Essay grading in QwikTeach: from assignment to feedback

You can now handle a full class set of essays without recreating the same writing task for every student. QwikTeach lets you assign new writing, collect student submissions, or bring in completed essays and send the whole batch for AI (artificial intelligence) grading.

Each student gets a writing record containing the task, submitted essay, grading status, scores, and feedback. You stay in control of when that feedback reaches the student.

Two ways to start

Open Assignments and choose the path that fits the work in front of you.

Assign Writing Task is for work students still need to complete. Define the assignment once, select the recipients, and students receive the task in QwikTeach so they can submit it through their accounts.

You can assign the same task to individual students, a saved group, or a saved tag. Groups are useful for a regular class or cohort. Tags work well for a changing set of students, such as an exam group that crosses several classes. If the right set does not exist yet, you can save a multi-student selection as a reusable tag while creating the assignment.

Record Completed Essays is for work students have already written. It creates the grading batch without sending students a homework notification. This new workflow works well for classroom writing, mock exams, paper submissions, or essays collected elsewhere.

Set the task once

Both paths begin with the writing form. Give the assignment a title, choose the exam and paper or task, and paste the complete question or instructions. QwikTeach uses this information for every response in the assignment or batch, so you don’t need to enter the prompt repeatedly.

The form includes task options for Cambridge, IELTS, TOEFL, and OET, plus an Other option for a custom task. The prompt label and guidance adapt to your selection. For example, IELTS Task 1 uses a report or letter prompt, while IELTS Task 2 uses an essay question.

Paste the exact wording the students answered, including any instructions or notes.

Before sending the work for grading, choose whether teacher approval is required. With approval enabled, feedback stays private until you release it. With approval disabled, feedback is released automatically when grading finishes.

Add existing essays in the format you already have

In Record Completed Essays, select the group, tag, or individual students whose work you are adding. These students become the available list for matching responses.

You can then add the completed essays in whichever way is quickest:

• Paste one response at a time and click Add response.
• Upload one or more DOCX, PDF, or TXT files.
• Choose Paste a batch, put three hyphens on their own line between responses, and click Split and add responses.

For example:

First student’s response

---

Second student’s response

Each response must contain at least 50 characters. Uploaded documents are read into the form so you can check their text before grading. Their filenames remain visible in the tray, making it easier to identify each file and use filename matching.

Check the response tray before grading

Every response appears in the Response tray. This gives you a chance to check the imported work before sending it to the grader.

You can open a response to read the full text, edit it if needed, or remove it from the batch. You then confirm the student shown on every row.

There are three ways to match responses:

• Match filenames suggests a student when an uploaded filename contains a clear student name.
• Match in class order assigns unmatched responses to the selected students in roster order. Use this when your files or pasted responses follow the class list.
• Manual matching lets you choose a student from the dropdown on each response.

You can also filter the tray to show only unmatched responses. QwikTeach won’t submit the batch until every response has been matched, helping prevent an essay from being added to the wrong student’s record.

When everything is ready, click Send [number] essays for grading.

Follow grading as it happens

After submission, QwikTeach opens the batch page. It shows how many essays are graded, waiting, still grading, or failed, and updates while grading is in progress.

Each row links to the student’s essay page. There you can read the original task and submission, review the scores and feedback, or retry the grading if an item fails.

You can reopen the batch later from Assignments → Writing → Recent batches. The writing assignments list also shows the status of each essay, including waiting for a student, grading, graded, needs approval, or released.

Review and release the feedback

When grading finishes, open an essay from the batch page or writing list to review its scores and feedback.

If teacher approval is required, click Approve and Release on the individual essay page. If several essays are ready, you can use Approve all graded on the batch page.

If you selected automatic release when creating the task, QwikTeach releases the feedback as soon as grading finishes.

Each graded essay is saved in the correct student’s record, giving you a lasting history of their writing and feedback alongside their other work.

Try the new workflow

For new homework, start at Assignments → Assign Writing Task.

For essays your students have already completed, go to Assignments → Record Completed Essays, select the students, add their responses, check the matches, and send the batch for grading.

Open Assignments and use the path that matches the work you have today.