canvas group assignment settings

• Teaching & Learning

How to create group assignments in Canvas

CREATE GROUP ASSIGNMENTS

Here are instructions to first create a Group Set and individual Groups and then create the Group Assignment.

Create a Group Set:

1.  Click on People in the Course Navigation menu. 

2.  Click on the +Group Set button.

3.  In the Create Group Set pop-up, enter the name for the Group Set, select options as needed, then click Save .

Create Groups for the Group Set:

1.  Click on People in the Course Navigation menu.  

2.  Click on the tab for the Group Set.

3.  Click on +Group .

4.  Enter the name of the group, the limit of students that can be in the group, then click Save .

5.  Create as many groups as needed.

6.  Drag and drop students from the Unassigned Students list into their respective groups.

Create the Group Assignment:

1.  Click Assignments in the course Navigation menu.

2.  Click +Assignments .

3.  Enter the Assignment name, Points, etc and select This is a Group Assignment .

4.  Leave Assign Grades to Each Student Individually unchecked unless each member of a group will receive an individual grade.

5.  Select the Group Set .

6.  Click on the Assign To box, select one of the Groups you created, enter a Due date and Available From and Until Dates.

7.  To assign the Assignment to additional groups click on the +Add button and repeat step 6.

8.  Once the Assignment is assigned to all groups, click on the Save & Publish button.

If you have more questions about this, email [email protected] or call 864-656-3494.

How to create and manage groups

Here's an interactive tutorial.

https://www.iorad.com/player/1892951/How-to-create-and-manage-groups

1. The first step is to click People.

2. Click Groups

3. Click + Group Set

4. Type the assignment or project name in Group Set Name box.

5. Let's have Canvas automatically create groups for us. Select Split students into groups.

6. You can determine how many groups you would like.

7. Scroll down and click Save

8. Let's expand the groups. Click Capstone Project 2.

9. Now click Capstone Project 1

10. Click the Everyone tab to return to the class roster.

11. Let's create one more group. Click + Group Set.

12. Click Group Set Name to write the assignment title.

13. This time we'll keep the default set to create groups later. Click Save .

14. Now we'll manually add the groups. Click + Group .

15. Create your group name.

16. Click Save.

17. Let's add another group. Click + Group .

18. Create a Group Name .

19. Click Save . You also have the option to limit group membership to a certain number if you'd like.

20. Expand the groups. Click Team Alpha to expand it.

21. With your mouse, click and drag Student 1 , then drop it on Team Alpha .

22. With your mouse, click and drag Student 4 , then drop it on Team Alpha .

23. With your mouse, click and drag Student 6 , then drop it on Team Alpha .

24. Click to expand Team Omega .

25. With your mouse, click and drag Student 2 , then drop it on Team Omega .

26. With your mouse, click and drag Student 3 , then drop it on Team Omega .

27. With your mouse, click and drag Student 5 , then drop it on Team Omega .

28. To see options for a particular group, click the kabob icon to the right.

29. From here, you can visit the groups unique homepage, which is a space in Canvas for them to work independently. You can also edit the group name or delete the group.

30. To access the Group Set options, click the kabob icon .

31. These settings will allow you to message unassigned students. Randomly assign students, edit the Group Set name, duplicate the Group Set, or delete the Group Set.

32. Let's move a student from one group to another. Click to drag Student 6 and drop the student to Team Omega.

33. Now let's click to drag Student 5 and drop the student to Team Alpha.

34. That's it. You're done!

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Canvas assignment groups.

The Assignments page is arguably the most central to successful Canvas course utilization.

• It controls the columns in the gradebook and gradebook calculations.
• It displays all things gradable, including assignments, gradable discussions, and quizzes. Each can be created in Assignments.
• Dates used in the syllabus and calendar are rapidly edited in Assignments.

Use assignment groups to achieve:

• Assignment categorization
• Drop lowest  n  scores
• Drop highest  n  scores
• Never drop  x  assignment
• Weighting of grades

Canvas creates a group called "Assignments" by default, but you can change the group title or create additional groups. Because the default group is Assignments, Canvas places all assignment types into that group. When you are creating a new assignment, graded discussion, or quiz you will have the option to designate it as belonging to a previously created assignment group.

On This Page

Create an Assignment Group

Move an assignment between groups, weighting assignment groups, video tutorial, assignment page icons, filter the gradebook by assignment group.

On the Assignment page, click + Group

In the Add Assignment Group box, type the name of the group and click Save

Click on the double column of dots next to an assignment and drag to a new group.

Or, click on the three dots to the right of the assignment and click on Move To... then choose the desired assignment group and location.

Click on the assignment settings, then choose Assignment Groups Weight from the menu

Check the box to "Weight final grade based on assignment groups" and then enter the percentage assigned for each group

(weights should typically equal 100, but can exceed 100 for extra credit)

This short video will walk you through the process of creating weighted assignment groups in your Canvas course.

On the Grades page, click on the View dropdown menu and choose the Filters option

Then, select Assignment Groups from the menu

A new dropdown menu will appear at the top of the page

Click on All Assignment Groups to select a certain group of assignments you would like to see

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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• Learning Environments

Using group assignments in Canvas

Group assignments can be a great way to foster student collaboration and develop a sense of community in online learning.

When creating group assignments in Canvas, the basic steps are:

• Create a Group Set your subject. This will allow you to determine the groups before you go ahead with creating the assignment itself. You can manually assign students to each group yourself using the  Bulk group membership tool or allow students to create their own groups.
• Create the group assignment. When creating an assignment you will have the option to tick 'This is a group assignment'. When you tick this box, you can then choose the Group set as per the previous step.
• Decide whether students will be graded as a group, or individually.  After checking the box 'This is a group assignment' you will also see a setting 'Assign Grades to Each Student Individually'. If you check this box, you will be able to allocate a different mark to each member of a group. If you leave the box unchecked, when you mark and give feedback for one of the students in the group, or annotate the paper, the mark and all feedback will automatically populate for the other students in the group.

Please note!

Ensure that you do not change the membership of groups *after* you have created the assignment. This will cause the assignment to revert to an *individual* assignment and cannot be reversed!

For more information on Groups, see our full index of guides.

For help and support, contact Learning Environments .

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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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Center for Teaching Innovation

Ideas for group & collaborative assignments, why collaborative learning.

Collaborative learning can help

• students develop higher-level thinking, communication, self-management, and leadership skills
• explore a broad range of perspectives and provide opportunities for student voices/expression
• promote teamwork skills & ethics
• prepare students for real life social and employment situations
• increase student retention, self-esteem, and responsibility

Collaborative activities & tools

Group brainstorming & investigation in shared documents.

Have students work together to investigate or brainstorm a question in a shared document (e.g., structured Google doc, Google slide, or sheet) or an online whiteboard, and report their findings back to the class.

• Immediate view of contributions
• Synchronous & asynchronous group work
• Students can come back to the shared document to revise, re-use, or add information
• Google workspace (Google Docs, Sheets, Forms, & Slides)
• Microsoft 365 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams)
• Cornell Box (document storage)
• Whiteboarding tools ( Zoom , JamBoard , Miro , Mural , etc.)

Considerations

• Sharing settings
• Global access
• Accessibility

Group discussions with video conferencing and chat

Ask students to post an answer to a question or share their thoughts about class content in the Zoom chat window (best for smaller classes). For large classes, ask students in Zoom breakout rooms to choose a group notetaker to post group discussion notes in the chat window after returning to the main class session.

You can also use a discussion board for asynchronous group work.

• Students can post their reflections in real time and read/share responses
• If group work is organized asynchronously, students can come back to the discussion board at their own time

Synchronous group work:

• Zoom Breakout rooms
• Microsoft Teams
• Canvas Conferences
• Canvas Group Discussions
• Ed Discussion
• Stable access to WiFi and its bandwidth
• Clear expectations about participation and pace for asynchronous discussion boards
• Monitoring discussion boards

Group projects: creation

Students retrieve and synthesize information by collaborating with their peers to create something new: a written piece, an infographic, a piece of code, or students collectively respond to sample test questions.

• Group projects may benefit from features offered by shared online space (ability to chat, do video conferencing, share files and links, post announcements and discussion threads, and build content)
• Canvas groups with all available tools

Setting up groups and group projects for success may require the following steps:

• Introduce group or peer work early in the semester
• Establishing ground rules for participation
• Plan for each step of group work
• Explain how groups will function and the grading

Peer learning, critiquing, giving feedback

Students submit their first draft of an essay, research proposal, or a design, and the submitted work is distributed for peer review. If students work on a project in teams, they can check in with each other through a group member evaluation activity. Students can also build on each other’s knowledge and understanding of the topic in Zoom breakout room discussions or by sharing and responding in an online discussion board.

When providing feedback and critiquing, students have to apply their knowledge, problem-solving skills, and develop feedback literacy. Students also engage more deeply with the assignment requirements and/or the rubric.

• FeedbackFruits Peer Review and Group Member Evaluation
• Canvas Peer Review
• Turnitin PeerMark
• Zoom breakout rooms
• Canvas discussions, and other discussion tools
• Peer review is a multistep activity and may require careful design and consideration of requirements to help students achieve the learning outcomes. The assignment requirements will inform which platform is best to use and the best settings for the assignment
• We advise making the first peer review activity a low-stakes assignment for the students to get used to the platform and the flow.
• A carefully written rubric helps guide students through the process of giving feedback and yields more constructive feedback.
• It helps when the timing for the activity is generous, so students have enough time to first submit their work and then give feedback.

Group reflection & social annotation activities

Students can annotate, highlight, discuss, and collaborate on text documents, images, video, audio, and websites. Instructors can post guiding questions for students to respond to, and allow students to post their own questions to be answered by peers. This is a great reading activity leading up to an inperson discussion.

• Posing discussion topics and/or questions for students to answer as they read a paper
• Students can collaboratively read and annotate synchronously and asynchronously
• Collaborative annotation helps students to acknowledge some parts of reading that they could have neglected otherwise
• Annotating in small groups
• FeedbackFruits
• Interactive Media (annotations on document, video, and audio)
• Providing students with thorough instructions
• These are all third-party tools, so the settings should be selected thoughtfully
• Accessibility (Perusall)

Group learning with polling and team competitions

Instructors can poll students while they are in breakout rooms using Poll Everywhere. This activity is great for checking understanding and peer learning activities, as students will be able to discuss solutions.

• Students can share screen in a breakout room and/or answer questions together
• This activity can be facilitated as a competition among teams
• Poll Everywhere competitions, surveys, and polls facilitated in breakout rooms
• Careful construction of questions for students
• Students may need to be taught how to answer online questions
• It requires appropriate internet connection and can experience delays in response summaries.

More information

• Group work & collaborative learning
• Collaboration tools
• Active learning
• Active learning in online teaching

Create a Group Assignment

• Post author By CTLD Support
• Post date February 24, 2021

Last updated on October 19, 2021

You can use the Canvas Group Assignments feature to easily assign and grade collaborative assignments. Imagine students working together to complete a virtual lab; research a question and write a group paper; hold and record a video discussion; act out a scene from literature or history; produce a group presentation; or create a digital media piece, such as a website or infographic. Note:  Before creating a group assignment, you will need to know how to create student groups. Visit the Create Groups tutorial.

• Go  to MSU Denver’s  Faculty and Staff Hub .
• Click  Canvas  in the Teaching & Learning section.
• Log in  to your  Canvas Account .
• Select  the  Course  you’d like to work in.
• Click  Modules  on the course navigation menu to the left.
• Scroll  to the  Module  you’d like to add a group assignment to.
• Click  the  + Button  next to the name of the Module.
• Select  Assignment  from the drop-down menu.
• Click   [New Assignment] .
• Type  a  Title  for your assignment in the Assignment Name box.
• Click  Add Item .
• Click  the  Name  of the assignment you created in the module.
• Click  Edit .
• Note:  You can also add links, images, videos, and other resources in this section. To learn more, refer to the “ Use the Rich Content Editor ” tutorial.
• Adjust  the  Settings , as desired.
• Scroll  down to the  Group Assignment  setting.
• Check  the box for This is a Group Assignment .
• Note:  If you do not check this box, all students in the group will receive the same grade.
• Choose  an existing  Group Set  from the drop-down menu, or create a New One by clicking the New Group Category button.
• Adjust  the remaining  Settings , as desired.
• Click  Save .

Assign Different Tasks or Due Dates to Different Groups

The Group Assignment feature can be used to assign different due dates to different groups. You can also give an extra assignment to a group by typing only their group’s name in the “Assign to” field, or you can exempt a group from a certain assignment by leaving them out of the “Assign to” field.

Within the Assignment Settings

• Scroll  down to the  Assign  setting.
• Click  the  Assign To  box.
• Select  a  Group .
• Choose  the  Due Date  for that group’s assignment.
• Click  the  + Add  button to give the Assignment to another group.
• Repeat   Steps 2-5 for as many groups as necessary.

Looking for more? View related topics:

• Create an Assignment with Files Attached
• Use the Canvas Accessibility Checker
• Edit a Discussion in Canvas
• Lock a Module Until a Certain Date and Time
• Tags assignments , collaboration , grades , grading , group-work , groups

Canvas How-To: Assignments

Section menu close, office of academic technology.

• Canvas Administration
• External LMS User Requests
• Canvas Basics
• ⚙ Ally & Accessibility
• ⚙ Analytics
• ⚙ Announcements
• ⚙ Assignments
• ⚙ Attendance
• ⚙ Closing Courses & Incompletes
• ⚙ Collaborations
• ⚙ Combine Courses
• ⚙ Discussions & Discussions Plus
• ⚙ Group Assignments
• ⚙ Inbox & Messaging
• ⚙ Journals, Blogs, & Wikis
• ⚙ Extra: Create Tabs on a Page
• ⚙ Panopto Recordings
• ⚙ People, Rosters, & Roles
• ⚙ Profile & User Settings
• ⚙ Quizzes & Accommodations
• ⚙ New Quizzes
• ⚙ SpeedGrader
• ⚙ Turnitin Assignments
• ⚙ Video-Based Assessments
• ⚙ VoiceThread Group Projects in Canvas
• ⚙ Zoom in Canvas
• Instructional Technology
• Online Course Design
• Training Opportunities
• OAT Updates & Tech Tips
• Copyright & the TEACH Act

Contact Information

Mary Stuart Rogers, MSR 380

Adding an Assignment

Canvas Assignment can be used to collect a submission from students electronically, provide instructions for and remind students about an in-class activity, and track extra credit. 

How do I create an assignment?

How do I add assignment types, pages, and files as module items?

Editing Assignment Details

After creating an assignment, modify the assignment details and settings by clicking the action menu and select Edit. Update the assignment instructions and guidelines, set the due date, and number of points to earn. 

How do I add or edit details in an assignment?

Removing or Duplicating Assignments

Clean up unused assignments by removing them from Modules, or by deleting them from the Assignments page of your course. 

How do I delete an assignment?

Establish a routine pattern of assignments and activities for students. When assigning an assignment that students will complete each week, create the assignment once, then duplicate it and move it to subsequent weeks. 

How do I duplicate an assignment?

Allowing a Resubmission

By default, resubmissions are always allowed if the instructor leaves the Attempts setting at "Unlimited". After students submit their assignment, they may revisit the assignment to submit a new version. As the instructor, you can view the various versions of the submission, deciding which version to accept and grade. Prevent students from revisiting the assignment by limiting the number of attempts in the assignment settings or set an  Until  availability date. 

Can a student resubmit an assignment?

Creating Group Assignments

To create an assignment that the students will submit as part of a group, check the box for "This is a Group Assignment" in the Group Assignment area.

Understand groups in Canvas

Configuring Peer Reviews

Use the peer review option to pair students up with a partner to review and provide feedback of their work. 

How do I create a peer review assignment?

Want to learn more?

View all Canvas Guides for Assignments

Updated: October 11, 2022

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Faculty-recommended Promising Practices for Student-Centered Grading in Canvas

Message from the Canvas Grading Initiative Faculty Working Group:

Dear Colleagues, We hope your semester has been going well! As members of the Canvas Grading Faculty Working Group , we wanted to take a moment to share the resources that resulted from our work last semester (fall 2023) to promote student-centered grading practices in Canvas. Our working group was part of the Canvas Grading Initiative, a collaboration between the Center for Teaching & Learning (CTL) and Office of Information Technology (OIT) and endorsed by the BUS (Buff Undergraduate Success) Initiative .  Throughout fall 2023, our working group met regularly to discuss faculty and student perspectives on the Canvas gradebook—and to identify solutions for addressing common pain points. These discussions were informed by our own experiences teaching critical, high-enrollment courses for first- and second-year students in a wide variety of disciplines, as well as by extensive input from faculty interviews and student usability testing sessions. We are now excited to share two new resources: New Guidelines for Promising Practices in Student-centered Grading in Canvas (below) and a set of faculty- and student-facing Canvas video tutorials to support the implementation of these guidelines (linked under the corresponding guidelines below). We hope these new resources will be helpful for your teaching (e.g., by making grading in Canvas more customizable and efficient), while supporting the success of all of our students (e.g., by ensuring their grades in Canvas are accurate, up to date, and easy to find).  We encourage you to share these resources with your colleagues and discuss them within your department or unit. If you have any questions or feedback to share, please contact the [email protected] , whose team is continuing to work on the Canvas Grading Initiative and related initiatives to support CU faculty and students.  

Members of the faculty working group included:

Bobby Benim, Assistant Teaching Professor, Applied Mathematics Daniel Bolton, Associate Teaching Professor, Physics Al Bronstein, Teaching Assistant Professor, Mathematics Ryan Curtis, Teaching Associate Professor, Psychology & Neuroscience Jessica Gorski, Associate Faculty Director Health Professions RAP, Associate Teaching Professor EBIO and MCDB Susan Hendrickson, Teaching Professor, Chemistry Shaw Ketels, Lecturer, Psychology & Neuroscience Sreesha Nath, Assistant Teaching Professor, Computer Science

Guidelines for Promising Practices in Student-Centered Grading in Canvas

The guidelines below are meant to support instructors in implementing student-centered grading practices in their Canvas courses. Please note that some of the guidelines are more relevant to traditional than alternative grading approaches (as noted below). 

When developing your syllabus:

1. Include a complete schedule of assignments: In your syllabus, include a complete list of all assignments for the entire semester. Furthermore, for each assignment, include the due date. Also, unless you are using an alternative approach to grading that does not utilize points or percentages, you should also include the points or percentage of the final grade each assignment is worth and percentage of the final grade each group of assignments is worth if you weight assignment groups. Students are better able to plan ahead, set priorities, and manage their time when all of their responsibilities are clearly laid out. Canvas provides a centralized location for students to find this information for all of their courses. Please note that your syllabus should be shared with students no later than the first day of classes. 

2. Include grading policies: In your syllabus, include a clear explanation of all grading policies. For example, this may include drop policies, late or partial credit policies, or attendance or participation policies, as well as the circumstances under which these policies apply. 

3. Provide multiple significant grades before the drop deadline: Design your course(s) to include multiple significant graded, for-credit assignments, or substantive feedback (if you are using an alternative approach to grading) before the final drop deadline.* Providing early and frequent opportunities for assessment ensures students receive feedback on their learning and progress, including feedback on how to improve. It also empowers students to make informed decisions regarding whether to stay enrolled in or drop a course. 

• The last day for students to drop a course without penalty is Wednesday of the second week of classes. We recognize that this may be too early in the semester for students to have received multiple significant grades.
• The final drop deadline–that is, the last day for students to drop a course with penalty (i.e. they are required to pay 100% of tuition and fees, and a “W” grade is posted to their transcript)–is Friday of the 10th week of classes. By this date, students should have received multiple significant grades.
• Information about dropping classes for students  
• Academic calendars  

When developing your Canvas course:

4. Your syllabus and Canvas should be in alignment: Both your syllabus and Canvas should include the same list of assignments, due dates, points or percentage value of each assignment (if applicable), assignment group weightings (if applicable), etc. There should not be any inconsistencies between the syllabus and Canvas. If the course schedule changes as a result of a snow day or other unexpected event, please update your syllabus and Canvas accordingly, and notify the students of whatever changes have been made. 

• Video Tutorial on Creating Assignment Groups & Weights

5. Build all assignment due dates into Canvas by first day of classes: Whenever possible, add all assignments with due dates and correct point values and assignment group weightings (if applicable) to your Canvas course by the first day of classes. If not all assignments have been developed (e.g., for instructors teaching a course for the first time) or certain types of assignments accumulate throughout the semester (e.g., clickers), add placeholders with due dates. However, set the “available from” date for each placeholder to a date in the future so that the students cannot access it until it has been replaced by the real assignment.  

• Canvas tutorial on everything you can do with assignments (including setting due dates)  
• Canvas tutorial on how to set dates assignments become “available” to students
• Video Tutorial on Managing Due Dates in Bulk
• Building Content in Bulk with the Multi-Tool

6. Use Canvas, not an external program, to calculate total grades: The recommendation offered here will depend on your approach to grading:

• If grades must be calculated in an external program, the instructor should add an extra “assignment” to Canvas to create a new column in the gradebook where they can enter students’ current total grades. Total grades should be updated regularly (e.g., every week).
• If you are using an alternative approach to grading (e.g., ungrading, specifications grading, contract grading), hide the total (numeric) grade that otherwise appears as a default in Canvas. Likewise, make sure you have not enabled a grading scheme in Canvas that will display inaccurate letter grades.
• Canvas tutorial on how to hide total grades  

When setting up assignments in Canvas:

7. Use specific, meaningful, and consistent assignment names: Use specific, meaningful, and consistent names to name assignments in Canvas. Assignment names should be specific enough to indicate what the assignment is (e.g., “Homework 1,” not “Due 8/28/23”), clearly communicate to students the nature of the assignment (e.g., is it a homework, quiz, or exam?), and adhere to consistent naming conventions within your course (e.g., “Homework 1” and “Homework 2,” not “Homework 1” and “Smartwork 2”). 

8. Clearly communicate in the assignment description the mode of submission: For each assignment, select the appropriate submission type from the dropdown menu (no submission, online, on paper, external tool, etc.). If the assignment is a paper submission, also include a detailed description of how and where students should submit their assignment. For example, this may include providing the location and person to whom students need to submit their assignment.

• Canvas tutorial on how to create a “no submission” assignment (e.g., if students are asked to submit an assignment as a paper copy, not on Canvas)
• Canvas tutorial on how to add assignments via an external tool  

9. Clearly communicate in the assignment description where to find feedback: Include a note in the assignment description explaining to students where they can find feedback on their work, given that feedback could be in multiple places in Canvas or in external tools. This is especially important when external tools such as Gradescope contain the feedback.

When communicating with students about grades:

10. Make your grading system explicit and transparent: In the first week of class, set aside time for an in-class discussion of your grading system, or administer a syllabus quiz, share a brief video, or share some other student-facing resource that makes the grading system used in your course explicit and transparent. Also, explain to students why you use a particular grading system–ideally, in terms of how this will support their learning. If you plan to curve grades, explain how you curve grades to your students. In addition, show students where they can find a list of all assignments that will count toward their final grade, the number of points or % each assignment is worth (if applicable), grading policies (e.g., drop policies), cutoffs for different letter grades, etc. This transparency allows students to understand what is expected of them, plan ahead, set priorities, and manage their time. 

• Video Tutorial on Creating and Implementing Custom Grade Schemes in Canvas
• OIT tutorial on how to sync students’ final grades in Canvas with the Registrar’s web grading system

11. Explain weighted grade calculations (if applicable): If you attach weights to assignment groups (e.g., a group of 5 quizzes is weighted to be worth 10% of the final grade), share an example with your students demonstrating how to calculate the contribution of an individual assignment to their final grade. For the example above, you could explain to your students that 10% divided by 5 quizzes means that each individual quiz is worth 2% of their final grade. 

12. Tell students they can trust the Canvas gradebook: Some CU students report that they hear in 3 out of 4 of their courses that their total grade in Canvas is not accurate. We encourage you to actively communicate to students throughout the semester that they can trust that the total grade displayed in Canvas is an accurate representation of where their grade is right now, given the assignments submitted and graded so far. However, you may note that the grade displayed right now is not necessarily a good prediction of their final grade, which could change as more work is submitted and graded, as extra credit is added, or as drop (or other) policies are applied. 

13. Remind students of the drop deadline : Remind students of the drop deadline, and when you do this, note that if students are unsure what factors to consider when deciding whether to drop your course, they should consult with their academic advisor. 

• For the fall and spring semesters, the final drop deadline–the last day for students to drop a course with penalty (i.e. they are required to pay 100% of tuition and fees, and a “W” grade is posted to their transcript)–is Friday of the 10th week of classes.  

When maintaining your Canvas course(s) throughout the semester:

14. Keep gradebooks up to date: Commit to ensuring that the grades in your Canvas gradebook(s) are as accurate and up-to-date as possible. Throughout the semester, enter all grades within one week of the deadline whenever possible to ensure students are receiving timely feedback that they can use to improve. If that is not possible, explicitly communicate to students when they will receive their grades. Relatedly, make sure students receive feedback before any subsequent assignments are due that build on that assignment (which could potentially be earlier than one week). Note: The CTL, OIT, and other campus units are actively working to develop new resources to support instructors in the implementation of the promising practices presented here. 

• Speedgrader for File Upload Assignments
• Understanding Fudge Points in Canvas Quizzes
• Canvas Studio Submissions in Speedgrader

15. Sync grades from external tools regularly: Throughout the semester, if you are using any external tools or programs (e.g., Smartwork, Inquizitive, iClickers), be sure to sync your grades with the Canvas Gradebook regularly (e.g., every week). Furthermore, explicitly communicate with your students about how often you will sync those grades.

16. Replace blanks in the Canvas Gradebook with 0s in a timely manner: When setting up your Gradebook, either set it to automatically change grades for missing assignments from blanks to 0s once the deadline has passed, or commit to being consistent throughout the semester about manually changing blanks to 0s in a timely manner. Note: This may involve sharing these expectations with your TA(s) and/or Grader(s). In short, do not leave grades for missed assignments blank unless you really do want those assignments to not count toward that student’s grade. If you really do want an assignment to not count toward a particular student’s grade, we recommend using the “Excused” feature so that it is clear the assignment has been intentionally excused–not left blank by accident.  

• Canvas tutorial on how to set the gradebook to automatically replace blanks for missing assignments with 0s   
• Canvas tutorial on how to “excuse” assignments so that they do not count toward a student’s grade
• OIT Video Tutorial on Excusing Assignments

How helpful did you find these guidelines? Click here to share your feedback!

Other Grading-related Canvas Video Tutorials and Resources

Tutorials for your students:

• Understanding the Canvas Gradebook (Part 1)
• Finding Feedback on your Assignments (Part 2)
• Understanding Commonly-Used Grading Systems

Tutorials for instructors:

• Using Mastery Paths to Create Alternative Learning Paths
• Using the Roll Call Attendance Tool
• Creating Module Prerequisites and Requirements to Guide Students through Course Content
• Viewing the Grade Distribution for an assignment (for students & instructors)
• Analyzing Student Performance with Canvas Quiz Statistics  
• Canvas Grading Faculty Working Group
• Center for Teaching & Learning and ASSETT Faculty Fellows
• Fall Intensive
• Graduate Certificates
• Grants & Awards
• Inclusive Community of Practice
• Inclusive Educators Podcast
• Innovating Large Courses Initiative
• Lead Graduate Student Fellowship
• Micro-credentials
• Online Teaching Community of Practice
• Semesterly Site Visit
• Spring Conference
• Transforming Your Research into Teaching