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How to create assignments for your canvas course.

• Quick Start
• Instructor Help
• Student Help

How to Create Assignments

Using assignments in Canvas provides a streamlined process for assigning homework and creating quizzes for students.  Canvas considers an ‘assignment’ to be anything that is graded, whether that be a quiz or homework assignment, and whether it’s delivered entirely online, paper-and-pencil, or is a participatory assignment with no actual deliverable.

This Quick Start guide will cover the creation of assignments where the student submits a file electronically, on paper, using an external tool such as Turnitin or Panopto , or where no submission is expected (e.g. class participation). See How to Create Tests and Quizzes for Your Canvas Course and Create and Manage Discussions for more information about using those tools as assignments.

1. In the Course Navigation menu, click the Assignments link.

2. Click “ +Assignment ” at the top right.

3. Write the assignment title and directions for students.

4. Assign the number of points available for the assignment.

5. Choose an “ Assignment Group” . Assignment groups are, in essence, a category of assignment. For more information about using Assignment Groups, see the Canvas guides regarding Assignments.

6. There are four submission types :

• No Submission: an activity where nothing will be collected from students (e.g. a participation grade)
• For the full details about the online assignment subtypes, (text entry, annotation, file upload, etc.), please see the official documentation .
• We have a recorded mini-webinar on annotation assignments, including assignment ideas, available on the Training Webinars page.
• On Paper: assignments/quizzes/activities that were written on paper and collected by the instructor
• External Tool: assignments submitted through a 3rd party tool that is integrated with Canvas, such as a textbook publisher’s website or Turnitin

7. Submission Attempts: You may allow unlimited submission attempts for Online assignments, or restrict attempts to one or more. When a student submits to an assignment they have already submitted to, the previous submission is retained as well, and the instructor may view both.

8. Group Assignments and Peer Reviews:  Assignments can be created as either a group assignment or peer review assignment.

9. Assign options- You can assign an assignment to your entire class, a specific student, and/or a section of your class. You can also set the due date and the availability dates (when your students can submit their assignment). Each section can have different due dates and availability dates.

10. If you are finished creating the assignment, click on “ Save & Publish “. If you are not finished creating the assignment, click on “ Save ” and you may come back and work on it more later without students having access to it.

Instructor Help for Assignments

Creating assignments.

• How do I create an assignment?
• How do I add a moderated assignment to be graded by multiple reviewers?
• How do I create an online assignment?
• How do I add or edit details in an assignment?
• How do I add or edit points for an assignment?
• What assignment types can I create in a course?
• How do I limit submission attempts for an assignment?
• How do I add an assignment that includes anonymous grading?
• How do I enable anonymous instructor annotations in student submissions?
• How do I import SCORM files as an assignment?
• How do I publish or unpublish an assignment as an instructor?

Managing Assignments

• How do I use the Assignments Index Page?
• Can a student resubmit Canvas assignments?
• How do I assign an assignment to everyone in a course?
• How do I assign an assignment to a course group?
• How do I assign an assignment to a course section?
• How do I assign an assignment to an individual student?
• How do I view differentiated assignments with different due dates in a course?
• How do I bulk update due dates and availability dates as an instructor?
• How do I delete an assignment?
• How do I duplicate an assignment?
• How do I move or reorder an assignment?
• How do I use Direct Share to copy an assignment to another course?
• How do I use Direct Share to send an assignment to another instructor?

Creating and Managing Peer Review Assignments

• How do I create a peer review assignment?
• How do I use peer review assignments in a course?
• How do I automatically assign peer reviews for an assignment?
• How do I manually assign peer reviews for an assignment?
• How do I view student peer review comments as an instructor?

Creating External Tool Assignments

• How do I add an assignment using an external app?
• How do I create a cloud assignment with a Microsoft Office 365 file?

Using Assignment Groups

• How do I add an assignment group in a course?
• How do I create an assignment shell in an assignment group?
• How do I create rules for an assignment group?
• How do I move or reorder an assignment group?
• How do I weight the final course grade based on assignment groups?

Grading Considerations

• How do I add a grading scheme to an assignment?
• How do I download all student submissions for an assignment?
• How do I upload all student submissions for an assignment?
• How do I exclude an assignment from the course’s final grades?
• How do I give extra credit in a course?

Student Help for Assignments

• How do I view Assignments as a student?
• How do I filter assignments by type as a student?
• How do I submit an online assignment?
• How do I submit a text entry assignment?
• How do I enter a URL as an assignment submission?
• How do I submit a media file as an assignment submission?
• How do I upload a file as an assignment submission in Canvas?
• How do I upload a file from Microsoft Office 365 as an assignment submission?
• How do I know when my assignment has been submitted?
• How do I manage celebration animations in Canvas as a student?
• How do I submit a cloud assignment with Microsoft Office 365?
• How do I download assignment submissions from all my courses?
• How do I annotate a file as an assignment submission in Canvas?
• How do I use DocViewer in Canvas assignments as a student?
• How do I submit a PDF assignment with annotations in the Student app on my Android device?
• How do I add annotations to a submission in the Student app on my iOS device?

Groups and Peer

• How do I submit an assignment on behalf of a group?
• How do I know if I have a peer review assignment to complete?
• How do I submit a peer review to an assignment?
• Where can I find my peers’ feedback for peer reviewed assignments?
• How do I view the rubric for my assignment?
• How do I view the rubric for my external tool assignment?
• How do I view rubric results for my assignment?
• How do I know when my instructor has graded my assignment?
• How do I view assignment comments from my instructor?
• How do I view annotation feedback comments from my instructor directly in my assignment submission?
• How do I view my Roll Call Attendance report as a student?
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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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Create Assignments in Canvas

A variety of assignment types are available in Canvas and to link from external resources. View how-to guides of these resources to help build your assignment.

• Canvas assignments
• Weighted assignments
• Peer review assignments
• OLI assignments

Add a new Canvas assignment:

Assignments created in Canvas are automatically created using simple steps and include available and due dates, assignment types, student or group assignment selections and more. Follow the steps below to begin building an assignment.

Note: All assignments are tied to columns in the Canvas Gradebook. So, when you create a new assignment you also create a new column automatically in the Grading area. 

• “No Submission” and “On Paper” create a grade column but  do not  allow students to upload any materials to the assignment in Canvas.

Create a weighted assignment:

Weighting assignments as a percentage of the final grade can be done easily through the assignments area of your course. To set up weighting, you will need to:

• Set up assignment groups
• Organize assignments into the assignment groups
• Set assignment group weights
• View assignment groups

Step 1: Set up and organize assignments into assignment groups

• Once you have groups set up, you can organize assignments into the groups by drag-and-drop

Step 2: Set assignment group weights

Step 3: Weight an individual assignment

Step 4: View assignment groups in the Grades area

When assignment groups are set up in your course, you will notice columns corresponding to each assignment group appear in the gradebook. These columns will keep track of student performance in each assignment group.

NOTE: You can weight final grades based on assignment groups . See the Canvas website for more information on weighting final assignments here.

Set Up a Peer Review Assignment

Peer review assignments provide students with the opportunity to give feedback on each others’ work. With a Canvas peer review assignment, student names may be displayed to each other or you may opt to make the peer review process anonymous. You can also opt to provide students with a rubric they can use to grade and provide feedback on each others’ work.

• You start the process of creating a peer review assignment by creating an assignment in your Canvas course. You can create an assignment either in the Modules area or Assignments area of your Canvas site.

• You will be presented with the option to Manually Assign Peer Reviews or Automatically Assign Peer Reviews
• Manually Assign Peer Reviews - requires you to manually assign students to review other students’ work
• Automatically Assign Peer Reviews - Canvas will randomly assign students to review as many peers as you specify

Currently, a peer review assignment does not carry separate points or due dates for the peer review portion of the assignment. The points for the assignment encompasses both the assignment submission and the peer review process. If you would like separate points for the assignment submission, you may choose to create a separate assignment that students submit their work to in addition to submitting it to the peer review assignment. Another benefit of creating a separate assignment is that you could then attach a separate rubric to this assignment in the instance when a different rubric is used for Instructor and TA grading than is used by students for peer review.

  If a rubric is attached to a peer review assignment, students  must  complete the rubric in order for their review to be considered complete.

Contact Us for Canvas and Ed Tech Support:

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New to canvas.

Check out our simple, step-by-step guide that covers the basics to help you understand what Canvas is and how to use it.

Get Started

Adding Images

Adding Files

Grading Tips

Building a Quiz

Canvas is a learning management system. In other words, it is a platform for hosting course content, delivering online quizzes, accepting online assignment submissions, disseminating grades and feedback, and more. 

All USU students, faculty, and staff have access to Canvas and can login to Canvas at canvas.usu.edu. Instructors and TAs needing help with Canvas can call CIDI at (435) 797-9506. Students may get help by calling the IT Service Desk at 435-797-HELP (4357).

USU Canvas Login

Access Your Canvas Course

Instructions for accessing your Canvas course through the dashboard, courses list, or to do list.

Accessing AI Detection Feature in Copyleaks

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Add Delphinium to Homepage

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Add Hypothesis Item in Canvas Module

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Add User Details and Contact Information with DesignPLUS

How to add and style teacher, TA, and course designer details. Information including contact name, contact information, and office hours.

Adding People in Canvas

This page explains how to add a TA or Designer to your course. It also explains how to add students to club courses.

Adjusting Service Preferences in Canvas

How to adjust your Canvas Service Preferences, allowing CIDI to fix common issues students encounter within the course.

Align an Outcome with a Rubric in Canvas

You can align any outcome in your account to a rubric. Rubrics are used to help students understand expectations for an assignment and how their submissions will be graded.

Allowing cookies so tools load in Canvas

How to allow third-party cookies in various browsers to allow external tools to load in Canvas.

Assignment Submission Types in Canvas

Canvas lets you decide the way you want students to submit their assignments. You specify the submission type in the Submission Type box when you create the assignment.

Atomic Search

Atomic Search is a tool available to faculty and students to make it easier to find specific content in Canvas.

The attendance tool is available in Canvas for taking roll and tracking assigned seating. Enable it in your Canvas navigation from your settings menu.

Automatically Graded Quizzes in Canvas

A curated list of links of each question type that are automatically graded in a Canvas quiz.

Automatically Score Missing Assignments in Canvas

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Canvas Appointment Sign-up Tool

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Canvas Assignment Groups

Assignment groups allow you to organize the assignment list or gradebook by the type of assignment and allow you to drop a low score among the assignments listed in the group or weight the final grade based on percentages assigned to each group.

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Canvas blueprint courses are a way to sync course content across several different Canvas courses. This page contains the sections Setting Up a Blueprint Course, Tips for Using a Blueprint Course, and When to NOT use a Blueprint Course.

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Canvas is a platform for hosting course content, delivering online quizzes, accepting online assignment submissions, disseminating grades and feedback, and more.

Canvas Course Accessibility Report

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Canvas Course Home Page

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Canvas Course Maintenance Support at USU

The Center for Innovative Design and Instruction is available to support teachers in providing accessible, user-friendly and effective learning experiences.

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Canvas Mobile App Walkthrough

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Canvas Multi-Tool

The Multi-Tool helps you set up a course shell quickly and efficiently. The Multi-Tool consists of three separate tools, a template creator, a module builder, and a due date modifier.

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Canvas New Quizzes for a Proctored Exam

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Converting Quiz Questions to Question Bank Items

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Create a Quiz with New Quizzes

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The purpose of using a rubric is to focus students' attention on critical components of an assignment and to help the instructor maintain consistency when grading.

Create an Assignment in Canvas

Assignments in Canvas are used to assess students with a point value, percentage, or complete status, or as a place for students to submit non-graded activities. These are sometimes known as an assignment dropbox or assignment inbox.

Create an Extra Credit Assignment

Canvas doesn't allow extra credit questions by default, but you can use these workaround to achieve the desired result.

Create an Office 365 Assignment

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Creating a Canvas Assignment for Your Video Quiz

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Customizing the Canvas Dashboard

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Delphinium Box Module Component Advanced Settings

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Delphinium Box Module Component

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Delphinium Components

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Delphinium Grade Scheme

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Delphinium Grade Tracker Component

The Grade Tracker component displays a student's current progress in earning points in the course grading scheme. Points are earned by completing course assignments.

Delphinium Layout Customization

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Download Class Email Roster

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Download a Video in My Media

You can download a recording from the Media Gallery in a Canvas course. The first step is to make sure that the video has been enabled for downloading.

Duplicate a Canvas Classic Quiz

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Early Course Access for Students in Canvas

An explanation of settings in a Canvas course to allow students access to designated content before the start date of the semester.

Editing Component Contents

Delphinium provides many components that instructors can include on their page to make their course more interactive. This is how to edit those components to best suit each instructor's preferences.

Embed Editable Google Item in Canvas

You may embed an editable Google Doc, Sheet, or Slide into your Canvas course where your students can interact with and update the item according to your instructions.

Embed a Video in Canvas

No matter where you are embedding a video, whether for a Discussion, Announcement, Page, or Assignment, the best way to embed a video in your Canvas course is through your My Media repository.

Embed a Video in a Canvas Announcement

Step-by-step guide on how to embed a video recording into an announcement in your Canvas course.

Embed a Video in a Canvas Page

To embed a video recording in a Canvas course page, follow these instructions.

Embedding Images to Canvas

Instructions for embedding an image from your computer onto a Canvas page with written steps and a video tutorial.

Enable Delphinium

Enable Delphinium as a tool within your Canvas course on the navigation settings.

Enable a Canvas Grading Scheme

If you want to see a letter grade on the Grades page, or if you want to submit grades directly from Canvas to Banner you need to enable the course grading scheme.

Extend Quiz Date for Students in Canvas

How to extend a due date for students in your Canvas course, whether it is for a singular student or multiple students.

Extra Credit for Individual Quiz Questions

Canvas doesn't allow extra credit questions by default, but you can use this work around to achieve the desired result.

Find, Add, or Remove Courses in Canvas

How to add or remove courses from Canvas dashboard and course list. Additionally, how to find previously taught courses or troubleshooting why courses aren't appearing in Courses tab.

Five Keys to Grading in Canvas

The methods for addressing potential grading issues when using the Canvas grade book.

Flip in Canvas (Formerly FlipGrid)

Flip is a video discussion platform that makes teaching and learning more personal, fun, and engaging. This page goes over how to set up Flip in Canvas and how to create a Flip assignment.

Frequently Asked Questions and Common Mistakes in Canvas

The most common questions asked and mistakes made by USU instructors when they use Canvas for the first time.

Full Design Tools User Guide in Canvas

USU Design Tools are some tools within Canvas that allow you to quickly build and style a course in Canvas.

General Canvas Gradebook Help

How to adjust and navigate through the major features in the Canvas grade book.

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General Education Outcomes—Assignment with Rubric

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Grade Posting Policy vs. Hide Grades

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Graded Discussions in Canvas

How to analyze and review graded discussions in Canvas for all of your courses at Utah State University.

Grading Assignments in Canvas

The Assignments page is arguably the most central to Canvas’s operation. In this page you'll learn of the various features that are associated with grading an assignment in Canvas.

Grading and Syncing with iClicker Cloud

In order to enable grading and syncing with iClicker Cloud, you'll need to follow the instructions below.

Group Discussions in Canvas

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How to Grade a New Quiz

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How to integrate and activate the Zoom tool into your Canvas course side navigation.

How to Log Into Canvas

All USU students, faculty, and staff have access to Canvas and can log on to Canvas at canvas.usu.edu.

How to Simplify Your Navigation in Canvas

Walkthrough on how to simplify your Canvas course navigation to be more user-friendly and enhance the overall student experience.

How to Use Canvas Course Templates

CIDI has developed two templates to help you organize your course materials and provide a consistent experience for students across USU.

Hypothesis: Canvas Annotation Assignment Tool

Hypothesis is a Canvas integrated tool that allows you to collaborate and annotate most online sources.

Import Content from Another Canvas Course

Getting ready for the new semester and have content from this semester you'd like to reuse? Great! You can import content from another Canvas course.

Import a Quiz from Another Canvas Course

You can import specific content from one Canvas course to another, if you are a Teacher, TA, or Course Designer of both courses.

Importing Content into Canvas On-Demand Workshop

This on-demand workshop walks you through how to properly import content from one Canvas course into another and what things you need to review and consider before beginning your course for the semester.

Importing Grades Into Canvas Using a Spreadsheet

Sometimes grades are collected using another source, such as i>clicker, scantron tests, and publisher websites. Or you may just prefer to organize your grades on a spreadsheet.

Layout Coach Setting Descriptions

Within Delphinium the Layout Coach will walk you through all of these settings. This page serves as a reference to be able to see descriptions of all settings at once.

Make Feedback Unavailable to Students Until Grading is Complete in Canvas

The instructions required to make grades, comments, and annotations unavailable until grading is complete and grades are manually posted.

Manage Question Banks

Why, when, and how to use question banks in your Utah State University Canvas course quizzes.

Managing Outcomes in Canvas New Quizzes

The steps to manage outcomes with the new system in the New Quizzes tool in Canvas.

Manually Graded Canvas Quiz Question Types and Risks

Different methods of manually graded Canvas quizzes, how to implement them, and suggestions on managing the complex problems that arise with them.

Mastery Paths in Canvas

Mastery Paths allows you to customize learning experiences for students based on performance. You can enable Mastery Paths to automatically assign coursework based on the score achieved for a previous assignment.

Message All Students Within a Grade Range in Canvas

New Analytics in Canvas allows you to filter outgoing messages to send to your students that fall within a specific grade range.

Moderate Quiz Option in Canvas

How to extend time limit for students and give extra attempts on quizzes and exams through the Canvas Moderate Quiz setting.

New Quizzes Overview

An overview of the Canvas New Quizzes tool which provides additional question types and tools that are not available in Classic Quizzes.

Notification Preferences in Canvas

Suggestions for setting Canvas notifications to determine how often you will receive alerts about new assignment submissions, submission comments, etc.

Online Essay Exams and Quizzes

Suggestions for setting up online essay question types in Canvas exams and quizzes for enhanced security.

Open My Media

The easiest way to open your My Media repository is from your Canvas dashboard.

Prepare for Final Grading in Canvas

You have successfully used Canvas to grade all the assignments in your class, now you can save some time by submitting your grades directly to Banner.

Print a Canvas Syllabus

If you have used the Design Tools or Canvas formatting to prepare your syllabus in Canvas, the easiest way to print a properly formatted syllabus is from the USU Canvas Course Syllabus Tracker.

Proctored, Automatically Graded & Time-Restricted Canvas Quizzes (most secure)

Curated list of Canvas quiz questions that are automatically graded along with different proctoring options and how to implement them.

Quizzes Overview

An introduction of the various options for quizzing using tools available through Canvas.

Replace the Instructor Photo on Your Home Page

Instructions on replacing the instructor photo on your Canvas course home page using design tools.

Restore Deleted Content in Canvas

Previously saved content can be restored if it gets accidentally deleted. This includes assignments, classic quizzes, pages, etc.

Reusing Your Course in Canvas

If you already taught a course once in Canvas, this page is to help you understand how you can best reuse and refine that course to have a successful time teaching your new incoming students.

Scheduling a Meeting in Zoom

How to set up a Zoom meeting within Canvas, outside of Canvas, and how to invite guest speakers.

Share Screen Recording in a Discussion

How to post or embed a Kaltura screen recording as a discussion reply in a Canvas discussion board.

Share Zoom Link with Class

Share a Zoom link that can be accessed by all students in the class through Canvas.

Student Self Evaluation in Canvas

The instructions below will show you how to create a self evaluation for your students based on a rubric outline that you have for your assignment.

Student View (Periscope)

Periscope view allows the instructor to see what a specific student will see when he logs into Delphinium.

Switch Between Design Tools and DesignPLUS in Canvas

How to switch between Design Tools and DesignPLUS. Also, how to switch back to Design Tools from DesignPLUS in Canvas.

Syncing Canvas Calendar to Outlook or Google Calendars

How to sync your Canvas Calendar with either your Microsoft Outlook or Google Calendar accounts.

Testing Center - Proctoring Accommodations

Make accommodations to allow your student(s) to take an exam or quiz with Proctorio while the rest of your students take the exam or quiz in a testing center. Instructions to make the exam flexible in Canvas with the Moderate This Quiz feature.

TidyUP Canvas Content Cleanup Tool

TidyUP is available in your Canvas course to help you quickly identify and clean up the content in your course.

Time Restricted and Automatically Graded Canvas Quizzes

Descriptions of the automatically graded questions types associated with a time-restricted and automatically graded quiz.

Transfer Canvas Classic Quiz to New Quizzes

Transferring a classic Canvas quiz into the New Quizzes format to take advantage of new question types.

Universal Design Resources for Canvas

Dr. John Scott of Blackboard gave the following workshop in fall of 2019 at Utah State University on how to better support diverse online learners as part of the 2019 Ally Road Tour.

Update Active Dates for Modules to Display in Canvas

How to add dates to the module list on your Canvas homepage to highlight and open the most current module.

Update Content Pages in Canvas Templates

Instructions for how to update Canvas content pages using the Design Tools. Change the unit, content title, etc in the template using the side bar.

Update Date References in Canvas Module Titles

If you have previously typed dates to appear in your module titles in your homepage, you'll want to update them through the Multi Tool.

Update Home Page Module Dates in Design Tools

How to update the dates for the modules on the home page by using the features on design tools.

Update the Visual Template Home Page

The Visual Template comes with a pre-styled homepage containing a general university image and replaceable banner text. Be sure to change the course number and title. Changing the image is optional.

Upgrade Legacy Design Content with DesignPLUS

How to upgrade the content designed with the legacy (Design Tools) sidebar to utilize DesignPLUS formatting.

Uploading Files to Canvas

The basics of adding a file to a Canvas course either in the Files tool or within a module.

Using Any Grading Scenario in Canvas

How to convert your Canvas gradebook to a CSV file to import into Excel to calculate a custom final grade.

View Copyleaks Reports in Canvas as an Instructor

How to view a student's Copyleaks report through the SpeedGrader and Grading. How to review the matching sources of a plagiarism detection report using Copyleaks.

View Student A-Numbers on Canvas Grades Page

Canvas allows the option to change which identifying information an instructor sees for a student.

Viewing an Attendance Report in Zoom

Tutorials for generating attendance reports, which are available through the Zoom link in Canvas or through the Zoom website. If the meeting recurrence is set for "no fixed time" you will have to pull the reports from the Zoom website.

Beyond Grades: Exploring New Grading Approaches in Canvas

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Alternative grading frameworks are gaining momentum among educators looking for innovative ways to assess students' learning beyond traditional grading methods. With the emergence of generative AI, instructors are increasingly interested in exploring new ways to assess learning.  

Advocates of ungrading frameworks, such as Susan Blum , argue that ungrading fosters an environment where students feel encouraged to take risks, explore new ideas, and engage in deeper learning experiences without the pressure of grades. Additionally, ungrading cultivates intrinsic motivation and a growth mindset, creating a more positive and meaningful learning environment for students, strengthening the connection between instructors and students.  

For those seeking more extensive information on the topic, we recommend enrolling in the Reimagining Assessment Practicum . As part of the practicum, we created a tip sheet for the workshop to help explore more ways of implementing alternative grading methods within Canvas.  

Make a copy of the tip sheet here .  

How to Get Started 

Many instructors begin by adopting alternative grading methods gradually, transitioning just one assignment or graded activity at a time to use an alternative grading framework. While there isn't a one-size-fits-all approach, we offer five different ideas to help you rethink grading in Canvas.  

• Complete/Incompletes: The Use of the Complete/Incomplete grading criteria option for assignments in Canvas (available in assignment settings). By providing a complete/incomplete, instructors can encourage students to focus on feedback by providing detailed feedback using the Canvas SpeedGrader. This is particularly effective when partnered with allowing students to submit multiple times to an assignment, with a requirement of incorporating previous feedback in each attempt.
• Video or audio feedback :  Speedgrader has the option to provide video or audio feedback , which can be particularly impactful and novel for students. Hearing your voice or seeing your face facilitates more personalized communication between you and your students.  
• Practice Quizzes/Surveys : These types of assessments are not recorded in the gradebook, but they provide students with a low-pressure environment to estimate their understanding of course material. This approach has the benefit of easily scaling up for implementation in large classes. Create a Practice Quiz/Survey by selecting it in the “Quiz Type” field.  
• Extra Credit: Providing additional opportunities for students to excel by implementing extra credit, pushing the total weight grade over 100% in the assignment groups area, or manually adding extra points. For more information, see How do I weight the final course grade based on assignment groups?  
• Tiered Discussions: To support diverse levels of mastery within discussions, instructors can create tiered discussions. For example, distinguish discussions by difficulty level: one designated for students with advanced knowledge in the field, another for students with a moderate understanding, and a third for those new to the topic. To clarify the difficulty level of each discussion, instructors can use a rating system such as assigning three stars (***) for discussions on advanced topics, two stars (**) for discussions of moderate difficulty, and one star (*) for discussions geared towards foundational concepts. This approach can promote a more supportive learning environment where students can feel empowered to participate regardless of their prior knowledge of the topic. This strategy is effective for classes with diverse students with varying levels of understanding of the subject matter. Using the group discussion function in Canvas , students can self-select into a discussion group geared to their level.  

Integrating alternative grading frameworks in Canvas can help you assess student learning in alignment with your teaching objectives while fostering positive outcomes such as reduced stress, heightened enthusiasm for learning, and improved communication with your students. If you would like assistance with exploring or implementing alternative grading strategies in your course, schedule a consultation with a learning engineer.  

Learn more tricks to use ungrading practices in Canvas by making a copy of the tip sheet.