Tasks and homework

The tasks page sorts itself into what needs you, what has not gone out yet, what is waiting on students, and what is done — each with a count, and each drawn only when it has something in it. Finished work is summarised until you ask for it, so the two piles you can act on stay at the top. Files, Automation and the archive are linked from the page heading.

Open Tasks and choose New task. A task needs a title and at least one recipient; everything else has a sensible default. You can attach up to three files of 10 MB each to the instructions.

1. 01Go to Tasks and select New task.
2. 02Give it a title, and instructions if the title is not self-explanatory.
3. 03Attach any files the student needs — a worksheet, a reading, a recording.
4. 04Set a due date if the work is time-bound. Overdue tasks are flagged for both of you.
5. 05Choose what a response must contain, then pick the students it goes to.
6. 06Publish it, or save it as a draft to finish later.

A task can accept a file upload, a written answer, or both — and each can be optional or required. A student cannot submit until the required parts are filled in, which saves you chasing half-finished work. Allow resubmission if you want them to be able to send a corrected version after you have looked at it. Submissions accept up to ten files totalling 30 MB.

Not every answer arrives through the portal. A student photographs their solutions and sends them by message, emails a scan, or hands you paper at the end of a lesson. Rather than making them upload it again, record it yourself: the files are filed as their submission — same versioning, same review — marked as recorded by you, with an optional note saying how the work arrived. The student is emailed, so nothing ever stands in their name without them knowing. A recorded response is not held to the task's own requirements. A task that asks for written remarks still accepts the pack of images you were actually handed.

1. 01Open the task and find the student under Recipients.
2. 02Select Record response.
3. 03Attach the files you were given, add any remarks, and note how the work arrived.
4. 04Select Save, then review it as you would any other submission.

The task page lists every recipient with their status, so you can see at a glance who has answered. A feedback box appears once there is something to review, and you can send files back alongside it — a marked-up sheet, a worked solution, a scan of the board. Those files go to that one student and nobody else on the task sees them.

1. 01Open the task and find the student under Recipients.
2. 02Read their written answer and open any files they attached.
3. 03Write feedback, attach files to send back, or both — all of it is optional.
4. 04Select Mark reviewed. The student is emailed and sees everything on their copy of the task.

Every task carries threads: a group discussion all recipients can see, a private thread with each individual student, and — in an organization — a staff thread that students never see. Use the private thread for anything specific to one student, and the staff thread to leave context for whoever picks the work up next.

If you always set the same kind of work after a lesson, an upload rule can create the task for you. Rules live under Tasks, then Automation: give one a trigger word and a template — title, instructions, due date and response requirements — and it assigns the resulting task to that lesson's participants. A rule fires in one of two ways. Name the file with the trigger — matheia-a1b2c3d4__homework__fractions.pdf — which is what makes bulk uploads from the Events page automatic. Or simply choose the rule when you upload the file to a lesson. Either way the upload dialog names the task it is about to create before you confirm, and you can set it to none.