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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.pawtograder.com/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

Welcome to Pawtograder - Course Staff Guide

This guide will help you set up and manage Pawtograder for your course. Learn how to create assignments, manage submissions, and provide effective feedback to your students. Pawtograder has these key features for course staff:
  • Instructor Dashboard: Overview of assignment metrics, grading progress, and student engagement
  • Assignments: Distributing and grading programming assignments, with complex rubrics and bulk grading assignments
  • Discussion Board: For students and staff to discuss course content and ask questions
  • Office Hours: For realtime Q&A by text or video
  • Polls: Quick in-class polling for comprehension checks and engagement
  • Surveys: Detailed feedback collection with customizable questions
  • Gradebook: For tracking student performance and managing grades with configurable time zones
  • Surveys: Detailed feedback collection with customizable questions and configurable time zones
  • Gradebook: For tracking student performance and managing grades
  • Emailer: For sending emails to students

Course Configuration

Time Zone Settings

Pawtograder supports configurable time zones for your course. Instructors can set the course time zone in the course settings, which affects how due dates and deadlines are displayed throughout the platform. The default time zone is America/New_York (Eastern Time). All dates and times in the system (assignment due dates, survey deadlines, office hours, etc.) are displayed in your configured course time zone. This ensures consistency for courses taught across different geographic locations or time zones.

Time Zone Configuration

Pawtograder supports configurable time zones for your course. Instructors can set the course time zone in the course settings, which affects how due dates and timestamps are displayed throughout the platform. The default time zone is America/New_York, but you can change this to match your course’s location or preferred time zone.

Course Settings

Time Zone Configuration

Pawtograder supports configurable time zones for your course. You can set your preferred time zone in the course settings, which will be used for displaying all dates and times throughout the platform, including:
  • Assignment due dates
  • Survey deadlines
  • Poll schedules
  • Office hours
  • Gradebook timestamps
The default time zone is America/New_York (Eastern Time), but you can change this to match your course’s location or preference.

Instructor Dashboard

The instructor dashboard provides a comprehensive overview of your course:
  • Assignment metrics: Track submission rates, grading progress, and completion status
  • Grading progress: See incomplete reviews and assignments needing attention
  • Regrade requests: Monitor open and resolved regrade requests
  • Student engagement: View response rates and participation across assignments
The dashboard organizes assignments into three sections:
  • Upcoming: Assignments with future due dates
  • Past due: Assignments with due dates that have passed
  • Undated: Assignments without specified due dates
Click on any metric to navigate directly to the relevant assignment page or grading interface. The instructor dashboard provides a comprehensive overview of your course activity and metrics: Assignment Overview
  • View all assignments with submission counts and grading progress
  • See upcoming due dates and late submissions at a glance
  • Track autograder pass rates and common issues
  • Monitor grading completion across all assignments
Course Metrics
  • Student engagement statistics
  • Submission trends over time
  • Grading workload distribution among staff
  • Office hours utilization
The dashboard has been revamped to provide clearer insights and better organization of course data, making it easier to identify areas that need attention and track overall course health.

Assignments

Create, distribute, and grade programming assignments with autograders and rubrics.

AI Assistance

Use AI tools to help diagnose student errors and draft responses for office hours.

Polls

Conduct live in-class polling to check understanding and engage students.

Surveys

Collect detailed feedback with customizable survey forms.

Gradebook

Track grades with powerful expression-based calculations.