Gradebook

The Gradebook helps instructors easily input and distribute grades for students. Grades for each assignment can be calculated as points, percentages, complete or incomplete, pass or fail, GPA scale, and letter grades; assignments can be organized into groups for weighting as well.

Canvas refers to its grading tool as SpeedGrader.  You can use it to assign grades and leave feedback.  SpeedGrader is also available in the Canvas Teacher app.

Columns are automatically created in the Gradebook when you create and publish assignments, graded discussions, and quizzes. A column is also automatically added if you enable the Attendance tool.

• Viewing the Gradebook
• Entering Grades in the Gradebook
• Grading with SpeedGrader
  • Accessing SpeedGrader from an Assignment
  • Accessing SpeedGrader from a Graded Discussion
  • Accessing SpeedGrader from a New Quiz
• Grade Posting Policies
  • Set Grade Posting Policy for Entire Course
  • Set Grade Posting Policy for a Specific Assignment
  • Posting Hidden Grades
• Grading Schemes
  • Adding a Grading Scheme to the Course
  • Adding a Grading Scheme to an Assignment
  • Show Only Letter Grades to Students

Viewing the Gradebook

1. In your Course Navigation, click the Grades link:
   
    
2. The Gradebook is divided into three parts:
   
   
   The top area allows searching for specific students or assignments, applying various filters, importing or exporting data, and settings that allow you to set things like late policies, grade posting policy, column arrangement, view options, and final grade override.
   
   The left area shows a list of students.  You can click on a student's name to: bring up some quick analytics on their recent submissions and activity; send them a message; view all their grades; and bring up a few more detailed analytics.  You can click the three dots next to the Student Name column to change sorting and display options.
   
   The right area shows the list of assignments and any grades.  Cells are color-coded: red for missing, blue for late, yellow for excused.  Grades can be displayed as points, percentage, letter, complete/incomplete, or GPA scale.  Grade display is controlled in the Assignment settings.  Columns can be reordered by drag and drop, and re-sized by dragging the edge. Columns that have an eye with a slash icon next to the name are hidden from students.

Entering Grades in the Gradebook

Grades can be entered directly into any cell in the Gradebook with the exception of the Total column and Assignment Group columns.  You can also enter a grade in the Grade Detail Tray.

Enter Grades Directly into a Cell

1. In your Course Navigation, click the Grades link:
   
    
2. Submissions that are not yet graded will have this icon in the cell:  
   If the Assignment is set to display points or percentage, click in the cell and type in the grade. 
   If the Assignment is set to display Letter or Complete/Incomplete, click in the cell and select the desired grade from the drop-down menu.
    
3. There is no save button, simply click on any area of the screen outside of the cell to save your grade.

Enter Grades in the Grade Detail Tray

1. In your Course Navigation, click the Grades link:
   
    
2. Submissions that are not yet graded will have this icon in the cell: Click in the cell and click the Arrow icon: 
   
    
3. The Grade Detail Tray will open from the side. 
   In this window you can:
   Enter a grade. 
   Change the status of an assignment (Late, Missing, Excused).
   Open the Assignment in SpeedGrader.
   Leave a comment in the Comments field.
   Use the Arrow buttons to proceed to the next student or the next assignment.
   
   
4. There is no save button, simply click on any area of the screen outside of the cell to save your grade. If leaving a comment, click Submit when done.  

Grading with SpeedGrader

SpeedGrader is the Canvas grading tool used to evaluate student performance and leave feedback.  It can be used to grade Assignments, Quizzes, and Graded Discussions.  You can access it directly from the Assignment or from the Gradebook.

Accessing SpeedGrader from an Assignment

1. From your course menu, access the assignment from the Assignments link or from the Module that contains the assignment.
2. Click SpeedGrader:
   
3. Opening SpeedGrader causes the course menu to collapse to offer more room on the screen for grading. 
   You can exit by clicking the notebook button in the top-left. 
   You can hide grades for this assignment by clicking the eye button.
   You can access sorting options by clicking the Gear button.
   
    
4. The student's submission will display on the page. 
   You can use the toolbar above the document to leave point comments, draw, highlight or strikeout text. 
   Submission details such as the date it was submitted and how many words it contains are displayed in the right-hand panel.  You can also download the file from here. 
   You can enter a grade and leave comments.  If using a Rubric, refer to our Grading with a Rubric article.  If entering comments, click Submit when finished.
   Click Reasssign Assignment if you want the student to re-submit, this will cause the Assignment to display in the students To Do area again.
   

Accessing SpeedGrader from a Graded Discussion

1. From your course menu, access the graded discussion from the Discussions link or from the Module that contains the graded discussion.
2. Click the three dots button and then click SpeedGrader:
   
    
3. Use the Arrows or Drop-down menu in the top right to cycle through student submissions or select the specific student you'd like to grade.
4. All of the user's posts in that discussion will display on the page.  If you want to see the posts in the context of the full discussion, click view the full discussion.
5. You can enter a grade and leave comments.  If using a Rubric, refer to our Grading with a Rubric article. 

Accessing SpeedGrader from a New Quiz

1. From your course menu, access the Quizzes link or the Module that contains the Quiz.  Click the three dots next to the Quiz Name and click Build:
   
    
2. Click SpeedGrader:
   
    
3. Most question types are auto-corrected.  Questions that need your attention, such as essay, will be listed at the top of the page, click on the question number to jump to that question:
   
    
4. Click the Speech bubble button to leave feedback for a specific question, then click Done.
5. The Check and X buttons can be used to mark a question correct or incorrect to give full points or zero points.  To grade more subjectively, you can type in a point total in the points field, which shows the Max points for that question:
   
    
6. When finished inputting points, scroll down and click Update at the bottom of the page.
7. Add Comments in the right-hand panel.  If entering comments, click Submit when finished.

Grade Posting Policies

Grade posting policies control assignment grade and comment visibility for students.  Posted grades are visible to students.  Hidden grades are visible only to the instructor in the gradebook. 

The two policies are:

Automatically Post Grades: grades are visible to students as soon as they are entered.  This is the default gradebook policy.

Manually Post Grades: grades are hidden until the instructor posts them to students. 

The policy can be set at the Course level or for a specific assignment.  A policy set for a specific assignment will supersede the course setting, i.e. the overall course setting can be set to automatic, but a particular assignment can be set to manual.  Assignments that are not posted will have an eye with a slash icon next to the column name in the Gradebook. Assignments with a manual posting policy display Manual under the column name.

Note: with New Quizzes, students can see their scores even if you've set a manual posting policy.  New Quizzes have a Settings area that has additional view restrictions that can be used in tandem with a manual posting policy to control what results students see after they submit their attempt.

Set Grade Posting Policy for Entire Course

1. In your Course Navigation, click the Grades link:
   
    
2. Click the Gear button in the top-right corner of the page:
   
    
3. Select the Grade Posting Policy tab.
   
4. Select your desired setting and click Apply Settings.

Set Grade Posting Policy for a Specific Assignment

1. In your Course Navigation, click the Grades link:
   
    
2. Click the three dots next to the column name and choose Grade Posting Policy:
   
   
    
3. Select your desired setting and click Save.

Posting Hidden Grades

When you are ready to make hidden grades and comments visible to students, you will Post them from the Gradebook. 

Hidden columns will have an eye with a slash icon next to the name.  You can choose to post grades for Everyone, which will post all current grades and any future grades for the assignment; or Graded, which will only post to students for whom you have graded the assignment.  Future grades added to the assignment for other students will remain hidden until you repeat this process.

The default notification setting for students is set to send them an email notification when a new grade is posted in their course.

1. In your Course Navigation, click the Grades link:
   
    
2. Click the three dots next to the column name and choose Post Grades:
   
   
    
3. Choose to post grades to Everyone or Graded.  If you have merged multiple sections into a single course, you can also choose to post to a specific section.
4. Click Post.

Hiding Posted Grades

You may have a need to hide grades that you have already posted.  Note: when you hide grades, the assignment retains its posting policy, so if it is set to automatically post grades, any new grades you enter will not be hidden.  If you want to ensure all the grades for an assignment stay hidden until you are ready, set the posting policy for the assignment to manual.

To hide posted grades:

1. In your Course Navigation, click the Grades link:
   
    
2. Click the three dots next to the column name and choose Hide Grades:
   
    
3. Click Hide. If you If you have merged multiple sections into a single course, you can also choose to hide for a specific section. 
4. In their grades page, students will see an icon letting them know the grade has not yet been posted:
   

 

Grading Schemes

Grading Schemes map a percentage or point range onto a letter grade.  You can set a Grading Scheme at the course level or add a scheme to an individual assignment.  We have configured a system-wide grading scheme that is available for use labeled Office of Academic Affairs, or you can create a new scheme.

Adding a Grading Scheme to Course

1. In your Course Navigation, click the Settings link:
   
    
2. Find the Grading Scheme Drop-down menu, You can View or Edit the currently applied scheme, change to another scheme via the drop-down menu
   
    
3. To view all schemes or create a new one, click Manage All Grading Schemes.  You can create a new Scheme by clicking the Add grading scheme button or edit an existing scheme by clicking the Pencil icon.  Make your desired edits and click Save.
   
   Note: you cannot edit the top-level Office of Academic Affairs scheme, but your course may have a duplicate copy listed, which you can edit.  A red circle with a slash will appear next to the pencil icon for the one you cannot edit.
    
4. To add a grading scheme, give it a Name and choose if you want to map percentage or points to your letter grade.  Add your desired ranges, delete any that you don't want using the Trash can icon, and click Save.
5. Back on the settings page, select your newly created scheme from the drop-down menu and click Update Course Details at the bottom of the page.
6. When enabled at the course level, the total grade will show both a percentage and the letter grade to instructors in the Gradebook, and students will see both in their Grades link:
   

 

Adding a Grading Scheme to an Assignment

1. In your Course Navigation, click the Assignments link
   
    
2. Find your assignment and click on its title
3. Click the Edit button:
   
    
4. In the Display Grade as drop-down, select Letter Grade.
5. To view all schemes or create a new one, click Manage All Grading Schemes.  You can create a new Scheme by clicking the Add grading scheme button or edit an existing scheme by clicking the Pencil icon.  Make your desired edits and click Save.
   
   Note: you cannot edit the top-level Office of Academic Affairs scheme, but your course may have a duplicate copy listed, which you can edit.  A red circle with a slash will appear next to the pencil icon for the one you cannot edit.
6. Select the desired scheme from the drop-down menu.  
7. Click Save at the bottom of the page.

Show Only Letter Grades to Students

When you create assignments in Canvas, it requires you to input a value for total points, but some instructors prefer to use a letter grade and don't want points shown to students.  Enabling this setting will hide all points associated with assignments and totals and only show a letter grade.

1. In your Course Navigation, click the Settings link:
   
    
2. Check the Restrict view of quantitative data box:
   
   
    
3. Click Update Course Details.  Students will now only see letter grades.  Use the directions above to ensure you have your desired Grade Scheme enabled for the course.