How to Use Onshape with Your Learning Management System (LMS)

Engineering educators around the world are choosing Onshape as their CAD solution. Students and teachers alike are elevating their design and engineering skills through the power of real-time collaboration, simplified document management, and access on any device.

Teachers love the ability to find and assign lessons from the Onshape Learning Center while easily organizing student work using classes and assignments.

However, what are the most effective ways to connect these to their learning management systems (LMS)? Read on to learn some best practices.

Getting Set Up as an Educator

Before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s make sure you’re set up to teach with Onshape.

If you already have an Onshape account, check your plan:

• If you’re in an Educator plan, you’ll see “Subscription: Educator” at the bottom left of your screen.
• If you’re in an Education Enterprise, your URL will be unique to your organization, and you’ll have access to class creation and management tools.

If you do not have an Onshape account or are not on one of the above plans, fill out this simple form to get started or have your account type upgraded. Then you’ll be ready to create your own classes and get teaching with Onshape.

Need a little help getting things set up? Check out Teaching a Class with Onshape course in our Learning Center.

Assigning Work in Onshape

Once you’ve got everything set up, you are ready to assign work using one of the following assignment options.

1. Start with a blank document.
2. Use starter documents.
3. Let students submit their own work.

Each assignment has a unique URL you can easily share with students. Just copy the link from the assignment you’ve created and paste it into your LMS assignment. You could also link to the assignments dashboard.

Teachers appreciate this simple link sharing so students can be directed exactly where they need to go in Onshape without navigating beyond your LMS.

For lessons from the Learning Center curriculum, starter documents are the recommended option.

Assigning Work from Learning Center Curriculum Documents

For instance, you may choose to use our Intro to CAD course. Once you’ve decided on the lessons you want to use, make your own copy of the documents in the curriculum and choose where you want them to be saved in your account. We recommend saving in your personal “Owned by me” section of your account or another curriculum folder. When you create an assignment in your class, you will select Option 2 in the list and choose your copy of the curriculum document.

Because Onshape isn’t a standalone LMS, teachers often link their Onshape assignments to a corresponding assignment in their own LMS. This keeps grades and submissions consistent across all your course materials.

To do this, just open the Onshape assignment, copy the link, and paste it into your LMS.

Assigning Work from Learning Center Pathways

Learning pathways in the Learning Center work a little differently than our curriculum documents. Because they are set up as self-paced sessions for learners to follow, there are no curriculum documents to copy.

For example, in our CAD Basics pathway, students follow along with both videos and interactive exercises. In this case, teachers will want to direct students to the pathway landing page and share the link for that page.

Once again, students navigate directly to the Onshape lesson of their choice simply by accessing the link in their LMS assignment.

Submissions and Reviewing Student Work in Onshape

When it’s time for students to submit their work, here’s a smooth workflow that many educators find effective:

• Students submit their assignments directly in Onshape using the Classes & Assignments feature.
• Then they either mark it as submitted in your LMS or paste the link to their Onshape document into the LMS assignment submission field.
• From there, you can open the Onshape document to review and provide feedback.

You can provide feedback right in Onshape using the comments and tagging system. After reviewing their work, you could mark the item as “Needs Revision” and give the student an opportunity to make changes and submit again.

If the assignment is complete, you can mark the assignment as “Graded” in Onshape and then enter grades in the LMS.

While doing this, you may find it helpful to use two screens – one for viewing the Onshape work, and the other for entering grades in your LMS.

Remember, all feedback will be given in Onshape, but you must go back to the LMS to submit grades.

Submissions and Reviewing Work in Your LMS

Some instructors prefer to manage student submissions entirely within their LMS without using Onshape’s Classes & Assignments. If that’s your approach, just make sure students share their Onshape documents with you.

Let them know what kind of sharing permissions you need – whether it’s full access or just a viewable link. Students can then paste the link to their document directly into the LMS assignment.

This method is especially common when using Learning Center pathways or courses. In such cases, teachers often require students to upload a screenshot of their completion certificate as proof of work.

CAD Checker App

Another great tool to connect Onshape to your LMS is our CAD Checker App, available in the Onshape App Store. This app allows you to compare student models submitted in an assignment to your answer key model. After the app has completed the analysis, you can download the report of results as a CSV.

If your LMS supports grade imports, the report can be reformatted or copied into the appropriate CSV template provided by your LMS, then imported to populate grades.

LMS and Onshape Education: An Easy Connection

Every LMS works a little differently, and every educator has their own teaching style, so don’t be afraid to experiment and find what fits you best. Whether you’re grading directly in Onshape, managing everything through your LMS, or a combination of both, the flexibility is there.

Explore the tools available in your LMS and choose the workflow that makes the most sense for your classroom.