Assignment Linking Manager - Comprehensive Guide

Updated: February 2023

Description: The Assignment Linking manager allows users to navigate to one location and create relationships between course section assignments and outcomes instead of navigating from course section to course section to complete the process.  This allows for the bulk management and audit of assignment linking relationships by Course, Course Section, or Program.  

Applicable to:  Institution Admin, College Admin, Department Admin, Course Coordinator and Program Coordinator roles

Link Assignments to outcomes using the Assignment Linking Manager - Step by Step

Step 1: Login to AEFIS

Step 2: Navigate to the Main Menu by clicking the three-line menu at the top left of the screen

Step 3: Scroll to the Program Design section of the Main Menu, and select Assignment Linking from the list of options

Step 4: The Assignment Linking Manager will load, and Course Sections your AEFIS role grants you access to will automatically populate in the left pane of the manager screen under Select an Educational Experience.  There are multiple filters, and you may stack those filter choices to narrow your Course Section selection options.

Step 5: Select filter(s) to narrow the Course Section options for Assignment linking, and filter options will populate to the left of the screen.  Each filter allows you to search by a keyword or subject code/number, and you may add/remove multiple selections for each filter.

• Active, In Progress and Completed Terms:  Narrow your selection of Course Sections by the academic term/semester that your team built in AEFIS.  You may select multiple terms at one time to view.
  
• Colleges and Administrative Units: Narrow your selection of Course Sections by the College or Administrative Unit (Co-curricular) that owns that Course or Co-curricular Activity.  You may multi-select options on this filter.
  
  
  
• Departments and Administrative Divisions:  Narrow your selection of Course Sections by the Department or Administrative Division (Co-curricular) that owns the Course/Co-curricular Activity.  You may multi-select options on this filter.
  
• Programs:  Select the Program(s) whose Outcomes you would like to link Section Assignments to.  You may multi-select options on this filter.
  
• In Progress Assessments:  Specific which Program Assessment you would like to narrow your section list.
  
• Educational Experiences:  Narrow your selection of Sections by the Course or Co-curricular Activity so you see only the Sections associated with that Course or Co-curricular Activity. You may multi-select options on this filter.
  
• Assignment Specifications:  You may now filter sections by the assignment options listed below.
  
  
  • All Sections
  • Sections with Assignments
  • Sections with no Assignments
  • Sections with Links
  • Sections with Incorrect Links (links that were copied from previous terms that do not match assignments present in the current term)
  • Sections with No Links
    
    Once your filters are set, you will see them displayed under the Selected Filters area of the filter menu:
    
    You may then reset all filters at the bottom to start over, if needed.  Alternately, you may choose the red X on the filter to remove a single filter from your query.

Step 6: Now that your filters are set, you may start linking Section Assignments to Outcomes.  

Step 7: Select a Course Section from the Educational Experience list by clicking on it, and the Section will turn blue to indicate the selection was made.
Note: If you are using the AEFIS LMS integration with Blackboard, Canvas, D2L Brightspace or Moodle, clicking on this section will refresh the LMS assignments in that section for linking.

Then, the list of available outcomes will populate in the center column of the linking manager:

Step 8: Click on an Outcome from the Select an Outcome column.  The outcome selected will turn blue. Any assignments already linked to that outcome will then populate under the Link Assignments column to the right.

Step 9: (Optional) Click on the grey Proficiency Scale icon to change the thresholds prior to creating or updating Assignment Links.  The Proficiency Scale sliders can then be adjusted, and then Save Settings may be selected if adjustments are needed.  For more information on setting the Proficiency Scale in assignment linking, click here.

Optional: Copy Proficiency Scale levels between outcomes.
1. Select the Scale Settings option under the outcome set


2. Set the scale thresholds by moving the sliders on the right menu that appears

3. On the outcome list below, check the box next to each outcome to select the outcomes and related assignments to apply the scale settings to

4. Select the blue Apply Scale at the top right of the screen to apply that scale to all of the selected outcomes

Step 10: To add or change assignment links, click the blue Manage button at the top right of the Link Assignments column.  An Edit Linked Assignments menu will populate to the right, and options to link the total Assignment score, Rubric Criteria score (AEFIS Assignments, Canvas Assignments, D2L Assignments only) and/or Quiz Questions (Canvas Assignments only) will display.  Check the box next to the Assignment/Rubric Criterion/Quiz question you would like to link to that outcome.  Use the Weight% field to change the weighting of the assignment relationship if needed.  The system with otherwise evenly distribute the weighting for you as you create additional links to that outcome.

Step 11: When you are done selecting Assignments, Rubric Criteria or Quiz questions to link to that outcome, click the blue Save Links button on the top right of the Edit Linked Assignments menu, or hit Cancel to exit the Edit Assignment Links menu to exit.

Step 12: (Optional) Convert LMS Assignments to AEFIS Managed Assignments.  Select the Manage button at the top right of the screen, and select "Convert LMS Assignments"

• For more information on the steps to use the Assignment linking manager to convert LMS Assignments, please click here

Step 13: (Optional) Copy Links - Select an outcome and then click the grey Copy button at the top right of the Link Assignments column to copy the assignment linking relationships you created for that outcome/course section, to other sections of the same course. 

1. When you select Copy, the Copy Linked Assignments wizard will appear, and will suggest other sections of the same Course to copy your assignment links to:
   
   Note:  If there are no other sections available in that term, you will receive an message indicating that there are no available sections under that parent course.
   
   
2.  Check the box(es) next to the section(s) you would like to copy to.  Then click Next.  The system will then check and confirm that there are matching assignments where the linking may be copied on the following screen and you may click Next again.  If they do not match, the system will provide you with a message informing you that the copy process may not be completed.
3. Then, click Finish and Copy Links on the next screen to complete the copy process.
   
4. You may then select other outcomes within that Course Section where the assignment linking relationships will be duplicated, by selecting the check box next to the Course or Program Outcome set.