Assignments and feedback

As a learner, you find every piece of work your programme sets on the Assignments page of your learning workspace. An assignment is the work you produce and hand in: a written answer, a file, a link to something you built, or several of these together. The page sorts your assignments by where each one stands, so the work that needs you is always at the top.

Assignments appears in the menu of your learning workspace only when your programme sets at least one assignment. A programme with none says "No assignments on this programme": your progress then comes entirely from lessons. The number beside Assignments in the menu counts the required assignments that need something from you now.

The groups on the page

The Assignments page lists your work in up to six groups, most urgent first. A group with nothing in it is left out.

• To do holds required work that is open and waiting for you. Work sent back to you comes first, then the nearest deadline.
• With the assessors holds work you have handed in that only an assessor's approval completes, while it waits for their decision.
• Not open yet holds work that has not opened. It cannot be opened until it does, unless your academy has already put you in a group for it.
• Optional holds optional work that is open and waiting for you. Optional work never stops you finishing the programme.
• Complete holds work that is finished.
• Not approved holds work an assessor decided not to approve.

What each status means

Each assignment carries a badge that says exactly where it stands:

Under each title, one line describes the assignment: its type (Practice, Project, Capstone or Formal assessment); for group work, "with" and your group's name, or "group work" until you are in a group, or "on your own" if your academy has asked you to do it without your group; its deadline or "no deadline"; and your attempts, such as "3 attempts" before you hand any in and "2 of 3 attempts left" after. Work already handed in shows the date you handed it in instead.

When an assignment counts as complete

An assignment is complete in one of two ways, and your programme decides which for each one. Some are complete as soon as you hand them in; any assessment afterwards is feedback on the work. Others are complete only once an assessor approves them. The Required work panel beside the list says which applies to your programme, for example "An assignment is complete once you hand it in."

The same panel counts your required work, as in "3 of 5 complete", and tells you whether anything needs action now. "Nothing needs action from you right now" means every open required assignment has been handed in or finished. Required work counts towards finishing the programme. Optional work does not. Work that handing in completed still moves to Not approved if an assessor decides against it, and the panel goes on counting it as complete.

Deadlines and dates

Deadlines come from your academy: a date set for your cohort, or, on a self-paced programme, a number of days after your place began, ending at 11:59 pm in the academy's timezone. Dates are in your cohort's timezone, or else the academy's, whatever your device's; the assignment's page gives the hour too, as in "Due on 14 October, 11:59 pm WAT." A deadline that passes does not close the assignment. The badge changes to Overdue, and you can still hand the work in; it is recorded as late and still assessed. Whether late work matters for your programme is your academy's decision. Some assignments have no deadline at all.

On a cohort, you are told in your notifications and by email when an assignment opens on the date your cohort's timetable sets, and when your cohort's deadline for an assignment changes.

Who sees your work

The line under the list says who can read your work. On a cohort, that is you, your academy's owners and administrators, and the instructors, mentors and assessors on your cohort. On a self-paced programme, it is you and the academy's staff: the instructors, mentors and assessors your academy has put on the programme's staff, or any of them when it has put nobody there, and its owners and administrators. Group work is also shared with your group. Other learners never see your submission.

When the page does not load

If the list cannot be read, the page says "Assignments could not be loaded" and offers Try again. Nothing about your work has changed.

As a learner, you open an assignment from the Assignments page of your learning workspace. Its page tells you where the work stands, what to do next, what to produce, and how it will be judged. Read all of it before you start: the rubric under How it is assessed is the same standard your assessor uses.

The line above the title says what kind of assignment it is — Practice, Project, Capstone or Formal assessment — and adds "assessed" when only an approved assessment completes it, "group work" for group work, "on your own" when your academy has asked you to do group work without your group, and "optional" when it is not required.

Where it stands, and what to do next

The box at the top of an assignment's page states where the work stands and offers the next step:

• Start your submission opens a new draft. Once you have saved something, the button reads Open your draft.
• Read the feedback opens your assessment once an assessor has recorded a decision.

While the work is open to you, the box also says how many attempts you have, as "You get one attempt at this." or "2 of 3 attempts left.", and the deadline with its hour and timezone, as "Due on 14 October, 11:59 pm WAT." Once the deadline has passed it reads "The deadline passed on 14 October, 11:59 pm WAT; late work is still assessed."

An assignment that has not opened yet shows Not open yet, with "It opens on date." or "It opens once the earlier required work is complete." The second means a particular lesson your academy chose: the assignment opens once you complete it. Its instructions stay hidden until it opens.

Instructions and What to hand in

The Instructions section is the brief: what the assignment asks of you. Below it, What to hand in lists each item the assignment asks for, with the forms each one accepts:

• Written answer — text you type on the page.
• File upload — a document or an image.
• GitHub link, Figma link, Deployed link or Link — an address of your work.

An item that accepts several forms says so, for example "Deployed link, file upload or written answer". An item marked "optional" can be left empty. Each item is ticked once your draft, or the attempt you last handed in, holds something for it, and what it holds is shown beneath it. While no draft is open, a file from the attempt you last handed in can be downloaded again with Download.

How it is assessed

An assignment with a rubric has a How it is assessed section. Its first line says how the work is judged and what completes it:

• On a scored rubric, "Scored out of 100, and 60% or more passes."
• On a competency rubric, "Each criterion is judged against the level expected of it."
• Then either "An approved assessment completes this assignment." or "Handing it in completes this assignment; the assessment is feedback on the work."

Each criterion follows as a card. It names what is judged, describes it, and, on a scored rubric with more than one criterion, shows its weight, such as "40% of the result". The card lists the levels an assessor can award, lowest first, with what each level means where the academy has described it. On a scored rubric each level shows its percentage. On a competency rubric the card shows no weight, since each criterion is judged on its own; it says which level meets the expectation, as in "Competent or above meets the expectation", and which competency the criterion counts as evidence for. An approved assessment against that criterion is what adds the competency to your record.

Beside the assignment

The panel beside the assignment, which a narrower screen shows below it, holds three things:

• Your attempts lists each attempt you have handed in, as "Attempt 1" with "Handed in on 3 October" beneath it, adding ", late" when it arrived after the deadline, and "A draft is open, not handed in yet." while you have one.
• Ask followed by the Study Guide's name offers questions such as "What exactly am I being asked to hand in?" and "What does the rubric look for?". It appears only where your academy offers the Study Guide.
• A line about who can see the work. On a cohort it reads "Your work is seen only by you, the academy's owners and administrators, and the instructors, mentors and assessors on this cohort." On a self-paced programme it names the academy's staff: its owners, administrators, instructors, mentors and assessors.

For group work, the page also shows Your group and your group's attempts. The lesson Group work and your group's submission covers them.

When the page does not open

• "Not available" The assignment is not open yet, or it is not part of your programme. Choose Back to Assignments and check its status there.
• "This assignment could not be loaded" The page could not be read just now. Nothing about your work has changed. Choose Try again.

As a learner, you prepare your work for an assignment on the Your submission page. Open the assignment and choose Start your submission, or Open your draft if you have started already. What you put there is a draft: it saves itself as you write, and nobody sees it until you hand it in, not even your assessor.

Group work has its own shared draft, described in Group work and your group's submission.

Your draft saves itself

The bar across the top of the page says "Your draft saves as you write. Nobody sees it until you hand it in." and shows where your draft stands:

• Nothing saved yet — you have not started.
• Unsaved changes · saving shortly — you are typing; the draft saves about two seconds after you stop.
• Saving…, then Saved with the time.
• Saved on this device — there is no connection. Your work is kept on this device and sent when the connection returns.
• Not saved — the save failed, with the reason beside it.

Choose Save now to save at once. If you close the tab with changes unsaved, your browser asks you to confirm.

Answer each item

The What to hand in section has a place for each item the assignment asks for, and the panel beside it, What to hand in, ticks each one off as you fill it. Open Instructions at the top of the page whenever you need the brief again; it starts open until you have put something in.

1. Where an item accepts more than one form, choose one under How you answer: Paste a link, Upload a file or Write an answer. Switching back keeps what you had written in the other form.
2. For Write an answer, type in the box. It holds up to 20,000 characters and shows a word count as you go.
3. For Paste a link, enter the full address, starting with https://. The hint under the box names the kinds of link the item takes, such as "A GitHub or Figma link, over https.". A GitHub link points to github.com, and a Figma link to a file, design or prototype on figma.com. A link of another kind is marked "This slot takes …" and is not saved until you change it.
4. For Upload a file, choose + Add a file. A file can be up to 50 MB: a PDF, a Word, Excel or PowerPoint file (.docx, .xlsx or .pptx), plain text, a CSV file, or a JPEG, PNG or WebP image.

An item that holds several offers + Add another file, Add another link or Add another answer, and each added one has its own way to remove it.

Under the items, the page says what one attempt holds: "An attempt holds up to 10 files, 250 MB in all, and about 65,000 characters of writing." A draft past that says what to shorten or remove, such as "Your written answers are too long together", and is not saved until you do.

Files are checked before you hand them in

A file you upload shows "Uploading file…", then "Checking file…" while it is checked. You can keep writing meanwhile, but you cannot hand the work in until the check finishes. To replace a file, remove it with the cross beside its name and add another.

• "This file was rejected. Try a different one." The file did not pass the check.
• "This file is taking longer than usual to check. Try Submit again shortly." Wait a moment, then hand in as usual.
• "The file could not be uploaded just now. Try again in a moment." The upload did not arrive. Add the file again.

A file refused for its type or size says why under the item.

Two versions of the same work

If this device holds changes the academy never received, and the academy's copy has changed since, the page shows Two versions of this work and sets them side by side: On this device and The academy's copy, each saying when it was saved and showing every answer it holds. An item a version has not filled reads Empty.

• Keep what is on this device saves this device's version over the academy's.
• Use the academy's copy carries on from the academy's and lets go of this device's.

Until you choose, neither can be changed or handed in. Leaving without choosing keeps both, and the page asks again next time.

This happens when you wrote offline and then worked on the same draft elsewhere before this device reconnected.

When the draft is open somewhere else

If you have the same draft open in two tabs, the page warns "This draft changed somewhere else — likely another tab. Choose Save now to keep what is on this page, or reload it to see the latest version." Submit attempt is unavailable while the warning shows, and available again once Save now has saved the draft.

When the draft cannot be saved or read

• "Your draft could not be saved just now." What you wrote is still on the page, and saving is tried again on your next change or when you choose Save now.
• "Your draft could not be read" The page keeps the editor closed so it cannot overwrite what you saved before. Choose Try again.

As a learner, you hand in your work for an assessor with Submit attempt at the foot of the Your submission page. Handing in turns your draft into a numbered attempt — attempt 1, attempt 2 and so on — which goes to your academy's assessors and can no longer be changed.

Before you hand in

Handing in is available once every required item under What to hand in is filled and every file has finished its check. Until then the button is unavailable and the page says what is missing:

• "Item is still empty. Every required artefact has to be filled in before you can hand this in."
• "2 required artefacts are still empty: items."
• "A file is still being checked. Submitting is available once it is done."
• "Your files come to more than 250 MB together. Replace one with a smaller file before you hand this in." An attempt holds up to 10 files, 250 MB in all.

Optional items can be left empty. Check the panel What to hand in, which ticks each item as it is filled. The button is also unavailable while the page warns that the draft changed somewhere else; choose Save now to keep what is on the page, or reload it, and the button is available again.

Hand in

1. Open the assignment and choose Open your draft.
2. Check each item, and open Instructions once more if you need the brief.
3. Read the note under the button. It says, for example, "Submitting creates attempt 1 and clears this draft." Where the assignment allows more than one attempt, it also says how many remain afterwards, or "This is your final attempt".
4. Choose Submit attempt 1. The number is the attempt you are handing in.

Your draft is saved first and then handed in, and you return to the assignment's page. You need a connection to hand in: an attempt is only handed in when the academy receives it.

What happens next

Your attempt now appears under Your attempts as "Attempt 1", with "Handed in on 3 October" beneath it. The assignment's status changes in one of two ways:

• Awaiting assessment, then Being assessed once an assessor starts on it. The page says "Your work is with the assessors. You will be told when a decision is recorded."
• Complete, where handing in is what completes the assignment: "Handing it in completed this assignment on 3 October." An assessor may still read it; their feedback is not a gate.

When an assessor records a decision, you are told in your notifications and by email, and Read the feedback opens it. The lesson Read your assessment explains what you will see.

What you can no longer change

An attempt you have handed in is fixed. While it is with the assessors, opening the submission page shows "Your work is with the assessors" and "It cannot be edited while it is being assessed. You will be told the outcome either way." From your second attempt on, the note under the button adds "Attempt 1 is kept and stays readable — nothing you have already submitted is replaced or lost." Every attempt stays on record and listed under Your attempts, though the assignment's page shows the content of your latest attempt only.

You cannot hand in again on your own initiative. A new attempt opens only when an assessor asks for changes, and then everything from your last attempt is copied into a fresh draft, so you edit rather than start again.

Late work

A deadline that has passed does not stop you handing in. The submission page warns "The deadline passed on 14 October. Attempt 2 will be recorded as late and still assessed." Lateness is decided by when the attempt reaches the academy, not when you wrote it. A late attempt shows ", late" under Your attempts, and your assessor sees that it was late. Whether lateness affects anything else is your academy's decision.

Your attempts and the limit

Each assignment allows a set number of attempts, shown on its page as "You get one attempt at this." or "2 of 3 attempts left." Every attempt you hand in uses one. When none remain, the assignment offers no draft to open, and an assessor can no longer send the work back for changes: on your final attempt the decision is to approve it or not.

When handing in does not work

• "No connection. Nothing has changed — try again once you are back online." The request never reached the academy. Choose Submit attempt again once you are back online.
• "This could not be handed in just now. Everything you have written is still on this page — try again in a moment." The academy could not take the attempt just then. Nothing has been lost. Choose Submit attempt again in a moment.
• "This attempt has already been handed in, so the draft can no longer be saved." The work was handed in from another tab or device. The bar at the top says this when your draft next tries to save, and Submit attempt becomes unavailable; chosen before that, Submit attempt answers "The submitted version is immutable". Copy anything you still want from the page before you leave it.

Some of your assignments may be group work: your group produces one piece of work and hands it in together. Your academy forms the groups. The assignment says "group work" above its title, and its page shows Your group: the group's name, the set of groups it belongs to, and every member, with You beside your own name.

The page says who can read your group's work: "Your group's work is seen only by your group, the academy's owners and administrators, and the instructors, mentors and assessors on this cohort." No other learner can.

Before you are in a group

Until your academy puts you in a group, the assignment's page says Waiting for your group: "Your academy has not put you in a group yet; you will be told when it does. You can read the brief meanwhile." When you are placed, a notification headed "Your group" names your group, and an email tells you too. If your academy later moves you, you are told, and your earlier group's draft stays with them.

Your group's shared draft

Your group works on one draft, which any member can edit. Choose Start your group's submission, or Open your group's draft once someone has started it. The page is headed Your group's submission, and its bar says "Your group's draft saves as you write. Everyone in your group sees it; nobody else does until it is handed in."

The draft works like your own: each item under What to hand in takes text, a file or a link, and saves itself. Under each item, "You last changed this" or "Name last changed this" gives who changed it last, with the date and time.

If a teammate changes an item you were also changing, their version reaches the draft first and the page shows "Name changed this after you last saw it". Your own version is kept beside theirs until you choose:

• Use mine instead puts your version back, and it is saved over theirs.
• Keep theirs keeps your teammate's version and lets go of yours.

Your part in this work

Some group assignments ask each member to say what they did. Where an assignment asks this, the draft has a box headed Your part in this work: write in What you did, up to 1,000 characters. Your group and the assessors read it, and it never stops your group handing in. Under Your teammates you see each teammate's note, or "Has not written a note yet."

Like the draft, your note is kept on your device until it reaches the academy, so one written without a connection is not lost.

Hand in for your group

Any member can hand in, once every required item is filled. Choose Hand in attempt 1 for followed by your group's name. The note under the button says "Handing in makes attempt 1 for everyone in group and clears this draft." Your teammates are told, and it counts for every member, even one who has since finished. After the deadline, the attempt is recorded as late for everyone in your group and still assessed.

Your group's attempts, beside the assignment, lists each attempt with who handed it in, such as "Handed in by you on 3 October".

When a teammate acts first

• "A teammate changed part of the work while you were handing it in. Check their change above, then hand it in again."
• "Your group has handed this in while you were working, so it can no longer be changed." A teammate handed in first. Copy anything you still want from the page before you leave it.
• Two versions of this work. This device holds changes your group never received, and the group's draft has changed. The page sets On this device beside Your group's copy, each saying when it was saved and showing your What you did note where one is asked for. Keep what is on this device puts your device's answers and note over the group's; Use your group's copy discards them. Until you choose, Hand in waits.

Doing it on your own

Your academy can ask you to finish an assignment without your group. The assignment then says You do this assignment on your own: "What your group handed in before still counts as your earlier attempts, and your draft carries on from the group's work." You are told when this happens, and your group stays your group for the rest of its set of groups. An attempt still waiting for a decision is then decided as yours alone.

If you join a group after it has handed in, that attempt is not yours. The page says Your group handed this in before you joined, and your group's next attempt, if it is asked for changes, includes you. If the group has already finished, it says Your group finished this before you joined: your academy can set the work for you to do on your own.

Your group's result

Your assessor judges the group's work as a whole, and can give any member a result of their own. Feedback can be addressed to the group or to you alone, and each member sees the group's result beside their own.

As a learner, you read what your assessor decided about an attempt on the assignment's feedback page. Choose Read the feedback on the assignment's page. When a decision is recorded you are told in your notifications and by email: View result beside the notification on your Notifications page, and Read the feedback in the email, both open the assignment's page first.

Each attempt is judged by an assessor at your academy, usually against the assignment's rubric. The page shows the decision on your latest assessed attempt first, then the detail behind it.

The result

The top of the page gives the result, with the state of your work beside it:

• Passed or Not passed on a rubric scored out of a maximum.
• Competent or Not yet competent on a rubric that judges competencies.

The badge beside it says what your work is doing now: Approved, Changes requested, Not approved, or, while a later attempt waits for its decision, Awaiting assessment or In review. On a scored rubric your score follows as a percentage, with "The pass mark is 60%" and the marks, such as "42 of 60 marks".

One sentence then states the decision, for example "Your assessor approved this attempt." or "Your assessor has asked for changes before this can be approved." A line below gives the attempt and when it was assessed, as "Attempt 1 of 3, assessed on 9 October at 4:30 pm".

Feedback from your assessor

The section From your assessor holds the assessor's written feedback on the attempt. On group work it is marked To your group, and a second card marked To you alone holds anything the assessor wrote to you only. If the assessor wrote nothing, the page says so: the marking below is their answer. Under the feedback, a line names the assessor, how they assessed the work, such as evidence review or oral interview, and the rubric used.

Your assessor may also keep private notes about the work. Those stay with the academy and never appear on this page.

What happens now

The section What happens now tells you the next step, from the state your work is in:

• After approval: "There is nothing more to do on this assignment."
• After a request for changes: your work has been reopened as a draft with everything from this attempt copied into it, and Open your draft takes you there.
• After a decision not to approve: "This assignment is closed. Speak to your academy if you think this is wrong."

A second line says what the decision means for finishing your programme. "An approved assessment completes this assignment and counts toward finishing the programme." appears where approval is required. "This assignment was complete when you handed it in; the assessment is feedback on the work, not a gate." appears where handing in was enough. An optional assignment "never blocks finishing the programme."

Against the rubric

The table Against the rubric shows each criterion in the rubric's order, with your score or the level you were assessed at, and its weight when there is more than one criterion. Your assessor's comment on a criterion, when they wrote one, appears under its name. A criterion marked Below expectation is where the work fell short, and it is the place to start on another attempt.

Group results

On group work, a section headed with your group's name gives the group's result as a whole, such as "Your group's work as a whole was marked passed, at 72%." Usually your own result is the same. When your assessor set your part apart, the page says so and shows the group's marking beside yours. Each member sees the group's result beside their own; your teammates never see your result, and you never see theirs.

Competencies an approval verified

When an approved assessment judged competencies, the panel Verified by this assessment lists each one with the level the rubric expects of it. The panel says they sit on your Skills Passport as evidence an employer can check. They become evidence there, but they start hidden: nobody else sees them until you choose to show them. The lesson Your Skills Passport explains how.

Earlier attempts

The section Earlier attempts lists your other attempts and what was decided on each. Withdrawn marks a decision your academy corrected, and Awaiting assessment marks an attempt with no decision yet. When the decision shown is on an earlier attempt and a later one is still waiting, the line under the result adds "your later work has not been decided yet".

When your academy withdraws a decision to correct it, you are told in your notifications: "Your result is being reviewed again". The new decision replaces it, and you are told when it is recorded.

When there is nothing to read

• "Nothing handed in yet" Feedback appears once an assessor has read work you handed in.
• "Your work is with the assessors" No decision has been recorded yet, or the only one was withdrawn. You will be told when one is.
• "Your feedback could not be loaded" Nothing is wrong with your work; the page could not read it. Choose Try again.

As a learner, an assessor's decision on your work is one of three: approved, changes requested, or not approved. Approval means the work is done. This lesson covers the other two, which are different in kind: a request for changes reopens the work for another attempt, while a decision not to approve is final.

You are told about either decision in your notifications and by email, as "Your submission for assignment needs changes before it can be approved" or "was not approved".

When changes are requested

A request for changes means your assessor wants another attempt before deciding. The assignment's status changes to Changes requested, it comes first under To do on your Assignments page, or under Optional for optional work, and its page says who reviewed which attempt and when, followed by "Everything you submitted is in a new draft, so you are editing rather than starting again." The assessor's feedback is quoted there, with the attempts you have left and the deadline.

An assessor must write feedback to ask for changes, so there is always something to act on. Choose Read the feedback to see it with the marking against each criterion: a criterion marked Below expectation shows where the work fell short.

Revise and hand in again

1. On the assignment's page, choose Open your draft. Everything from your last attempt is already in it.
2. On your own work, read the Fix first panel beside the draft. It repeats your assessor's feedback. A group's draft has no such panel, so read the feedback first.
3. Make the changes. The draft saves itself as you write.
4. Choose Submit attempt followed by the next number, such as Submit attempt 2, or on group work Hand in attempt 2 for followed by your group's name.

Your earlier attempt stays on record and listed under Your attempts, and the new attempt goes to the assessors. If the deadline has passed, the new attempt is recorded as late and still assessed. Where your academy offers the Study Guide, What is my assessor asking me to change? beside the feedback asks it to explain the request and where the material covers it.

On group work, the request applies to the whole group: "What your group handed in is back in its draft, so your group edits it rather than starting again." Any member can hand in the next attempt.

When no attempts remain

A request for changes needs an attempt left to use. On your final attempt an assessor cannot ask for changes: the decision is to approve the work or not. Check how many attempts you have on the assignment's page before you hand in, as "1 of 3 attempts left".

When work is not approved

A decision not to approve ends the assignment. Its status changes to Not approved, it moves to Not approved on your Assignments page, and its page says "The decision is final. The feedback explains why." There is no draft to open: the submission page says "The decision is final, so there is nothing more to hand in." The assessor must write feedback with the decision, and Read the feedback shows it.

Sometimes the assessment page shows Your assessor did not approve this attempt, with "Your work met the standard the rubric sets, and your assessor decided against approving it anyway. Their reasons are below." Your work cleared the rubric, and your assessor decided not to approve it all the same. Their feedback in From your assessor explains why.

What the decision means for finishing your programme depends on the assignment:

• Where only an approved assessment completes the assignment, it does not count as complete. Whether you can still finish depends on how much of the required work your programme asks for.
• Where handing in completed the assignment, it stays complete. The page says "This assignment was complete when you handed it in; the assessment is feedback on the work, not a gate."
• An optional assignment never blocks finishing the programme.

If you think a decision is wrong

The assessment page says "Speak to your academy if you think this is wrong." Your academy can correct a decision on your latest attempt. The decision is withdrawn and the attempt goes back to the assessors, and a new decision takes its place once it is recorded. The withdrawn one is then listed as Withdrawn under Earlier attempts on the assessment page.