Dropbox FAQ

About the Dropbox

The Dropbox provides a convenient way for students to electronically submit individual and group assignments and is a great way to have a paperless or nearly paperless course. You can provide feedback, assign grades, and return submissions with track changes all from a single location.

To access the Dropbox tool from your Course Home page, click the Dropbox link on the course navigation bar located near the top of the screen. The Dropbox Folder List will open and has five icons that run along the top of the screen: Folder List, New Folder, Re-Order, Delete, and Preview.

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Creating Dropbox Folders

To create a new Dropbox folder:

1. New Folder, located near the top of the Dropbox Folder List screen. Clicking New Folder will bring you to the Properties tab in the New Folder screen.

   

2. Type the name of the folder in the Name field.
3. Decide whether or not this folder will contain individually completed assignments or group assignments. Once you have made your decision, select either Individual submission folder or Group submission folder under the Folder Type options. Please note that Group submission folder will only be available if you have already created Groups. 
4. If you select Group Submission Folder, use the Group Category drop down menu to select the appropriate set of groups for the assignment.
5. If you will have several assignments that are similar, you may want to organize your Dropbox folders into categories. If you have already created Dropbox Categories, simply select the appropriate category from the Category drop down menu. You can also create a new Category by clicking New Category.
6. In the Custom Instructions text box, you can type in any instructions you wish to convey to your students regarding the assignment. You can choose to enter text into one of two HTML Editors.  One tab, located above the text box, is labeled "Basic;" the other is "Advanced."  Both offer access to the Spell Check  and Preview features. 
7. If you would like students to be able to download a template form or a sample of a completed assignment, you can click the Add a File button under Attached Files to add a downloadable file for student use.
8. Click Save to save your changes.

 To connect your Dropbox to your Gradebook:

1. If you have already created a Gradebook in D2L, you can choose to link your Dropbox folder to the corresponding grade item by selecting the item from the Grade Item drop down menu. You can also click New Grade Item to add a new item to your gradebook.
2. If you choose to connect your Dropbox folder to a grade item, you will need to enter the value of the grade item in the Out Of field.
3. Click Save to save your changes.

To add accessibility conditions to your Dropbox: 

• Click the Restrictions tab for more Dropbox options:

• Availability
  1. If you would like to set a start date to limit when your students can submit your Dropbox folder, check the box to the left of Only allow submissions after this date. Then use the Date and Time drop down menus to select your start date.
  2. If you would like to set an end date for your Dropbox folder, check the box to the left of Only allow submissions before this date. Then use the Date and Time drop down menus to select your end date.
  3. If you choose to set start/end dates for your folder, you may also select to Add Event to Schedule. Doing so will place the dates on the Events widget on the Course Home screen for students to see.
• Additional Release Conditions - Click Create and Attach to add release conditions to your Dropbox folder.

To add accessibility exceptions to your Dropbox restrictions: 

• Special Access - You can allow students with Special Access to submit assignments outside the normal availability dates for the Dropbox folder by clicking the Add Students to Special Access button.

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Creating Dropbox Categories

Creating Dropbox Categories allows you to better organize your folders. To create a category:

1. Click the Edit icon to the right of the folder you would like to assign to a category.
2. Click the New Category link to the right of the category field.

   

3. Type the category Name.
4. Click Save. The folder you are editing will automatically be placed in this new category.
5. Click Save to save the changes to your Dropbox folder.

Please Note: You can also create a Dropbox category by clicking New Category when creating a new folder.

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Editing Dropbox Folders and Categories

To change Dropbox category or Dropbox folder information, simply click the Edit icon to the right of the category or folder name.

You may also choose to edit several folders at one time by checking the box to the left of each folder and then clicking the Edit icon that can be found at the top and bottom of the Dropbox Folder List.

Please Note: When choosing to edit several folders at once, it is important to keep in mind that you will only be able to edit Folder Name, Dropbox Category, and Date Availability.

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Deleting Dropbox Folders

PLEASE NOTE: DELETING A DROPBOX FOLDER WILL PERMANENTLY DELETE ANY STUDENT FILES THAT HAVE BEEN SUBMITTED TO THAT FOLDER.

To delete Dropbox Folders:

1. Click Delete located near the top of the Dropbox Folders List.
2. Select the folders you would like to delete by checking the box to the left of the folder name.
3. Click Delete Selected.



4. Click Delete on the window that opens. If you have deleted all folders within a category, the Dropbox Category will no longer be visible to you on the Dropbox Folders List. It will only be available from the Category drop down menu on the Properties tab

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Deleting Dropbox Categories

To delete Dropbox Categories:

1. Click the Delete Category icon to the right of the category that you would like to delete.



2. Click Delete on the window that opens. Deleting a Dropbox Category does not automatically delete the folders inside that category.
   

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Re-Ordering Dropbox Folders and Categories 

When creating Dropbox Folders and Dropbox Categories, new folders are automatically placed at the top of the Folders List, unless they are assigned to a category; in which case they are placed at the bottom of the category. New categories are automatically placed at the end of the list.

Dropbox Folders and Categories:

1. From the Dropbox Folders screen, click Re-Order located near the top of the Dropbox Folders List.
2. Use the drop down menus to the right of each category and folder to select the order you would like them to go in and hit save when finished.

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Viewing Student Submissions

When students have started to upload submissions to Dropbox Folders you will be able to keep track of how many files have been submitted, how many you have read, and how many you have flagged:

Viewing the Users Tab

1. To begin viewing student submissions, click the name of the folder the files were uploaded to.
2. Notice that you are automatically taken to the Users tab of Folder Submissions.



3. Click the name of a file to open it
4. If you would like to download more than one file to your computer at a time, check the box to the left of each file and then click Submissions from selected users.
5. Use the icons that run along the top and bottom of the list of student submissions to manage the files.

- Download selected files
- Email selected users
- Mark selected files as read
- Mark selected files as unread
- Delete selected files

Viewing the Files Tab

Click the Files tab to view a simplified list of files that have been submitted. On this tab, you can sort submissions by file name, date submitted, or who the file was submitted by. This is done by clicking the words Files, Submission Date, or Submitted By.

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Searching Student Submissions

There are several different Search options that will help you sort through students' submissions. These options can be used on both the Users tab and the Files tab.

• Use the View By drop down menu to sort by users, groups, or sections.
• Use the Search For field and the Search In options to find specific student names.
• Use the Last submission after and Last submission before drop down menus to narrow your list of student submissions to a particular time frame.
• Use the Feedback drop down menu to sort through all students, students who have already been give feedback, or students who have not yet received feedback.

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Flagging Student Submissions

Dropbox allows you to flag student submissions for easy reference. To do so:

1. Click the name of the folder you would like to view submissions for.
2. Click the Flag icon to the left of the file name.

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Leaving Feedback and Grading Student Submissions

You can grade student submissions from within the dropbox:

1. Click the name of the folder you would like to grade submissions for.
2. Click Leave Feedback, located to the right of each student's name. This link is only available if a student has submitted a file to the Dropbox.



3. In the Feedback text box, you can type in any comments you wish to convey to your student regarding their assignment. For entering feedback, you may want to use the HTML Editor , Spell Check , or Preview features. Simply click the corresponding icon, located just above the text box.
4. If you have a file that you would like to return to the students, you can do so by clicking Add a File located under Attachments.
5. If you have assigned an Out of value for the assignment, you can enter a Score under Assessment.
6. Click Save after making any changes.

Please Note: We strongly recommend only entering Feedback through the Dropbox tool for any folder that is connected to the Grades tool. Please do not use the Grades tool to leave feedback for Grade Items that are connected to the Dropbox tool. As long as you follow this rule then you will be all set. Whatever feedback is in the feedback box when you save will still be there when you are done saving, allowing you to continue to add text to the Dropbox Feedback box as often as you like for any student.

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