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Grading Assignments with Sections

Filtering grading by section is available with an Institutional license.

In this guide:

Grading by Course Section

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.

Enabling or Disabling Grading by Section

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.

 

Switching sections while grading 

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:

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



 

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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