengageNOW Users page to manually enroll or withdraw students and instructors in your courses and sections. For example, you might want to manually add a student who comes to your office requesting to be added to the course. Or you might want to maintain rigorous control over course enrollment for an advanced seminar. Note: Student enrollment is sometimes solely managed by a CengageNOW administrator or lead teacher. Also, some versions of CNOW only provide you with the ability to unenroll students. See Removing Users from a Course or Section on page 186 for more details. The Users Page When enrollment options are available, many instructors use the Course Key URL which is automatically generated when the course is created. By ing this link to students or distributing it in printed class materials, you can allow selfenrollment. For details, see User Enrollment Options on page 39. Note: When the Course Key is used for creating copies of courses, you will see a notification on the Course Summary page. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 179

186 Managing User Enrollment MANUALLY ENROLLING INSTRUCTORS OR STUDENTS The manual enrollment features on the Users page let you search for and add specific students and instructors to your courses or sections. You must use the enrollment functions if you are creating a course with sections you want to assign to teaching assistants or other instructors. To assign the sections, you enroll those individuals as instructors in their sections of the course. The Enroll Instructors Page In addition to enrolling students manually, some institutions may allow you to allow self enrollment. Many instructors opt for self enrollment by providing their students with the Course Key link, which is automatically generated as part of the course creation process. When you send the Student Registration Instructions as an or as a hand out in printed class materials, students can enroll themselves. For more details, see User Enrollment Options on page 39. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 180

187 Managing User Enrollment Note: The users you wish to manually enroll will first need to acquire access rights and log in to CengageNOW. Once this is done, you can enroll them from the Users page. Manually Enrolling Instructors Follow the steps outlined below for enrolling instructors into your course. Action: To manually enroll instructors in a course 1 Click the Users link in the heading to open the Users page, and if necessary, select a course from the Course or Section drop down menu. The page lists those individuals currently enrolled in the course or section. Long lists are broken into pages. Use the alphabetical drop down menu to select a page based on users last names. You can also use the Previous and Next controls to look at the list sequentially. 2 Click the Enroll User(s) button and the Options for Enrolling Users window will open. 3 Select Enroll or Unenroll Instructors from the list of options and click the Continue button. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 181

188 Managing User Enrollment Action: To manually enroll instructors in a course 4 Under Available Instructors, select the check box next to any instructors you wish to include. Note: The names of instructors who are eligible for enrollment will appear on the left side of the page, those who are already enrolled are listed on the right. 5 (Optional) To limit the list further, use the search filter. Enter the appropriate information in the boxes for either first name, last name, or username and click the Search button. 6 When you find the individuals you wish to enroll, select the check boxes next to the name(s) and then click the Enroll button. The names will be listed on the right side under Enrolled Instructors. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 182

189 Managing User Enrollment Action: To manually enroll instructors in a course 7 Click the Return to the Previous Page link at the top of the page to return to the Users overview page. Manually Enrolling Students Follow the steps outlined below for enrolling students into your course. Action: To manually enroll students 1 Click the Users link in the heading to open the Users page, if necessary, and make a selection from the Course or Section drop down menu. 2 Click the Enroll User(s) button and the Options for Enrolling Users window will appear. 3 Select Enroll or Unenroll Users As Students from the list of options and click the Continue button to open the Enroll Users As Students page. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 183

190 Managing User Enrollment Action: To manually enroll students 4 (Optional) To find a particular person or to limit the list, use the search filters. Enter the appropriate information in the boxes, and click the Search button. You can also use the alphabetical drop down menu to select a page based on users last names. 5 When you find the student(s) you want to enroll, select the check box next to each name and then click the Enroll button (or click Un enroll, if you want to remove a student). The names of enrolled students will move to the right side of the page, under the Enrolled As Students heading. Your enrollment selections are saved automatically. 6 Click the Return to the Previous Page link to return to the Users overview page. Note: You can also unenroll students from the Users page by selecting their name and clicking the Unenroll User(s) button. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 184

191 Managing User Enrollment Enrolling Yourself as a Student By enrolling yourself as a student, you are able to view and take all of your course assignments just like your students do. In addition, you will see your attempts tracked, and your results graded and recorded in your course gradebook under your name. This provides a useful means of reviewing and testing your assignments and grading options. Note: Clicking the Change to Student View link in the page header enrolls you in the current course automatically, if you are not enrolled already. For details, see Using the Student View/Instructor View Toggle on page 12. Action: To enroll yourself as a student 1 Click the Users link in the header to open the Users page, and if necessary, use the Course or Section drop down menu to select a different course. 2 Click the Enroll User(s) button and the Options for Enrolling Users window will appear. 3 Select the option to Enroll Yourself As Student and click the Continue button. 4 The Options for Enrolling Users window will automatically close and your name will appear on the right, under the Enrolled Students heading. Caution: You can only be enrolled as a student in either a course or one of its sections. Also, you cannot be enrolled in more than one section in the same course. If you happen to create conflicting enrollments, you will lose your enrollment, assignments, and grades in the first course or section. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 185

192 Managing User Enrollment Removing Users from a Course or Section Use the following procedures to remove specific students or instructors from a course or section. Note: When you unenroll an account, all records/grades to date are also removed. Be sure you have no future need for those records. Action: To remove students from a course or section 1 Click the Users link in the heading to open the Users page, and if necessary, make a selection from the Course or Section drop down menu. 2 In the Enrolled Students column, select the check box for each student you want to remove from the course or section. (To select all students, click the check box at the top of the list.) 3 Click the Unenroll User(s) button and the page will refresh with the selected name(s) removed. Note: You can also unenroll students on the Enroll Users As Students page by selecting their name and clicking the Unenroll button. Action: To remove instructors from a course or section 1 Click the Users link in the heading to open the Users page, and if necessary, make a selection from the Course or Section drop down menu. 2 Click the Enroll User(s) button and the Options for Enrolling Users window will open. 3 Select Enroll or Unenroll Instructors and click the Continue button. The Enroll Instructors page will open. 4 Select the names of the instructors you want to unenroll from the Enrolled Instructors column. 5 Click the Unenroll button and the selected names will be removed from the list. 6 Click the link to Return to the Previous Page to go back to the Users overview page. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 186

193 USING THE STUDY TOOLS PAGE Study Tools are Cengage Learning self study content which may have been included with your course materials. CengageNOW allows you to review the study plans, tutorials, and interactive learning tools that you can assign to your students. The Study Tools Page Your students are able to access all of their textbook s Personalized Study products directly from this page, unless you have specified to hide section(s) that are part of a graded assignment. Work that students access and complete from the Study Tools page is for ungraded self study only and is separate from any graded course assignments you create. Caution: Please be sure your students know to access their graded course assignments from their Assignments page. Any work they complete on chapters accessed from their Study Tools page is for ungraded self study only. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 187

194 Using the Study Tools Page WORKING WITH STUDY TOOLS Depending on your book s content, you can select from the following types of study materials while on the Study Tools page: ebooks are online versions of the textbook, usually in Flash or FlashPaper format. Personalized Study Plans feature personalized study materials. The student takes a diagnostic quiz (Pre Test) at the beginning of each section and receives a Personalized Study Plan based on the quiz results. The Post Test at the end of each section demonstrates the student s learning. Each section can be assigned in its entirety. Tutorials can include a wide range of supplemental activities and readings to complement the core text. Note: The appearance of your Study Tools page can vary, depending on the type of book you are accessing. Some books may immediately open to the first chapter and display a wide range of study options. Others, however, will display links for Tutorials, ebooks, and Personalized Study Plans only. Action: To access Study Tools content 1 Click the Study Tools link to open the Study Tools page. 2 Select the desired book or product link from the Textbook drop down menu. Note: Some books may open immediately to the first chapter. 3 Choose the content you would like to access. The page will refresh, displaying the Study Tools content for the book you selected. Depending on your book s content, each chapter may consist of a Personalized Study Plan only, while other books may have chapters with a wide array of learning assets, objectives, and interactive content from which to choose. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 188

195 Using the Study Tools Page Specifically, you can hide or show diagnostic Pre Test and Post Test when assigning a Personalized Study Plan. These options are available while creating the assignment, or afterwards you can edit your settings from the Edit link on the Assignments page. For more information, see Customizing Assignable Study Tool Options on page 80. Depending on the book, your students may be able to do the following tasks: Reading. Some or all of the textbook reading matter will be available for access and reading online. Some ebooks may have chapters with a wide array of interactive content from which to choose. Diagnostics. Some books offer online study plans with diagnostic Pre Tests that assess your students initial grasp of the subject content and highlight areas where students need more work. Tutorials. Most books provide tutorial supplements that expand on the subject matter with practice problems, walkthroughs, and interactive demonstrations or simulations. Exercises and Practice Tests. Students may be able to take practice homework and tests online to help reinforce learning and prepare for class assignments and tests. Interactive Study Tools. Students may have access to chapter specific multimedia content such as flash cards, games, and videos. The selection of assets available may vary slightly from chapter to chapter Even though the work your students perform on the Study Tools page is ungraded, they are able to track their progress by clicking the Study Tools link on their Grades page. From this alternate view of the Grades page, they can see the following details: Book Study Tool Chapter Score Date & Time Last Visited # of Visits Time Spent (Most Recent Visit) CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 189

196 AUTHORING IN CENGAGENOW Electronic assignments and test banks offer thousands of ready made questions that can be continually refreshed with options such as automatic shuffling, question pooling, and algorithmic regeneration. By using these robust features you can build assignments that remain fresh indefinitely. As an added benefit, in some LMS systems CengageNOW s authoring system may also allow you to create and edit questions yourself. The Self Authored Questions Page CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 190

197 Authoring in CengageNOW WORKING WITH SELF AUTHORED QUESTIONS Note: This section introduces the features of the Self Authored Questions page and the CengageNOW Problem Editor. For detailed instructions on authoring specific problem types, please refer to the CengageNOW online Help system. You can create and organize new questions, edit questions in your assignments, and store edited questions for future assignments using the Self Authored Questions page. You can also organize your questions in your Self Authored Questions folder(s) Function Looks like this... You have two ways to access the self authoring features in CengageNOW. When editing assignment content on the Included Questions page, you can click the Create a Question link. This allows you to create a question for the current assignment only. For more details see The Included Questions Page on page 60. From your Assignments page, click the Self Authored Questions link. (You may need to click Show All Options for this link to be displayed.) With CengageNOW, you can edit questions within existing assignments even questions drawn from Cengage content. When you create or edit a question within a particular assignment via the Included Questions page, your new or modified question will be saved in that assignment only. For a description on how to modify questions within your assignments, see Editing Assignments on page 93. A better approach for authoring your own questions is to create them directly from the Self Authored Questions page. The features on this page allow you to easily arrange the order questions appear, organize the questions into folders, and reuse stored questions by adding them to other assignments, not just the current one. See Creating New Questions on page 193 for more details. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 191

198 Authoring in CengageNOW CREATING FOLDERS FOR SELF AUTHORED QUESTIONS On the left side of the Self Authored Questions page, you can create folders and subfolders you can use to organize your questions by type, difficulty, course, or any other categories that suit your needs. Action: To create a new folder If necessary, select a folder where you would like to place your new folder by clicking its name under Self Authored Questions. 1 Click the Create sub folder icon that appears and anew folder icon will appear at the bottom of the folder list. 2 Use the adjacent icons to manage your folder: Rename the folder and in the text box that appears, replace the displayed folder name by typing in a new one. Create another nested sub folder. Delete the folder. Note: If necessary, delete any subfolders, then click Delete again to remove the final folder. 3 In actions that provide it, click the adjacent Save icon. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 192

199 Authoring in CengageNOW CREATING NEW QUESTIONS Click the Create New Item button on the Self Authored Questions page to open the Author a new question page. The Author a New Question Page CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 193

200 Authoring in CengageNOW From the Self Authored Questions page you can select which type of question (item) to create, and to give the item a unique name. There is also an option to import XML that allows you to reuse and edit an existing question. The remainder of the authoring process is completed in the Problem Type Editor. Action: To create a new question 1 From the Self Authored Questions page, click the Create New Item button. The Author a new question page will open. 2 Choose the type of question you would like to create by clicking the adjacent button. 3 Enter a unique name for the question in the Question name field. (If you are creating a question by importing XML, you do not need to supply a question name.) 4 Click the Create new question button (or if you are creating a question with the source code, enter the XML into the box and click Import XML.) 5 The Problem Editor will open with the editing options for your selected question type. See Working with the Problem Editor on page 195 for more details. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 194

201 Authoring in CengageNOW Working with the Problem Editor The Problem Editor offers editing capabilities for a wide range of problem types, from the simple to the complex. Many of the panes for entering content have a default view that lets you type HTML coding, but you can also use the HTML Editor to create portions of the questions. If you are unfamiliar with coding HTML, the HTML Editor can help tremendously with formatting text and entering graphs, images, tables, and equations. Action: To open the Problem Type Editor 1 From the Assignments page, click the Self Authored Questions link (If you don t see this link, you may need to click Show All Options for it to be displayed). 2 From the Self Authored Questions page, click Create New Item. The Author a new question page opens, displaying the list of problem types available for you to create or edit. 3 Select the desired problem type from the list, enter a question name, and click Create new question to open the Problem Editor. Note: Advanced users can use the Author a new question page to write or import XML code for a problem. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 195

202 Authoring in CengageNOW The Problem Editor Toolbar The Problem Editor toolbar contains the following options, which are described below. Save Click Save to save your work on the current question. Note: It s a good idea to save as you go so that a computer glitch or mistake doesn t cost you significant work or time. Save a copy under a different name Click Save As to create a copy of the current question. This feature lets you create variations of a question. Revert Click Revert to remove any changes you made to the problem since the last time you saved it. Regenerate algorithmic values For mathematical questions that include algorithmic variables, click Save & Regenerate Alg Values to regenerate the variable values. This feature helps you preview and test the question thoroughly and ensure the variables are working as intended. Analyze/check for errors Click Save & Analyze to review your finished question and to check for common errors and potential conflicts. Note: Users with higher level authoring permissions will have more features available. For details, see the online Help in CengageNOW. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 196

203 Authoring in CengageNOW The HTML Editor To help you create your questions, the Problem Editor provides the CengageNOW HTML Editor interface. This What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) working environment makes it easy to edit and format text in several areas of your question, such as the question field, answers, hints, and rejoinders. The controls you have available dependent on the problem type you are working on. When working in specialized problem types, you can use this editor to insert tables, graphs, algorithmic variables, formulas, images, and simulations created in other parts of the program. Some of these specialized options are introduced below. The HTML Editor Toolbar Algorithm Use to identify variables in the text of your questions, answers, hints, or rejoinders. Typically, you enter the text, use your mouse cursor to highlight the character that represents a variable, and then click this button. This assigns a yellow highlight to the selected text in the Problem Editor and inserts the XML necessary to identify it as a variable to CengageNOW. Note: Any variable you identify with this button must also be defined on the Problem Type Editor s Variables tab. The order in which you define and identify your variables doesn t matter, as long as you remember to perform both steps. See the online Textual Help in CengageNOW for more information. Conditional text Use to show or hide selected text depending on the presentation mode of the question (electronic/online, printed, editing, or testing). This feature is most often used to build conditional instructions or examples into a question that differs between the print and online versions. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 197

204 Authoring in CengageNOW Insert image Use to place selected images in your questions, hints, or rejoinders. You must have already uploaded these images into CengageNOW before putting them into the question. Images can be in JPG, PNG, or GIF format. See Uploading Files on page 43 for more information. Note: You can also cut and paste images directly between questions. This makes it easy to use the same image in a series of related questions. Create table Use to insert and format complex tables of information for display in a question, hint, or rejoinder. This is a good way to present a sample data set for use in a question. Insert equation Use to insert complex equations correctly formatted in mathematical notation. The equation can include variables and the full range of mathematical symbols. Insert graphing applet Use to open the Graph Wizard so that you can select from CengageNOW s extensive libraries of graphs and shapes. The menus help you draw, scale, label, and color graphs. Graphs also can be set up with formula driven variables that change values each time they are regenerated. Insert input field Use to insert an input field into which the student will enter a Fill in the Blank (FITB) answer. You can specify the type of data to be input (text/string, number, equation, etc.) and the answer field size. Note: It is possible to set up a Fill in the Blank question that gives students the ability to create their answers using the student Equation Editor. Insert template... Use this dropdown menu to select table templates with options for preformatted borders or a heading row. After creating one of these simple tables, you can use the Create table button to do additional editing such as adding rows, columns, or shading. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 198

205 Authoring in CengageNOW Insert simulation applet Use to open the Simulation parameters pop up box. You can then select a simulation from dropdown menus of simulation categories, subcategories, and names. Insert chemical formula Use this button to insert a chemical formula. A pop up window opens, where you can choose from an extensive database of formulas. Create hints Use these buttons to create and edit a series of hints in questions that support them. These controls allow you to Switch to previous hint, Create new hint, Remove hint, and Switch to next hint. Note: You will see the Create hints buttons only when working with the HTML Editor for the hints text field. Creating a True/False Question True/False questions present a statement and elicits a simple response of True or False, or Yes or No. Beyond the response, the question can be made as elaborate as needed. Using the HTML Editor, you can include text formatting, images, equations, and tables in your statement. True/False questions offer you a simple, versatile way of evaluating student knowledge in virtually any discipline. This example shows how to create a simple True/False problem and specify whether True or False is correct for it. You can also offer feedback text to your students for either or both options. You can even include hints for your students. You will create a rejoinder for the correct answer and another for the incorrect answer. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 199

206 Authoring in CengageNOW How to create a True/False question The following are instructions for creating a True/False problem type from start to finish, broken down into sections: Action: To create and name the question 1 Click the Self Authored Questions link on your Assignments page and the Self Authored Questions page will open. 2 (Optional) Open or create a folder in which you want to store the problem. 3 Click Create New Item to open the Author a new question page. 4 In the name box, type a name for the problem (such as Marketing101_TF001). 5 In the list of question types, select True/False. 6 Click Create new question and the Problem Editor will open. Action: To create the question content 1 In the Problem Type Editor, click the question tab if it isn t already open. 2 In the question text field, enter the text for your question, such as Marketing consists of all activities designed to facilitate exchanges to satisfy needs or wants. 3 (Optional) Enter an alternate name (one that will appear in your students assignment) in the displayname field. Action: To specify the question settings 1 Click the settings tab. 2 In the customanswer input field, type True. 3 In the correctchoice drop down menu, select True is correct. 4 In the choicelabels drop down menu, select True/False. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 200

207 Authoring in CengageNOW Action: To create rejoinders 1 Click the choices tab to open it. Rejoinder1 is the feedback students will see when they select True. Rejoinder2 is the feedback students see when they select False. 2 In the rejoinder1 text field, type This is a broad definition of marketing. 3 In the rejoinder2 text field, type The statement is true. Action: To save the new question 1 Click Save to save the problem. 2 Use the preview pane at the right to confirm the appearance and behavior of your new question. 3 When satisfied with the results, click Done to leave the Problem Editor. The True/False question you just created is now available to insert into any of your homework or test bank assignments. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 201

208 ACCESSING CENGAGE TECHNICAL SUPPORT If you have trouble using CengageNOW, you can access the Cengage support site by clicking the Cengage Technical Support link at the bottom or the button in header of most pages. To open the support site for Canada click the Nelson Technical Support link in the footer. These sites contain links to downloads, tutorials, and articles for both instructors and students. Note: You can also direct your browser to when you are not logged in to CNOW. When accessing this support site, you are no longer brought to a login page. Instead, you choose the type support you need before creating a case. Depending on your selections, you will either be routed to Customer Support (Customer Service) or Technical Support. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 202

209 Accessing Cengage Technical Support Action: To contact Cengage Learning Technical Support 1 Click the Cengage Technical Support link available in the footer or the button in the header of most pages. This opens the Technical Support Knowledgebase in a new browser window. 2 (Optional) Sign in with the Address and Password you use for Cengage Learning. Logging in allows you to track your open tech support cases or create a new case. CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 203

210 Accessing Cengage Technical Support Action: To contact Cengage Learning Technical Support 3 (Optional) If you have no open cases, click Select Product or Learning Tool and use the Select a product drop down menu to choose your version of CengageNOW. (You can also search by using the Search for product option.) The Knowledgebase page with links to the appropriate Articles, Downloads, and Tutorials will open. 4 From the support site, you can use the following methods to receive technical support: Review the Critical Issues bulletin to see if there are any system wide problems. Enter key words in the Search CengageNOW option to find specific information in the Technical Support Knowledgebase. Use the Results pane to filter your search results by information suitable for Instructors only, Students, or All. View Articles or access documentation Downloads that contain specific instructions for managing your courses and assignments. Access Tutorials that can help you through the process of accessing CengageNOW, creating assignments, creating or copying a course. If you are otherwise unable to find the information you need, click Additional Assistance or No, please create a new case to submit details on your specific issue. (You will need to log in to create a case.) CNOWv7 for Integrated Systems User Guide for Instructors September 1, 2016 pg. 204