Assignment Management

Create, distribute, collect, annotate, and grade assignments — entirely within the portal. The complete assignment lifecycle from creation to graded result delivery is managed in one place, replacing physical submission queues and manual paper tracking.

1. Creating a New Assignment

Teachers create assignments for their allocated classes with detailed instructions, file attachments, rubrics, and deadlines — all through a rich, guided form.

1.1 Assignment Setup Form

• Assignment Title: A clear, descriptive title (e.g., "Unit 3 Case Study — Cloud Architecture Design").
• Target Class & Subject: Select which class and subject this assignment belongs to. A teacher sees only their own allocated classes.
• Instructions (Rich Text Editor): A full-featured editor for writing detailed assignment instructions — supports bold/italic formatting, numbered lists, bullet points, tables, and image embedding. Teachers can format instructions exactly as they would in a Word document.
• Deadline Date & Time: The exact submission cutoff. After this point, any student submission is automatically flagged as "Late."
• Maximum Marks: Total marks this assignment is worth (e.g., 25 marks).
• Accepted File Formats: Teacher specifies which file types are acceptable — e.g., PDF only, or PDF + DOCX + ZIP for code submissions.
• Maximum File Size: Set the upload size limit (up to 50 MB).

1.2 Assignment Rubric

Teachers can define a marking rubric — a breakdown of how the total marks are distributed across evaluation criteria.

• Add Criteria: Define each evaluation criterion (e.g., "Content Quality — 10 marks", "Formatting — 5 marks", "Originality — 10 marks").
• Student Visibility: The rubric is shown to students before submission — so they understand exactly how their work will be evaluated.
• Grading Aid: When grading, the teacher sees the rubric alongside each student's submission — making evaluation consistent and structured.

1.3 Reference Attachments

• Teachers can attach reference files (PDF handouts, sample formats, data files) that students download while working on the assignment.
• Up to 5 reference files can be attached.
• Students see these attachments on their assignment card.

1.4 Publishing

• Publish Immediately: Assignment is visible to students as soon as it is created.
• Schedule Publishing: Set a future date/time when the assignment becomes visible to students — useful for preparing assignments in advance.
• Draft Mode: Save without publishing — the teacher can edit further before releasing to students.

2. Managing Active Assignments

After publishing, the teacher has full control over the assignment through its lifecycle.

2.1 Assignment Status States

2.2 Editing an Assignment

• The teacher can edit assignment details (instructions, deadline, maximum marks) after publishing, as long as no student has submitted yet.
• After the first submission, only the deadline can be extended — instructions and marks cannot be changed to prevent unfairness.
• All changes are logged with a timestamp for the HOD's audit trail.

2.3 Deadline Extension

• Teachers can extend the submission deadline at any time — for example, if there was a college event that affected submission rates.
• Students who already submitted are not affected — their submission timestamps are preserved.
• Students are notified automatically when a deadline is extended.

3. Reviewing Submissions

The teacher views all student submissions for an assignment in a structured table.

3.1 Submissions Table

• Student Name & Roll Number
• Submission Date & Time: Exact timestamp — and a "Late" badge in red if submitted after the deadline.
• Submission Status: Not Submitted / Submitted / Graded / Returned for Revision.
• Marks (if graded): "18 / 25" shown if already graded.
• Open Button: Opens the submission viewer for annotation and grading.

3.2 Submission Viewer & Annotation

When the teacher opens a student's submission, a full-screen viewer loads the uploaded file with annotation tools on the side panel.

• Inline PDF Viewer: The student's PDF is displayed page by page within the browser — no download required.
• Annotation Tools: Draw, highlight, add text comments, and insert arrows directly on the document. Red markings indicate errors; green markings indicate correct work.
• Comment Threads: Click anywhere on the document to add a pinned comment — the student sees these comments highlighted on their copy when marks are published.
• Marks Entry: Enter the total marks in a field on the right panel. If a rubric was defined, the teacher fills in marks per criterion and the total is calculated automatically.
• Written Feedback: A text field for the teacher to write an overall evaluation comment — shown to the student below their marks.
• Return for Revision: Instead of grading, the teacher can return the submission to the student with feedback — the student then revises and resubmits.

4. Publishing Results

Once the teacher has finished grading all (or most) submissions, results can be published.

• Publish All at Once: One click publishes marks and feedback for all graded students simultaneously.
• Publish Selectively: Publish results for individual students (e.g., if some submissions are still being reviewed).
• Student Notification: Students receive an in-portal notification: "Your assignment 'Unit 3 Case Study' has been graded — 18/25."
• Class Summary: After publishing, the teacher sees a summary: class average marks, highest score, lowest score, and how many students are yet to submit.