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Completing an Assignment

Once an assignment has been released by your instructor, you will be able to see it in the “Assignments” tab. You will see a link to your GitHub repository for the assignment at the top. This repository is private, and only you and the course staff can see it. Your instructor may have provided you with some starter code in that repository. Use this repository to complete the assignment.

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Viewing Submission Results

You will see a list of all the submissions you have made for the assignment. The flag icon indicates your active submission, which is the one that will eventually be graded. The Total Score column shows:

• Pending: Before grading is complete or released
• Actual score: Once your instructor has graded and released your results (e.g., “85/100”)

This ensures you can see your final grade as soon as it’s available, rather than waiting to check the gradebook separately. You will see a list of all the submissions you have made for the assignment. The flag icon indicates your active submission, which is the one that will eventually be graded. When your assignment has been graded and the results are released, the “Total Score” will display your final grade. Until then, it will show “Pending” or may display a partial score based on autograder results. You will see a list of all the submissions you have made for the assignment. The flag icon indicates your active submission, which is the one that will eventually be graded. The “Total Score” will show “Pending” until your submission has been graded and the results have been released by course staff. Once graded and released, you’ll see your total score displayed on the assignments dashboard. You will see a list of all the submissions you have made for the assignment. The flag icon indicates your active submission, which is the one that will eventually be graded. The “Total Score” will show your grade once the course staff has graded the assignment and released the complete results. Every time that you push changes to your repository, Pawtograder will automatically run your autograder. The submission page may show a preview of the grading rubric (if enabled by your instructor), and will show a summary of the autograder results.

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Assignment Leaderboard

If your instructor has enabled the leaderboard feature for an assignment, you can view your ranking compared to other students. The leaderboard displays scores and rankings based on autograder results, encouraging friendly competition and helping you gauge your progress. Instructors can choose to make leaderboards optional and less prominent to reduce pressure while still providing performance insights.

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Viewing Submission Files

The “Files” tab shows the files that your instructor configured for the submission. Pawtograder supports:

• Text files: Displayed with syntax highlighting and line-by-line commenting
• Markdown files: Rendered with rich preview including diagrams, images, and tables
• Binary files: Images display inline, PDFs show in a preview pane, and other files provide download links

The “Files” tab shows the files that your instructor configured for the submission. Pawtograder supports viewing various file types:

• Text and code files: Displayed with syntax highlighting
• Markdown files: Rendered with formatting preview
• Binary files: Supported for submission (e.g., images, PDFs, compiled files)

The “Files” tab shows the files that your instructor configured for the submission. Binary files (such as images, PDFs, and compiled files) are supported and can be downloaded. Markdown files (.md) are rendered with syntax highlighting for easy reading. The “Files” tab shows the files that your instructor configured for the submission. You can view plaintext and markdown files directly in the browser, and download other file types. The file viewer uses efficient signed URLs for previewing images and binary files, ensuring smooth performance even when viewing multiple large files. These pages also have a link to the specific GitHub commit that was used to create the submission, and a link to download that complete repository as a zip file. Pawtograder supports viewing various file types in your submissions:

• Code files - Syntax-highlighted source code with line-by-line commenting
• Markdown files - Rich preview with diagrams, images, tables, and internal links
• Binary files - Inline previews for images and PDFs, with download links for other file types

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File Previews

Pawtograder provides rich previews for different file types:

• Code files: Syntax-highlighted source code with line numbers
• Markdown files: Rendered preview with support for:
  • Mermaid diagrams
  • Images (including relative paths to other submission files)
  • Tables and task lists
  • Internal links to other files in your submission
  • Toggle between preview and source view
• Binary files:
  • Image previews (PNG, JPG, GIF, etc.)
  • PDF viewer
  • Download links for other binary files

You can submit binary files up to 15 MB per file, including images, PDFs, and other document types.

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Supported File Types

Pawtograder supports viewing various file types in your submission: Text and Code Files

• Source code files (.java, .py, .js, .cpp, etc.)
• Configuration files (.json, .yaml, .xml, etc.)
• Plain text files (.txt)

Markdown Files

• Markdown files (.md) are rendered with formatting
• View README files and documentation with proper styling
• Links, headers, lists, and code blocks display correctly

Binary Files

• Binary files (images, PDFs, compiled files) are supported
• Download binary files to view them locally
• File size and type information is displayed

Pawtograder supports viewing various file types in your submissions:

• Source code files: Displayed with syntax highlighting (Java, Python, JavaScript, etc.)
• Markdown files: Rendered with full formatting for README files and documentation
• Plaintext files: Displayed as-is for configuration files, logs, and other text content
• Binary files: Available for download (images, PDFs, compiled files, etc.)

Binary files such as images, PDFs, and compiled executables are supported in submissions. While these files cannot be previewed directly in the browser, they are stored with your submission and can be downloaded by you and course staff for review.

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Viewing Different File Types

Pawtograder supports viewing various file types in your submission:

• Code files: Syntax-highlighted display of source code
• Markdown files: Rendered preview of markdown content with formatting
• Plain text files: Direct text display for .txt and other text formats
• Binary files: Download option for images, PDFs, and other binary formats

Markdown and plain text files are automatically rendered for easy reading, while binary files can be downloaded for viewing in appropriate applications. Pawtograder can render various file types for easy viewing:

• Code files: Syntax-highlighted display
• Markdown files: Rendered with formatting
• Plaintext files: Direct text display
• Binary files: Available for download

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File Preview

Pawtograder supports previewing various file types in your submission:

• Code files: Syntax-highlighted display of source code
• Markdown files: Rendered markdown preview with formatting
• Binary files: Supported for submission (images, PDFs, etc.)

The file viewer supports:

• Binary files: Images, PDFs, and other binary files are now supported in submissions
• Markdown preview: Markdown files (.md) are rendered with formatting for easier reading
• Code syntax highlighting: Source code files display with appropriate syntax highlighting

If your instructor has configured artifacts for the assignment, you’ll see an “Artifacts” tab where you can view generated outputs like HTML sites, plaintext reports, or markdown documentation. These pages also have a link to the specific GitHub commit that was used to create the submission, and a link to download that complete repository as a zip file.

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File Previews

Pawtograder provides rich previews for different file types in your submissions:

• Markdown files (.md, .markdown): Rendered with full formatting including diagrams, images, tables, and syntax-highlighted code blocks. You can toggle between preview and source view.
• Images (.png, .jpg, .gif, etc.): Displayed inline with full resolution
• PDFs: Previewed directly in the browser
• Code files: Syntax-highlighted with line numbers

Binary files (images, PDFs, etc.) are stored securely and loaded on-demand when you view them.

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Assignment Leaderboard

Some assignments may include an optional leaderboard that displays student rankings based on performance metrics. The leaderboard:

• Shows your ranking compared to other students in the course
• Updates automatically as new submissions are graded
• Can be configured by your instructor to be visible or hidden
• Provides friendly competition and motivation

Some assignments may include an optional leaderboard that displays top-performing students. The leaderboard:

• Shows rankings based on assignment scores
• Updates automatically as submissions are graded
• Can be configured by instructors to be visible or hidden
• Encourages friendly competition and engagement

The leaderboard is designed to be less cluttering and only appears when enabled by course staff for specific assignments. If your instructor has enabled the leaderboard for an assignment, you’ll see it on the assignment page showing your current ranking and the top performers in the class.

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Error Pins

When your submission encounters an error during autograding, Pawtograder may display “Error Pins” - suggested discussion board posts that are relevant to your specific error. This feature helps you:

• Find solutions faster: See if other students encountered the same error and found solutions
• Access instructor guidance: View posts where instructors explained how to fix common errors
• Reduce wait times: Get help without needing to join the office hours queue
• Learn from peers: Understand different approaches to solving the same problem

Error pins appear automatically when the system detects that your error matches discussion posts that instructors have pinned or marked as relevant. Click on any suggested post to read the full discussion and potential solutions.

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Viewing artifacts

Some assignments may include artifacts - generated outputs from your code such as reports, visualizations, or analysis results. If your submission includes artifacts, you’ll see them listed in the Files tab. Pawtograder supports previewing several artifact formats:

• Plaintext files: Displayed with proper formatting
• Markdown files: Rendered with formatting and syntax highlighting
• HTML sites: Interactive preview of generated websites (from ZIP archives)

When grading your submission, instructors can reference specific artifacts in rubric checks. These artifact references will appear as clickable links in the rubric sidebar, making it easy to navigate to the relevant output.