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NesiciCoding edited this page Aug 12, 2026 · 3 revisions

Getting started

A five-minute, plain-language tour of Rubric Maker. No technical background needed.

1. Open the app

Browse to the app URL (self-hosted or the live test instance). You land on a landing page that summarises what the app can do.

Landing page hero with feature cards

The landing page hero with its feature cards.

2. First run (onboarding)

If you haven't used the app on this browser before, a short onboarding wizard asks for your role and, for teachers, school context. You can skip it — everything can be changed later in Settings.

First-run onboarding welcome step

The first onboarding step.

A one-time guided tour also walks you through the main screens. Skip it any time with the × button; it won't come back.

3. Find your way around

The sidebar has two tiers: an icon rail on the far left for the main areas (Overview, Assessments, Students, Insights, Library), and a sub-panel showing the pages inside the active area.

Two-tier sidebar

The two-tier sidebar.

The Dashboard (Overview) shows your rubrics, students, grades, and any classes that need attention.

Dashboard with stat cards and at-risk panel

Dashboard with the stat cards and at-risk panel.

4. Try it out

The fastest way to get a feel for the app:

  1. Go to Assessments → Rubrics → New rubric and build a small rubric with two criteria and four levels.
  2. Add a couple of students (Students → Add student).
  3. Grade one student and open Statistics to see the charts react.

Developers: a dev-only "Load sample data" button (Settings → Administration, visible only in npm run dev builds) populates classes, students, graded rubrics, tests, essays, and comment-bank entries for design review. It overwrites current data and never ships in production builds.

5. First real workflow

  1. Create a rubric — Assessments → Rubrics → New rubric. Give it a name, add criteria (rows) and performance levels (columns), and pick a scoring mode.
  2. Add students — Students → Add student, or import a class list from CSV.
  3. Grade — open the rubric, pick a student, click a level cell per criterion, add feedback, save.
  4. Export — Insights → Export to produce a PDF/Word report, or print directly from the rubric.

6. Going further

  • Sync & sharing — connect a Supabase backend for multi-device sync and colleague sharing: Supabase Sync.
  • Student portal — share a link/QR code so students can self-assess, submit essays, take tests, study flashcards, and message you: Student Portal.
  • Full tool reference — every feature explained: Features.

Stuck? Try the in-app Docs page (sidebar question-mark icon), or the FAQ.

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