We are pleased to announce the most extensive update ever made to our Assignments Engine — arriving in time for Spring 2026 courses.
What Are Assignments?
The Assignments system on StockTrak enables instructors to structure and monitor student activity across the platform, including:
- Budget Game milestones and required in-game actions
- Stock Game trading and portfolio-building tasks
- Curriculum lessons and assessments
- Prerequisite sequencing and reward structures
- Badges and Certificates tied to student progress
Assignments allow instructors to define start dates, due dates, and required components for each part of their course — whether used for weekly learning modules or comprehensive semester-long objectives.
What’s New in Spring 2026?
Over the past several months, we have fully rebuilt the Assignments Engine to support larger classes, more advanced reporting, and significantly greater instructional flexibility. In addition to backend performance improvements — including faster certificate generation and more efficient data handling — the upgrade introduces several major new features.
Improved Assignment Editing
Previously, making changes to an active assignment (such as adding tasks or modifying requirements) could cause reporting inconsistencies if students had already completed part of the work.
The new Assignments Engine separates task logging from reporting. As a result:
- Instructors may edit assignments at any time, with changes reflected automatically.
- Grade requirements can be updated mid-course without disrupting prior student records.
- Instructors may create assignments retroactively to analyze past student activity.
This new flexibility supports evolving course needs without risking data misalignment or student progress issues.
Increased Assignment Limits
The system improvements now support far more robust and customizable assignment structures.
Key Enhancements
- Task Limits: Instructors may now include every available task in a single assignment (previously capped at 100).
- Assignment Limits: Courses may now contain an unlimited number of assignments (formerly capped at 20).
- Large-Class Reporting: Full reporting and export tools are now available for classes with 150+ students, eliminating the need for manual exports.
These changes support both asynchronous learning models and highly modular, session-by-session assignment structures.
Variable Retries with “Allowed Attempts”
The previous system permitted only “No Retries” or “Unlimited Retries” for quizzes — and required instructors to set retry permissions individually for every task.
The new Allowed Attempts feature provides significantly finer control:
- Instructors may define a specific number of attempts permitted for all quizzes in an assignment.
- The system records and reports the highest score earned within the allotted attempts.
- Additional attempts (beyond the limit) are still visible to instructors under Student Details but no longer affect the reported grade.
This structure preserves academic integrity while still supporting mastery-based learning when appropriate.
Time Zone Support
Assignments are now fully aligned with the time zone selected when creating a session.
Previously locked to U.S. Eastern Time, the system now ensures:
- Accurate start and end times
- Better support for remote and multi-campus programs
- Consistent deadline handling for international partners
Multi-Language Support
Earlier releases introduced translated curriculum content and a fully translated Stock Game.
The Spring 2026 update completes the process by extending translation to:
- Assignment setup and configuration
- Reports and data exports
- Student-facing assignment details
French and Spanish classes can now manage the entire assignment workflow in their preferred language.
Release Timeline
The upgraded Assignments Engine is currently running in the background, with the full feature set scheduled for release in late January 2026. During this period, the previous and new systems will operate in parallel to ensure a smooth transition.
Once released, all updates will apply retroactively to existing assignments — no instructor action required.
We look forward to supporting your Spring classes with these enhancements and welcome your feedback as we continue improving the platform.
— The StockTrak Team