how to schedule an assignment in canvas

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Create an assignment in canvas.

In Canvas, any activity with an associated point value is considered an Assignment and will appear on the Assignments page, as well as in the gradebook. Assignment formats include quizzes, discussions, online document submission, and no submission, and external tool assignments. You can give an assignment to everyone in the course or target it to a specific section or user.

Types of Graded Activities in Canvas

The following table lists the types of graded activities in Canvas and their strengths and weaknesses.

To Create an Assignment

On the Course Navigation menu, click Assignments

On the Assignments list page, click Add Assignment

On the Assignment edit page, create the assignment by adding a name, instructions, and specifying the assignment options

(See the Assignment Options table for details)

Assignment Options

The following table describes the options for creating assignments.

Canvas - Get Started

The following list of pages will guide you through getting started with this tool. The current page is listed in bold.

• Log into Canvas
• Notification Preferences
• Access your Course
• Create an Assignment
• Create a Quiz in Canvas
• Add a Syllabus to Canvas
• Early Course Access for Students
• Communication
• Five Keys to Grading
• Prepare Final Grading

About assignments in Canvas

Watch a video overview of Canvas assignments

Why do I have to re-create my assignments in Canvas?

If you already have assignments created in Word or Google docs, Catalyst tools, or posted online, you might wonder, “What’s the point is of recreating them in Canvas?” Not only does Canvas make it easy to create assignments with lots of options (selective release, group assignments, peer review, submission type) it also adds convenience for you and your students.

What are Assignment Groups?

Like Catalyst Gradebook, Canvas prefers for you to create assignment groups for organization. The groups you create control how the gradebook is structured and you can choose to weight final grades based on those groups. By default you begin with a group called Assignments. You can choose to keep all of your assignments in this one group, or create as many new ones as you like.

Where do I create assignments?

You can create assignments in the Assignments area of Canvas or in the Calendar. Your Assignments page will show the work you have assigned. In student view, the Assignments page will show all assigned work and the point value of each (if you set point values when setting up an assignment). Any graded activity (such as a discussion, quiz, essay or project) can be an assignment.

When you create an assignment in your Canvas course it is automatically added to the assignment list on the Syllabus page, the course calendar, and your gradebook. If you change the due date for an assignment, Canvas updates it course-wide. If you alter the assignment you can have Canvas notify your students.

What can I do with assignments?

Assignments can be used to:

• Set up online submissions that can be quickly graded in the SpeedGrader™
• Grade online submissions work submitted on paper
• Set up peer review
• Grade Discussions, either among the whole class or student groups
• Open Quizzes for a limited amount of time
• Create ungraded activities that align with course outcomes

Assignments and Grading

Having your assignments in Canvas and automatically linked to the gradebook means you can take advantage of SpeedGrader and rubrics to make the grading process faster and more efficient. Canvas communication tools allow you to provide your students with text or multimedia feedback on all assignments.

Getting Started with Canvas Assignments

• Last modification date Updated On June 8, 2023
• Categories: Assignments , Canvas , Uncategorized
• Categories: assessment , Getting Started , Grading

Canvas  Assignments  are a way for instructors to provide students opportunities to practice using the knowledge and skills they have gained or to assess student performance related to such knowledge and skills. (Creating an Assignment is the  only  way to create a new column in the Gradebook.)

In Canvas there are four basic  Submission Types  for assignments. The submission types include:

• No Submission : For assignments for which you are not collecting any content from the students.
• Text Entry : For students to enter text directly into a text box on Canvas.
• Website URL : For students to enter a URL (usually to a blog, video, podcast, etc.).
• Media Recordings : For students to upload or record media for submission.
• File Uploads : For students to upload files for submission ( Restrict Upload File Types  will allow you to limit which types of files may be submitted).
• On Paper : For assignments students will submit in person.
• External Tool : For assignments which students will submit through a third-party tool (such as Turnitin, Panopto Video Quiz, and PlayPosit).

Managing an Assignment

Managing assignment groups.

When getting started with Assignments, learn to

• Create an assignment shell with the Canvas guide  How do I create an assignment? 

If you select  Peer Reviews Appear Anonymously , annotation tools in  SpeedGrader  will become unavailable.

If you change the  Assign To  area from  Everyone  to select students after submissions have already begun, and do not have a second set of Assign To dates, submissions from unassigned students will disappear.

• Published assignments are visible as existing outside of availability dates, but students cannot see the details.
• If looking to update the due and/or availability dates on multiple assignments, see   How do I bulk update due dates and availability dates as an instructor?
• If choosing the option to make an assignment a  Group Assignment : If only assigning to specific groups, make sure to click the  X  on the  Everyone Else  choice under  Assign to .

Media Recording  Assignments are not recommended due to technical reasons. Instead, have students submit media by embedding it in a  Text Entry  assignment through Panopto .

Clearly express expectations and criteria for grading by using a  Rubric .

Be cautious limiting submission attempts, as students often make mistakes loading documents and need multiple attempts to ensure you have the correct submission.

• Delete an assignment with the Canvas guide  How do I delete an assignment?
• This duplication process will not work for Quizzes.
• Attach a rubric to an assignment for grading or to communicate expectations to students with the Canvas guide  How do I add a rubric to an assignment?

Accessibility Tips

• Use descriptive text for links, instead of long URLs or ‘click here’. 
• Make instructions brief and to-the-point. Avoid long paragraphs and sentences.
• Consider allowing multiple submission types to accommodate technical limitations students may face.

Assignment Groups  are a way to categorize different graded items in Canvas. For example, you may have journals, blogs, and essays which your students create in your course. Assignment Groups allow you to label and group different types of assignments separately in order to better organize and for ease when applying weighting (see  How do I weight the final course grade based on assignment groups? ). When getting started with Assignment Groups, learn to

• Add and delete assignment groups with the Canvas guide  How do I add an assignment group in a course?
• Move or reorder an assignment group with the Canvas guide  How do I move or reorder an assignment group?
• Make rules governing grading expectations within assignment groups with the Canvas guide  How do I create rules for an assignment group?

Additional Resources

• CTI Resource: What is the Assignments Index Page?
• How do I bulk update due dates and availability dates as an instructor?
• How do I weight the final course grade based on assignment groups?
• Canvas Student Guide

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Institute for Faculty Development

Advancing teaching excellence at Vanguard University through culturally-responsive teaching

Use the Canvas Scheduler

What is the canvas scheduler.

• Scheduler is a Calendar tool that allows the instructor to create a virtual sign-up sheet or appointment groups within a course.
• Students can sign up to meet with the instructor individually or choose a class presentation time. Some appointment time slots may only allow one student to sign up at a time, while others may allow an entire group to sign up.

When would I use Scheduler?

Instructors can use Scheduler to:

• Allow students to sign up for appointments
• Organize office hours
• Schedule TA sessions
• Schedule lunches
• Set up appointments for an individual or a group
• Schedule student presentations
• Host other appointments

How to set up a Scheduler appointment group?

Appointment groups create a block of time where students can meet with you. You determine the number of people that can sign up for each slot. Students can sign up for appointment times in their own calendars. Appointments will appear in your Canvas calendar after a student or group has reserved a time slot.

1.  Open Calendar.

• In Global Navigation, click the  Calendar  link.

2.  Add Event. 

• Click any date on the calendar to add an event [1]. Or, click the arrows next to the month name to navigate to a different month [2] and select a date. If you don’t want to manually locate the date, you can click the  Add  icon [3].

3.  Open Appointment Group.

• When you click any date on the calendar to add an event, the Edit Event dialog box will appear. Click the  Appointment Group  tab and the Appointment Group details will appear.

4.  Create Name and Location

• Type the name of the appointment in the name field [1]. Type the location of the appointment in the location field [2].

5.  Select Calendars

• Click the  Select   Calendars  button [1]. Select the course(s) or section(s) where you want to show the appointment group [2]. To close the Calendar list, click the  Done  button [3].

Note:  The calendar cannot be modified once the appointment group is saved. However, additional calendars can be added to the original appointment group.

6.  Allow Group Signup

• If you have  created at least one group set  in your course, you can have students sign up in groups by clicking the  Have students sign up in groups  checkbox [1]. Then select the name of the group category you want to use for the group signup [2].

Note:  The group option is only available if you previously selected the calendar for the entire course. You cannot select a calendar for a specific section because Canvas does not currently support sections in groups.

7.  Set Appointment Time Range

• In the date field [1], enter the date of the appointment. You can also select a date by clicking the  Calendar  icon.
• Set the time range for the appointment by typing in the time range field [2]. You must include at least one time slot.
• You can split the time range into multiple time slots by entering the division time into the time field [3]. For instance, if you want to create 15-minute meeting times from 2:00 pm until 5:00 pm, enter the number 15.
• To create the time slots, click the  Go  button [4].

8.  Modify Appointment Times

• You can manually change any appointment time created by the division. If you want to remove an appointment time, click the  Remove  icon.

Note:  The appointment date, time range, and appointment slots can only be modified individually once the appointment group is saved. However, additional dates, time ranges, and appointment slots can be added to the original appointment group. You must create at least one time slot for each appointment group.

9.  Set Appointment Options

• You can limit how many users can sign up for a time slot by clicking the  Limit each time slot  checkbox and typing the number of time slots in the limit field [1]. If you selected the option to have students sign up in groups, this field reads as  Limit each time slot for x groups .
• To make the appointment slots public to students in the course, click the  Allow students to see who has signed up for time slots  checkbox [2]. Selecting this option also allows students to see comments other students add to their appointments.
• If you want to limit the number of appointments available, click the  Limit participants to attend [number] appointment(s)  checkbox [3].

Note:  When using the group signup option, only one group member needs to sign up for a time slot on behalf of their group. Each member in the group will see the appointment on their own group calendar.

10.  Add Appointment Details

• If you want to add details about the appointment group, type them in the details field.

11.  Publish Appointment Group

• Click  Publish  button.

12.  View Calendar

• View the appointment dates and times in your course calendar. Time slots that have been reserved by students will show as a solid color.

Note:  if you added an appointment group to more than one course, appointment slots only display in the calendar for the first course shown in the appointment group.

How do students sign up for schedule blocks?

• Please see the following link .

How do I view or edit a Scheduler appointment group? How do I message students? (Step 7)

2.  View Appointment Group

• Locate the appointment group in your calendar. Appointment slots that have been reserved are shown in a solid color.

3.  Open Appointment Group

To open the appointment group, click any time slot in the appointment group [1]. In the appointment window, click the  Group Details  button [2].

4.  Edit Appointment Group Details

• In the appointment group page, you can view all details for the group as a whole. For each appointment group, you can view the name of the group, the course(s) associated with the group, assignment group location, group description, and group options.
• You can change all group information except the existing calendar and all existing time slots. However, you can add new calendars and additional time slots to the entire group.

Note:  If you want to edit or delete existing time slots, you can edit individual time slots in the calendar.

5.  View Appointment Slots

• At the bottom of the Appointment Group details page, you can view all appointments in the group [1]. Each time slot shows the date and time and whether or not the time slot is available. You can also view the name of each student who signed up for the time slot.
• If a time slot has been reserved by a student but also includes the word  Available , the time slot includes an additional slot that can be filled by another student.
• If you want to send a message to students in the appointment group, click the  Message Students  button [2]. You can send a message to all users in the appointment group, users who haven’t signed up for a time slot, and users who have signed up.
• When messaging students, messages are sent as a group message. However, if your message includes over 100 recipients (including you as the sender), messages will automatically be sent as individual messages.

6.  Manage Appointment Group

• To delete the appointment group, click the  Delete Group  button [1].  Please note this option does not provide a warning and cannot be undone . Deleting the group will also delete any appointments that have been reserved by students.
• To cancel changes in the assignment group, click the  Cancel  button [2].
• To save changes in the assignment group, click the  Save  button [3].

7.  Manage Appointment Slot

• In the calendar, you can manage time slots individually. To view details about a time slot, including who signed up in the time slot, click the appointment link [1].
• If you want to edit a specific time slot, click the  Edit  button [2]. Editing a time slot allows you to edit the description of the appointment. You can also limit the slot to a specific number of users. Changing either of these values in an individual time slot does not affect the description or user signup limit for the entire group. For instance, if the assignment group limited each slot to one user, and you individually edit a specific time slot to allow three users, only that time slot is affected by the user limit change.
• If you need to  remove a time slot , click the  Delete  button [3].
• In time slots that have been reserved, you can send a message to the user(s) in the time slot [4].

Additional Resources

• Video on the Canvas Scheduler
• How do I remove students from a Scheduler appointment in a course calendar?
• Canvas Production Release Notes (2017-04-01): Scheduler Workflow

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University Center for Teaching and Learning

Canvas scheduled page publication feature.

Starting Oct. 17, 2022, Canvas will launch the ability to schedule when a page gets published. While you have been able to schedule the release of assignments, or of whole modules for a while, scheduling the release of a single page of content has been neither feasible nor convenient, until now. You can read more below, or you can go to the Canvas release notes page to see the details from the vendor.

Feature Video (links to Canvas support page)

Possible uses.

Some ways in which you may be able to use this feature for your courses include scheduling the timed release of:

• A list of prompts for an in-class discussion exercise.
• Case studies for students to examine during small group activities.
• Class notes or slides at a certain point before or after lecture occurs.
• Exam review materials.
• The answer key to an assignment (after submissions are closed).
• Note: Scheduled embedded media, such as a Panopto Recording, usually does not prevent students from accessing it early. They may be able to find or locate it in other ways (like visiting Panopto directly).

In each example, the publication will happen automatically so students can access the materials without the instructor needing to remember (or even be at their computer) to click the publish button at the release time. These all also assume that the page is one that, for whatever reason, should not be published in advance.

To schedule a page for publication at a specific date and time:

• Navigate to that page.
• Click the edit page button in the top right.
• Select a Publish At date and time in the page options below the Rich Content editor.

This adds a new icon to your published column, more than just the gray crossed circle for “unpublished” and the green check for “published”. Pages that are scheduled to publish in the future will have a red calendar icon instead.

Scheduled pages do not change the publication status of the module they are contained in. You must ensure the module itself is published (or scheduled to be), otherwise the page will still be unavailable at the module-level.

You can still schedule whole modules to publish at once. This will continue to be the preferred method of controlling your content if you want to release multiple pieces of content all at the same time. Learn more at How do I lock a module ?

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Instructional Technology Blog

ITG supports faculty use of technology for teaching and learning at Emerson College

• by Natalie Hebshie
• August 3, 2021 February 2, 2023

Should you create assignments for readings in your Canvas course?

Last April, I co-wrote a blog post with Jodi Burrel titled Tidying Up Canvas to Help Students Stay Organized . It was a follow up to a workshop we developed together about course design strategies based on student feedback. The main purpose of these design tips was to help students and faculty manage their time and energy.

One of the things I learned from working with Jodi is that students found it very helpful when faculty created a corresponding assignment for readings that they wanted their students to do. Truthfully, this was not a strategy that I was actively encouraging at the time. I assumed it would just clutter the student assignment view and the faculty gradebook view. But once I heard that this was a game changer for students who struggled with time management, I decided to look into it and experiment with various ways to set this up in Canvas. Here is a video on what I think is the best way to set up reading assignments in Canvas:

To summarize, I recommend creating an assignment for each set of readings that are due at the same time. Having an assignment for each individual reading is too much. Listing out all of your readings in a semester long schedule on the syllabus is too clunky. You could create Canvas Calendar events instead of assignments for your readings but then you miss some of the additional prompts that you get with an assignment. An ungraded assignment for each due is just right. Here is how to do it:

• Start with a clear naming convention that is consistent throughout the course. If your class meets live (in person or on Zoom) and you have separate readings for each session, create a different assignment for each due date. Examples could include  Week 1 Readings, Week 1 Class 1 Readings, etc.  Remember that Canvas can adjust the due date fields when importing to future courses, but it cannot adjust dates added to Name fields or Description fields. So if you do decide to include the due date in the Assignment Name field, just remember that you will need to manually change that in future courses.
• List and link the readings in the assignment description.   Don’t refer to a list that exists elsewhere. List those readings in the description area and if they’re electronic, link to them. You can link to course files or to websites via the Rich Content Editor .
• Set points to 0 . The purpose of this type of assignment is to let the students know exactly what they need to read and when they need to read it by. We’re keeping grades out of it so just leave the points at 0. If you’re looking to build in accountability, you’ll probably want to look at other options for low stakes tasks, such as self check quizzes or online discussions.
• Choose “Not Graded” for Display Grade As . Again, we’re doing this for time management purposes, not for grading. Choosing Not Graded will ensure that this does not appear in your Canvas Gradebook.
• Set a Due Date and Time . If you’ve attended any of my workshops, you know that I think this is a big deal. Adding a due date in the due date field generates a series of beautiful prompts for your students. The assignment will be listed in their To Do’s, on their Calendar, on the Course Summary on their Syllabus as well as below the assignment name in the Assignment and Module view.
• Avoid Available From and Until Dates. These fields just restrict student access to an assignment . A student may wants or need to get a head start on readings or refer back to something that they read. We recommend removing any roadblocks that might get in the way of their ability to manage their workload.

I’d definitely recommend reading the Tidying Up Canvas post and watching the corresponding video if you haven’t done so already. You can also check out one of our upcoming sessions on the topic at teachanywhere.emerson.edu . If you do decide to incorporate reading assignments into your Canvas course, let us know how it goes, or reach out with any questions or concerns you might have at [email protected] .

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3 things faculty and staff should know about using content and trigger warnings

As a campus community, we should all strive to foster trauma-informed, resilient and inclusive classrooms and communities. When difficult topics come up in class or discussions, content warnings may feel like an obvious solution or a default strategy to prepare students. 

Here are a few things you should know about content warnings and how to implement more trauma-informed practices within your classrooms. 

1. What are content/trigger warnings? 

Content/trigger warnings include any verbal or written notices that precede potentially distressing content. In the context of classrooms, these warnings are sometimes used to cover things like reading materials, lecture content, videos, homework assignments or topics that may come up in classroom discussions. 

These types of warnings make assumptions about what kind of content will be triggering and how students may react or respond to that content. When trigger warnings are used in this way, it often overlooks the range of ways trauma responses show up for people.  

Additionally, trigger warnings rarely help individuals avoid certain content because, in practice, they are given within a moment’s notice. Additionally, research indicates they sometimes heighten feelings of distress or fear for some individuals.

2. Why are content/trigger warnings used? 

Trigger warnings are often used with good intentions. In many cases they are meant to: 

• Provide emotional support 
• Help individuals prepare for or avoid material that may remind them of traumatic experiences 
• Alert individuals that content relates to the experiences of historically marginalized groups 
• Validate strong emotional responses or dysregulation related to difficult topics 
• Show solidarity with marginalized communities and/or trauma survivors 

While it is vital to recognize that students each have unique lives, histories and struggles, saying “trigger warning” right before discussing a topic is not a trauma-informed or inclusive approach to sharing class content.  

3. How can we implement more trauma-informed practices? 

The best way to prepare students for your courses is to be transparent about what content you plan to cover, and when. Try to make this a regular practice for all content and assignments (not just those you believe may be distressing). This allows students to build self-awareness and strengthen their decision-making skills. 

Use your syllabi  

Use your syllabus as a guide to let students know what content you plan to teach. Your syllabi should include a timeline for assignments, course discussions and other materials you plan to cover.  

Provide timely reminders 

Reminding students about upcoming assignments and lecture topics can help them better prepare for class. You can give them a heads up in class, through Canvas or regularly refer them to your syllabus schedule. Because we can’t know what kinds of content will be distressing to students, consistently reminding them of upcoming topics gives them the best opportunity to engage in self-care and self-advocacy. 

Focus on content over impact 

Regardless of the content you plan to cover, it’s important to avoid making or communicating assumptions about how students will respond or react to specific topics or materials. Instead, you should focus on being upfront about all themes and topic areas. Here are a few examples: 

• As I shared on Canvas, I will be covering [topic/theme] in class today. 
• Next week, we will be covering [topic/theme]. 
• This video covers [topic/theme] and contains scenes and images that show [topic/theme]. 

Be mindful of unexpected responses 

No one can predict what might or might not be triggering for individuals. For instance, certain smells, sounds or images may be distressing to some trauma survivors, but not others. 

It’s also important to avoid assuming a student is having a triggering response or singling them out based on their response. Instead, try to check in with your entire class. For instance, you could ask things like, “How are we feeling about this content?” or “Should we take a quick break?” Asking students to give a thumbs up or thumbs down is a great way to gauge overall sentiments without forcing anyone to self-disclose their own reaction. 

Demonstrate an openness to feedback 

While we all want to support our students, you may need to provide them with consistent reminders that you’re open to feedback. Here are a few strategies that can help students know they can approach you with feedback: 

• Provide ongoing reminders about office hours and what students can expect when they meet with you. 
• Solicit student opinions on assigned readings or lectures. You can ask things like, “Did you find this article helpful?” or “Do you like when I post the full slide deck on Canvas?” 
• Share changes that you have made based on other students’ feedback, so your class knows that their input matters. 

Engage with student feedback 

If a student shares that specific content has impacted them, take them seriously. Be sure to thank them for sharing their feedback and validate their feelings.  

Brainstorm with them to find ways they can be accountable for your course’s learning objectives while taking care of themselves. You could use strategies like providing an option to do an at-home assignment instead of in-class participation, allowing flexibility for missing a class or the opportunity to take in the content through a different medium (e.g., a student could read about a subject instead of watching a depiction of it). When possible, let the student take the lead. They are best attuned to know what aspects of assignments or content are distressing or push their own emotional limits.  

Take advantage of resources and training opportunities 

Staff and faculty can take advantage of a variety of support resources and training opportunities on campus that will help them improve their classroom practices. Here are a few to check out. 

Professional development resources

Trauma-informed presentations.

OVA provides a variety of trauma-informed presentations covering topics like trauma support, self-care for vicarious trauma, making referrals, working with trauma and more. 

Center for Teaching & Learning (CTL)

The CTL provides consultations, resources, programs and workshops for staff and faculty who want to improve their teaching practices, pose questions and have brave conversations within the classroom.

Supporting Student Resiliency Trainings

Health and Wellness Services offer a free three-part training series that covers student mental health, responding to trauma and motivational interviewing. 

Classroom practices support

The Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance (OIEC) offers a free guide and resources to help staff and faculty navigate course expectations and manage difficult classroom dynamics. 

Don’t Ignore It

Learn about confidential support resources, ways to report concerns, how to make referrals and skills for helping others. 

Referral and reporting resources

Student support & case management (sscm).

If you are unsure if a student needs support or don’t know where to refer them, SSCM is a great place to start. You can fill out an online referral form, email them or call to share your concerns. SSCM case managers provide personalized support and help connect students with campus partners, community resources and other support systems. 

Office of Victim Assistance (OVA)

Staff and faculty can refer students, as well as their colleagues, to OVA for confidential support, consultation, advocacy and short-term trauma-focused counseling services. They also offer support for those who are helping someone through a traumatic experience . 

Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance (OIEC)

OIEC implements and enforces university policies related to discrimination, harassment, sexual misconduct, intimate partner abuse, stalking and conflicts of interest.  

If you or a student has been impacted, reports can be filed online. Anonymous reporting is an option as well. 

Mandatory reporting

All employees with the authority to hire, promote, discipline, evaluate, grade, formally advise, or direct faculty, staff, or students are considered “ responsible employees ” and must report alleged discrimination and sexual misconduct to OIEC.

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CS224N: Natural Language Processing with Deep Learning

Stanford / winter 2024.

Note: In the 2023–24 academic year, CS224N will be taught in both Winter and Spring 2024.

Natural language processing (NLP) is a crucial part of artificial intelligence (AI), modeling how people share information. In recent years, deep learning approaches have obtained very high performance on many NLP tasks. In this course, students gain a thorough introduction to cutting-edge neural networks for NLP.

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Teaching Assistants

• Lectures: are on Tuesday/Thursday 4:30 PM - 5:50 PM Pacific Time in NVIDIA Auditorium . In-person lectures will start with the first lecture. The lectures will also be livestreamed on Canvas via Panopto.
• Publicly available lecture videos and versions of the course: Complete videos for the CS224N course are available (free!) on the CS224N 2023 YouTube playlist . the CS224N 2021 YouTube channel . --> Anyone is welcome to enroll in XCS224N: Natural Language Processing with Deep Learning , the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Professional Program version of this course, throughout the year (medium fee, community TAs and certificate). Stanford students enroll normally in CS224N and others can also enroll in CS224N via Stanford online in the (northern hemisphere) Autumn to do the course in the Winter (high cost, limited enrollment, gives Stanford credit). The lecture slides and assignments are updated online each year as the course progresses. We are happy for anyone to use these resources, and we are happy to get acknowledgements.
• Office hours : Hybrid format with remote (over Zoom) or in person options. Information here .
• Contact : Students should ask all course-related questions in the Ed forum, where you will also find announcements. You will find the course Ed on the course Canvas page or in the header link above. For external enquiries, emergencies, or personal matters that you don't wish to put in a private Ed post, you can email us at [email protected] . Please send all emails to this mailing list - do not email the instructors directly.

What is this course about?

Natural language processing (NLP) or computational linguistics is one of the most important technologies of the information age. Applications of NLP are everywhere because people communicate almost everything in language: web search, advertising, emails, customer service, language translation, virtual agents, medical reports, politics, etc. In the last decade, deep learning (or neural network) approaches have obtained very high performance across many different NLP tasks, using single end-to-end neural models that do not require traditional, task-specific feature engineering. In this course, students will gain a thorough introduction to cutting-edge research in Deep Learning for NLP. Through lectures, assignments and a final project, students will learn the necessary skills to design, implement, and understand their own neural network models, using the Pytorch framework.

“Take it. CS221 taught me algorithms. CS229 taught me math. CS224N taught me how to write machine learning models.” – A CS224N student on Carta

Previous offerings

Below you can find archived websites and student project reports from previous years. Disclaimer: assignments are subject to change - please do not assume that assignments will be unchanged from last year!

Prerequisites

All class assignments will be in Python (using NumPy and PyTorch ). If you need to remind yourself of Python, or you're not very familiar with NumPy, you can come to the Python review session in week 1 (listed in the schedule ). If you have a lot of programming experience but in a different language (e.g. C/C++/Matlab/Java/Javascript), you will probably be fine.

You should be comfortable taking (multivariable) derivatives and understanding matrix/vector notation and operations.

You should know the basics of probabilities, gaussian distributions, mean, standard deviation, etc.

We will be formulating cost functions, taking derivatives and performing optimization with gradient descent. If you already have basic machine learning and/or deep learning knowledge, the course will be easier; however it is possible to take CS224n without it. There are many introductions to ML, in webpage, book, and video form. One approachable introduction is Hal Daumé’s in-progress A Course in Machine Learning . Reading the first 5 chapters of that book would be good background. Knowing the first 7 chapters would be even better!

Reference Texts

The following texts are useful, but none are required. All of them can be read free online.

• Dan Jurafsky and James H. Martin. Speech and Language Processing (2024 pre-release)
• Jacob Eisenstein. Natural Language Processing
• Yoav Goldberg. A Primer on Neural Network Models for Natural Language Processing
• Ian Goodfellow, Yoshua Bengio, and Aaron Courville. Deep Learning
• Delip Rao and Brian McMahan. Natural Language Processing with PyTorch (requires Stanford login).
• Lewis Tunstall, Leandro von Werra, and Thomas Wolf. Natural Language Processing with Transformers

If you have no background in neural networks but would like to take the course anyway, you might well find one of these books helpful to give you more background:

• Michael A. Nielsen. Neural Networks and Deep Learning
• Eugene Charniak. Introduction to Deep Learning

Assignments (54%)

There are five weekly assignments, which will improve both your theoretical understanding and your practical skills. All assignments contain both written questions and programming parts. In office hours, TAs may look at students’ code for assignments 1, 2 and 3 but not for assignments 4 and 5.

• Assignment 1 (6%): Introduction to word vectors
• Assignment 2 (12%): Derivatives and implementation of word2vec algorithm
• Assignment 3 (12%): Dependency parsing and neural network foundations
• Assignment 4 (12%): Neural Machine Translation with sequence-to-sequence, attention, and subwords
• Assignment 5 (12%): Self-supervised learning and fine-tuning with Transformers
• Deadlines : All assignments are due on either a Tuesday or a Thursday before class (i.e. before 4:30pm). All deadlines are listed in the schedule .
• Submission : Assignments are submitted via Gradescope . You will be able to access the course Gradescope page on Canvas. If you need to sign up for a Gradescope account, please use your @stanford.edu email address. Further instructions are given in each assignment handout. Do not email us your assignments .
• Late start : If the result gives you a higher grade, we will not use your assignment 1 score, and we will give you an assignment grade based on counting each of assignments 2–5 at 13.5%.
• Collaboration : Study groups are allowed, but students must understand and complete their own assignments, and hand in one assignment per student. If you worked in a group, please put the names of the members of your study group at the top of your assignment. Please ask if you have any questions about the collaboration policy.
• Honor Code : We expect students to not look at solutions or implementations online. Like all other classes at Stanford, we take the student Honor Code seriously. We sometimes use automated methods to detect overly similar assignment solutions.

Final Project (43%)

The Final Project offers you the chance to apply your newly acquired skills towards an in-depth application. Students have two options: the Default Final Project (in which students tackle a predefined task, namely implementing a minimalist version of BERT) or a Custom Final Project (in which students choose their own project involving human language and deep learning). Examples of both can be seen on last year's website . Note: TAs may not look at students' code for either the default or custom final projects.

Important information

• Project proposal (5%)
• Project milestone (5%)
• Project poster (3%)
• Project report (30%)
• Deadlines : The project proposal, milestone and report are all due at 4:30pm. All deadlines are listed in the schedule .
• Default Final Project : In this project, students implement parts of the BERT architecture and use it to tackle 3 downstream tasks. Similar to previous years, the code is in PyTorch.
• Project advice [ lecture slides ] [ custom project tips ]: The Practical Tips for Final Projects lecture provides guidance for choosing and planning your project. To get project advice from staff members, first look at each staff member's areas of expertise on the office hours page . This should help you find a staff member who is knowledgable about your project area.
• Ethics-related questions : For guidance on projects dealing with ethical questions, or ethical questions that arise during your project, please contact Benji Xie ( [email protected] ) or Regina Wang ( [email protected] ).
• Project ideas from Stanford researchers : We have collected a list of project ideas from members of the Stanford AI Lab — these are a great opportunity to work on an interesting research problem with an external mentor. If you want to do these, get started early!

Practicalities

• Team size : Students may do final projects solo, or in teams of up to 3 people. We strongly recommend you do the final project in a team. Larger teams are expected to do correspondingly larger projects, and you should only form a 3-person team if you are planning to do an ambitious project where every team member will have a significant contribution.
• Contribution : In the final report we ask for a statement of what each team member contributed to the project. Team members will typically get the same grade, but we may differentiate in extreme cases of unequal contribution. You can contact us in confidence in the event of unequal contribution.
• External collaborators : You can work on a project that has external (non CS224n student) collaborators, but you must make it clear in your final report which parts of the project were your work.
• Sharing projects : You can share a single project between CS224n and another class, but we expect the project to be accordingly bigger, and you must declare that you are sharing the project in your project proposal.
• Mentors : Every custom project team has a mentor, who gives feedback and advice during the project. Default project teams do not have mentors. A project may have an external (i.e., not course staff) mentor; otherwise, we will assign a CS224n staff mentor to custom project teams after project proposals.
• Computing resources : All teams will receive credits to use Google Cloud Platform, thanks to a kind donation by Google!
• You can use any deep learning framework you like (PyTorch, TensorFlow, etc.)
• More generally, you may use any existing code, libraries, etc. and consult any papers, books, online references, etc. for your project. However, you must cite your sources in your writeup and clearly indicate which parts of the project are your contribution and which parts were implemented by others.
• Under no circumstances may you look at another CS224n group’s code, or incorporate their code into your project.

Participation (3%)

We appreciate everyone being actively involved in the class! There are several ways of earning participation credit, which is capped at 3%:

• Attending guest speakers' lectures :
• In the second half of the class, we have four invited speakers. Our guest speakers make a significant effort to come lecture for us, so (both to show our appreciation and to continue attracting interesting speakers) we do not want them lecturing to a largely empty room. As such, we encourage students to attend these virtual lectures live, and participate in Q&A.
• All students get 0.375% per speaker (1.5% total) for either attending the guest lecture in person, or by writing a reaction paragraph if you watched the talk remotely; details will be provided. Students do not need to attend lecture live to write these reaction paragraphs; they may watch asynchronously.
• Completing feedback surveys : We will send out two feedback surveys (mid-quarter and end-of-quarter) to help us understand how the course is going, and how we can improve. Each of the two surveys are worth 0.5%.
• Ed participation : The top ~20 contributors to Ed will get 3%; others will get credit in proportion to the participation of the ~20th person.
• Karma point : Any other act that improves the class, like helping out another student in office hours, which a CS224n TA or instructor notices and deems worthy: 1%
• Each student has 6 late days to use. A late day extends the deadline 24 hours. You can use up to 3 late days per assignment (including all five assignments, project proposal, project milestone and project final report).
• Final project teams can share late days between members. For example, a group of three people must have at least six late days between them to extend the deadline by two days. If any late days are being shared, this must be clearly marked at the beginning of the report, and we will release a form on Ed that teams should fill out. .
• Once you have used all 6 late days, the penalty is 1% off the final course grade for each additional late day.

Regrade Requests

If you feel you deserved a better grade on an assignment, you may submit a regrade request on Gradescope within 3 days after the grades are released. Your request should briefly summarize why you feel the original grade was unfair. Your TA will reevaluate your assignment as soon as possible, and then issue a decision. If you are still not happy, you can ask for your assignment to be regraded by an instructor.

Credit/No credit enrollment

If you take the class credit/no credit then you are graded in the same way as those registered for a letter grade. The only difference is that, providing you reach a C- standard in your work, it will simply be graded as CR.

All students welcome

We are committed to doing what we can to work for equity and to create an inclusive learning environment that actively values the diversity of backgrounds, identities, and experiences of everyone in CS224N. We also know that we will sometimes make missteps. If you notice some way that we could do better, we hope that you will let someone in the course staff know about it.

Well-Being and Mental Health

If you are experiencing personal, academic, or relationship problems and would like to talk to someone with training and experience, reach out to the Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) on campus. CAPS is the university’s counseling center dedicated to student mental health and wellbeing. Phone assessment appointments can be made at CAPS by calling 650-723-3785, or by accessing the VadenPatient portal through the Vaden website.

Auditing the course

In general we are happy to have auditors if they are a member of the Stanford community (registered student, official visitor, staff, or faculty). If you want to actually master the material of the class, we very strongly recommend that auditors do all the assignments. However, due to high enrollment, we cannot grade the work of any students who are not officially enrolled in the class.

Students with Documented Disabilities

We assume that all of us learn in different ways, and that the organization of the course must accommodate each student differently. We are committed to ensuring the full participation of all enrolled students in this class. If you need an academic accommodation based on a disability, you should initiate the request with the Office of Accessible Education (OAE) . The OAE will evaluate the request, recommend accommodations, and prepare a letter for faculty. Students should contact the OAE as soon as possible and at any rate in advance of assignment deadlines, since timely notice is needed to coordinate accommodations. Students should also send your accommodation letter to either the staff mailing list ( [email protected] ) or make a private post on Ed, as soon as possible.

OAE accommodations for group projects: OAE accommodations will not be extended to collaborative assignments.

AI Tools Policy

Students are required to independently submit their solutions for CS224N homework assignments. Collaboration with generative AI tools such as Co-Pilot and ChatGPT is allowed, treating them as collaborators in the problem-solving process. However, the direct solicitation of answers or copying solutions, whether from peers or external sources, is strictly prohibited.

Employing AI tools to substantially complete assignments or exams will be considered a violation of the Honor Code. For additional details, please refer to the Generative AI Policy Guidance here .

Sexual violence

Academic accommodations are available for students who have experienced or are recovering from sexual violence. If you would like to talk to a confidential resource, you can schedule a meeting with the Confidential Support Team or call their 24/7 hotline at: 650-725-9955. Counseling and Psychological Services also offers confidential counseling services. Non-confidential resources include the Title IX Office, for investigation and accommodations, and the SARA Office, for healing programs. Students can also speak directly with the teaching staff to arrange accommodations. Note that university employees – including professors and TAs – are required to report what they know about incidents of sexual or relationship violence, stalking and sexual harassment to the Title IX Office. Students can learn more at https://vaden.stanford.edu/sexual-assault .

Updated lecture slides will be posted here shortly before each lecture. (All CS 224N slides originally by Prof. Chris Manning, unless otherwise specified.) Other links contain last year's slides, which are mostly similar.

Lecture notes will be uploaded a few days after most lectures. The notes (which cover approximately the first half of the course content) give supplementary detail beyond the lectures.