The Gradebook in Canvas
In Canvas' navigation menu option "Grades", you can find the Gradebook, where the teacher and students get a visual overview of all assessments. In order for assessments in Canvas to work optimally, you sometimes need to set a "grading scheme" for an assignment or arrange "assignment groups" so that the grades are weighed together in the way you as a teacher want. Here you will find information on how these functions work.
Assessments or grades in Canvas
In Canvas, the student receives feedback and sees assessments and results. Students often appreciate having one place where they can see what the teacher has registered about their performance during the course. But results presented in Canvas can in some cases be seen as a governmental decision, so the recommendation is to only publish results where it is clearly stated how they are included in the grading process. This is important from a legal perspective, since as soon as a result becomes a grade, stricter rules apply to how it can be changed. Also keep in mind that the results for a course module has to be reported to Ladok within 15 working days after the examination date. It is not enough to report for for examlpe exam results only through Canvas.
Video presentation of the Gradebook
Canvas has a video that explains the Gradebook. There are timestamps for the information below the video and there is a text version of the video (community.canvaslms.com) .
Timestamps for information in the video:
- 00:00 - Find and orientate in the Gradebook
- 00:30 - View options
- 01:00 - Late Policies for submissions
- 01:40 - Grade Posting Policy (recommended to be set to manual mode)
- 02:30 - Sort students in the Gradebook
- 03:30 - Manage the order and display settings for assignments and submissions
- 05:25 - Change settings for a specific assignment
- 06:31 - Handle each submitted assignment individually
- 07:10 - Assignment groups in the Gradebook
- 07:23 - Import and export the Gradebook to CSV file
- 07:47 - Gradebook individual view
- 08:30 - Gradebook History
Anonymize the Gradebook
The easiest way to anonymize the Gradebook is in "Assignment" or in "SpeedGrader".
Anonymize from an assignment
When an assignment is created, choose to activate the function "anonymous assessment" by checking "Graders cannot view the student names" in the settings for the assignment. The students' results will be completely anonymous, both in the Gradebook and in SpeedGrader. You can then, for example, not see who has submitted or if someone has submitted too late, etc. However, you can uncheck the box in the assignment setting whenever you want to, and then you can then see which student has submitted on time or not. Read more on the page about Settings for examining assignments .
Anonymize in SpeedGrader
In order to see the status of the students' submissions in the Gradebook, it is recommended that anonymous assessment is activated in SpeedGrader instead of the assignment. In SpeedGrader, press the cogwheel in the upper menu. Select "Options" and check the box for "Hide student names in SpeedGrader". Read more on the page about SpeedGrader in Canvas .
Grading policy settings in the Gradebook
Hide the grades during the assessment work
If you want to hide the grades from the students while the assessment work is in progress or longer, you do it most easily in the Canvas Gradebook that you find by clicking on “Grades” in your course room. If the current Canvas room is prepared with one of KTH's templates, this setting may already be adjusted.
Click on the cogwheel to the right in the Gradebook view. In the window that appears, select the "Grade Posting Policy" tab. Select the option "Manually Post Grades".
With this setting, the student should not see any new grades, notes or comments that you add to the submission until you manually publish the grades. You can publish all grades for an assignment by clicking on the button with three dots on it next to the assignment's name and select "Publish Grades".
It is also possible to set separate policies for different assignments. Set a Grade Posting Policy (Canvas Community)
Set policies for late or missed submissions
In the Gradebook settings (found under the cogwheel in the upper right corner), there are two settings you need to make if you do not use the examination room. If the current Canvas room is prepared with one of KTH's templates, this setting may already be adjusted. Read more about Examination room in Canvas .
With Canvas' original settings, the student who has submitted only one of several assignments will receive the same final grade as for their submitted assignment. It is desirable that the Gradebook is set so that the final grade shown in Canvas is based on all the assignments the student is expected to do.
Policy for missing submission
Set a policy for missing submission (Canvas Community)
Check "Automatically apply grade for missing submissions", select zero percent. Have in mind that the setting Missing Submission policy affects all assignments in the course room, including assignments with due dates in the past. To exclude a specific assignment, mark the submission as something other than Missing in the Gradebook.
Policy for late submissions
Set a policy for late submission in "Grades" (Canvas Community)
Check "Automatically apply deduction to late submissions", select deduction in percent. 100% means that the student's results for the assignment will not be included in the final grade that Canvas calculates.
Read more about Dates and grades when reporting grades
Grading Schemes simplifies the transfer to Ladok
Grading Schemes enable you to complement a point or percentage in the Gradebook with a letter grade or a short comment, such as "passed"/"failed" or "You need to practice more".
For the transfer function from Canvas grades to Ladok to work, the assignment needs to be configured to use Letter grades and use grading schemes like the by KTH published schemes "A-F grading scheme (including Fx)" or "Pass/Fail grading scheme 80%", depending on which grades are used for the Ladok. The page "KTH transfer to Ladok" explains more .
Select or create your own grading scheme
To create a new Grading scheme for a assignment (or quiz):
- Enter the assignment settings.
- For the "Display grade as" setting, select Letter grade.
- Press "View grading scheme".
- Scroll down and click on the "manage grading schemes" link and then the "Add grading scheme" button or click on the "Select another scheme" link if you already have a grading scheme you want to use.
If you want more help, Learn more about creating grading a scheme on Canvas community .
Activate the course grading scheme, a standard for the entire course
If you often use the same grading scheme for several assignments, you can set it as the default for your course. The course grading scheme will be pre-selected when you choose "letter grade" for an assignment or quiz.
To activate the function, go to "Settings" in the course menu and look for "Grading scheme" under the "Course Details" tab. If you check the box, the function is activated. After you have activated the function, click on "set grading scheme" and select or create a new grading scheme just as you do for an assignment or quiz (see the heading "Select or create your own grading scheme" above). If you already have a grading scheme activated for the course, it will say "view grading scheme" instead, but it works the same way.
Manage results with Canvas
There are several choices regarding how results should be noted and displayed to the students in assessed assignments and there are also different ways of handling the assessments in the Gradebook to weigh them together for a final grade. Read more about how to note points in different ways and Canvas' three ways to weigh results on the page Manage results with Canvas .
Outcomes and the Gradebook
The Gradebook can be completely adjusted so that it describes intended learning outcomes. Learn more about Canvas' Outcomes on the pages about Gradebooks for learning mastery for both teachers and students .