how to grade a group assignment in canvas

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Create weighted assignment groups in canvas for grading.

• cb christine brown
• ej edwin jeng
• mv maggie vecchione
• MK Melissa Kane
• rt rebecca taub
• Last updated: Jul 3, 2023 by Claire Streckenbach

When you have different assignment types (e.g., assignments, discussions, quizzes, etc.), and a weighted grading system, you may use Canvas’ Assignment Groups to calculate weighted grades and organize the assignments. Based on the information you’ve articulated in your syllabus, you can quickly set up Assignment Groups. 

Create Assignment Groups

• Log in to Canvas at canvas.brown.edu and select your course from the Global Navigation menu on the left.

Create an Assignment Group

• Enter the name of the assignment group in the Group Name  box.
• Enter the percentage of the total grade in the % of total grade  box. You can leave the box empty and/or change the number later.
• Click Save .

Create Weighted Assignment Groups for Grading

• Enter the percentage of the total grade for each assignment group in their respective % boxes.
• Make sure the Total is 100%.
• Click Save.

Manage Assignment Groups

• Edit the Group Name  and % of total grade  in their respective boxes.
• Enter the number of scores to drop from each student's final grade in the Lowest Scores  and Highest Scores  boxes.

• To reorder an assignment group in the Assignments  page,  click and drag the assignment group.
• To delete a group,  click the Edit  (gear) icon to the right of the group name, then click Delete . You can delete the assignments within the assignment group or move them to another assignment group.

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Grading Methods for Group Work

Once you have the group activity established, you should consider the different methods and tools available for grading group work. Below, we provide you with a few different methods and tools available for you to consider. 

Using Canvas Gradebook with Groups

• Student groups filter:  Within the Canvas gradebook, instructors may choose to  filter by student groups . Note that choosing to  enable SpeedGrader to launch filtered by student group  will force this filter to carry through to SpeedGrader.  
• One grade for the whole group:  The default setting when  creating a group assignment  will assign the same grade to all students in the group.  
• Individual grades within a group:  Instructors may choose to  assign grades to students individually .  

Evaluating Participation in Group Discussions

• Speedgrader:  You can  grade and provide feedback on graded discussions in SpeedGrader . Discussion replies will display individually by default but can also be viewed in the context of the full discussion.  
• Group vs. whole class discussion:  Once a discussion has been marked as a group discussion, the topic is copied to each group’s space within the Canvas course. These can be accessed by clicking on the group name in the blue box at the top of the discussion. Any posts the instructor makes on the main discussion will not be visible to students who are assigned to a group. Learn more about  creating group discussions in Canvas .  
• Summary discussion:  When using group discussions, it is common to have a group leader or facilitator summarize the discussion for all students to see on a separate Discussion thread. Consider awarding participation points or extra credit for this additional work. Rotating who is the group leader provides everyone with this opportunity for extra credit.   
• Advanced scripting:  For those more comfortable with technology, consider exploring the use of some custom scripts created by other Canvas partners and institutes. For instance, steps 1-3 of “ Harvesting Discussion Data ” will walk you through the process to install a Firefox or Chrome browser to export discussion data, including post counts per student.  

Using Cybox to Grade Large Files

To accommodate large file sizes, consider creating a  Canvas assignment  using online submissions through  CyBox . Find instructions on the  CyBox  technology page on the CELT website  to create and grade  CyBox  assignments.  

Grading a Peer Review Activity

Here’s a Canvas Peer Review workaround to ensure students provide quality feedback to each other. To begin, set up two assignments in Canvas.  

• The first assignment is worth zero points, requires the Peer Review option selected (see  peer review assignment web guide ), and assigns peer reviewers automatically (view  automatically assign peers web guide ). A best practice is to allow at least 1 day to lapse between the assignment due date and the date peer reviews are assigned in order to avoid missing any late submissions.  
• The second, no-submission assignment serves to grade the peer reviewers. After scanning the reviewers’ feedback on the first assignment (view  student peer review comments web guide ), utilize the second assignment to enter the grades for all peer reviewers. This approach will help students discover how to give valuable feedback, and reading each other’s writing will vastly improve their work before you even grade it. Consider attaching a rubric to make the scores more meaningful.  

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Grading assignments in canvas.

On This Page

Enter Score on Grades Page

View online submission and submit a score in speedgrader, sort and name display options, annotation tools, grade entry, use a rubric, additional feedback, moving to next student, more resources.

If students aren't submitting anything, like for an in-class activity or participation points, you will need to create a "no submission" assignment on the Assignments page. Then, you can go right to the Grades page and enter a grade for each student, just as you would in spreadsheet software.

Enter "EX" (excused) for students who do not need to complete the assignment so that the score won't count as a "0" when it comes time to calculate a final grade.

When students submit artifacts online (text, document, picture, etc.) you will use the SpeedGrader to grade the assignment. The SpeedGrader will show a preview of the student submission and give you a box to enter the score and a comments field.

You can access the SpeedGrader in a couple of ways:

On the Canvas Dashboard, click on the assignment title in the To Do list

In the course, click on the assignment title in the To Do list on the home page

In the course, click on the Assignment page, then the title of the assignment, and click SpeedGrader

In the course, click on Grades , then the three dots, and SpeedGrader

Once you are in the SpeedGrader, you can sort the submissions alphabetically, by the date of submission, or by submission status and hide the student names.

If students submitted documents for the assignment, you have the option to use a pointer, highlighter, text entry, text strikethrough, or box outline to provide feedback. When using these tools, be sure to add a comment for students to view the feedback. Here is sample verbiage you might use:

Please be sure to view the comments on the body of your paper by clicking on the "View Feedback" link from the assignment page.

If you prefer to use annotation tools using an application on your computer, you can download the file and upload the edited version. For example, you could download the submitted file and open it into a word processing software like Microsoft Word and use the Track Changes feature. There, you can save your document with the annotations and upload them to SpeedGrader by using the File Attachment button underneath the comment box on the right-hand panel of the Speedgrader.

Enter the score in the grade field on the right panel.

You can use a rubric to grade the assignment. See Rubrics for more details.

You can provide additional feedback to students in the form of comments, an uploaded file, video, or audio recording.

You can move to the next student by clicking on the left arrow at the top of the page, or use the dropdown menu to select a specific student.

• Canvas guide: How do I use SpeedGrader?
• Canvas guide: How do I post grades for an assignment in the Gradebook?  

• Assignment Groups

How Do I Use Assignment Groups in Canvas?

In Canvas, assignment groups allow you to organize your assignments into discrete groups. For example, you may want to group all the essay assignments in your course within one assignment group titled ‘Essays’.

Assignment groups allow you to leverage a weighted grade scheme in your Canvas course. A weighted grade scheme allows you to distribute percentages of a student’s final grade across these assignment groups. Following our previous example, you may want the Essays group to account for 30% of the final grade. 

By default, Grade weighting is turned off for all Canvas courses. To turn on Grade weighting, please follow Canvas’ tutorial for weighting final grades based on Assignment Groups.

How do grade weights get distributed across an Assignment Group?

In Canvas, the weight of an assignment group is distributed proportionally across the assignments inside it. Because of this, assignments worth different points will be weighted differently if they are in the same assignment group.

Here’s an example of an assignment group in Canvas. This group is worth 30% of the total grade and contains three assignments with different point values. The table further below outlines how the assignment group weight of 30% is distributed across the three Assignments.

Here, since Essay Two is out of 200 points, it will count two times more than Essays One and Three.

***assignment group weight distribution for assignments with differing point totals.

If you want all assignments within a given assignment group to be worth the same weight, you have two options:

1. Make all assignments inside an assignment group worth the same number of points, as shown below.

***In this scenario, we have changed Essay Two’s point value from 200 to 100 points. Since all point values in this assignment Group are the same, each Assignment will be worth the same, 10% in this case.

2. Create new assignment groups for any outlier assignments if you cannot or do not want to change their point value.

***In this scenario, we have not changed Essay Two’s point values, so we will need to put it in its own assignment group worth 10% and change the first assignment group to be worth 20% so that all Essays are now worth 10% of the total grade.

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Use Weighted Assignment Groups in Your Canvas Course

by Thomas Keith | Aug 26, 2022 | Canvas , Canvas Features/Functions , How-tos , Pedagogy

Introduction

• Create an Assignment Group

Weight Assignment Groups

Use weighted assignment groups to calculate the total grade, drop a low score from an assignment group, further resources and getting help.

It is good pedagogical practice to maintain a Canvas Gradebook that gives an accurate reflection of your students’ performance. Students frequently consult their grades in Canvas to get a sense of how they are doing in your course and of areas in which they need to improve. You can use weighted Assignment Groups in your Canvas course to help ensure that the grade calculated by Canvas is indicative of students’ actual performance.

Create An Assignment Group

An Assignment Group in Canvas is a means of sorting assignments according to the categories to which they belong in your syllabus. By default, new assignments created in your Canvas course will be added to a catch-all group called Assignments . (Note that “assignments” in this context refers to anything that is graded; this can be an Assignment proper, a Quiz, or a graded Discussion.)

You can create a new Assignment Group by going to the Assignments tab in your course and clicking the gray +Group button at the upper right.

It is a good idea to give your group a name that reflects the assessment categories on your syllabus. For example, if the group contains quizzes that are given each week of the quarter, you might call it Weekly Quizzes .

Once a group has been created, there are two ways to add assignments to it:

Assignment Groups are most useful when used to weight grades. With weighted Assignment Groups, you can make the organization of your assignments in Canvas match the organization used on your syllabus. You also have greater flexibility than is offered by weighting each individual assignment: if an assignment needs to be dropped or added, you can simply remove it from/add it to the appropriate assignment group, and Canvas will automatically recalculate the final grade accordingly.

For the remainder of this post, we will use as an example a course in which the grading is as follows:

• Five short quizzes: 20% of the final grade
• One midterm exam: 30% of the final grade
• One final exam: 40% of the final grade
• Attendance and participation: 10% of the final grade

To begin, the instructor creates four assignment groups, named Short Quizzes , Midterm , Final Exam , and Attendance and Participation .

She then clicks the column of three dots at the upper right and chooses Assignment Groups Weight .

She then checks the box next to Weight final grade based on assignment groups . This allows her to set the percentage weight for each assignment group.

Note that Canvas shows the instructor that the assignment groups add up to 100%. It is important to check this, as Canvas will not stop you if your groups add up to less than or greater than 100%.

Once the instructor has weighted her groups to her satisfaction, she clicks the maroon Save button. Canvas then indicates across from each assignment group’s name the percentage value of the total grade that it carries.

The instructor can now create her assignments and add them to the appropriate assignment groups by one of the two methods enumerated above.

An important caveat: If an assignment group contains more than one assignment, it is important that all assignments have the same point value for Canvas’ math to work out correctly. This avoids the risk of “double weighting,” which will occur if assignments within a group have different point values. For example: if a quiz worth 5 points and a quiz worth 50 points are placed in the same assignment group, the latter quiz will be worth ten times as much in Canvas’ calculations, which will greatly skew the result. In our example course, the instructor has avoided this risk by creating five quizzes within the Short Quizzes group, each of which is worth three points.

The Midterm and Final Exam groups each contain only one assignment. This can be an assignment of type Online Assignment if the instructor wishes her students to submit it through Canvas, or it can be an assignment of type On Paper if students will hand in a physical exam paper.

For the Attendance and Participation group, the instructor creates an assignment of type No Submission .

Remember that in Canvas, there is a one-to-one correspondence between assignments and columns in the Gradebook. Thus, if you wish to create a column for (e.g.) students’ attendance/participation grade, it is necessary to create a corresponding assignment. By making it of type No Submission , the instructor has ensured that students do not need to hand in any work, while still creating a Gradebook column where the grade is recorded.

Note also that if students need to submit work that will not be graded, such as an outline for an upcoming paper, you can create an assignment of submission type Online Assignment and check the box Do not count this assignment toward the final grade in the assignment options area.

Using weighted assignment groups allows Canvas to do your math for you. A column will appear in the Gradebook for each assignment group. The Total column will be calculated by multiplying the value of each column by its percentage weight and adding the results. In the case of the student below, the grade is calculated as follows:

Short Quizzes: 12 out of 15 possible points = 80 * 0.2 = 16

Midterm Exam: 90 out of 100 possible points = 90*0.3 = 27

Final Exam: 80 out of 100 possible points = 80*0.4 = 32

Attendance and Participation: 100 out of 100 possible points = 100*0.1 = 10

Total: 16+27+32+10 = 85

If you wish, you can set an assignment group to drop one or more low scores (or high scores) automatically. To do this, go to the group within the Assignments tab and click on the column of three dots across from its name to open a dialog box. Then enter the number of low or high scores you wish to drop and click Save .

You can also specify that an assignment should never be dropped by clicking the blue +Add an assignment link next to Never drop: and choosing its name from the drop-down that appears.

For more information, please see:

• How do I weight the final course grade based on assignment groups?
• How do I create rules for an assignment group?

If you have additional questions, Academic Technology Solutions is here to help. You can attend our workshops to learn more about Canvas and other tools for teaching with technology. You can also drop into our Office Hours (virtual and in-person) to ask any questions you may have; no appointment is required.

(Cover Photo by Piret Ilver on Unsplash )

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University Center for Teaching and Learning

How to use the gradebook to enter and calculate grades in canvas.

• Quick Start
• Instructor Help
• Student Help

Using the Gradebook

Are you looking for instructions on how to import your Canvas final grades into PeopleSoft? Instructions are available from the Office of the Registrar here .

This page covers:

• Interaction between the Assignments page and the Grades page, and
• Using the gradebook, including calculating grades.

Assignments Page

Before getting into the grades page proper, let us explore some additional features on the assignments page that manage parts of your grading in Canvas.

• (B) Create new assignment groups with the +Group button.
• (C) Options for your assignments page overall are behind the top-right most button.
• (D) If your course has weighted scoring enabled, you can easily see the value for each assignment group.
• (E) If any assignment group rules apply, you can see them like shown here. Pointing at this for a moment will remind you which rules are applied.
• (F) This button give you options for the given assignment group.

Assignment Groups

Assignment groups are how you can organize your assignments in Canvas. They function on the assignments page similar to how modules work for your course. You can use assignment groups only for organization if you would prefer (such as all sub-parts of a large semester-long assessment belonging to one group, or all reflection papers being organized together), but using assignment groups also adds the following features:

• The Grades page can show the subtotal for each assignment group as its own column.
• Assignment groups can be set to drop certain scores, such the common “drop lowest quiz”.
• Weighted scoring can be applied to the groups, such that all of the assignments in a group constitute a certain percentage of your course’s final grade.

Note : All courses start with and must have at least one assignment group.

Organizing Assignment Groups

Assignments and assignment groups will default to appearing in your Grades page in the same order as they appear on the Assignments page.

Assignment Group Rules (Dropping Lowest)

Using assignment groups, you can instruct Canvas to keep only the highest or lowest assignments in a group.

• Navigate to your course’s Assignments page.
• Click on the edit button to the right of the assignment group to modify. (F) in the above screenshot.
• Click edit.
• Enter the number of highest or lowest scores to ignore within a group.
• If any assignments be more important than others that they should not be dropped, click the Add Assignment link under Never Drop to add them to a list of assignments that are always kept.

View the full documentation for assignment group rules.

Weighted Final Grades

You can easily use Canvas to calculate your final scores for your course based on weighted percentages.

• Click on the edit button in the top right of the page. (C) in the above screenshot.
• Click Assignment Groups Weight.
• Check “Weight final grade…”
• Assign the percentage for each group. Canvas will show you the total shown. Any groups not contributing to the final score can be weighted to zero. Refer to the full documentation (linked below) to see what Canvas will do if your total is higher or lower than 100%.
• Click Save.

Note : Assignments preserve their relative weight (based on points) within an assignment group. An assignment worth more points than another in the same assignment group will contribute more to that group’s value. Canvas does not have equal distribution of all assignments within an assignment group unless all assignments have the same point value.

View the full documentation for weighted final scores.

Important note: Anything that is to appear in your gradebook needs to be an assignment in your course. To “add a column” to your gradebook, you must create an assignment. Learn more about creating assignments . You can create assignments that are of type “no submission” or “on paper” to handle assignments such as class participation or an in-class exam where the student does not directly submit something in Canvas for grading.

Gradebook Overview

Key parts of the Gradebook are indicated below.

• (A) The hamburger button shows or hides the course navigation menu . When you go to the gradebook, Canvas defaults to hiding this menu. Click on this to reveal it so you can return to other parts of your course.
• (B) The table in the center of the gradebook is the main part of content. Each row represents a student in your course, and each column an assignment. (Some columns represent calculated subtotals for assignment groups, or the final score for the course.)
• (C) Notice the horizontal scroll bar at the bottom of the page. The gradebook often gets quite wide as assignments are added.
• A “-” grade means the assignment is currently exempted and is the default grade. If an unsubmitted assignment should count against a student’s grades, make sure to enter a score of “0”. See the common tasks below for bulk filling blank.
• Note: A dark gray cell indicates that the assignment was not assigned to that student. A column with a lot of dark gray entries indicates either that the assignment was not published, or that there might be an issue with the Assign To box on that assignment’s settings.
• The column header also conveys additional information, including: its point value, whether or not the assignment grades are hidden (an eyeball in the left corner), if the assignment is unpublished, or that assignment’s grade posting policy. Clicking on the title in a column header takes you you to that assignment.
• (F) You can build filters with the filters button . Clicking the filters button will open a menu on the right to build and save filters for your gradebook. You can add conditions, name the filter set, and save it. In the future, just click the Apply Conditions switch to turn on or off all filters in that filter set at once. Only one filter set can be enabled at a time. An example of what you can do with filters would be “show me all the quizzes for students in my Tuesday section”.
• (G) The settings gear in the top right of the gradebook allows you to set grade policies for your course, such as late grade policies. You can also change view settings here, including changing the colors of the gradebook or disabling subtotal columns from appearing for you.
• (H) The gradebook view selection above the gradebook table allows you to choose which gradebook you want to view. Options include the standard gradebook, an individual view, or the gradebook history for your course where you can audit changes over time. Depending on some course options enabled, you may have additional options enabled here.
• (I) Use the Import and Export buttons to download or upload data from/to Canvas. Exporting your gradebook will create a CSV file for you to download. Import will request a CSV file to upload. When working with CSV files (such as in Excel), please make sure you do not sort the header columns or rows that Canvas provided.
• (J) Use the quick search boxes to filter your gradebook quickly to find a particular student or assignment. Just click into the box and start typ ing.

Common Tasks

Here are short descriptions of how the most common tasks are performed in the Canvas gradebook.

Verifying Online Submissions

Scroll horizontally (C) until you find the column for the assignment column. Then scroll vertically (if necessary) to see who has and has not submitted. Tip: Try tying in the Search Assignments and/or student name quick search (J) above to filter rather than scrolling.

Grading Online Submissions

Please see the Grade Assessments using SpeedGrader page for this.

Entering Grades

Either utilize the SpeedGrader, or scroll to cell (assignment column and student row) to enter the grade. Click in it, and type the score. You can move down a column by pressing enter. See the Student Information area below to learn how to mark exemptions.

Bulk Grading (and filling in zeroes)

If you have an assignment you want to enter a bulk grade for (such as “everyone gets 5 points for this extra credit assignment”), click on the options button for that column header and choose set default grade, type the score and click Set Default Grade. If you do this process with a grade of 0, and do not check to override, this will let you easily replace all “-” or missing assignments with a zero.

If you click the options button for the header of the total column at the end of the gradebook, you can choose Apply Score to Ungraded. This will let you tell Canvas to fill in a zero for all missing assignments in the gradebook. You might want to look at Gradebook History (discussed below) after using bulk grading options to verify what changes were made.

Checking Totals

Scroll to the rightmost column of the gradebook. Canvas displays the student’s score according to the available data. The total score is the overall course score, and subtotals are displayed for each assignment group. For more about weighted grades or dropping scores, see the above discussion about assignment groups.

Note: A grade of – (including future assignments) is usually not counted against a student’s score. Make sure to fill in grades for a complete gradebook. You can set late and missing submission polices. See Gradebook Settings below. You can also set grading schemas (number-to-letter grade values; check Related links on the Instructor Help tab).

Message Students

You can choose “Message Students Who” from any the options button for any assignment column to send messages to a filtered list of students in your course. Selecting this will allow you to choose to email students who have not yet submitted, have not yet been graded (but did submit), or scored greater than or less than a score you specify. After selecting your filter, you will get a list of the students who will be sent an Inbox message. You can X any of them to omit them from the list. Type your message and click send.

To send a message to a specific student, see Student Information below to learn about the Context Card.

Show or Hide Total or Subtotal Columns

To hide totals or subtotals from your view , click on the gear (G), change to View Options, and check the boxes to hide Totals or Subtotals. Click Apply at the bottom right. To hide totals and subtotals from your students’ views , go to Course Settings, and, at the bottom of Course Details, click More Options. Check or uncheck “Hide totals in student grades summary” and click Update Course Settings.

Changing the Gradebook View

Filter the gradebook.

To filter your gradebook, click the Filters button and click Create New Filter. Add Condition(s) and values and click the Apply Conditions toggle to use the filter. Only one filter set can be used at a time. You can give the current (new) filter a name and save it for easy use later. Use the trash can icon to remove any conditions or saved filters.

Sort the Gradebook

Gradebook history.

Select Gradebook History from the Gradebook menu. This will show you a register of every change in your gradebook, including before and after changes to grades, and who made the change. This data is preserved here even if you delete an assignment, or a student is removed from your course. Filter the list with the menus above the chart. To return to your gradebook, just select Grades again from the course navigation menu.

Individual View

Select Individual View from the Gradebook menu. You can use this view to focus on one student at a time, including the checkbox to hide student names as you review grading patterns. Once you select global settings, you select a student in the content selection area to see the breakdown of that student’s grades. Or select an assignment to see some statistics about it. (Or both be taken to that submission.) Individual view has links to other functionality discussed elsewhere on this page, such as Message Students Who. Return to the normal gradebook view by selecting Gradebook from the dropdown menu in the top right corner.

As an alternative to the Gradebook Individual View, try the Grades button from the student context card discussed later in this document. That view will show you the grades for each assignment in your course for that student in an easy-to-review format.

Student Information

Click on a student’s name in the first column of the gradebook, and a context card will pop up on the right of your view. This is a quick way to get an idea of the student’s performance information in your class. This shows information about the student you clicked on as seen in the screenshot below. You can see the, the student’s information, grades and recent assignments (the quantity varies by your screen size), and relative activity. The stars at the bottom show the student’s relative activity to others in your course. Clicking on the name views their profile page, the mail icon sends an inbox message, Grades takes you to viewing their individual grades page, and Analytics takes you to analytics for your course filtered by that student. (You can learn more about analytics, and what Canvas counts as participation on the help page for New Analytics .)

If you click on a cell in the gradebook, and click on the icon (appears like a door with an arrow) that appears in that cell, the grade detail tray will open on the on the right. This allows you to set the status of the assignment (such as to excuse the assignment, excluding it from grade calculations), or exchange comments with the student about the assignment. This pane also has arrows to go between students or assignments, and has a link to SpeedGrader, where it will take you directly to the submission for this cell.

Gradebook Policy Settings

Clicking the gear in the top right of the gradebook will open the menu as shown in the screenshot below. Here you can set course grade policies.

Late Policies

Note : The some of policies set here apply retroactively, so be careful with changing it after you already have grades in your course.

The “grade for missing submissions” setting allows you to apply a grade to assignments marked as missing. To count a missing assignment as zero, check this and fill in 0. Note that assignments without a due date are never missing unless you manually mark them as such.

The “deduction for late submissions” allows you to deduct a percentage from the grade per hour or day the assignment is late, and allows you to set a minimum grade (effectively a maximum late deduction). Note that assignments without a due date are never late unless you mark them as such.

Grade Posting Policy

On the Grade Posting Policy tab, you choose whether grades for assignments are set to be posted manually, or automatically. The default of automatic is that as soon as you enter a grade for a student, they can see it. You can override this on a per-assignment basis by clicking on that options button in that assignment from its column header. For any assignments that are set to a manual posting policy, students do not see any grades or feedback until you post them by clicking on the options button for that assignment. Additional information about this, including a useful flow chart, can be found on the Instructor Help tab.

Note: Comments can still be visible to the student before this, so be cautious what you enter as a comment in SpeedGrader or the Grade Detail Tray. Also, assignments created before setting this policy may not toggle. If you change this after you have already created assignments, verify individual assignments say manual in their column header.

Gradebook Help for Instructors

Video overview.

• How do I use the Gradebook?
• How do I create assignment columns for non-submission assignments in the Gradebook?
• How do I enter and edit grades in the Gradebook?
• How do I enter grades for an individual assignment as a specific grading type in the Gradebook?
• How do I apply scores to ungraded assignments?
• How do I change the status of a submission in the Gradebook?
• How do I post grades for an assignment in the Gradebook?
• How do I hide grades that were previously posted in the Gradebook?
• How do I use the Notes column in the Gradebook?
• How do I use the Total column in the Gradebook?
• How do I override a student’s final grade in the Gradebook?
• How do I use the icons and colors in the Gradebook?
• How do I change the color for a grading status in the Gradebook?
• How do I sort an individual assignment column in the Gradebook?
• How do I arrange columns in the Gradebook?
• How do I create a filter in Enhanced Gradebook Filter?
• How do I sort and display student data in the Gradebook?
• How do I view assignments or students individually in the Gradebook?
• How do I view a student’s Grades page in a course from the Gradebook?
• How do I view the history of all grading changes in the Gradebook?
• How do I view the Unpublished Assignments column in the Gradebook?

Tools and Communication

• How do I view a context card for a student in a course?
• How do I leave comments for students in the Gradebook?
• How do I send a message to students from the Gradebook?
• How do I export grades in the Gradebook?
• How do I import grades in the Gradebook?
• How do I download all student submissions for an assignment in the Gradebook?
• How do I upload all student submissions for an assignment in the Gradebook?
• How do I curve grades in the Gradebook?
• How do I edit the Roll Call Attendance assignment?
• How do I take roll call using the Attendance tool?
• How do I use the Roll Call Attendance tool in a course?

Assignment Groups (Categories/Weighting)

• How do I create rules for an assignment group?
• How do I weight the final course grade based on assignment groups?
• How do I use posting policies in a course?
• How do I select a grade posting policy for a course in the Gradebook?
• How do I select a grade posting policy for an assignment in the Gradebook?
• How do I apply a Late Submission policy in the Gradebook?
• How do I apply a Missing Submission policy in the Gradebook?
• How do I set a default grade for an assignment in the Gradebook?
• How do I import my final grades from Canvas to PeopleSoft/Faculty Center?
• How do I enable a grading scheme for a course?
• How do I add a grading scheme in a course?
• How do I use grading schemes in a course?
• How do I view grading schemes in a course?
• How do I get to SpeedGrader from the Gradebook?
• How do I use the Learning Mastery Gradebook to view outcome results in a course from the Gradebook?
• How do I view outcomes or student results individually in the Learning Mastery Gradebook from the Gradebook?

Gradebook Help for Students

• How do I view my grades in a current course?
• How do I use the icons and colors in the Grades page?
• How do I approximate my assignment scores using the What-If Grades feature?
• How do I view my grades in a concluded course?

Assignments

• How do I know when my instructor has graded my assignment?
• How do I view assignment comments from my instructor?
• How do I view my assessment results as a student in New Quizzes?
• How do I view quiz results as a student?
• How do I view quiz comments from my instructor?
• Where can I find my peers’ feedback for peer reviewed assignments?
• How do I view my Roll Call Attendance report as a student?
• How do I view my Learning Mastery scores in the Grades page?
• How do I download assignment submissions from all my courses?
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• Enter and Calculate Grades in Canvas
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Getting Started with Groups in Canvas

• Last modification date Updated On February 16, 2022
• Categories: Canvas , Groups
• Categories: collaboration , communication , content differentiation , Getting Started

Canvas  Groups  are a way for instructors to organize students within a course for group assignments, group discussions, or other collaborative work. The Groups tool creates course-like areas in Canvas that include the following navigational options:

• Announcements
• Discussions
• BigBlueButton (Formerly Conferences)
• Collaborations

Managing Group Sets

Managing groups, managing group enrollment, managing group activities & content.

A  Group Set  is a collection of groups. A new Group Set is needed for every assignment that calls for a new grouping of students. When getting started with Group Sets, learn to:

• Create a Group Set with the Canvas guide  How do I add a group set in a course?
• Edit a Group Set with the Canvas guide  How do I edit a group set in a course?

Do not delete a group set after submissions have been made by any group in that set.

Use unique group names in order to ensure students can identify which course the group is from, as all of their groups are listed in a single place outside of the course.

Do not delete a group after a submission has been made by that group.

Groups  are the specific groupings of students within a Group Set.  When getting started with Groups, learn to:

• Automatically create groups in a group set with the Canvas guide  How do I automatically create groups in a group set?
• Manually create groups in a group set with the Canvas guide  How do I manually create groups in a group set?
• Create self sign-up groups in a group set with the Canvas guide  How do I create self sign-up groups in a group set?
• Allow students to create groups with the Canvas guide  How do I allow students to create their own student groups?

Students can only belong to one group in a group set. This precludes them from taking part in group work or group discussions in Canvas in multiple groups for the same assignment/activity.

Do not change membership in a group after a submission has been made by that group.

When enrolling students in Groups, learn to:

• Automatically enroll students in groups with the Canvas guide  How do I automatically assign students to groups?
• Manually enroll students in groups with the Canvas guide  How do I manually assign students to groups?
• Assign a student leader to a group with the Canvas guide  How do I assign a student leader to a group?
• Change group enrollments with the Canvas guide  How do I move a student into a different group?
• Prevent students from changing self sign-up group enrollment with the Canvas guide  How do I prevent students from switching groups in self sign-up groups?

While students can manage their Group spaces in Canvas, instructors are able to generate activities for groups and view group content. When managing group activities and content, learn to:

• Grade Group Assignments in the SpeedGrader with the Canvas guide  How do I grade group assignments in SpeedGrader?
• Create a graded Group Discussion with the Canvas guide  How do I assign a graded discussion to a course group?
• View a group’s files with the Canvas guide  How do I view group files as an instructor?
• View a group’s content and student group activity with the Canvas guide  How do I view content and student activity within a group as an instructor?

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Higher Ed and Technology: Academics at Chapman

End of Semester Canvas Checklist Tips for Wrapping up Your Course on Canvas

April 29, 2024

✔️Put in Zeros for Missing Assignments

If students are missing assignments, you will need to put in zeros for those missing assignments. The easiest way to do this is to open your Grade Center and look for empty grade cells.

Some instructors may also use the  Missing Submission Policy  in the gradebook settings.

Resource:   How do I enter and edit grades in the Gradebook?

✔️Remove any Extra Categories and/or Columns

• Review the Assignments tab for any extra categories you didn’t use in your course. A common one is the category of “Imported Assignments” that gets created whenever assignments are imported from another course.
• Review all the Gradebook columns and make sure there aren’t any extra columns cluttering up your gradebook. These could be from duplicate assignments or assignments that were created but never published.  You can delete these from the Assignments tab.

✔️Final Grades Go in the Faculty Center

You may have used the Canvas grade book for calculations, but final grades need to be submitted to the Chapman Faculty Center .  For more instructions on how to submit grades, visit the Training Guides for the Faculty Center.  The Final Grading Reference Guide shows step-by-step directions for the grading process in the FacultyCenter.Chapman.edu .

Select the drop-down for Reference Guides . Click on Final Grading .

✔️Plan for Any Students Needing to Resolve Incompletes

If you have a course that needs to stay open beyond the end-of-term date to resolve an incomplete grade,  please submit a request form .

✔️Backup/Download Course Content

It is a good practice to backup or copy your course materials at the end of the semester by exporting your Canvas course. You may share your exported course with another Canvas user, upload to another institution’s account at a later date, or retain the course as a backup on your local computer. For instructions on how to do this, see  How do I export a Canvas course?

Note:  Exports are packaged as IMSCC ZIP files, which can only be opened by programs that support Common Cartridge files. You may also change the extension from .imscc to .zip and treat it like any other .zip file.

✔️Unpublish YuJa Videos Channels

Did you know that even after your course has ended, your students can still access your Channel videos through the YuJa platform? To prevent this, it’s important to unpublish your videos. This ensures that your content is only available during the active course period. Check out this guide on Unpublishing Media from Media Channels to learn how to keep your content secure.

✔️Organize your Dashboard and Courses

The end of term is a good time to  organize your Canvas Dashboard . You may unfavorite (“unstar”) any published courses you don’t want on your Dashboard anymore. A concluded course that has not been favorited will appear in the “Past Enrollments” list (Courses>All Courses).

Note: Concluded courses cannot be favorited (“starred”).

Need Assistance?

Visit the  Virtual Tech Hub! We have drop-in hours daily or you can make an appointment with Shannon or Sarah for support. See our calendars and book time with us.

If you have any questions, please contact [email protected] .

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Preview the Canvas Discussion Redesign

March 5, 2024 by Shannon Muramoto | Canvas

Dear Chapman Instructors, Did you know Canvas has some exciting changes coming to the Discussions tool? These changes are planned to take effect on July 20, 2024. Canvas created a short but informative video highlighting the new features that come with the Discussion Redesign.   Questions? We hope you found this video helpful in what

Frequently Asked Questions About Canvas Quizzes

April 29, 2024 by Elena Marusak | Canvas

Dear Chapman Instructors, Final exam season has arrived!  Below please find the most frequently asked questions about Canvas Quizzes at this time of year. Note: The below instructions are for Canvas Classic Quizzes. If you are using or intend to use Canvas New Quizzes, please see these Canvas guides. How do I accommodate students who

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Canvas at Penn

Penn's Source for Courseware Innovation & News

Upcoming Canvas Workshops in June (on Zoom!)

Register using the links below. Workshops will be recorded for registrants.

Assignment & Quiz Basics

Thursday, June 6, 2024 from 12:00-12:45PM Eastern – Registration This workshop will focus on using Assignments and Quizzes in Canvas. Topics covered include creating assignments with various submission types, creating quizzes with multiple question types, configuring quiz and assignment settings, and using Assignment Groups.

Setting Up Your Canvas Gradebook

Friday, June 7, 2024 from 12:00-12:45PM Eastern – Registration This workshop will provide step-by-step guidance on how to set up the Canvas Gradebook. Faculty and staff will learn how to configure a grade posting policy, select late policies, apply a grading scheme, and weigh their gradebook by points or by percentages using Assignment Groups.

Canvas Office Hours on Wednesdays

Visit our  LibCal calendar  to register for a 30-minute session.

Last Updated: 29 Apr 2024

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