Canvas Instructor Guide: Gradebook • Gradebook Video Tutorial
The gradebook provides a centralized location for instructors to track student performance and assign grades.
The gradebook includes a variety of features, such as the ability to curve grades, adjust weighting of assignments, and exclude specific assignments from the final grade calculation. Instructors can also view detailed analytics on student performance, such as overall course grades and assignment submissions.
The gradebook integrates with other course tools, such as the SpeedGrader feature, which allows instructors to grade student submissions directly from the gradebook.
When a student turns in an assignment online, a To Dd list notification will appear on the home page of the class. You will see this on the right side of the course home page. You can click on the title to go directly to the assignment in SpeedGrader, or dismiss this notification by clicking on the X.
The screenshots below give you a sense of how to navigate the gradebook.
You will be presented with a list of students and their assignments in columns and rows. You will probably need to scroll horizontally to see all assignments, and at the end you will see a column for the students' final grade, in the format of your choice.
You can enter or edit a students grade for any assignment directly in the grade book, or by using SpeedGrader. To enter or change a grade in the grade book, click on the dash or number and enter the new grade.
If you click on a student's name, you can see an overview of all of their grades in a pop-out side bar on the right of the screen.
Canvas Instructor Guide: SpeedGrader • Canvas SpeedGrader Overview Video
SpeedGrader in Canvas is a feature that allows instructors to view, grade, and provide feedback on student submissions all in one place. SpeedGrader makes the grading process more efficient and streamlined, saving instructors time and effort.
To access SpeedGrader in Canvas, instructors can navigate to the Grades tool and select the assignment they want to grade. They can then click on the student submission to open it in SpeedGrader.
In SpeedGrader, instructors can view the student's submission, make comments directly on the submission, and assign a grade. They can also use rubrics to evaluate the submission based on specific criteria and provide feedback to the student. Student names can also be hidden during grading in SpeedGrader.
An image with SpeedGrader tools and explanations appears at the bottom of this tab.
The example below shows how to access SpeedGrader from a Discussion assignment.
From the Discussion assignment, click on the answer you wish to grade, then click the three dots at the right side of the entry. Use the drop down menu to select "Open in SpeedGrader." You can see other actions available to you in the screenshot below.
In SpeedGrader, you can read the student's submission and enter a grade in the appropriate field. You also have the option to leave a text comment, upload a file, record or upload a media comment, and record a speech to text comment.
You can advance to the next or previous student's submission by using the arrows at the top of the page.
Finally, if you want to access the grade book, click the notebook icon in the top left corner of the page.
You can right-click on this image to view it larger in another tab.
Here are some of the key SpeedGrader tools.
Be sure to click the "Submit" button when you are ready to submit a grade!
The SpeedGrader Options (accessed by clicking the gear icon) allows you to sort student submissions in different orders.
SpeedGrader gives you the option to grade by question (as opposed to by student) so that you grade all answers to one question, then move on to the next.
HOWEVER, if you choose to grade this way you MUST be sure to click the "Update" button after grading each student's answer to save your grading progress!!!!
Learn more about how to use this feature in Canvas's documentation: Grade By Question in SpeedGrader for New Quizzes.
Canvas gives instructors 2 options to release grades to students: automatic posting (the default) and manual posting.
Automatic posting is the Canvas default. This means that grades are immediately visible to the student and that the student will immediately receive a notification when you enter a grade in the grade book or Speedgrader, or submit a comment in Speedgrader.
NOTE: Students can adjust their notifications if they feel they are getting too many!
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Con:
Manual posting allows you to release all grades at the same time to all students once you have finished grading. This is a setting you must adjust in your grade book, and if you choose this option, YOU MUST REMEMBER TO RELEASE YOUR GRADES.
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Canvas allows you to create custom groups of assignments (for example: reading responses, major projects, weekly responses). These groups can be weighted to make grade calculation easier. For example, you may want weekly reading responses to count for 20% of your course's final grade. By creating custom groups of assignments and then weighting them using the Assignments tool, you can make each individual assignment worth whatever you like, and the grade book will calculate the massed grades within that group as 20% (or whatever percentage you set) of the final grade. Assignment groups can be multiple or single assignments (so, for example, if you want a final project to count for 50% of the final grade, you can create a group that contains only this project).
Learn how to set up categories and adjust the weighted grades on Canvas's instructor guide – How do I weight the final course grade based on assignment groups?
The links below will demonstrate aspects of this feature.
You can also create special rules for groups of assignments (for example, dropping the lowest graded assignment from an assignment group. Learn more about that feature here – How do I create rules for an assignment group?
Canvas Instructor Guide:
Canvas Instructor Guide: How do I use peer review assignments in a course?
Canvas has built-in tools that allow students to participate in peer review. This feature can be used anonymously or to show student names.
If your class involves repeated in-class assignments like workbook page, you may prefer to create assignments through a .csv file. This allows you to bypass creating assignments in Canvas. Instead, you download a spreadsheet, open it with a program like Excel or Google Sheets, and create columns for assignments. You would then track the grades in your spreadsheet. After each assignment, you are able to save your spreadsheet as a .csv file and re-upload it to Canvas, thus keeping your grades up-to-date for your students. You can use Canvas-created and .csv-created assignments with each other in the same course.
Videos demonstrating the process can be found below the written directions.
To create the initial .csv file, navigate to the course gradebook. It does not matter if you have already created assignments in Canvas or not. Click on the "Export" button at the top right corner of the page, and select "Export Entire Gradebook."
Canvas will create a .csv file that downloads to your computer. Open the file, which should look something like the image below (shown in Excel).
Add columns for your desired assignments following the directions on this Canvas help page. Then import the file back into Canvas. Your new assignments should appear in the gradebook!
Assignments (and quizzes) are by default assigned to everyone in a course. However, you have the option to assign something to individual students, course sections (if you are using them), and groups. This allows you to set different due dates on an assignment for different students.
If you want Canvas to automatically deduct points from assignments that are turned in late, you can use Canvas's late submission policy tool.
Learn more in the Canvas instructor guide: How do I apply a Late Submission policy in the Gradebook?
Canvas Instructor Guide: Roll Call Attendance
The gradebook in Canvas integrates with Roll Call Attendance, a feature that allows instructors to track and manage student attendance in their courses. When instructors use Roll Call Attendance to mark attendance, the attendance data is automatically synced with the gradebook, allowing instructors to view attendance records alongside other course grades and assignments.
To access attendance data in the gradebook, instructors can navigate to the "Grades" tool and select the "Attendance" tab. This will display a table showing attendance data for all students in the course, including the number of classes attended, the number of classes missed, and the overall attendance percentage for each student.
If you want to take attendance with Roll Call but want to grade for participation separately, you can create a new assignment or assignments set to "no submission." This will allow you to manually enter participation grades.
NOTE: If used, Roll Call Attendance will create a column in the gradebook. If you do NOT want to use Roll Call as part of your grade but you DO want to use it to take attendance, you have a few options.
If you want to look at one student's grades over the course of a semester, navigate to the gradebook for that course.
Click on the student's name. This will open a side window on the right. Click on the "Grades" button.
This will open a window that lists all of the assignments in the course. You can see the points this student has received so far, and by scrolling to the bottom of the page you can see their cumulative grade.
To view their response to any specific assignment, just click on the name of that assignment. This will open their submission for that assignment.
This is specific to assignments that have file upload submissions. Sometimes a student may have issues submitting an assignment. If you want the assignment in the SpeedGrader system, you can submit a file that they send you on their behalf. See directions in the Canvas Instructor Guide – How do I submit an assignment on behalf of a student as an instructor?
The quiz log feature allows you to view the status of a student's work on a quiz. This may come in useful if something goes wrong and the student loses their work. The quiz log works for anything built as a quiz (ie. if you build an exam using the quiz tool, this would work).
Canvas Instructor Guide: How do I view a quiz log for a student?
If you would like a backup of your grade book for any course, you can periodically download it as a .csv file.
Canvas Instructor Guide: How do I export grades in the Gradebook?
Tech support: For technical assistance, start a ticket with WITS
Brainstorming: For ideas on how to use tools in your course, contact the DLS