Moodle - PDF Annotation Instructions

Instructors can now provide detailed feedback on Moodle assignment submissions without downloading them using the Annotate PDF tool. This article explains how to enable and use Annotate PDF to grade student work. Annotate PDF option works best when students submit their work in a single PDF file, and this article also explains how to ensure this.

Enabling Annotate PDF for an Assignment

The steps below assume you are creating a new Assignment. To enable this feature on an existing Assignment, open it, click the gear icon, and choose Edit Settings, then skip to step 4.

  1. Turn editing on if it isn’t already (click the gear icon and choose Turn editing on).
  2. Click +Add an activity or resource in the course section where you wish your assignment to appear.
  3. From the list of activities, select Assignment.
  4. On the settings page, under Submission Types:
    1. Check the File Submissions box (required).
    2. Set Maximum number of uploaded files to 1 (recommended).
    3. Type .pdf in the Accepted file types box (recommended)

      5.    Under Feedback Types, check Feedback Comments and Annotate PDF.

      6.    Adjust remaining settings as needed, then click Save and Return to Course

 

Marking with Annotate PDF
Teachers can highlight, write, type, add stamps, and post notes in a PDF document submitted by a student when Annotate PDF is enabled. They can use a mouse, trackpad, or WACOM tablet to make handwritten markings when using a computer or an iPencil, stylus, or finger when grading on a iPad or other tablet.
To use Annotate PDF:

  1. Click on the assignment in your Moodle page to open it.
  2. Under the summary of submissions and grading status, click Grade.
  3. Submissions will open one at a time in an annotation window as shown below.

      4. Select a tool from the annotation toolbar at the top of the window to mark the submission

      5. Enter the Grade and any overall Feedback Comments in the pane to the right of the annotation window. In addition to typing feedback, you can add files and links, or record short audio (microphone button) or video (camera button) clips.

      6. Click Save Changes to save as you go and Save and Show Next when you are ready to proceed to the next submission.

Notes:

  • If the document in annotation window is blank, the conversion to PDF failed (for a file submitted in a different format) or Annotate PDF could not read the PDF file. You will need to download the file using the link in the pane to the right of the annotation window and add annotations outside of Moodle.
  • To save a copy of your annotations and feedback outside of Moodle, click the Download Feedback PDF link beneath the Feedback Comments box.

Ensuring Students Submit Good PDFs
The Annotate PDF feature only works with PDF files. If students submit files in other formats, Moodle will try to them to PDF so that you can mark them, but this conversion process does not work reliably or well. For best results when using Annotate PDF, have your students save their assignments as a single PDF file before they upload them

  • You can force students to submit assignments as a single PDF file using the settings recommended above.
  • Students may not know that they can save, export or print as PDF format from almost any application. For  Microsoft Office/Office 365 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
    • Click File
    • Choose Save as PDF
    • Choose where to save the file, edit the filename (optional), and click Save.

 

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