Introducing Assignments

Packs are a flexible and effective tool for studying key vocabulary, but sometimes, teachers need more control over how students play and insights into their performance. That’s where assignments come in.

Assignments let you customize gameplay settings, track student progress, and analyze results to fine-tune your lessons. They work with any Knoword pack—whether it’s one you’ve created or one you’ve found while browsing or searching.

This guide will introduce assignments, explain how to create one, and walk through the different configurations available.

Contents

• What are assignments?
• Creating an assignment
  • Assignment settings
  • Additional settings
• Accessing your assignments
• Editing an assignment
• Sharing an assignment
• What’s next?

What are assignments?

You can think of assignments as a layer on top of packs that gives teachers fine-grained control and progress tracking.

• Assignments let you set parameters like time limits, game modes, and strictness settings.
• Students do not require an account to play.
• If a student plays without an account, they’ll be prompted to enter their name or any other identifier so you can recognize their submission.
• After students complete an assignment, you’ll get detailed insights into their performance, including trends in word accuracy and areas that might need extra review.

Prefer a visual walkthrough? Watch this 75-second explainer to see assignments in action:

Play

Creating an assignment

You can assign any pack, including your own. It all starts in the pack actions menu.

1. Find a pack you want to assign.
2. Open the pack actions menu (three dots in the top-right corner of the pack card).
3. Select “Assign.”
4. Customize the assignment settings as described below.
5. Click “Create assignment.”

Assignment settings

• Assignment name: A title for your assignment (e.g., “Ocean Life Unit 2 Quiz”). This field is pre-filled with the pack’s name but can be changed.
• Due date: Prevents submissions after a specific date—useful for scheduled quizzes or homework deadlines.
• Time limit: Set how long students have to complete the assignment, or disable the time limit for a more relaxed experience.
• Disable time rewards: By default, correct answers add extra time. Disabling this ensures the game lasts exactly as long as the set time limit.
• Notes: Add any instructions or context for your students. These will appear on the pre-game screen before they start the assignment.
• Show % of words completed: Shows students the overall completion percent for the current game by default. You can click on the completion percent to toggle between that figure and the current streak.
• Game mode: Choose between:
  • Classic mode - Students type the answers, testing their spelling and recall.
  • Multiple choice - Students select the correct answer from three options, focusing on recognition.

Additional settings

Each game mode offers specific ways to customize your experience:

• Answer Strictness (Classic mode): By default, Knoword accepts answers regardless of capitalization, punctuation, or accents. Enable these requirements individually or combine them:

  • Capitalization (e.g., “Paris” vs “paris”)
  • Punctuation (e.g., “don’t” vs “dont”)
  • Accents (e.g., “résumé” vs “resume”)

• Gameplay Aids (Classic mode): Toggle these optional assists:

  • First letter hints (“Starts with _”)
  • Real-time typing feedback (correct/incorrect letter indicators)
  • Streak-based hints (reveal next letter)

• Image Match Mode (Multiple choice): When available (for packs with image clues), replaces text options with viual options

🚀 Learn more: For a complete guide to game modes, check out Packs 101.

Once you’ve set everything up, click “Create assignment.” You’ll be taken to the assignment details page, where you can edit these settings at any time.

Accessing your assignments

To view all the assignments you’ve created:

1. Click on your user menu in the top-right corner of any page.
2. Select “My Assignments.”

The My assignments page lists all your assignments in a table. You can sort them by name, date created, or number of submissions. Click on an assignment’s title to view its details.

Editing an assignment

If you need to make changes after creating an assignment:

1. Open the assignment details page.
2. Click “Edit details” near the top of the page.
3. Make your adjustments and click “Save assignment.”

Sharing an assignment

Once your assignment is ready, it’s time to share it with your students. Knoword offers several ways to distribute assignments:

1. Click the “Share” menu on the assignment details page.

2. Choose one of the sharing options:

   • Copy link: Share a direct link via email, a class portal, or any other method you prefer.
   • Share class code: Every assignment has a unique code that students can enter on the Knoword homepage to access the game.
   • Show QR code: Displays a QR code that students can scan with a tablet or phone—ideal if you’re projecting your screen at the front of the class.
   • Share to Google Classroom: If you use Google Classroom, you can quickly create coursework linked to your assignment.

What’s next?

Now that your students are completing assignments, how do you analyze their results?

In our next guide, we’ll cover how to view and interpret assignment data, helping you adjust lesson plans, reinforce key concepts, and track student progress effectively.