Assignments for class managers (BETA)

Assignments allow class managers to give learners a task, collect publications created in Linkr, and optionally provide grades and private feedback.

This guide explains how to create an assignment, monitor learners' progress, assess submissions, release results, and close an assignment.

About assignment types

The assignments described in this guide are individual assignments: each learner submits their own publication and can receive an individual grade and private feedback. Collaborative assignments, which will allow learners to submit one shared publication per subgroup, are coming soon.

The learner experience

Once an assignment starts, learners can review its instructions and important dates, submit an existing publication created in Linkr, and view their grade and private feedback once these are released by a class manager.

To explore the complete process from a learner’s perspective, please read Assignments for class members & learners.

In this article

• Create an assignment
• Schedule the assignment
• Configure grading and feedback
• Choose whether submissions appear in Class Publications
• Understand assignment statuses
• Monitor learners' progress
• Review and grade submissions
• Send a submission back
• Release grades and feedback
• View all grades for the class
• Close an assignment
• Download all submissions
• Edit an assignment
• Delete an assignment

Create an assignment

1. Open the relevant class.
2. Select the Assignments tab.
3. Select + New Assignment.

Your work is saved automatically as a draft, so you can leave the form and finish the assignment later. The time of the most recent save appears at the bottom of the form.

Add the assignment details

Enter the following information:

• Title: The name learners will see for the assignment.
• Instructions: A description of the task and everything learners need to complete it. The text editor allows you to format the instructions and add links, images, or videos.
• Learning outcomes (optional): Outcomes associated with the assignment. These are displayed to learners and can be used to categorize the assignment.

When the assignment is ready, select Save & Schedule. The assignment will appear as Scheduled until its start date.

Schedule the assignment

Every assignment requires three dates:

• Start date: The date and time when the assignment becomes both visible and available to learners.
• Due date: The date and time by which learners are expected to submit their work.
• Post date: The date and time when learners should expect their grades and feedback. This date  communicates the expected schedule, but it doesn't automatically release grades.

Before the start date

Before the assignment starts:

• Learners can't see the assignment.
• The class Assignments and Grades tabs remain hidden from learners.
• The assignment dates do not appear in learners' dashboard calendar or Assignments section.

At the start date, the assignment becomes visible, its dates appear on learners' dashboards:

Learners also receive an in-app notification:

Once the assignment starts, it also appears on the class manager’s personal dashboard with progress rings for submissions and grades. Select the assignment to open its dashboard, which is explained later in this guide:

Allow submissions after the due date

By default, learners cannot submit after the due date.

Turn on Allow submission after due date if you want learners to continue submitting until you close the assignment. Late submissions include a timestamp in the assignment dashboard and exported progress report.

Configure grading and feedback

Grading and feedback are optional and can be enabled independently. You can use either option, both options, or neither.

• Turn on Feedback to write private feedback for learners.
• Turn on Grading to assign grades to submissions.

Add grading items

When grading is enabled, an overall grade field is included by default. You can also add grading items to describe individual assessment criteria.

For each grading item, enter:

• An item name
• Instructions for learners

Grades are entered manually. The overall grade and individual grading-item fields are independent and are not calculated automatically. They accept numbers or letters, such as 10         , 85%         , A         , or B+    .

Choose whether submissions appear in Class Publications

Turn on "When the assignment is closed, add all submitted publications to the Class Publications tab" if you want learners' work to become visible in the class after the assignment closes. Grades and feedback will remain private.

When enabled:

• The submitted, non-editable copies are added to the class Publications tab when the assignment is closed.
• All class managers and class members can see the publications.
• Grades and private feedback remain visible only to the relevant learner and class managers.
• People outside the private class cannot see the publications.

You can change this setting even after the assignment has been closed.

Understand assignment statuses

Assignments are organized into three sections in the class Assignments tab:

• Scheduled: The assignment has been scheduled but has not reached its start date.
• In progress: The assignment has started and has not been closed.
• Closed: A class manager has closed the assignment (this can't be undone). Learners can no longer submit work.

Within an assignment, each learner can have one of the following statuses:

• Not submitted: The learner has not submitted a publication.
• Submitted: The learner has submitted a publication that has not yet been graded.
• Graded: The submission has been graded, but the grade has not been released.
• Released: The learner’s grade, feedback, or both have been released.
• Sent back: The class manager returned the submission to the learner. It is included among learners who have not submitted until the learner submits again.

Monitor learners' progress

Open an assignment to view its dashboard. The progress indicators show the proportion and number of assigned learners whose work has been:

• Submitted
• Graded
• Released

Use the status tabs in the table to view Assigned, Not submitted, Submitted, Graded, or Released learners. You can also search for a learner by name.

For each learner, the dashboard shows the current status, submission date and time, grade, and grade-release date and time. Open the three-dot menu beside a learner to view the submission, send it back when applicable, or send the learner a message.

Export a progress report

Select Export from the assignment dashboard to download a Excel (.xlsx) file containing a snapshot of the assignment's current status.

The report includes:

• The assignment and class names
• The date and time when the report was generated
• Every assigned learner, their email address and their current status
• Submission dates and times
• Grades
• Grade-release dates and times
• A summary of the total learners and the numbers submitted, graded, and released

Export the report again whenever you need the latest information.

Review and grade submissions

As soon as a learner submits, their work becomes available for assessment.

1. Open the assignment.

2. Select the Grading tab.

   
   

   

3. Select a learner.
4. Review the non-editable copy of the publication they submitted.

5. Select the floating Grade button on the right to open the grading panel.

   
   

   

6. Enter an overall grade and, if used, values for the individual grading items. Add private written feedback if applicable.

   
   

   

Your grading work is saved automatically. You can grade a submission at any time after it is submitted, including before the due date.

Once you have finished assessing the submission, mark it as Graded. You can undo this action later if needed.

How submitted publications are preserved

Learners select an existing publication created in Linkr when submitting their work. A publication must already exist before it can be selected.

When a learner submits, Linkr creates a non-editable copy for the assignment. This preserves the version that was submitted even if the original publication is later changed. The copy also appears under Publications → Assignments in the learner's account and can be added to their public portfolio.

A learner can use the same original publication for more than one assignment. Class managers can't submit work on a learner's behalf.

Send a submission back

Learners can't replace or withdraw a submitted publication themselves. If they need to revise their work, you can send the submission back. To do so:

1. Open the learner's submission in the grading tool, or open the learner's three-dot menu on the assignment dashboard.

2. Select Send back.

   

   
   
3. Write a message explaining what the learner should revise.
4. Confirm the action.

The learner receives an in-app notification:

The assignment page is updated with the class manager's message:

And the learner's status changes to Sent back.

The learner can then restart the submission process and submit a new publication. Sent-back submissions are grouped with learners who have not submitted.

Release grades and feedback

Grading a submission does not automatically make the result visible to the learner. You must release it first. To do so, select Release grades from the the class manager’s assignment dashboard to release all existing grades that have not yet been released. The button displays the number of grades ready for release.

You can release grades at any time while the assignment is open. You do not need to wait for the post date.

Once released, the learner can see:

• The overall grade
• Values entered for individual grading items
• Private feedback from the class manager
• The non-editable publication submitted for the assignment

When you release a grade, the learner receives an in-app notification:

The assignment page is updated with the class manager's grade and feedback (if any):

The learner's Grades tab is updated:

And the learner's status in the Class manager's assignment dashboard changes to Released.

The grading tool also displays the blue Released status.

Releasing a grade cannot be undone. However, grades and feedback can still be edited after release, including after the assignment is closed. Please keep in mind that learners will see those changes immediately.

View all grades for the class

The class Grades tab provides an overview of every learner's grades across all assignments.

From this tab, class managers can:

• Search for a learner
• View and edit the grade received for each assignment
• Identify learners who do not yet have a grade
• Export the class grades for all assignments in a Excel (.xlsx    ) file

Close an assignment

Closing an assignment lets you close the book on it. It does not happen automatically on the due or post date.

To close an assignment:

1. Open the class Assignments tab.
2. Find the assignment under In progress.
3. Open its three-dot menu.
4. Select Close.

Once closed:

• Learners cannot submit or resubmit work.
• Sent-back work cannot be submitted again.
• Unreleased grades cannot be released.
• The assignment cannot be edited, except for already released grades and feedback and the Class Publications visibility setting.
• If Class Publications visibility is enabled, all submitted non-editable publications are added to the class Publications tab.
• The assignment moves to the Closed section.

Closing an assignment is an administrative action and does not notify learners.

Download all submissions

After an assignment has been closed, you can download all the submitted work:

1. Find the assignment under Closed.
2. Open its three-dot menu.
3. Select Download all submissions.

Linkr downloads a ZIP archive containing every publication submitted when the assignment was closed as an individual PDF. Each file is named using the class name, assignment name, and learner name.

The archive remains available as long as the class has not been deleted.

Edit an assignment

While an assignment is scheduled or in progress, class managers can edit all its settings, even after learners have submitted. This includes its details, dates, grading and feedback options, and publication visibility.

After an assignment is closed, its content and schedule can no longer be edited. You can still:

• Edit grades and feedback that were released before closure
• Change whether submitted publications appear in the class Publications tab

Changes to released grades and feedback become visible to the learner immediately.

To edit an assignment, open its three-dot menu or go to the assignment dashboard:

Delete an assignment

To delete an assignment, open its three-dot menu and select Delete. Type delete     in the confirmation window and confirm the action.

Deleting an assignment permanently removes:

• The assignment
• All its submissions
• The corresponding non-editable copies under learners' Publications → Assignments tab

This action cannot be undone.