Weighting Final Grade

Canvas organizes all graded student work into Assignment Groups.  Your course may already have some default groups like Assignments, Discussions, Quizzes; and you can create new groups to fit your grading style and requirements.  Assignment Groups can then be weighted with a percentage to calculate the final grade. 

Weighting is done in the Assignments page rather than in the Gradebook.

Create an Assignment Group

  1. Select Assignments from the Course Navigation Menu:
    Screenshot of a course menu with Assignments highlighted
     
  2. Click the +Group button:
    Screenshot of the +Group button on the Canvas Assignments page
     
  3. Enter a Group Name (i.e. Homework, Presentations, Project, etc.).  Note: if you haven't enabled weighting yet, the % of total grade field will not be editable.  Create all your required groups and the next section will guide how to enable weighting.
  4. Click Save.

Assign Weights to Assignment Groups

  1. Select Assignments from the Course Navigation Menu:
    Screenshot of a course menu with Assignments highlighted
     
  2. Click the three dots in the top-right corner of the page:
    Screenshot of the Assignments page buttons.  The three dots button is highlighted.
     
  3. Click Assignment Groups Weights:
    Screenshot of the Assignment options submenu on the Assignments Page.  The "Assignment Groups Weight" button is highlighted.
     
  4. Check the Weight final grade based on assignment groups box.
    Screenshot of the "weight final grade based on assignments groups" checkbox
     
  5. Enter your weights and click Save.
  6. Your weights will show on the Assignments page to the right of the Assignment Group name.
    Screenshot of an assignment group called assignments contributing 25% of the total grade

Dropping Grades

You can drop a specified number of lowest or highest scores from an Assignment group.  Note: when dropping grades, a student must have at least one more submission than the number of grades being dropped.  For example, if you are dropping the 1 lowest grade in a group, a student must have at least two graded submissions in that group before the grade will be dropped.

  1. Select Assignments from the Course Navigation Menu:
    Screenshot of a course menu with Assignments highlighted
     
  2. Click the three dots next to the right of the Assignment Group name and choose Edit:
    Screenshot of the  Assignment Group options submenu, the edit option is highlighted.
     
  3. Enter the number of scores to ignore in the Lowest/Highest Scores fields.  You can also designate Assignments that should never be dropped:
    Screenshot of editing an assignment group. Showing the name, % of total grade, lowest and highest scores to drop and the "Never Drop" option.
     
  4. Click Save.
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