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Sections Management

Learn how to manage your course roster, assignments, and grading with sections in Gradescope.

In this guide:

Before you begin

Before you can manage your assignment settings based on sections, students must be assigned to a section in your Gradescope course roster.

Creating an assignment with sections 

Creating an assignment with sections

Creating assignments with sections are only available with an Institutional license.

Section-specific assignment settings are only available for student-uploaded assignments. Once you have assigned students to a section on your Gradescope course roster, you can create a new assignment with sections. 

  1. Access a course that has students assigned to sections in the roster.
  2. Select Assignments from the left navigation menu. 
  3. Select the Create Assignment button from the bottom of the page. 
  4. Choose your assignment type and then select the Next button at the bottom of the page. 
  5. Fill in the setting appropriate for your assignment and:
    1. Ensure that it is a student-uploaded assignment (if you require specific dates for sections.)
    2. You will be able to edit individual section’s assignment dates on the next page, so we recommend setting the most commonly required dates on this page first.
  6. Select Next at the bottom of the page.If you don’t want to make any changes, or want to make changes later via the Assignment Settings page, select Create Assignment.
  7. If you want to make any changes to the assignment settings, either for individual sections or in bulk, you can:
    1. To customize dates and student visibility for multiple sections at once - select all of the applicable section’s checkboxes and then select the Customize Dates & Student Visibility button. 
    2. To customize dates and student visibility for an individual section - locate the section from the list and select Edit.
    3. Edit any of the assignment date settings that are applicable to your selected sections.
    4. You can remove any accidentally selected sections by selecting the X, or add any forgotten ones by typing their name in the Selected Section(s) area.

    5. Select Apply.
  8. Once you have made any required edits to your sections’ assignment settings, select Create Assignment.
  9. Your assignment will now be listed on the Assignments page. To the assignment name to reveal the individual sections and their dates, select the caret arrow next.  
Editing section assignment settings

Editing section assignment settings

Section-specific assignment settings are only available with an Institutional license.

To edit section-specific assignment settings:

  1. Access a course that has students assigned to sections in the roster.
  2. Select Assignments from the left navigation menu. 
  3. Select the three vertical dots at the end of the row of assignment details. 
  4. Select Assignment Settings
  5. Select the Section Management tab.
  6. Make any required edits. 
  7. It is possible to turn student visibility back on. 
  8. If sections have already been modified with specific dates, they can be edited again if required. 

Can’t remember how to edit your section settings? Refer back to our Creating an assignment with sections section above.

Managing a Roster with Sections

Adding sections to the roster

You can add sections to your course roster by either:

Adding sections by syncing your existing sections from an LMS

Using an LMS and want to edit your roster in Gradescope? You can edit your roster within Gradescope and it will not affect your LMS as long as the student email addresses remain the same.

  1. Access your course in Gradescope. 
  2. Select Roster from the left navigation menu.
  3. Select the Sync **** Roster button at the bottom of the page. The button will be customized to reflect whatever you call your LMS internally; we have used Moodle for the example below.
  4. Depending on your LMS, you may be asked to check a box to sync sections. If there is no separate sections option, they will either sync automatically or the feature is not set up for your integration. 
  5. Select Sync Roster
  6. Students should now be assigned to a section within the Gradescope roster. If not, you can assign sections manually. 

Adding sections sections manually or to edit existing sections

Using an LMS and want to edit your roster in Gradescope? You can edit your roster within Gradescope and it will not affect your LMS as long as the student email addresses remain the same. 

  1. Access your course in Gradescope. 
  2. Select Roster from the left navigation menu.
  3. Select the Download Roster button from the bottom of the page. It may be located within the More option.

    Don’t have a roster yet? Learn how to prep your roster from the beginning

  4. Edit the CSV file by adding a column named Section and fill in each student’s row with their applicable section.
  5. Upload your CSV file by selecting Add Students or Staff +, and then select CSV file.
  6. You will be provided with a preview of how Gradescope has read your CSV file. Review the content and confirm when you are ready. 
  7. Your roster should now include a completed Sections column.

Have a student without a section? They will still receive the assignment with the dates that were set at the beginning of the assignment creation process. This date can be seen and edited within the Assignment Settings, under the Basic Settings option. Your students can also be added to a section at any time. 

 

Editing a student's section 

To view or edit which section a student is assigned to:

  1. Access the roster for the applicable course. 
  2. Locate the Edit column and select the pencil icon. The Edit Course Member modal appears.
  3. To edit the student's section you have the following options:
    • Select a different section for the student from the Section(s) menu.
    • Create a new section by typing its name directly into the Section(s) menu. This newly created section will now appear as a menu option and can also be used for the other students in the roster. 
    • Remove the student from a section by selecting the X in the section name.
  4. Select Save

Have a student changing their section mid-term? If a student’s section changes mid-term, they will be shown their new section’s assignment dates and visibility settings in their course as soon as the changes are saved. 

Assigning a student to multiple sections

 

When a student is in multiple sections on a roster (for example, in a Lab and Lecture section) and this information isn’t automatically synced from the LMS, you can manually add the sections to each student. You can do this at any time, even in the middle of a course or after students have been submitting to assignments.

    1. Access your course.
    2. Go to the Roster page, and select Download Roster from the bottom action bar.
    3. To add a section column, open the downloaded roster file and make the following edits:
      1. Add another Section column and Title the column Section 2
      2. Then go down the list of students and add the section (name or number) for each student.
    4. To add more than two sections for a student, add an additional column for each section and title it sequentially, such as Section 3 and Section 4.

       

      Changing any student email addresses on the CSV will override any existing LMS links, grades, or submissions for each student when you import it to Gradescope.

    5. Save and Export it as a CSV file.

    6. To upload your edited CSV file on the Roster page, select Add Students or Staff+ and then select CSV File.
    7. To locate the CSV file on your device, select Select CSV. Select Next.
    8. Make sure there is a Section 2 column for the newly added section and that Student is selected for Role.

       

    9. Select Import.
    10. On the Course Roster page, you should see a student’s additional section display as an +x more link. 

      Want the new section to have different assignment dates? You can edit them on the Settings page of the assignment, otherwise the section assumes the assignment’s default dates.

    11. You can customize the assignment's release or due date for a section on the Section Management tab in the assignment settings.

      What happens to due dates when students are assigned to multiple sections? By default, students who are enrolled in two or more sections will receive the most permissive time window of all their sections for assignment dates. 

      For example, let's say Katie is in Lecture A (titled section 1), Lab B (titled section 2). Her Homework 1 assignment for Lecture A has a release date of Nov 1 with a due date of Nov 3rd, but Lab B has a custom time window of release Nov 1st with a due date of Nov 2nd. Because Katie is in Lab B as well as Lecture A (2 sections in Gradescope), her Homework 1 will be due in the largest time window of Nov 1- Nov 3, because it is the most permissive time frame of the two sections. 

Viewing the roster by section

You can filter and order your student list by section on the Course Roster page. This gives you the option to view student information, such as names, emails, and submissions, by section.

To order the course roster by section:

      1. Access your course in Gradescope.
      2. Select Roster from the left navigation menu.
      3. View your roster by sections in two ways:
        1. To filter by a selected section, select Sections from the View by menu, and, from the second menu to the right, select one or more relevant sections.
        2. To do a quick sort of all sections, select the Section column arrows. You should now see your student list ordered by section name.

          Use the Section column to sort student lists on other pages inside your assignments like the Manage Submissions, Review Grades, and Regrade Requests pages.

Viewing Sections

Viewing Sections

You can manage your course sections on the Course Roster page. When managing sections, you have the option to view your roster by sections, view the student data for each section, or delete a section with the Manage Sections button in the bottom action bar. 

 

Viewing section data

You can view data for each section in your roster, such as the number of students, a full student list, and the number of submissions (for each student).

      1. Access your course in Gradescope.
      2. Select Roster from the left navigation menu.
      3. Select Manage Sections at the bottom of the page. You will see the Sections page with a list of all the sections, the number of students in a section, and an option to view a student list for each section.
      4. To view the student list for a section, select View Student List in the relevant section row. A Students in **** modal opens that lists students by their name, email, and number of submissions. You can only edit this student list from the Roster page.

Deleting a section

Deleting a section

Once you've added students to a section, the section can't be deleted. However, if you have a section that doesn’t contain any students, you can delete it from your course.

  1. Access your course in Gradescope.
  2. Select Roster from the left navigation menu.
  3. Select Manage Sections at the bottom of the page. This opens the Sections page.
  4. To delete a section, locate the relevant section row, and select the X.
  5. In the delete confirmation modal, select Delete.
  6. Once deleted, the section's associated assignment settings and dates are also deleted.
Grading

Grading

Filtering grading by section is available with an Institutional license.

The grade by course section option gives instructors and TAs another way to view, filter, and grade submissions for a given question. When using this option, you are grading submissions of a specified section rather than grading all submissions in the entire assignment. 

Some assignment types can't be graded by section:

  • Bubble sheet assignments cannot be graded by section, because this assignment type uses automated grading.
  • Templated Assignments (Exam/Quiz and Homework/Problem Set types) can’t be graded using AI-assisted grading/manual answer grouping and grading by course section at the same time. To grade a question for this assignment type, you’ll have to choose between two grading scenarios: use answer grouping and grade all submissions or use grade by course section and grade the submissions in each section individually.

By default, grading by course section is enabled for all assignments in the Course Settings. You can disable it at any time by deselecting Enable grading by course section checkbox. If disabled in Course Settings, this will only apply to new assignments and any existing assignments in the course will still have it enabled.

A screen capture of the Grading Defaults section on the Course Settings page. There is the Grade by Section option and the Enable grading by section check box is selected.

If you want to enable it or disable it for an individual assignment, do so in the assignment’s settings. Make sure to Save your changes.

A screen capture of Grading Defaults section on the assignment Setting's page. The Enable grading by course section checkbox is selected.

 

Grading by section

Grading by course section is not available if you’ve turned on anonymous grading for the assignment.

        1. Access your course.
        2. Open the relevant assignment.
        3. To view the grading dashboard, go to Grade Submissions.
        4. To grade a question's submissions for a specific section, select either the Grade by Course Section link or button.

          A screen capture of the Grading Dashboard with red boxes highlighting the grade by course section link and button.

        5. Select a question and one or more sections to grade in the Grade by Course Section modal. 

          You can only choose from sections that contain student submissions.

          A screen capture of the Grade by Course Section modal where there is a drop-down to select a question and another drop-down to select one or more sections to grade. There are Cancel and Start Grading buttons.

        6. Select Start Grading.

Want to grade all assignment submissions for the question instead? You can stop grading at any time and go back to the Grade Submissions page and select the question.

Managing submissions while grading by section

Once you’re in the grading workflow, you can choose your preferred grading order (if you're grading multiple sections) as well as view where you are in your grading progress.

If you want to switch between sections for viewing or grading, use the Section drop-down in the top-right corner of the page. When you are grading multiple sections they will be ordered alphabetically, so this can be helpful to set your own grading order.

When all of a section’s submissions for a question have been fully graded, the section will have a check mark next to it.

A screen capture of the Section drop-down at the top of the grading workflow page. The drop-down is opened and displays two sections to choose from: Section B and Section C. Both sections have a checkmark to the left of their names.

View your grading progress within the current section with the submission counter at the bottom of the page.

A screen capture of the submission counter in the bottom action bar. It displays the current number and total number of the submission being graded as well as the section the submission is in and that's being currently graded.

Statistics

Filtering statistics by section is available with an Institutional license.

The statistics page allows instructors to gain insights into student performance for the assignment. The statistics page can be filtered to view the data for selected sections of students. Learn more about general assignment statistics. 

To filter statistics by section:

  1. Select the assignment.
  2. Select Statistics from the left navigation menu. 
  3. Beneath the heading Filter Statistics by Section, type the name of individual or multiple sections to view their statistics. 

Section FAQs

Section FAQs

What happens if a student is assigned to multiple sections within the same course? 

If a student is assigned to multiple sections, they will only be shown the assignment once. If their sections are customized with different dates, they will be shown the assignment version that has the earliest release date or latest due date. 

What happens if a student is assigned to multiple sections within the same course and I hide an assignment from one of their sections?

When a student is assigned to one or more sections and one section has the assignment visibility turned off, the student will be able to still view and submit to the assignment. As long as there is one section the student is enrolled in that has assignment visibility enabled, students will be able to submit to it.

How do group submissions work when using sections?

Students can only submit when their section assignment date allows, but they can add group members from any section after submitting. 

Will students see which section they are assigned to in Gradescope?

Students will not be shown which section they are assigned to. They will only see their assignment with the dates that were set for their section. 

What happens to my sections if I duplicate an assignment? 

Duplicating an assignment will not carry over any edits to sections. It will continue to duplicate all of the main assignment settings.

How do section settings work together with assignment extensions?

Sections still allow students to receive extensions on their assignments. On the Extensions page, you will see all of the section’s settings listed, such as the release date, due date, time limit, and visibility, to make it easier to give a student an appropriate extension based on their section.

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