Teacher-graded exercises¶

Overview¶

The access.types.stdsync.noSubmission exercise type is designed for assignments where:

• Students cannot submit answers directly through the A+ user interface or API

• Teachers grade submissions exclusively through the Batch assess button on the Participants page (easiest) or manually via Edit course → Batch assess or the A+ API

• The exercise displays instructions and information to students

• Max points are defined for grading purposes

This is useful, for example, for tracking class attendance or other work that is collected outside the A+ system (e.g., by email or through a different platform) and later graded by instructors through the A+ API.

Configuration¶

Creating a teacher-graded exercise requires only a few essential settings in your exercise configuration file:

---
title: Class Attendance
description: Class attendance tracking exercise
max_points: 50
view_type: access.types.stdsync.noSubmission

instructions: |
  <h2>Class Attendance</h2>
  <p>
    This exercise is graded by the course staff only. You cannot submit an answer
    through this interface.
  </p>
  <p>
    Class attendance will be tracked through a separate system.
  </p>

The required fields are:

• title: The exercise title shown to students

• max_points: The maximum points for this exercise

• view_type: Must be set to access.types.stdsync.noSubmission

Optional fields:

• description: A short description of the exercise

• instructions: HTML instructions for students explaining how to submit (since they cannot submit through A+, you should explain the alternative submission method if there is one)

• template: Custom template name (defaults to access/no_submission_default.html)

The RST configuration for a noSubmission exercise looks like this:

.. submit:: exercise_key 50
  :config: path/to/config.yaml
  :quiz:

The exercise_key is a unique identifier for the exercise, and 50 is the max points. The config path points to the YAML file containing the exercise configuration as shown above and the :quiz: option makes it so that A+ shows the staff feedback for the exercise after grading, instead of the exercise title, description and instructions. The :quiz: option can be omitted if you want to always show the exercise details (in that case the staff feedback will only be visible when viewing a specific submission).

How it works¶

1. Student view: When a student visits the exercise page they will see:

   • An alert message stating the exercise is graded by course staff only

   • The exercise instructions (from the instructions field)

   • No submission form or input fields

2. Teacher grading: Teachers grade submissions via the Batch assess button on the Participants page (easiest) or manually via Edit course → Batch assess or the A+ API:

   curl -X POST https://plus.cs.aalto.fi/api/v2/exercises/<exercise_id>/submissions/ \
     -H "Authorization: Token YOUR_API_TOKEN" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{
       "students": [
         {"id": 123}
       ],
       "points": 45,
       "feedback": "Excellent essay with good citations and critical analysis."
     }'
   

   See A+ REST API for more details.

Example¶

Here is a functional example of a teacher-graded exercise:

This creates a 50-point exercise that students can view but cannot submit through the A+ user interface or API.

---
title: Teacher-graded essay exercise
description: An essay exercise where students cannot submit but teachers grade via the API
max_points: 50

view_type: access.types.stdsync.noSubmission

instructions: |
  <h2>Essay Assignment</h2>
  <p>
    This is a teacher-graded exercise. You cannot submit your answer directly through
    this interface. Your essay will be collected and graded by the course staff.
  </p>
  <p>
    Please follow these instructions:
  </p>
  <ul>
    <li>Write a 2-3 page essay on the given topic</li>
    <li>Use proper academic formatting and citations</li>
    <li>Submit your essay through email to the course staff</li>
  </ul>