Assignment management for Slightly Techie School

Bringing assignments, group submissions, tutor feedback, and resubmissions into one learning workflow.

Role
Product designer
Year
2024
The assignment home brings upcoming work and submission actions into one place.
Slightly Techie School assignment dashboard showing upcoming coursework, due dates, assignment types, and submission actions.
The assignment home brings upcoming work and submission actions into one place.

from chat threads to one place

The assignment management system was part of a larger learning management platform for Slightly Techie School. Students had been receiving and submitting work through WhatsApp and Discord. The project brought assignments, submissions, scores, and tutor feedback into a dedicated place.

The problem

The team identified four recurring needs: students needed a clearer view of upcoming assignments and projects, a reliable way to submit group work, one place to find assignment details, and a record of facilitator feedback.

The assignment home was designed as that central hub. Students could scan what was coming up, see the type and due date of each task, and choose the next action without searching through messages.

Submission formats

Assignments called for different kinds of evidence. Some needed a document upload; others needed a URL, such as a link to a GitHub repository. The submission flow supports both formats in the same assignment context.

Document submission keeps the assignment brief, due date, uploaded file, and submit action together.
Assignment submission screen with a file upload area and a selected document.
Document submission keeps the assignment brief, due date, uploaded file, and submit action together.
The URL option accommodates work hosted outside the LMS, including code repositories.
Assignment submission screen with a field for a project URL.
The URL option accommodates work hosted outside the LMS, including code repositories.

Group work

Group assignments use one submission for the whole team. Students can search for classmates by name or email, select the group members, and submit once. The completed submission appears in each member’s portal so everyone can follow grading and tutor updates.

An early design explored how students could find and add group members.
Early group assignment submission design showing member selection.
An early design explored how students could find and add group members.
Selected members are associated with a single submission.
Early group assignment submission design showing selected group members.
Selected members are associated with a single submission.

The flow also gives students a limited window to undo a submission. That allows corrections while preventing repeated submissions from making records unreliable.

A time-limited undo action gives students room to correct a mistake.
Assignment screen showing the option to undo a recent submission.
A time-limited undo action gives students room to correct a mistake.

Testing and iteration

Stakeholder reviews and feedback sessions led to three changes: support image uploads alongside files, let students see only their own group members during group submissions, and give tutors a way to request corrections and resubmission.

Before: the initial group submission screen.
Original group submission design before feedback.
Before: the initial group submission screen.
After: the revised screen makes the student's group members visible in the submission context.
Revised group submission design with a visible list of the student's group members.
After: the revised screen makes the student's group members visible in the submission context.

Tutor feedback now stays with the assignment. When corrections are needed, students can review the tutor’s remarks, update their work, and resubmit from the same flow.

Tutor remarks explain why an assignment needs another pass.
Assignment detail screen showing a tutor's remark and a resubmit action.
Tutor remarks explain why an assignment needs another pass.
Students can act on the feedback without losing the original assignment context.
Assignment resubmission screen showing the next step after tutor feedback.
Students can act on the feedback without losing the original assignment context.
Submission history keeps earlier attempts available after a student resubmits.
Assignment detail screen with a link to view submission history after multiple resubmissions.
Submission history keeps earlier attempts available after a student resubmits.

Outcome

The resulting design gives students one place to track assignments, submit individual or group work, and follow tutor feedback. It reduces the need to piece together assignment details from chat threads. The system was designed to keep evolving as students use it.

Read the original case study on Medium.