Student Handbook
4. Course Learning Activities
4.4. Assignments
In most courses, students will be graded on their participation and the submission of 3 assignments. Depending on the specific course, 20 - 30% of the total available mark will be for participation while the other 70 - 80% will be divided into 3 assignments. General guidelines are posted below along with an overarching rubric for both participation and assignment grading.
General guidelines are posted below along with an overarching rubric for both participation and assignment grading; however, students will find specific expectations and grading rubric within their course.
Participation
It is important for students to review the expectations here carefully as there is no opportunity to make-up participation grades.
If a student appears unengaged with the course (e.g., not posting on discussion forums; not replying to other students' responses), an instructor or representative from our e-learning administrative team will reach out part-way through the training, often emailing a friendly reminder regarding participation requirements. As Life Strategies supports mastery learning, it's important that students balance participation expectations with assignments requirements. Although it's possible to still pass with partial participation marks, opting to not participate will result in a grade of zero for this portion making it impossible to successfully achieve mastery (i.e., 80%).
If students are concerned about their participation status, they can request an informal check-in with the instructor part-way through the course.
The following chart provides some guidelines for the evaluation of participation.
| Percentage | Points /20 | Points /25 |
Interpretation | Grading Criteria |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| >95% | >18.9 | >23.7 | Excellent | Student consistently makes 2 or more posts in each required discussion thread distributed across at least 2 days that the topic is active. Contributions indicate: (a) exceptional understanding of the material covered in the course readings and topical resources, (b) integration and application of this information to the discussion topic and/or work of a career management professional, (c) accurate interpretation of the theories and constructs (and their shortcomings when applicable) that underlie the discussion topic. |
| 85-94.4% | 17.0-18.8 | 23.6-21.1 | Good | Student generally makes 2+ posts in each required discussion thread distributed across 1-2 days that the topic is active. Contributions are generally above average in quality, indicating good understanding of course material, integration and application of the information to the work of a career management professional, and understanding of underlying theories and constructs. Contributions show evidence of thoughtful consideration, reflection and attention to the issues addressed, and add valuable information to the discussion. |
| 80-84.4% | 16.0- 16.9 | 20.0-21.1 | Average | Student generally makes only 1 post in each required discussion thread. Contributions lack depth but show some thought, reflection, and attention to the issues, and add to the discussion. |
| Less than 80% | <16 | <20 | Below Average | Student consistently makes less than 1 post in each required discussion forum per topic, or clusters contributions on the last day or after the topic closes. |
Assignments
Beyond participation, in most cases, students will be graded on the submission of 3 assignments. Specific instructions for completion, criteria for grading, and deadlines for submission are posted within your Course Syllabus and the assignment activity. To maximize your grade, read assignment requirements carefully and plan your time accordingly. Review 10 Tips for Submitting Successful LearnOnline Assignments for some helpful suggestions. If students have questions, it's important to ask them early within the Course Questions discussion forum or privately via email to the instructor. Students should leave themselves enough time to ask questions, get a response, and then complete the assignment.
From time to time, students may be expected to collaborate with other students in the course as part of their assignment requirements. In such instances a sign-up sheet to make partners or groups will be available at the beginning of the course. Here students can provide preferred contact information if they’d like to connect outside of the course.
It is the student's responsibility to monitor when assignments are due, address every item in the grading criteria, and upload assignments on time. Students who find they are missing sizable portions of their grade, generally find that this is due to the fact that they did not address a specific component of the grading criteria. As the courses are tied to specific learning objectives and competency frameworks, the grading criteria has been designed to specifically address these aspects.
Assignments should be prepared offline using Microsoft Word, or some other compatible word-processing software, and then uploaded privately to the course site using the submission section within the assignment activity. PDF submissions aren’t as easily editable by instructors which is why a word-compatible document is preferrable. Both Google Docs and Microsoft 365 provide options for downloading offline copies that can be uploaded into the e-learning platform.
When uploading assignments, please use a unique identifier such as name and assignment number – we recommend “Course Name Assignment # Student Name” for your file name. This helps to ensure that the instructor doesn’t overwrite files when downloading submissions. Only the student, the instructor, and course administrators will be able to view uploaded assignments; they cannot be viewed by other students. In addition, students grades and feedback on assignments are not visible to others in the course.
Instructors will generally not review draft assignments; however, in special circumstances, a student may request the instructor to review a draft assignment. In these cases, however, a maximum grade of 85% may be applied. Draft submissions will be taken as final within the e-learning platform once the due date passes.
The following chart provides some guidelines for the evaluation of course assignments:
| Percentage | Points /20 | Points /25 | Points /30 | Interpretation | Grading Criteria |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| >95% | >18.9 | >23.7 | >28.3 | Excellent | Assignments address all of the assignment criteria and demonstrate: (a) good understanding of the material covered in the course readings and topical resources, (b) integration and application of this information to the assignment topic and/or work of a career management professional, (c) accurate interpretation of the theories/models (and their shortcomings when applicable) that underlie the assignment topic. |
| 85-94.4% | 17.0-18.8 | 21.1-23.6 | 25.4-28.2 | Good | Assignments lack at least one of the above criteria but are generally above average in quality. Assignments show evidence of thoughtful consideration, reflection, and attention to the issues addressed. |
| 80-84.4% | 16 – 16.9 | 20-21.1 | 24.0-25.3 | Average | Assignments lack some of the required components and miss some of the above criteria but show some thought, reflection, and attention to the issues. |
| Less than 80% | <16 | <20 | <24 | Below Average | Assignments are missing significant components and give insufficient evidence of thought, reflection, or effort. |
Assignments that are submitted late will receive an automatic 5% deduction for each day it’s late (i.e., after 24 hours 5%, after 48 hours 10%, after 72 hours 15%). For exceptional circumstances, contact instructor(s) in advance to request an extension. Our instructional team is generally very happy to provide extensions if it’s permissible; however, any such extension should be requested in advance. Extensions on group assignment submissions may be possible; however, the student will generally need to complete any consultation and/or collaboration with their partner and group within the originally designated timeframe.
The developers of the LearnOnline program support the concept of mastery learning. If students do not achieve 80% on any individual assignment, they have one opportunity to resubmit that assignment, incorporating instructor feedback. The revised assignment must be submitted for marking no later than 48 hours after the original assignment was returned unless otherwise negotiated. The maximum grade that can be earned for a resubmitted assignment is 85%.
Generally, assignments will be marked within 48 hours of the due date (not submission date). Students can expect detailed feedback and marks a minimum of 24 hours prior to the due date of the next assignment to allow students to integrate feedback into subsequent work. Although the focus of our courses is not specifically on writing, you can expect to be graded on and receive feedback on writing style, format, and references in addition to the assignment content. Refer to the specific assignment grading criteria for the assignment within your course materials.