A workbook is a multiple page booklet that can be designed to deliver content and interactive material to the user for learning, revision or for assessment. A workbook typically contains multiple pages but can also contain holders for users to add Activity Logs, Blogs, Pages, and Collections. Workbooks can be shared directly with users and can be made available to groups of users via ATLAS Workspaces.
Workbooks are created by tutors to provide a structured template for their students to complete. If you want to use workbooks for assessment in your courses, then it is imperative to work closely with your Learning Technologist to determine how this can best be achieved.
Usually, a PebblePad Resource Account will be set up for your subject area, where workbooks can be created and developed. So anyone who needs to contribute to building the workbook can collaborate on the resource before it is deployed to the students. It is of vital importance that each workbook is completed and checked over for errors and omissions before it is deployed to students as live workbooks, which students are already using, cannot be altered. A test student account will be made available for you to fully test every aspect of your workbook.
The following steps will take you through how to build a PebblePad workbook from scratch.
For additional support or for more complex requirements, please contact your Learning Technologist.
Some of the building blocks can be set so that students cannot use them. These are for assessors only. Because they are part of the workbook, they provide an area that can be viewed by students and tutors (or other assessors) simply by viewing the workbook. Once an assessor has interacted with the assessor field and saved it, their name will show beneath it with the date and time.
To make a block into an Assessor Only field:
You will see a blue label appears at the top of the block saying Completed by: Assessor Only. This is now an assessor only field.
Click on the word 'assessor' to replace it with practice supervisor, practice assessor, or academic assessor for example.
Not all the building blocks can be made into assessor fields. The list below shows which ones can be.
Popular: | Single Line, Multi Line, Radio button, Checkbox, Dropdown, Date Picker | |
Ratings: | Binary, Likert, Numeric | |
Rubrics: | Rubric | |
Advanced: | Digital Signature |
Please note: the Digital Signature can only be used by an assessor and does not need the role restriction property to be selected.
Important: When you have finished building your workbook, it is imperative for you to check every element on every page to ensure you have all the necessary blocks designated as assessor fields.
The evidence rosette can be used as an area for students to attach any type of asset and /or to write a short piece of text. The rosette uses a traffic light system where both the student and assessor can change it from red to amber or green, to indicate the extent to which something has been achieved.
You will find the evidence rosette building block in the capabilities section. The effectiveness of this feature relies on everyone knowing when to change the colour of the rosette. See more about this in the feedback and grades section of this guide.
The screenshot below shows what the student sees when they click on the rosette, from within their workbook. They will see the 'Add an asset' button, to attach anything from their assets. It will take them through uploading something from their computer into the assets. It can be any file type, such as an image or PDF. There is a text box underneath for students to write something and at the bottom, they choose from three options to specify the colour of the rosette. Once the field has been clicked on, the default choice will be "This item is not yet fully evidenced" which turns the rosette amber.
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This has not been evidenced ![]() |
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Justify, expand upon, or provide a context for your evidence | |||||||
To what extent does this evidence prove what you can do or have done? | |||||||
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This item has not yet been evidenced | ||||||
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This item is not yet fully evidenced | ||||||
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This item is now fully evidenced | ||||||
You can also append evidence fields to the bottom of these other building blocks:
Popular: | Single line, Multi line, Radio button, Checkbox, Dropdown, Date Picker. |
Ratings: | Binary, Likert, Numeric. |
Tables: | Column labels only, Row labels only, Column & Row labels, Individual Cell. |
Rubrics: | Rubric. |
To add the evidence feature, select the relevant building block. Click on Properties and look for Include evidence, as shown below. Tick the checkbox and you will see the rosette appear in your workbook.
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Include evidenceWarning: This option is not available if the privacy
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Activity Logs and Collections are specific pages that form part of the workbook. They act like folders by collecting certain files (assets) that meet criterion set by you. They work by using tags to identify which assets to show on that page.
To complete these steps you must first compelete the 'workbook building' instructions at the top of this page. From within the workbook you are building, click the plus symbol to add a new page.
This time select Placeholder Page.
Then choose either Activity Log or Collection.
For an Activity Log, you will first see the option to define hours/points. You need to enter the target number that students are working towards, for example, 50 hours of volunteer work or 100 CPD points. Students then assign hours or points to any template (or other asset) which is added to the activity log. It will display a running total. You are able to run a report on this data. Please refer to the feedback and grades section of these guides, for more information about that. See the Tables (auto-sum) guide below for an alternative way to log hours and points.
If you do not require any hours or points, choose Collection rather than Activity Log
When the page is placed into your workbook, you will see the words 'Edit Criteria' at the bottom.
Click Edit Criteria, and a panel will open at the side.
Choose one word (or abbreviation) that relates to the items to be collected on this page. Type this in the box under 'Filter by tags' and click Add. Do not change any of the other settings. The tag is case-sensitive, so you're better off just making it all lowercase.
The bottom of the page says 'Criteria added: All asset types | Tagged with: placements' (where placements is the example tag). Students will also be able to see what the tag is for that page.
If you have worked on resources, e.g. workbooks and templates, in your own PebblePad account then you can share these for collaboration with a colleague, or with the PebblePad resource account your course is attached to, although we do strongly advise using the PebblePad resource account for workbook creation (see the guidance above). As long as the individual has a PebblePad account set-up, you can collaborate easily in the co-creation of resources.
As long as the Resource Account you want share with has been set up with a PebblePad account the process is relatively straightforward.
A Share panel will open:
Your resource is now shared.
As long as the person you want to share with has a PebblePad account the process is relatively straightforward.
Click on Confirm share. Your resource has been successfully shared with your collaborator:
If the account does not show up, in the Who are you sending this to? section, click on the Look for other PebblePad users option:
You can repeat the process if you are collaborating with more than one user.
The Share panel will open:
Should you require urgent assistance with NILE, please contact the LearnTech Support Helpdesk via the online contact form