Gradescope

Gradescope is a platform that streamlines the administration and grading of assessments, whether online or in-class. It saves educators time and provides detailed, fast feedback to students. Supporting various assignment formats, Gradescope enhances grading efficiency and effectiveness, offering clear insights into student performance.

Launch Stanford Gradescope

Gradescope features

Gradescope's primary use is to grade and manage paper-based handwritten assignments. After initial setup and syncing with Canvas, hand-written paper assignments can be scanned and uploaded to Gradescope by the instructor or by individual students. Once uploaded, Gradescope uses handwriting recognition to identify the students' names and responses, organizing them for grading. Gradescope's dynamic rubric provides flexibility in grading and providing feedback. The final scores can then be synced to Canvas, and students can view the feedback.

Gradescope also has additional features, including:

• Bubble sheet assignments allow for Scantron-style assignments. Students do not need special Scantron sheets, nor will your teaching team require special Scantron equipment. You and your students can download and print the bubble sheet template. Gradescope can also auto-grade completed bubble sheet assignments.
• Online assignments include a variety of question types, such as multiple-choice, short-answer, and open-ended, that students can answer directly within the interface by typing, selecting, or uploading their responses.
• Programming assignments work with all programming languages and can be auto-graded, manually graded, or use a combination of auto-grading and manual grading. Instructors can also check code similarity reports to flag potential plagiarism cases.

Artificial intelligence features

Gradescope's AI-Assisted Grading and Answer Groups features use AI technology to recognize handwriting on submissions and automatically match scanned submissions to student names for instructor-submitted assignments. The Managing Submissions feature also uses handwriting recognition technology to group submissions with similar responses for instructors to review. These features do not use generative AI technology. These features are automatically enabled and cannot be disabled.  For more information, please review the Gradescope guides AI-Assisted Grading and Answer Groups, and Managing Submissions. 

Access Gradescope

All Stanford users can log in to Gradescope using their SUNet credentials. If you have previously created a Gradescope account with a non-Stanford email address, refer to "How do I log in using my school's credentials?" for more information.

Here is a summary of the Gradescope workflow for a typical handwritten assignment or exam:

1. Instructor
   • Access your Stanford SUNet Gradescope account
   • Link your Canvas course to Gradescope
   • Sync your Canvas roster to Gradescope
   • (Optional) Add and grant permissions to other Instructors or TAs
2. Instructor or TA
   • Design your worksheet as a PDF that students can write on
   • Create and link your Canvas assignments
   • Publishing a Gradescope assignment in Canvas
3. Students
   • Go to Canvas and access the assignment
   • Print and complete the assignment
   • Submit the completed assignment
4. Instructor or TA
   • Grade assignments
   • Post grades to Canvas

Benefits of Gradescope

Gradescope's handwriting recognition and dynamic rubric can save your teaching team a lot of time. Student submissions are easier to organize and keep track of with Gradescope. Assignment questions with similar responses can be graded all at once. Any changes you make to the rubric as you grade are automatically applied and recalculated for all submissions. 

Gradescope also helps instructors in grading fairly and objectively. Gradescope allows you and the teaching team to grade anonymously, and changes to the dynamic rubric are automatically applied to all submissions, ensuring accuracy and fairness.

Gradescope also makes it easy to give feedback, comments, and annotations on student submissions.

Gradescope resources

• Gradescope support
  • Get Started Guide
  • Gradescope Help Center
    • Student Hub
    • Instructor Guide
• Stanford tech support
  • Use Gradescope with Stanford Canvas
  • Merge an existing Gradescope account (non-SUNet email) to your Stanford Gradescope account (SUNet email)
  • On-Campus Print/Scan/Copy locations
• Stanford teaching support
  • Request pedagogic support from the Stanford Center for Teaching and Learning

Questions?

For technical support and troubleshooting related to Gradescope, contact help@gradescope.com.

For non-technical support questions related to Gradescope, contact AcademicTechnology@stanford.edu. 

For consultative support about pedagogy, course design, and integrating technology into your teaching practice, please request a consultation with CTL.

For ongoing engagement with diverse colleagues who work with educational technology, join the Academic Technology CoP mailing list and Slack channel.