A. Overview
The Career Exploration Assignment helps undecided students identify career directions aligned with their interests, strengths, and values. Students leave with concrete next steps.
There are three structured components to the Career Exploration Assignment, which include:
Discovery - Assess Students' Interests & Strengths
Exploration - Compare career paths
Action Plan - Concrete next steps
This assignment is best used for:
First-year foundations and career courses.
Orientation and transition programming.
Students feel overwhelmed by options.
B. Steps to Create a Career Exploration Assignment
1. Start from Home
Log in to your InStage account (InStage Login).
2. Create Assignment
From the Home page, click Create Assignment.
You can also use the left-hand sidebar to access Create Assignment directly.
On the Create Assignment screen, select Career Exploration to begin setting up your assignment.
Ref Image: Home page Overview. Shows the main dashboard with "Create Assignment" as the primary action.
Ref Image: Highlights the left-hand menu with quick access to "Create Assignment." Once you select Career Exploration and click Create Assignment, you’ll see a multi-step setup flow with three sections to be completed and reviewed: Career Path Details and Dates --> Advanced Options --> Review.
3. Configure Career Exploration Assignment
Section 1: Career Path Details and Dates
1. Enter Assignment Name
Enter a clear, descriptive name (e.g., Career Path Discovery - February 2026).
This is a required field.
2. Enter a Description
Provide a short description that appears in the student’s enrolment email and on their start page.
Example: This career path assignment helps student explore and plan their career paths. Through regular check-ins, students will discover possible career paths, progress through a roadmap, and get guidance when needed.
This is a required field.
3. Assignment Due Dates
Choose a due date format:
Fixed Due Dates: Set specific availability and due dates
Rolling Due Dates: Dates adjust based on when students are added to the assignment
4. Career Exploration Call Duration
Enter:
Available Date (when students can begin)
Due Date (final submission deadline)
EXAMPLE:
Career Exploration Call → Available: Feb 9, Due: Feb 16
Ref Image: Highlights the Career Path Details & Dates section for creating a Career Exploration Assignment, starting with Assignment Name, Description, Due Dates and Call Window, with the option to move forward by clicking Next, Save Draft or Back.
At any point during the assignment creation, you can navigate to the bottom of the screen and click Back, Save Draft or Next to move forward.
Section 2: Advanced Options
Configure additional options for your assignment creation, such as:
1. Grading
Select how you want this assignment to be graded.
No Grading
Pass or Fail (with an option to show or hide the grades to students)
2. Report Content
Choose what information to include in reports:
Include Student Name and Email (important to include for reporting and completion purposes)
Include Transcript
Include Audio
3. Add Students Now (optional)
You can add students at any time after the assignment is deployed.
Enter student emails individually, or upload a CSV file with email addresses.
Add Groups to organize students into sections or cohorts.
If you add 2+ groups, students will be prompted to select their group when joining the assignment.
4. Add Administrators Now (optional)
You can add administrators at any time after the assignment is deployed.
Enter administrator emails individually, or upload a CSV file with email addresses.
5. Student Notifications & Summaries
Choose which automated messages and summaries students receive:
Automatic Notification:
Enrollment notification email (sent by default)
Optional Notifications:
Availability window open notification
24-hour reminder email (This is recommended to be selected)
Due date reminder email
These optional notifications help reduce missed deadlines and keep students informed throughout the assignment window.
Session Summaries: show previous call summaries (This is recommended to be selected to help see previous call information and progression)
6. Admin Report Options
Customize how and when you receive aggregated reports:
Report Frequency:
Send a report 24 hours after each due date (This is recommended to be selected)
Send a report only after the final due date.
Do not send email reports.
Select additional email items, such as:
Link to admin summary.
Include a PDF summary in the email.
Noteworthy Comments
Email assignment faculty members if a student statement, comment, or question is labelled high priority
Ref Image: Highlights the Advanced Details section with the option to move forward by clicking Next, Save Draft or Back.
After completing all setup fields, click Next to reach the Review stage. This is your final checkpoint before launching the assignment.
Section 3: Review Details & Deploy Assignment
You’ll see a summary of everything entered:
Dates (availability and due dates)
Assignment Details (name, description, groups, grading)
Report Content (student info included in reports)
Student Notifications & Summaries (emails and reminders)
Admin Report Options (frequency and format of reports)
Ref Image: Highlights the Review section, before the Assignment is deployed.,
If you need to make changes, click Back to return to the relevant sections.
If everything looks correct, click Deploy to launch the assignment.
⚠️ Important: Once you click Deploy, not all fields can be edited. Double‑check all details before finalizing.
C. Share Assignment / Add Students and Faculty Members
Once the Assignment has been created you have two options to include Students in the assignment.
Option 1: Share a direct link for Students to join the assignment.
Option 2: Add Students (if you skipped this step in the Advanced Options).
Students will automatically receive notifications based on your chosen settings.
Add additional faculty members (if you skipped this step in the Advanced Options).
Option 1: Share Assignment Link
Option 2: Add Students
Paste student emails manually.
Upload a CSV file.
Share a unique enrolment link (also available after the assignment has been deployed).
6. Add Additional Faculty Members
