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How Students Upload Various File Types or Attachments

How Students Upload Various File Types or Attachments

This article will explain the three ways a student can upload file types such as photos, videos, links, and many more.
Monica Burke avatar
Written by Monica Burke. Updated over a week ago

What Can Students Upload?


Files, links, text (rubric assessment only), pictures, videos, YouTube, audio, Google Drive, and OneDrive

➡️ The image you see above appears in many different areas of Otus; when a student adds an attachment to rubric assessments, blogs, their bookshelf, or portfolio, this is the image they will see.

Where/How Can Students Upload?

There are different ways a student can upload the various media listed above; the method will depend on how you, as the teacher, plan to use the file. Do you plan to grade it? Do you just want to view and comment on it?

To Grade

To View/Comment

Below you will find a section for each of the options that have greater details on how it can be used. You will also find the links to the specific help articles for that option.

💡 Tip from the Otus Team - You can use assessments to collect student work and not add it to the gradebook, so don't let the word assessment deter you!

To Grade

Advanced Assessment

When is this the best option?

  • If you have a question a test that requires the submission of an attachment.

  • When working with middle to upper grade levels.

How it Works:

  1. Teacher creates and assigns the assessment.

  2. Student opens the assessment and adds their attachment.

  3. Student submits the assessment.

  4. Teacher views the file by going to the assigned assessment.

Other Information

  • You can ask many different types of questions in an Advanced Assessment.

  • Students can attach JPG, GIF, PNG, PDF, CSV, RTF, TXT, XPS, ZIP, Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Publisher, Open Office, and other types of files.

  • Students can take a live image/video using their device's camera.

  • The assessment does not have to be included in the students' class grade.

💡 Tip from the Otus Team: The process to upload/take the image is more involved, therefore, is not recommended for using with younger grade levels.

Article: Advanced Assessments File Upload Question
Article: How Students Take an Advanced Assessment

Rubric Assessment

When is this the best option?

  • If you want to view criteria with the attachment side-by-side.

  • When you want to leave audio or video feedback.

  • If you want students to submit a written response to score alongside a rubric without needing to use a Google Doc or other word processor.

  • When working with younger grade levels - it only takes 4 clicks to submit.

How it Works:

  1. Teacher creates and assigns the assessment.

  2. Student opens the assessment and adds their attachment

  3. Student submits the assessment.

  4. Teacher views the attachment by going to the assigned assessment.

Other Information

  • Building a rubric is a quick and easy process.

  • Students can add up to 5 attachments.

  • Students can take a live image/video using their device's camera.

  • The assessment does not have to be included in the students' class grade.

Article: Create a Rubric Assessment
Article: Students Submitting Rubric Assessments

To View / Comment

Blog

When is this the best option?

  • When you want students to see and/or comment each other's files.

How it Works:

  1. Student creates the blog post.

  2. Student adds the attachment to the blog post.

  3. Student publishes the blog post.

  4. Teacher visits the class blog to view the attachment.

Other Perks

  • It is easy to switch from class to class on the blog.

  • There is nothing for the teacher to create - the student is in control of the entire process.

  • The student can choose to make the post private, so only the teacher is able to view the post.

  • Students can take a live image/video using their device's camera.

💡 Tip from the Otus Team: Building a blog post and adding an image/video does involve more steps for the student than the other methods, therefore, this is not as ideal for the younger grade levels.

Article: Blog Overview
Article: Students Using the Blog

Bookshelf

When is this the best option?

  • When you only need specific students to share an attachment with you (not the entire class).

  • When you want to have access to this attachment on your Bookshelf.

  • When you want your students to have access to the attachment on their Bookshelf.

How it Works:

  1. Student visits their bookshelf.

  2. Student adds a resource on their bookshelf.

  3. Student shares the resources with a teacher.

  4. Teacher visits their bookshelf (Shared With Me).

  5. Teacher views the shared resource.

Other Perks

  • There is nothing for the teacher to create - the student is in control of the entire process.

  • Students can take a live image/video using their device's camera.

💡 Tips from the Otus Team

  • For students, adding and sharing a resource from the Bookshelf does involve more steps for the student than the other methods, therefore, this is not as ideal for the younger grade levels.

  • When a student shares a resource with a teacher, it will go to the teacher's Shared With Me bookshelf.

Article: Bookshelf Overview
Article: Students Using the Bookshelf

Portfolio

When is this the best option?

  • When the purpose of the attachment is not necessarily for sharing or grading purposes; the portfolio is meant as a place to showcase student work or house content that will travel with the student from year to year.

How it Works:

  1. Student visits their portfolio.

  2. Student adds the attachment to their portfolio.

  3. Teacher goes to their class list.

  4. Teacher selects the student and navigates to their student profile.

  5. Teacher selects Content to view the content of the portfolio.

Other Perks

  • There is nothing for the teacher to create - the student is in control of the entire process.

  • The items added here will travel with the student from year to year.

  • Students take a live image/video using their device's camera.

💡 Tips from the Otus Team

  • The portfolio is not organized by class, rather, it is specific to each student.

  • Both students and teacher can add items to a student's portfolio, but an item can only be deleted by the person that added it.

Article: Teachers Viewing and Adding to the Student Portfolio
Article: Students Adding Items to the Portfolio

Otus Live

Below is a video from our Otus Live series on how to collect student work with a rubric or your blog.

Next Steps

Assign Assessments
Grade a Rubric Assessment
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