You can use the manual Brightspace grading workflow if you’re not on a school plan or if your Brightspace integration isn’t active yet.
This process lets you download student submissions directly from Brightspace, upload them into CoGrader for grading, and then return the feedback manually.
1. How to Manually Add Assignments from Brightspace to CoGrader
Step 1: Download Student Submissions from Brightspace
In Brightspace, open your course and go to the Assignments tab.
Click the assignment you want to grade (for example, Causes of World War 2).
On the submissions page, click Download All Files at the bottom.
Brightspace will create and download a
.zipfile containing all student submissions.Extract the
.zipfile on your computer:Windows: Right-click the file and select Extract All…
Mac: Double-click the
.zipfile to open it
You now have all student submissions saved locally and ready to upload into CoGrader.
Step 2: Upload Submissions to CoGrader
Open CoGrader.
Click + Grade new in the left sidebar, then click Create manually.
Enter the assignment name and prompt (you can copy this from your Brightspace assignment).
Select or create a rubric, then set Grading parameters and Advanced rules if you want.
Under Student submissions, click Files from my computer and select the extracted student submissions.
CoGrader will automatically process the files and prepare them for grading.
2. Review and Approve Grading
Once CoGrader finishes grading:
Open each submission in CoGrader.
Review the feedback and scores.
Make any necessary edits or refinements. Your changes save automatically.
Click Approve when you’re satisfied.
3. Share Feedback from CoGrader
Return to your assignment dashboard in CoGrader.
Click Share feedback (top right of the assignment page).
Choose the PDF download option, pick which feedback sections and students to include, and check the preview.
CoGrader will generate a
.zipfile containing all student feedback reports.Learn more: How to Share Feedback with Students in CoGrader
4. Upload Feedback Back to Brightspace
Once you’ve downloaded your feedback PDFs from CoGrader, you can upload them back into Brightspace so that students can view their feedback directly from their assignment page.
Step-by-step:
Go back to your assignment in Brightspace.
Open the Submissions page for the assignment.
Click Go to Evaluation next to a student’s name.
In the evaluation window, look for the Add a File (paperclip icon) at the bottom right of the feedback section.
Click My Computer.
Select the student’s individual feedback PDF from the CoGrader zip file.
Once the file uploads, you’ll see it appear under the Overall Feedback section.
Click Update to make the feedback visible to the student.
Students will now be able to open their assignment, view the attached feedback file, and read the detailed CoGrader-generated comments and rubric insights.