Assignments, rubrics and competencies

An assignment is the work a programme asks learners to hand in, such as a project or a written task; some call it coursework. You add and change assignments in the Assignments section of a programme's draft, and they reach learners when the programme is published. Owners, administrators and instructors can add and change assignments; mentors and assessors can read them.

Add the assignment

1. Open the programme's draft and choose Assignments.
2. Choose Add assignment (Add the first assignment when there are none).
3. Enter a Title, such as "Final project", and choose under How is it marked?:
   • Not marked: done once it is handed in.
   • Marked with a score: an assessor marks it out of 100 against a rubric, with a pass mark.
   • Approved against skills: an assessor approves it against a rubric of skills, which it then proves.
4. Leave Count required assignments toward completion ticked if learners should finish only once the required assignments are done.
5. Choose Add and open. The assignment opens with one hand-in item ready and the brief to write.

The assignment editor saves to the draft as you work: "Changes save to the draft. Learners see them once you publish."

Write the brief

Under Brief, give it a Title, an optional one-line Summary, and the Instructions: what learners are asked to do, what to make, what to include and how it will be judged. A brief is written like a lesson, with headings and lists. An assignment with no brief cannot be published: the checklist says "“title” has no brief yet."

How it is marked

How it is marked repeats the choice above, and holds what goes with it:

• Rubric, for an assignment that is marked: choose one of the academy's rubrics of that kind, Create a rubric from a starting shape, or Draft a rubric from this brief when the academy's assistant is on. "Choose a rubric, or create one, before this can save."
• Pass mark, for Marked with a score: "The share of the marks the work must reach to be approved." It starts at 50, and cannot be above the most the rubric awards with every criterion at its highest level.
• Required to complete the programme: "Optional assignments are extra practice: learners can finish without them."

Only Approved against skills puts skills on a learner's credential and Skills Passport. A line below says how required assignments count towards finishing the programme, with a link to change it.

Timing

• Opens: From the start, or After a lesson, choosing under After learners complete the lesson that comes before it. It then sits in the outline right after that lesson; the last lesson is not offered, because nothing comes after it.
• Deadline: No deadline, or Due after a number of days, counted from the day each learner starts on a programme at their own pace, or from the day the cohort starts on one that runs in cohorts. Learners see the date it falls on.

If the programme's schedule changed since the deadline was set, the editor says "This deadline was set for a different pacing" and offers to count it the new way in one press.

More settings

More settings holds the Kind of work (Practice, Project, Capstone or Formal assessment), Attempts from 1 to 10, Who does it (each learner, or a group on a programme that runs in cohorts), the outcomes it works towards, and Ask for a recorded walkthrough. During a Formal assessment, learners' Study Guide may only clarify the brief.

The assignments list

Each assignment on the list shows how it opens, its deadline, how it is marked, its rubric and its hand-in items, with Open, Move up, Move down and Remove. A warning names anything that stops publishing, such as "Needs a rubric before the draft can publish." A line above the list says whether every skill the outcomes promise is proved by an assignment. When the academy's assistant is on, Suggest assignments for my outcomes drafts assignments for you to review.

When it does not save

• "The assignment needs a title before it can save."
• "Choose the rubric it is marked against, or set it to Not marked."
• "The pass mark is a whole percentage from 1 to 100."
• "The pass mark cannot be above 75%, the most this rubric awards." Lower the pass mark, or choose a rubric whose highest levels reach it.
• "The deadline was set for a different pacing. Change it under Timing before this can save."
• "Group work needs a cohort-paced programme. Make it individual work under More settings."
• "This assignment was changed in another window. Reload the page to see the latest version."

Each assignment asks for its work in hand-in items. A hand-in item is one thing learners hand in: a written answer, a file such as a report, or a link such as a repository. It carries a name, the formats it accepts and its own rules. Learners see each item as a box to fill in, and they cannot hand in until every item they must fill is filled.

You set the items in the assignment editor, under What learners hand in. Owners, administrators and instructors can change them. A new assignment starts with one item ready. An assignment with none says "Nothing to hand in yet. Add a hand-in item so learners have somewhere to put their work."

Add a hand-in item

1. Open the programme's draft, choose Assignments, and choose Open on the assignment.
2. Under What learners hand in, choose Add a hand-in item.
3. Enter its Name, which learners see beside the box they fill in, such as "Your work".
4. Optionally, fill in What to include, such as "One photo of the finished piece, taken in daylight."
5. Choose Change accepted formats, tick each format you accept, and choose Done. The item then reads, for example, "Accepts written answer or file upload."
6. Set Learners to Must fill it or May leave it empty, and Holds to One file or link or Several files or links.

The editor saves on its own. An assignment takes up to 20 hand-in items, and Remove item takes one away.

The formats

An item can take several kinds of link. A learner's link counts as whichever kind it is: a github.com address as a GitHub link, a Figma file as a Figma link, and any other https address as a website or any link where you ticked those.

Ask for a recorded walkthrough

A recorded walkthrough is a link to a short video in which the learner shows the work and explains how they made it. It is hard to give for work someone else did. To ask for one, open More settings on the assignment and choose Ask for a recorded walkthrough; the button then reads "A walkthrough is asked for", and a hand-in item for the link is added.

Groups

On group work, the group fills the same hand-in items together and hands in once. Its attempts are the group's, not each member's. Group assignments explains group work.

When an item does not save

An item with a problem is marked "Not saved yet" and holds the assignment's save back until it is fixed:

• "Not saved yet: give it a name." Name the item.
• "Not saved yet: tick at least one format." Choose Change accepted formats and tick one.
• "An assignment takes at most 20 hand-in items." Remove one first.
• "An assignment can require at most 10 file uploads: an attempt holds 10 files." Make some of them optional, or let them take another format too.

Items change only in a draft. Learners on a published edition keep the items they hand in against; a change reaches new learners when the draft is published.

A group assignment is work a team hands in together, such as a capstone built by four learners. If you build programmes, you make an assignment group work in the assignment editor, under Who does it. The assignment only says how groups are made up; the groups themselves are formed later, for each cohort, from that cohort's learners.

Group work is available on cohort programmes only, because a self-paced learner has no cohort to be grouped with. On a self-paced programme, Who does it reads "Each learner does this on their own." Owners, administrators and instructors can set group work.

Make an assignment group work

1. Open the programme's draft, choose Assignments, and choose Open on the assignment.
2. Open More settings, and under Who does it, choose A group instead of Each learner.
3. Under Group set, choose A new group set, or a set another assignment in this draft already uses.
4. Enter the Set name, up to 80 characters, such as "Capstone teams". Staff see it when they form the groups, and learners see it beside their group.
5. Choose the Smallest group and Largest group, each from 2 to 12 learners. A new set starts at 3 to 5.

The editor saves on its own.

Group sets

A group set is a way of dividing a cohort into teams. Each cohort puts its learners into groups for the set, and every assignment that uses the same set keeps the same groups, so the milestones of a capstone stay with one team.

When assignments share a set, its name and sizes are shared too. The editor says so, as "Shared with title", and a change to the name or sizes applies to every assignment using the set. Two different sets cannot share a name.

Notes from each member

Turn on Ask each member for a note on their part to have each member write what they did. Their teammates and the assessors read the notes, and a missing note never stops the group handing in.

Criteria assessed for each member

By default, the level an assessor gives the group on each rubric criterion stands for every member. Under Assessed for each member, switch on the criteria the assessor should confirm for each member on their own instead, such as individual contribution. The group's level still stands for every member on the other criteria.

The switches appear once a rubric is chosen under How it is marked. Until then the section says "Attach a rubric under How it is marked to assess some of its criteria for each member."

What happens next

Nothing is formed while the programme is a draft. Once the edition is published and a cohort is running on it, staff form that cohort's groups for each set on the cohort's Groups page, and the group hands in together. The Run a cohort guide explains forming groups, and the Assess learner work guide explains assessing a group's submission.

When group work does not save or publish

• "Name the group set before this can save." Enter a Set name.
• "The smallest group cannot be larger than the largest." Raise Largest group or lower Smallest group.
• "Another group set already has this name. Choose that set, or give this one its own name." Choose the existing set under Group set, or rename this one.
• The schedule cannot become self-paced. While an assignment is group work, changing Schedule on Details to At their own pace says "Group work needs a cohort. Make these assignments individual first:" with a link to each. Make them individual, then change the schedule.
• "This programme is self-paced" on an assignment still set as group work. Changes to it wait with "Group work needs a cohort-paced programme. Make it individual work under More settings.", and the checklist lists "“title” is group work, but self-paced learners have no group to work with." Choose Make it individual work.

A rubric is the marking guide assessors use on an assignment: the criteria they judge, the levels each can reach, and a sentence saying what work at each level shows. Build rubrics on the Rubrics page, then attach them to assignments. Owners, administrators and instructors create and change rubrics; mentors and assessors only read them.

Alethris's starter set gives every academy two rubrics, "Project assessment" and "Core skills check", marked Starter until kept, changed or archived.

Choose how the rubric scores

A rubric scores in one of two ways, chosen under Scoring while no assignment uses it.

• Marked with a score: a mark out of the Maximum score, from weighted criteria and scored levels, with a pass mark set on each assignment. It proves no skills.
• Approved against skills: each level names a proficiency, and each criterion verifies competencies at an expected level. The work is competent only when every criterion reaches its level, so criteria carry no weight, and approved work puts the competencies on the learner's credential and Skills Passport.

Create the rubric

1. Open Rubrics, under Delivery, and choose New rubric.
2. Under Details, enter a Name, an optional Description and the Scoring, and for a score rubric the Maximum score.
3. Under Criteria and levels, choose Add criterion for each thing the assessor judges, and write its sentences.
4. Choose Create rubric. Nothing is kept until you do; on a saved rubric the button is Save rubric.

Draft a rubric with the assistant

A new rubric with no criteria offers to have your academy's staff assistant draft it whole, under Details, while the assistant is on.

1. On Rubrics, choose Draft a rubric, or on a new rubric, Draft this rubric.
2. Choose the Scoring first. The draft uses the levels in the table, so change those first if you want others.
3. Under What it judges, say what work an assessor marks with it.
4. On a rubric approved against skills, tick up to 8 skills under Skills it assesses, a criterion for each. A score rubric gets three to five criteria.
5. Choose Draft rubric.

The criteria go into the table with their sentences marked Drafted until you change them, the weights even, or each skill verified at Competent. An empty name or description is filled. Read the draft, then choose Create rubric. A draft spends AI credits and writes up to 40 sentences; Fill writes any left.

The table and its levels

On a screen at least 1,024 pixels wide, the rubric is a table: each criterion is a row and each level a column, lowest first. The levels are one scale for every criterion, starting as Not yet, Developing, Good and Excellent. Change a level's name, score or proficiency in its column's heading, and it changes for every criterion.

Add level, under the table, adds a level just below the highest, at the score halfway between its neighbours. The cross in a heading removes a level. If a criterion has a sentence for it, a dialog asks first, and Remove level takes the sentences too. Renaming a level keeps the work already marked against it.

Each criterion's row

A criterion's first cell holds its title and, on a score rubric, its weight and what it is worth, such as "40 points" out of 100. Weights stay at 100% as criteria come and go; Split weights evenly evens them out. On a rubric approved against skills, the cell says what the criterion verifies, such as "Verifies CORE.COMM". The ⋯ menu moves the criterion, removes it, or gives it its own levels.

Guidance, or Guidance and skills, opens a row under the criterion. What good looks like is optional guidance for the assessor. On a rubric approved against skills, Competencies it verifies lists what the criterion proves: choose each from Choose a competency, searched by code or name and grouped by framework, and set its expected level, Competent to start.

Write what each level shows

Each other cell holds the criterion's sentence for that level, read by assessors while marking and by learners with the brief. An empty cell shows a grey suggestion, such as "Does not yet meet the criterion.", which is never saved. On a score rubric each cell says what the level earns, such as "24 points", and "N cells have no sentence yet." under the table counts the gaps.

With your academy's staff assistant on, Fill N empty cells with and its name drafts a sentence for each empty cell, up to 40 at a time, marked Drafted until you change it. Draft with the assistant says more.

A criterion with its own levels

Give it its own levels turns a criterion's row into a card with its own level names, scores and sentences, and its own Add level. Use the rubric’s levels puts it back on the scale, keeping its sentences in order, and asks first if one would go. A rubric saved with criteria on different levels opens with those that differ from the most common levels on their own.

Preview, and on a phone

Preview, above the table, opens As learners see it: each criterion as the assignment's page shows it, unsaved changes included. On a narrower screen, a Levels card holds the scale, and each criterion is a card listing its levels with their sentences.

What a rubric must satisfy

The checklist under the table ticks each rule as it is met. Until all are, saving says "Fix the items marked in the checklist first. Nothing has been saved."

• On a score rubric: weights total exactly 100%, every criterion carries some weight, scores rise from one level to the next, and there is a maximum score.
• On a rubric approved against skills, every criterion maps to at least one competency and has a level that meets the level it expects.
• Between 1 and 50 criteria, 2 to 10 levels on each, distinct level names within a criterion, and a name for every criterion and level.

When it does not work

• "Nothing can be attested yet — this academy has no active competencies." An owner or administrator creates them on Competencies.
• "A mapped competency is unavailable": it, or its framework, was archived. Choose Remove beside it and choose an active one.
• "You can read this rubric." Your roles cannot change rubrics. Ask an owner, administrator or instructor.
• "… could draft this rubric". The assistant or its Programme authoring task is off. An owner or administrator can turn it on.
• No Draft a rubric. Your role may not use the assistant.
• Draft rubric is unavailable. Write at least 12 characters, and tick a skill.

Rubrics live on the Rubrics page, not inside a programme, so the same rubric can mark assignments across all your programmes. When an assignment uses a rubric, it keeps its own copy. That is why a rubric can be changed or archived without disturbing work already published: as the page puts it, editing a rubric "never changes a programme already published".

Owners, administrators and instructors can change, copy and archive rubrics. Mentors and assessors can read them.

Find a rubric

The Rubrics page lists every rubric with its Scoring, Marked with a score or Approved against skills; Used by, how many programmes use it, or Not used; the number of Criteria; its Max score for a rubric marked with a score; its Status; and when it was Updated. A rubric from Alethris's starter set carries an amber Starter badge until your academy keeps or changes it. Use Find a rubric… to search by name, Status to show Active or Archived rubrics, Scoring to show one kind, and Sort to order them by Recently updated, Name A–Z or Recently created. Choose a rubric's name to open it.

Reuse a rubric

To use a rubric on an assignment, open the assignment in the programme's draft and, under How it is marked, choose it under Rubric. The list offers the active rubrics of the kind the assignment is marked with: marked with a score, or approved against skills. Create a rubric makes a new one there. The assignment takes a copy of the rubric as it is at that moment.

Change a rubric

1. Open Rubrics and choose the rubric.
2. Change its Name, Description, Maximum score or criteria.
3. Choose Save rubric.

The rubric's page says how many assignments use it, as "Used by N assignments", before you change anything. Where it is used opens the list: each programme, then each of its editions, such as "Edition 2, draft" or "Edition 1, live", with the assignments in it. A saved change does not reach those assignments:

• Published editions keep the copy they were published with, so learners are always assessed against the rubric their edition was published with.
• A draft's assignment keeps its copy too, however often the assignment or the draft is saved.

To bring a draft's assignment up to date with its rubric, open the assignment, choose Edit this rubric under Rubric, and choose Save rubric, with or without changes. The assignment takes a fresh copy of the rubric as it now stands and opens again. Choosing a different rubric under Rubric also takes a copy of that rubric as it is.

The scoring can change only while no assignment uses the rubric: otherwise the page says it cannot change while assignments use it. To move from a mark to skills, or back, make a copy and change the copy's scoring, then choose the copy on each assignment.

Copy a rubric

Make a copy, at the foot of a rubric's page, creates a rubric of your own with the same criteria, levels and skills, named "Copy of" and the rubric's name. "Copy made" appears and the copy opens, used by nothing yet, ready to rename and adapt. Copy a rubric to adapt one that other programmes use without changing it for them, or to mark the same work the other way. A copy of a starter rubric is your own, with no Starter badge; the original still waits to be kept, changed or archived.

Archive a rubric

Archive a rubric you no longer want offered for new assignments.

1. Open the rubric and choose Archive….
2. Read "Archive this rubric?". It says the rubric can no longer be attached to assignments, that the assignments already using it keep their copy, and that published programmes are unaffected.
3. Choose Archive rubric, or Keep it to leave it active.

An archived rubric says "This rubric is archived, so it cannot be attached to assignments. Assignments that already use it keep their copy. Restore it to edit it again." and can no longer be edited. To use or change it again, open it and choose Restore rubric.

When it does not work

• "This rubric was archived — choose another." appears under Rubric in the assignment editor when the assignment's rubric has been archived. Choose an active rubric for that assignment under Rubric, or restore the archived one.
• A refusal such as "“title” cannot use the rubric “name”, which has been archived. Choose another rubric." means the assignment was given an archived rubric it did not already hold. Choose an active rubric.
• "The rubric changed; reload and retry" means someone else saved the rubric while you worked. Reload the page and make your change again.
• "You can read this rubric. Owners, Admins and Instructors change rubrics." Your roles cannot change rubrics, so the page offers no changes. Ask an owner, administrator or instructor.

A competency is one skill your academy assesses, such as "Written communication", with a short code that outcomes and rubrics refer to. Competencies are grouped into frameworks. When an assessor approves work marked with a competency rubric, the competencies it verifies appear on the learner's credential and Skills Passport, so this list is what your academy can certify.

Owners and administrators create, edit and archive frameworks and competencies. Instructors, mentors and assessors read them, and instructors map them to outcomes and rubrics.

The framework every academy starts with

Every academy starts with one framework from Alethris's starter set, Core Professional Skills, coded CORE: six general competencies, such as Written communication and Problem solving. A Skills Passport keeps each academy's evidence for these apart. It carries an amber Starter badge, with Keep as it is on its page, until your academy keeps or changes it. Add frameworks for the subjects you teach, by hand or with Draft skills with the assistant, as Set up how your academy assesses explains.

Create a framework

1. Open Competencies, under Delivery, and choose New framework.
2. Enter a Name, such as "Web engineering". The Code, short and permanent, is made from it, WEB_ENGINEERING, until you type your own.
3. Optionally, add a Description of what the framework covers.
4. Choose Create framework.

The framework's page opens. Its name and description save on their own as you change them; its code cannot be changed afterwards.

Add a competency

1. On the framework's page, choose Add competency.
2. Enter a Name in plain words, such as "Keyboard access". The Code is made from the framework's code and the name, such as WEB_ENGINEERING.KEYBOARD_ACCESS, and numbered if the framework already has it. The code cannot change later.
3. Optionally, choose a Category under Categories in this framework, or type a new one, and add a Description of what a learner who has the competency can do.
4. Choose Add competency, or Add and start another to save it and keep the dialog open for the next, with the same category.

A code made from a name keeps its main words, as many as fit in 16 characters, and leaves out small words such as "the" and "of". Type your own code over it if you prefer; codes are saved in capitals.

Why each competency has a code

A competency's code is its permanent reference. Its name, category and description can be reworded, but the code stays, so every outcome, rubric, edition and credential that names it still means the same skill. Anyone checking a learner's credential or public Skills Passport sees the framework and code under Reference on opening a competency.

The competencies table

The framework's Competencies table shows each competency's name, Code, Category and Evidence: how many assessments have verified it, and for how many learners. Once any competency has a category, the rows are grouped under a heading for each category, with No category for the rest. Find a competency… searches names, codes and categories, and Status shows archived competencies.

Choose Edit… on a row to change a competency's name, category or description. Its code stays as it is. If learners already hold evidence for it, the dialog says how many, and what a change reaches: "Credentials already issued keep the wording they were issued with. Editions published before this change go on using the old name; editions published after it use the new one. Skills Passports show the description as it reads now."

The four proficiency levels, Introduced, Developing, Competent and Advanced, are fixed. A level is chosen where a competency is mapped to an outcome or a rubric criterion, not here.

Archive a competency or a framework

Archive a competency your academy no longer assesses: choose Edit… on its row, then Archive… in the dialog. Archive this competency? says that it leaves the list outcomes and rubrics can map to, and that a rubric naming it cannot be saved again until it is replaced. Under Where it is named, it lists each programme and edition, and each rubric, that names it. Choose Archive competency; Restore on its row brings it back. Published editions keep the code and name as they were when they were published.

To archive a whole framework, choose Archive framework… on its page, then Archive framework. An archived framework is read-only until Restore framework, and its competencies leave every list outcomes and rubrics map from, the suggested skills and the assistant's drafts.

When it does not work

• "The code is already in use". Another framework, or another competency in the same framework, already has that code. Choose a different one.
• "Give the framework a short code.", "Give the framework a name.", "Give it a short code." or "Give it a name." A required field is empty. Names need at least two characters.
• "Enter a valid framework code and name" or "Enter a valid framework, competency code, and name". The code does not start with a letter or number, or uses a character other than letters, numbers, full stops, hyphens and underscores.
• No Add competency or Edit… Your role reads competencies without changing them; ask an owner or administrator. On an archived framework, restore it first.

A programme promises skills (competencies) through its outcomes, but a learner earns one only when a required assignment that an assessor approves against skills assesses it. Competency coverage puts the two side by side, so you can see which promises your assignments keep. A promised skill that no assignment proves will never reach a learner's credential or Skills Passport.

Coverage is advice for most programmes: the checklist lists each gap as Worth a look, and publishing does not wait on it. The exception is a programme whose credential certifies Assessed skills, where publishing waits until every promise is kept.

Where coverage appears

Coverage appears while a programme has a draft open, once its outcomes name at least one skill. Anyone who can open the programme can read it:

• On the programme's page, the draft card says, for example, "Skills: 4 promised by the outcomes, 3 assessed by an assignment.", with See the outcomes.
• On the draft's Curriculum, a line appears only while a promised skill goes unassessed, such as "2 of 4 promised skills are not assessed by any assignment yet.", with Review assignments.
• On the draft's Assignments, a line reads "Every skill the outcomes promise is proved by an assignment.", or names the skills nothing proves yet: "Only work approved against skills proves a skill."
• In the checklist above the draft, under Worth a look, while the credential does not certify assessed skills: "No assignment uses a competency rubric, so credentials and Skills Passports will carry none of the skills the outcomes name.", or a line for each skill no competency rubric assesses, and for each skill a rubric assesses that no outcome names. Three or more of a kind fold into one line, such as "3 promised skills are not assessed by any assignment yet." or "3 assessed or linked skills are not named by any outcome yet.", with Show them.

Which assignments prove a skill

A skill counts as assessed when an assignment that is required, is Approved against skills under How is it marked?, and uses a rubric approved against skills has a criterion naming that skill. An assignment Marked with a score proves no skill, whatever its title says; its rubric names none. An optional assignment does not count, because a learner can finish without it.

Close a gap

When a promised skill is not proved:

• add a criterion naming the skill to the rubric of a required assignment approved against skills;
• or add a required assignment approved against a rubric that assesses it, using Create a rubric on the assignment, or the academy's Rubrics;
• or, if the outcome should not promise that skill, remove the skill from the outcome on Outcomes.

Skills an assignment proves but no outcome promises are listed as worth a look, so you can name them on an outcome, but they are not a problem: they still reach learners' records when the work is approved.

When the credential certifies assessed skills

With Assessed skills chosen under Credential on Details, the Curriculum line says "Publishing waits until every promised skill is assessed by a required assignment, because the credential certifies assessed skills." The checklist above the draft then lists what is missing, each item a link:

• "A credential for assessed skills needs at least one required assignment that is approved against skills."
• A named skill, such as "“Written communication” (COMM.1) is named by outcome “Write a client report”, but no required assignment approved against skills proves it."
• "A credential for assessed skills needs every required assignment handed in. Set Assignments to hand in to Every required assignment."

The outcomes page then marks each outcome's skills Required, and each outcome must name one. With Completion only or no credential, none of this stops publishing: such a credential makes no claim about skills.

With Assessed skills, those lines leave Worth a look: the steps above say the same, and publishing waits on them.

Archived skills

A skill archived after it was named, or whose framework was archived, keeps the draft working, but publishing refuses it, naming the outcome or the assignment, such as "Outcome “title” names …, a skill that has been archived." or "…, a skill whose framework “name” has been archived." Replace it with an active skill: on Outcomes, choose Replace it beside No longer offered.