How do I add a Gradescope assignment to a page in Lessons?

Gradescope allows you to deliver assessments and grade them using customized rubrics. You can also grade scanned submissions quickly using templates.

Within Lessons, you may create Gradescope assignments so that grades for the submissions can be sent automatically to the Gradebook tool.

Prerequisite Steps

Before proceeding with the steps on this page, you will need to do the following:

  1. Add Lessons and Gradescope to your site.
  2. Link your course and your roster with Gradescope (opens in a new window). Follow the steps for the Sakai LMS.

Go to Lessons.

Select the Title of the page (e.g., Lessons, Activities, Week: 1) from the tool menu in your site.  

Tip: Simplify the student's experience with Gradescope by encouraging them to access Gradescope in the tool menu. The page in Lessons where you create and grade Gradescope assignments should be hidden. For more information on how to hide a page in Lessons, see our How do I hide or show items in the tool menu? help article.

Select Add Content.

Select Add External Tool.

In the window that pops up, select Add External Tool.

Launch External Tool Configuration.

In the window that appears, select the Launch External Tool Configuration link. There is no need to fill out any of the other fields.

Choose an assignment.

Select whether you would like to link to a new Gradescope assignment or an existing assignment. Find more information about how to link to an existing Gradescope assignment.

  1. Select the radio button labeled A new Gradescope Assignment to create a new assignment.
  2. Select Link Assignment.

Select the assignment type.

Each assignment tab includes details about the assignment type selected. The assignment types are below.

  1. Exam / Quiz
  2. Homework / Problem Set
  3. Bubble Sheet
  4. Programming Assignment
  5. Online Assessment

Note: The rest of these steps will show you how to create the Homework / Problem Set assignment type. The workflow may vary for each assignment type.

Select Next.

Enter assignment information.

  1. In the Assignment Name field, enter a name for this assignment.
  2. In the Template section, choose Select PDF to pick and upload a PDF file that contains the homework problems. This file will become the template for the assignment. If you do not have a PDF with homework problems, you can upload a blank PDF file.
  3. In the Submission anonymization section, select Enable Anonymous Grading to hide identifiable student information from being listed with submissions.
  4. In the Who will upload submissions? section, select whether site participants in the Instructor or Student role will upload submissions for this assignment.

Set the assignment availability settings.

  1. In the Release date field, set a release date and time for the assignment.
  2. In the Due date field, set a due date and time for the assignment.
  3. Select Allow late submissions to allow students to submit work after the due date. If you allow late submissions, you can set a late due date and time. Work that is submitted after the due date and before the late due date will be marked as "late" in the grading interface.
  4. Select Enforce time limit to set a time limit for the homework assignment. If you will enforce a time limit, you will need to set a maximum time permitted in minutes.

Set additional assignment settings.

  1. Select the submission type for the assignment.
    • Variable Length submissions allow students to submit any number of pages.
    • Templated (Fixed Length) submissions should be used when students will submit work where answers are in fixed locations, such as worksheets.
  2. Select Enable Group Submission to allow students to submit group work for the assignment. For more information about group assignments, see the Create a group assignment video on Gradescope's website (opens in a new tab).
  3. Select Allow students to view and download the template to allow students to view and download the template PDF file you uploaded for the assignment. This can be helpful for students to download the worksheet for templated (fixed length) assignments or download instructions for variable length assignments.

Select Create Assignment.

You will be returned to the page in Lessons with your new assignment link added. Select the link to finish setting up the assignment.

Create an outline.

Graphic link opens modal with larger image. Press Escape to exit modal.

On the page that loads, your Template PDF will be on the left and an empty outline will be on the right.

Add questions.

Graphic link opens modal with larger image. Press Escape to exit modal.
  1. Select + new question to begin adding questions.
  2. In the Title column, enter a title for the question.
  3. In the Points column, enter a point value for the question.
  4. If you are building a fixed template, a box will appear over the template PDF with the question title and point value. Move the box and adjust the width and height to select where the students will write their responses.
If using a fixed template, add student name and ID regions.
Graphic link opens modal with larger image. Press Escape to exit modal.
  1. Select + Create Name Region to select the area on the page where students will write their name.
  2. Select + Create ID Region to select the area on the page where students will write their UVA computing ID or other identifier.
  3. A box will appear over the template PDF for each of the regions you added. Move the boxes and adjust the width and height to select where the students will write their information.
Select Save Outline.

Select an assignment.

  1. Select the radio button labeled An existing Gradescope Assignment to link to an existing Gradescope assignment.
  2. Select the assignment in the dropdown menu.

Collect submissions and grade.

The assignment will be made available to students at the release date and time specified in the assignment. Encourage your students to find the assignment and submit their work in Gradescope.

To view and grade submissions for the assignment, access the assignment link in Lessons.

Note: In order for Gradescope assignment grades to be sent to Gradebook, you will need to grade the assignments by accessing each assignment link in Lessons.