Scoring helps educators turn project activity into measurable learning outcomes. It provides a way to award points for completed activities, assess the quality of learner work, track results across an experience, and send grades to a connected learning management system (LMS).
Scoring can be configured for milestone submissions, final submissions, and employer feedback. Each scored item uses a rubric, which defines how points are awarded. This gives learners visibility into how their work will be scored while helping educators apply assessment consistently across projects.
With scoring, you can:
Combine completion-based and assessment-based scoring within the same experience.
Build assessment rubrics with criteria and optional performance levels.
Assess milestone and final submissions manually or with AI assistance.
Review scoring progress across learners from one place.
Pass published scores to a connected LMS.
General
Rubrics
All scoring begins with a rubric. A rubric defines the rules used to award points for a particular activity.
Rubrics can be configured for:
Milestone submissions: submissions learners make for milestones in the experience.
Final submissions: the final submission a team makes as part of its project.
Employer feedback: feedback received from the team's project employer.
Each rubric contributes a number of points toward the learner's overall score.
For example, if an experience has a 20-point milestone rubric and an 80-point final submission rubric, the total possible score is 100 points. A learner who earns 20 points on the milestone and 60 points on the final submission has an overall score of 80/100.
Point values also determine the relative importance of each scored item. An 80-point item contributes four times as much to the overall score as a 20-point item.
Rubrics can be saved as a Draft or Published. Draft rubrics are visible only to users who have permission to edit them. Once a rubric is published, it can separately be enabled or disabled.
Task details on a rubric
A rubric also provides context about the activity being scored.
Depending on the activity, this can include:
the milestone description;
a custom final submission description, when one exists;
a description of employer feedback;
the due date for milestone and final submission rubrics;
whether a milestone is completed individually or as a team;
whether a milestone is employer-facing or internal.
This context helps learners and assessors understand the work that the rubric applies to.
Completion and assessment scoring
Rubrics use one of two scoring systems: Completion or Assessment.
Completion
Completion scoring measures whether the required activity happened. When the activity is completed, the learner or team receives the full number of points configured for the rubric. An outstanding activity contributes zero points. For example, an educator could award 20 points when a learner submits a required project plan. Completion scoring does not require assessment criteria.
Assessment
Assessment scoring measures how well submitted work meets defined expectations. Instead of awarding one predefined score for completing the activity, the rubric contains one or more assessment criteria. The learner's total score for the rubric is calculated by adding together the scores received for those criteria. Assessment of milestone and final submissions can be completed manually or with AI assistance.
Employer feedback has a separate automatic assessment option that converts the employer's average feedback rating into points. This is different from AI assessment of learner submissions.
Assessment criteria
Each assessment criterion defines one part of the work that should be evaluated.
A criterion includes:
a name;
a description of what is being evaluated;
the maximum number of points available.
For example, an 80-point final submission could use:
Criterion | What it evaluates | Maximum points |
Analysis | How well the work interprets evidence and identifies the problem | 40 |
Recommendations | How practical and well-supported the proposed solution is | 25 |
Communication | How clearly the findings are presented | 15 |
The maximum points for all criteria are added together to determine the rubric's total possible score. Assessment rubrics do not use a separate manually entered total score. The total is calculated from the scores awarded to individual criteria.
Performance levels
Assessment criteria can optionally include performance levels, which appear as ratings within the rubric. Performance levels define specific standards within a criterion. For example, a criterion could include ratings such as:
Exceeds expectations
Meets expectations
Needs improvement
Each performance level has a description and associated point value. When a criterion does not use performance levels, the assessor enters a score within the criterion's available point range. When performance levels are used, the assessor selects the appropriate rating and the configured point value is applied. The same rubric can include some criteria that use performance levels and other criteria that use direct point entry. Clear criterion and performance-level descriptions give learners clearer expectations and help both human and AI assessors apply the rubric consistently.
Manual assessment
With manual assessment, an educator completes the rubric while reviewing the learner's submission. The scoring view displays the submission and assessment interface together. PDF submissions can be displayed directly on the page. When multiple submitted files exist, the assessor can choose between them. Files that cannot be displayed on the page remain available through their normal download option.
For an assessment rubric, the educator can complete each criterion and:
Save as draft to continue the assessment later.
Publish when the score is ready to become available to the learner.
The total score shown during assessment is calculated from the criterion scores entered so far.
AI assessment
AI assessment can be used for milestone and final submissions.
When AI assessment is used, Riipen assesses the submission using:
the milestone or final submission description as context;
each criterion in the rubric;
the criterion's performance levels, when applicable.
For each criterion, AI produces a score and a brief justification. If performance levels are configured, AI selects a performance level based on its description. If performance levels are not configured, AI awards points within the criterion's available range.
AI also produces an overall comment summarizing the reasoning behind the assessment. The total rubric score is calculated from the individual criterion scores rather than generated separately. Manual score adjustments are not made by AI.
Human review of AI assessments
Educators can choose whether an AI-generated assessment requires human review before it becomes official.
Human review required
When human review is required, the AI-generated result has an In review status.
An authorized reviewer can review the criterion scores and justifications, make changes where necessary, and publish the final score. An In review score does not count toward the learner's published total until it is published.
Human review not required
When human review is not required, a successfully completed AI assessment can be published automatically. This allows educators to choose between a fully automated assessment workflow and one where AI provides the initial assessment but a person remains responsible for approving the result.
Scoring statuses
Assessment scores can appear in different states as they move through the scoring workflow.
Draft: a manual assessment has been started but has not been published.
In review: an AI-generated assessment requires human review and has not yet been published.
Processing: the AI assessment is currently being generated.
Published: the score is official and available to the learner.
Completion-scored items do not use the same assessment workflow. In the Scoring tracker, they appear as either having no submission or having a published score.
Learner and team scoring
Some activities are scored for the team as a whole, while others can be scored individually.
The following scores apply to the entire team:
employer feedback;
final submissions;
team-completion milestones.
For these activities, all members of the team receive the same score. For an individual-completion milestone, each learner can receive a different score. As a result, learners who belong to the same team can have different overall scores.
Learner scoring visibility
Learners can see how milestone and final submissions will be scored when an enabled rubric applies to the activity. Before a score has been published, learners can view the applicable rubric and its scoring criteria.
Once the score is published, the learner can select View scoring details from the milestone or final submission to see their result. For assessment-scored rubrics, scoring details include the justification for each criterion. Learners can also view the original rubric definition for a criterion. The scoring details also identify the score recipient and reviewer where applicable. A recipient can be the whole team for team-completion activities or an individual learner for an individually completed milestone.
Comments on scores
Educators can leave a comment when submitting a rubric score. Users who have permission to view a score, including its learner recipient, educators with access, and Riipen Admins, can view and respond to comments on the scoring details. Learners and educators receive notifications about relevant comments made by other users. For team-completion activities, this can include comments from another team member.
The Scoring tracker
When scoring is enabled, educators with Teams permission can access the Scoring tracker from Experience → Teams → Scoring.
The Scoring tracker provides a central place to monitor scoring progress across learners in the experience. Each learner is listed individually, including learners who belong to teams, because some activities can be individually scored. When the experience uses individual completion, the team column is not shown.
Depending on the scored item, the tracker can indicate:
No submission
Published
Draft
In review
an AI assessment that is currently processing
Late submission when the submission was completed one or more days after its due date
Available links allow reviewers to view a published score or continue working on a Draft or In review assessment where applicable. The tracker can also be searched, filtered by project, and exported to CSV for reporting or further analysis.
The CSV export includes:
learner name;
team name;
match name;
scoring status and score for each scored activity in the experience.
LMS grade passback
Scoring can pass Riipen scores to a connected LMS, reducing the need to enter the same grades manually in multiple systems. An institutional LMS integration and the appropriate learner and assignment links are required for grade passback.
LMS grade passback with LTI 1.1–1.3
With a legacy LTI integration, Riipen can pass a team's combined score back to the connected LMS assignment. As new rubric scores are published or existing scores change, the grade passed to the LMS can be updated.
For example, an experience could have:
5 points for a milestone submission;
10 points for a final submission;
5 points for employer feedback.
After the milestone is completed, the LMS grade could be updated to 5/20. After the final submission, it could become 15/20, and after feedback it could become 20/20.
Depending on the LMS, an updated score may overwrite the existing grade or require the educator to accept or ignore the update in the LMS.
LMS grade passback with LTI Advantage
LTI Advantage provides additional options for how Riipen scoring is represented in the LMS gradebook.
Educators can configure:
One gradebook column: represents the combined team score.
Multiple gradebook columns: represents scored activities separately.
Selected assignment links: connects specific Riipen scored activities with specific LMS assignments.
Per-item synchronization can also pass an individually scored milestone to the relevant learner.
Gradebook synchronization and grade synchronization perform different functions:
Gradebook synchronization sets up or connects the LMS gradebook columns used by Riipen scoring.
Grade synchronization sends scores to those connected LMS assignments.
Educators can configure automatic grade passback when published scores are created or updated, or manually use Sync grades to LMS. Depending on the LMS, updated scores may overwrite existing grades or require confirmation in the LMS. Removing a scored item from Riipen does not automatically remove its corresponding LMS gradebook column.
Updating scoring on an active experience
You can change scoring configuration after learners have started activity in an experience. Rubric configuration changes apply to new teams. To apply applicable changes to existing teams or historical activity, use Synchronize scoring. For example, if scoring is added to a milestone after teams have already submitted that milestone, synchronizing scoring can generate the applicable scoring records for that historical activity.
Changing the scoring configuration can also affect existing learner results. Disabling a scored item changes the points included in the learner's overall available score.
Changes to assessment rules can also cause existing published scores to require review and republication.
Use caution when changing scoring after learner activity has started, particularly when published scores or LMS grade passback are already in use.
How to
Enable or disable scoring
To enable or disable scoring for an experience:
Navigate to your experience.
Select the Settings tab.
Under Project Management, select Scoring.
In Scoring settings, select or clear Scoring enabled for learners and teams.
Save your changes.
You can configure rubrics while experience scoring is disabled, but the rubrics do not take effect until scoring is enabled.
Configure a rubric
To configure scoring rubrics for an experience:
Navigate to your experience.
Select the Settings tab.
Under Project Management, select Scoring.
Find Rubric settings.
Configure the activity you want to score.
Choose Completion or Assessment as the scoring system.
If you choose Completion, set the total number of points available.
If you choose Assessment, configure the assessment criteria and their maximum point values.
Add performance levels to individual criteria where needed.
Choose how the assessment will be completed, such as manually or with AI, where supported.
If using AI assessment, choose whether human review is required.
Save the rubric as a Draft while you are working on it, or Publish it when it is ready.
Enable the published rubric when it should be used for scoring.
A published rubric can remain disabled until you are ready for it to affect scoring.
Manually assess a milestone or final submission
When an enabled assessment rubric applies to a submission and there is no published score:
Open the applicable milestone or final submission.
Select Score submission.
Review the submitted work alongside the scoring panel.
Complete each assessment criterion.
Select Save as draft if you want to continue the assessment later, or Publish when the score is ready.
If an AI-generated score requires human review, you can use the same scoring workflow to review and edit its scores and justifications before publishing.
Edit a published score
Riipen Admins and educator admins can edit a published score from the applicable submission.
Open the applicable milestone or final submission.
Select Edit score.
Update the assessment as needed.
Publish the updated score.
When LMS grade passback is enabled, updating a published score can also cause the corresponding LMS grade to be updated.
View scoring progress
To view scoring progress for learners in an experience:
Navigate to the experience.
Select the Teams tab.
Select Scoring.
Review each learner's scoring status across the scored activities in the experience.
Use the available scoring action to start, continue, review, or view an assessment where applicable.
Educators need Teams permission for the experience to access the Scoring tracker.
Export scoring data
To export scoring information for reporting or further analysis:
Navigate to the experience.
Select the Teams tab.
Select Scoring.
Export the scoring table to CSV.
The export includes learner, team, match, status, and score information for scored activities.
Experience admins and Riipen Admins can export the scoring table.
View a rubric
To view an enabled rubric:
Navigate to the experience.
Find the enabled rubrics displayed for the experience.
Select the rubric you want to view.
Synchronize scoring
Use Synchronize scoring when scoring configuration needs to be applied to applicable existing teams or historical activity.
To synchronize scoring:
Navigate to your experience.
Select the Settings tab.
Under Project Management, select Scoring.
Select Synchronize scoring.
Confirm that you want to synchronize scoring.
Synchronization happens asynchronously and may take a few minutes depending on the number of teams in the experience.
Enable or disable LMS grade passback
To enable or disable grade passback for an integrated LMS:
Navigate to your experience.
Select the Settings tab.
Under Project Management, select Scoring.
Select or clear Passback score to integrated LMS assignment as grade.
Configure the available LMS gradebook synchronization option for the connected LMS where applicable.
Save your changes.
Best practices
Match the scoring system to the learning outcome. Use Completion when participation or completion is what matters. Use Assessment when the quality of the learner's work needs to be evaluated.
Use point values intentionally. Higher-value activities have a greater effect on the learner's overall score.
Write specific assessment criteria. Clear descriptions make expectations easier for learners to understand and help human and AI assessors apply the rubric consistently.
Use performance levels when you want standardized assessment choices. Direct point entry may be more appropriate when assessors need greater scoring flexibility.
Consider human review for AI assessment when educator oversight is important. A required review creates a checkpoint before an AI-generated score becomes official.
Review scoring configuration before learner activity begins when possible. Changes made later may require synchronization or review of existing scores.
Monitor the Scoring tracker regularly. Draft, In review, Processing, and No submission statuses can help identify assessments that still require attention.
Troubleshooting
A rubric change is not showing for existing teams
Rubric configuration changes apply to new teams by default. Use Synchronize scoring from Experience → Settings → Project Management → Scoring when the change needs to be applied to applicable existing teams or historical activity.
An AI assessment has not been published
Check its status in the Scoring tracker.
An assessment showing Processing is still being generated. An assessment showing In review requires human review before it can be published.
A learner's score is different from other members of their team
Individual-completion milestones can be scored separately for each learner. Team milestones, final submissions, and employer feedback apply one score to the team.
Because a learner's overall score can combine both team and individual scoring, learners on the same team can have different overall scores.
A grade is not appearing in the LMS
Grade passback requires scoring to be enabled, an institutional LMS integration, and the relevant learner and assignment links.
For LTI Advantage, also confirm that the appropriate LMS gradebook synchronization or assignment links have been configured.
Frequently asked questions
Can an experience use both Completion and Assessment scoring?
Yes. Different rubrics within the same experience can use different scoring systems.
For example, a milestone could award 20 points for completion while the final submission is assessed against an 80-point rubric.
Do Draft or In review scores count toward the learner's published total?
No. A score must be published before it becomes part of the learner's published result.
Can AI-generated scores be reviewed before learners receive them?
Yes. When human review is required, the AI-generated assessment remains In review until an authorized reviewer reviews and publishes it.
Can learners on the same team receive different scores?
Yes, for individual-completion milestones. Team milestones, final submissions, and employer feedback use a team-level score.
Can employers see learner rubrics or scores?