Assignments
Assignments leverage Silico's web-based coding environment to make it quick and easy to get students writing code, and for teachers and assistants to evaluate each student's assignment.
Assignments are made of questions. Each question is a code-based task with starter code.
Students
Students start an assignment with a link, which clones a version of the assignment just for them. They then use the Silico coding environment to complete the assignment.
Changes to assignments are locked when the assignment is due, although the due date can be extended at any time by the instructor.
A tutorial for building assignments
A new assignment can be ready to go in less than a minute. Here are the steps to get your started:
- Create a new assignment
- Required: A question and due date
- Optional: Additional questions
- Optional: Question template code
- Post assignment for students
- Students start with a link!
Instructors: Creating an assignment
Get started by creating a new assignment on your user page. Here you can find a list of you assignments, both the ones you've created and those you're taking!
Required: Add a due date and question
Each assignment has a cover page. This is the page where you'll update and manage the assignment.
To post an assignment, it must have only two things:
- A due date - this is when the assignment will automatically close and;
- At least one question
Once done, the assignment can be posted. Posting an assignment generates a link you can send to students to start the assignment.
Realistically, you'll probably want to add an introduction and question instructions as well, so students know what it's all about!
Optional: Add more questions
Most assignments will have more than one question, although this is by no means required.
Add as many questions as you need for the assignment. Each question is totally independent of the others.
Questions can also be added later in the question code editor.
Optional: Question starter code
Starter code is what students see for each question when they start the assignment.
You can add as much or as little code as required to get students started.
Any history you create while writing starter code is not available to students in their own copy of the assignment. They can't see what you started with if you start with a complete solution and take parts out!
Posting the assignment
The final step is to make the assignment available to students.
Posting will create a link that students can use to start the assignment. This link can be sent directly to students, or they can find it on the assignment cover page.
Students: Starting assignments with a link
Students can use the generated link to start the assignment.
Starting the assignment will clone the assignment into a totally independent copy for each student.
Next steps
Up next: Managing and evaluating a posted assignment.