How do I add a drop box to collect digital content from my students?

Step-by-step guide

Drop boxes in OnCourse are called Assignments. Assignments can collect any digital content, 10mb or less, from students in a course.

Adding an Assignment


  2. In the topic area the Assignment belongs in, choose Add an Activity or Resource.
  3. In the Activity section select Assignment and press Add.

Configuring Assignment Settings

The steps below outline the sections needed to configure an assignment:

  1. Enter in the Assignment name.
  2. If you wish to include directions at the top of the assignment, add these directions to the Description field.
  3. If you have a file(s) that the students will need to complete the assignment, upload the file(s) to the Additional Files field.


This section controls when students can start submitting and when the assignment will close. If a due date is set, the date will be automatically added to the course calendar and will show in the Upcoming Events block.

  1. Set the “Allow submissions from” and “Due Date” fields to represent the assignment timeline.
  2. If you will accept late submissions, select “Enable” in the Cut-off date” field and set the cut-off date for submissions.

Submission Types

There are two types of submissions:

  1. A student can attach a file called “File Submissions”
  2. A student can enter text directly into a field in OnCourse called “Online Text”

    1. If the Online Text option is selected, the “Word Limit” option also becomes available. To use this, first select the Enable box next to the Word Limit field and then enter in the word limit.
  3. If the students will need to upload more than one file to complete a single submission, change the “Maximum number of uploaded files” drop down menu to accommodate the number of files. 

Feedback Types

If you will be grading the assignment, the feedback types give options on how to enter your feedback.

  1. Feedback comments: This will be an open textbox in the submission for the instructor to add comments in.
  2. Feedback files: This option allows the instructor to upload a file with feedback in it. This is commonly used when downloading the students papers, adding comments or track changes in Word, and then uploading to the student.
  3. Offline grading worksheet: This will download a spreadsheet where grades and feedback can be entered and then uploaded back into the Assignment.


There are three types of notifications that can be scheduled:

  1. Notify graders about submissions = The instructor will receive an email each time a student submits.
  2. Notify graders about late submissions = The instructor will receive an email each time a student submits after the due date.

  3. Default setting for “Notify students” = The default is set to No, meaning the student will not receive a notification when a grade or feedback is saved. If this is changed to Yes, then the student will receive an email.

Activity Completion

To have the Assignment create a checkmark on submission, change these settings to be:

  1. Completion Tracking: Show activity as complete when conditions are met.
  2. Checkmark “Student must submit to this activity to complete it. 


    • When saving, press “Save and return to course” to go to the course page but press “Save and Display” to enter the assignment.


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