Assignments

Creating an Assignment

Click on a section name on the homepage. On the right side panel click on Add New Assignment. Fill in the name and instructions for the assignment in the area provided. Should you need to add a file to your assignment, our system allows for only files in the .pdf format to be uploaded. These will show up for both the partner and the student during the conversation.

See best practices for creating assignments here.

Instructions for Partner and Student

Use the shared instructions to communicate the topic for the conversation to both the student and the conversation partner. Short instructions of 4-5 sentences work best, providing a general theme and perhaps some sample questions to get started with. These instructions need to be in the target language.

This area also allows you to upload a PDF document. If you want to have more than 4-5 sentences we suggest you upload a pdf document that clearly outlines the topic.

Please do not use this section as instructions only for your student. Put any instructions for your student in your syllabus. The instructions included here should be helpful to both the student and the conversation partner.

Private Instructions for Conversation Partner

When creating an assignment, there is an area labeled Private Instructions for Partner. This area allows you to communicate directly with the conversation partner. We suggest you include any additional information that would help them prepare. All communication with partners must be in the target language as many do not speak English. Please limit this to 4-5 sentences. This is not the appropriate are to communicate the topic for the conversation. Please communicate that information in the "Instructions for Partner and Student".

Please remember that conversation partners are not teachers. Technical instructions, such as specific verb tenses, may not be well understood. We suggest you provide broad topics for the partner to concentrate on with your students.

Deleting and Editing Assignments

You can edit an assignment at any time. Click on the link Edit next to the assignment name. Once editing the assignment you can also choose to delete it. You will not be able to delete an assignment that has already been completed by a student.

Re-using Assignments from previous semesters

There may be times when you want to use the same set of assignments you created for a previous semester. For instance, if you taught the same class using TalkAbroad last year. Rather than rewrite the assignments for each section it would be easier to just copy them to the new section. No problem. Log into your account and click the section in the top left. Once there, look for the button stating Use Previously Created Assignments inside the assignments box. On this screen you can enter the Section Code for the assignments you want to re-use. This will automatically copy the entire group of assignments from a previous section. You can view all previous assignments and section codes by clicking Archived Assignments on the left side panel.

If this is a new section, click  Delete Currently Existing Assignments before importing previous ones to avoid any confusion for your students.

Sharing Assignments

There may be times when you want to share a set of assignments with another professor. For instance, if you coordinate a group of professors teaching the same class. You want all professors to use the same assignments that you create. This is achieved by creating the assignments in a section. Once created you can provide the section code to any professors and the professor can follow the instructions in the section Re-using Assignments from previous semesters to add the assignments to a current section. Assignments can be shared with any professor, regardless of what school they are at.

Sharing assignments does not share access to any student information or completed assignments. It simply creates new assignments by copying the assignment name, number of students, and instructions for the conversation partner from the other section.