Creating Assignments
Build assignment lessons with file uploads, deadlines, and rubric grading
Assignments let you collect student work — essays, projects, code, designs, anything. OptiLearn handles file uploads, tracks late submissions, and provides a grading interface for instructors.
Creating an Assignment
- In the curriculum builder, click Add a lesson to this module
- Enter a title (e.g. "Final Project")
- Pick Assignment as the type
- Click Add Lesson
- Click the lesson's edit icon to open the assignment builder
Assignment Settings
Details
- Title — Shown to students (defaults to the lesson title)
- Instructions — Full description of what students need to do. Markdown is supported.
Write detailed instructions. Include specific deliverables, file format requirements, and what you'll be grading on.
Grading
- Max Score — Maximum points (typically 100)
- Passing Score — Minimum points to pass (e.g. 60)
Students who score ≥ passing score have the lesson marked complete automatically.
Deadline
- Due Date (optional) — When submissions are due
- Allow Late Submissions — If on, students can submit after the deadline
- Late Penalty (%) — Percentage deducted from late submissions
For example: if late penalty is 10%, and a student scores 80/100 but submitted late, their final score is 72/100 (80 × 0.9).
File Uploads
- Allowed Formats — Click format tags to toggle (PDF, DOC, DOCX, ZIP, PNG, JPG)
- Max File Size (MB) — Per-file limit (default: 10)
- Max Number of Files — How many files per submission
Student Submission Flow
When a student opens an assignment lesson:
Read instructions
Students see the full instructions, max score, passing score, and due date.
Prepare submission
They can include a written response (text) and/or upload files that match your allowed formats.
Submit
Clicking Submit locks in their submission. You'll see it in your grading queue.
Receive feedback
Once you grade, students see their score and your written feedback.
Grading Submissions
The full grading interface with rubric scoring is under development. For now, you can grade submissions via the API or by replacing them with UI.
Current workflow:
- View submissions via the course enrollments page
- Click a student's name to see their submissions
- Manual grading will be added in an upcoming release
Late Submissions
Students who submit after the deadline see a warning on the submission form:
Past due — submission will incur a X% penalty
The submission is flagged as isLate: true in the database, and when you grade it, the late penalty is automatically applied to the final score.
Resubmissions
If you return a submission with status Resubmit Required, the student sees a notification and can submit again. The new submission replaces the old one in their history.
Best Practices
- Be specific. Vague instructions lead to bad submissions.
- Set a passing score. Without one, students don't know what "good enough" means.
- Allow late submissions. Life happens. A small penalty (10%) is usually enough.
- Give actionable feedback. Not "good job" — tell them what worked and what didn't.
- Return for revision. If a submission almost meets the bar, mark it Resubmit Required with specific changes.