Unzip and copy the uploadpdf directory into the /moodle/mod/assignment/type/ directory then visit the Notifications page.

The module also makes use of GhostScript to save PDFs, so you will also need to install GhostScript and direct the module to it. A download link for GhostScript is available on the Moodle Modules and plugins DB entry page for the Upload PDF Assignment Type.

If you are using Windows, be sure to install GhostScript to a location so that its path contains no spaces, for example, C:gs. Once installed you need to write the path to the GhostScript executable into uploadpdf_config.php located in the module directory. The first line of code appears as...

$CFG->gs_path = 'gs';

...and needs to be changed to include the path to the GhostScript executable, for example:

$CFG->gs_path = 'C:gsgs8.71ingswin32c.exe';

Once the module is installed and GhostScript is set up, you can add an assignment by selecting the Upload PDF option from the Add an activity... menu, below Assignments.

The configuration page for an UploadPDF assignment begins with the same General settings as other Assignment Types. This includes a name, description, grade value, and due date.

In the description, you may want to include instructions about converting files to PDF format. OpenOffice offers native support for saving to PDF. An add-on can be installed for Office2007 (and later versions) to "publish" to PDF. GoogleDocs allows files to be saved as PDF. There are online services that can convert documents to PDF, some of which are free (but may involve limitations or complications). For general applications, it is possible to install a PDF printer, which masquerades as a printer, but instead of printing to a physical device, it produces a PDF file which can be saved to disk. A number of PDF printer solutions are freely available and simple to install.

Below the General settings there are some specific settings for an Upload PDF assignment.

If your institution has a standard coversheet that needs to be fixed to all submissions, this coversheet can be supplied (in PDF format of course) and will be prefixed to students' submissions.

Controls can be placed on the files students submit. It is likely you will want to restrict submissions to PDF format, unless you want students to submit an accompanying file with their PDF. Students can submit more than one file. Each PDF file they submit is concatenated into a single document as it arrives at the server, so a single document is presented when marking.

Help files are available here to explain each setting.

With the assignment in place, students submit their PDF files in much the same way they would submit using other assignment types. The Upload PDF Assignment Type offers a two-staged submission. First students must submit each individual file. Once all the files are sent to the Moodle server, the student completes and confirms their submission, making it available for marking.

When assignments have been submitted, the teacher can mark from the assignments list.

The module author recommends marking with the Allow quick grading preference turned on. This makes sense as the PDFs are annotated in a separated window, so using grading windows means a lot of open windows. If you are using this Assignment Type it is likely that most of your feedback will be in the PDF itself, so adding a mark and a short overall comment on the assignments list page is probably sufficient.

To annotate a submission, click on the submission.pdf link. This opens a new window with a student's combined submission, visible page by page.

In this window, a teacher can annotate a student's submission. Comments can be started by left-clicking on the document. A comment box will appear and text can be inserted; when editing is complete, click off the comment. If you wish to edit a comment, clicking on the comment will allow you to change the text inside. Right-clicking on a comment will allow you to control background color. It is also possible to save comments to the Comment Quicklist by right-clicking on a comment and selecting Add to Comment Quicklist. This is particularly useful when marking a large number of submissions as it saves retyping repeated comments. To use a comment from the Quicklist, simply right-click where you want the comment to appear and choose the comment from the list.

You can also add lines to the document to indicate where corrections need to be made, or to add emphasis. To draw a line, or more than one, hold the Ctrl key, then click-and-drag the mouse.

Changes are saved as you make them, so if you close the window, your changes will reappear when you come back. You can also click the button labeled Save Draft and Close for the same effect. A teacher can move from page to page, adding comments and lines as they go.

It should be noted that a document including a teacher's annotations will not be made available to the student until you click Generate Response. The "response" is a new document, based on the submitted document, and including the annotations created by a teacher. Once created, a student can download this response document from their view of the assignment.

Back at the submissions list, the teacher can add a general comment and set a mark, then save the marks by clicking Save all my feedback at the bottom of the list.

The response document is produced very efficiently. It is not a bitmap capture (like a digital photograph) of the document with annotations. It is effectively the original PDF document with annotations as vector (drawing) objects. All original text and graphics are preserved after the addition of these new objects. These new objects add only a very small amount to the original file size.

In general, assignment feedback can be classified as structured or unstructured. The Upload PDF Assignment Type is an ingenious solution to providing unstructured feedback in an online environment, especially as there are no documents that need to be transferred back and forth between the server and the teacher's machine.

The pedagogical applications are wide open: