The Canvas Gradebook allows instructors to grade assignments and provide feedback. You can see weighted grades, set late policies and decide when to let students view their grades through grade posting policies.
This article covers:
1) The "Gradebook" menu lets you view all students or switch to a Learning Mastery, Individual or Gradebook History view.
2) You can "Export" a copy of your grade book to a CSV format that can be opened in Excel.
3) "Gradebook Settings" allows you to set Grade Posting Policies, Late Policies, and View options.
4) "Student Names" search allows you to search for specific students.
5) "Assignment Names" search allows you to search for specific assignments.
6) "Filters" allow you to refine your view of the gradebook further.
1) Late Policies
In the Gradebook, you can set default policies for late assignments. You can automatically apply a grade (zero) for missing submissions or deduct a specified percentage for each day late. For more information, see the Canvas Guide on Late Policies.
2) Grade Posting Policy
Faculty can set the policy for releasing grades to students for the entire gradebook or by assignments. By default, all grades are posted automatically, which means students see the grade and your comments as soon as you enter the grade. If you want students to see their grades only when you are finished grading the entire class, you can post grades manually.
If you want to change this for the entire gradebook:
- Go to "Grade Settings."
- Select "Manually Post Grades" from the "Grade Posting Policy" tab.
- Click "Update" to save your changes.
If you want to change the Grade Posting on a specific assignment:
- Go to the assignment's options menu in the column header.
- Select"Grade Posting Policy."
- Select "Manually Post Grades" and "Save."
Once you have entered the grades and are ready for students to see them, go back to the options menu for the assignment and select "Post Grades." When a grade column has "Manually post grades policy" set, you will see the word "Manual" to the right of the "Out of ##points" line (1). Whenever students have grades that have been assigned but not posted, you will also see the icon that looks like a gray eye with a line through it (2).
See the Canvas Guide on the Grade Posting Policy for more information.
3) View Options
The "Arrange by" menu allows you to filter and sort the Gradebook. You can arrange by columns, including assignment name, due date or module.
The "Show" options allow you to "Show" or "Hide Notes" and "Unpublished Assignments."
"Status Color" allows you to customize status colors for late, missing, resubmitted, dropped or excused statuses.
By default, these colors indicate various statuses for assignment submissions:
- Blue: Late submission
- Red: Missing submission
- Green: A resubmitted assignment
- Orange: Dropped grade
- Yellow: An excused assignment
Gradebook rows alternate white and gray shading, so some colors may seem darker if displayed in a row with gray shading.
More information about the Gradebook icons and colors may be found in the Canvas Guide.
Gradebook filters allow faculty to customize views by assignments with submissions (or assignments with ungraded submissions), by module, section, assignment group, Student group, Start date or End date. These filters can be saved for later use or applied temporarily.
You can use multiple condition types and conditions to create specific filters for the grade book. If you want to reuse a filter, give it a name and select "Save."
Once conditions have been selected, click the "Apply Filter" toggle button to view the filtered gradebook data on the selected set of conditions.
You can apply multiple filters to your grade book at the same time.
To grade student work, click directly in the cell and enter a grade or click "Grade Detail Tray" to access SpeedGrader. If entering grades for an in-class or on-paper assignment, you'll probably enter grades directly into the cells. If students submit assignments online, use SpeedGrader to grade and provide feedback. You can access SpeedGrader from the Assignment or by clicking on the column header in the grade book and choosing SpeedGrader. You can also click the arrow icon in a cell for a specific student.
This opens the Grade Detail dialog, which lets you access the SpeedGrader, (1) enter a grade, (2) set or change a status, or enter a comment.
Grading schemes are used primarily to equate a grading system in percentages or points (only available if your total points in the class is less than or equal to 100 points) to final letter grades. Once a grading scheme is enabled, you and your students will see a letter grade in the grade book, as in the example below.
If you want to use a grading scheme, enable it in the Course Settings.
Note: If you inherited a course with a grading scheme or change your mind about using one, you can remove the letter grade in the Totals column by unchecking "Enable Course Grading Scheme" in "Settings."
- In your course menu, click "Settings."
- Scroll down to "Enable Course Grading Scheme" and check the box to the left of "Enable Course Grading Scheme."
- Select a grading scheme. Canvas has a default grading scheme based on percentages and includes +/- grades. You can choose to use that one or make a copy and edit it to match your grading standard. Click "View/Edit" to see the default grading scheme.
- You can copy the default grading scheme and edit it to set up a scheme based on points (only for classes with no more than 100 points) or percentages. For example, here's a grading scheme based on points with no plus or minus grades.
- When you've chosen a grading scheme, scroll to the bottom of Settings and click "Update Course Details" to save the changes.
Learn more about Canvas Grading Schemes: How do I use grading schemes in a course?
By default, Canvas displays the Total Column as a percentage. Change the display if you prefer to view the total points rather than a percentage.
- In the grade book, go to the "Total column"
- Click the "Options menu" (3 vertical dots) to the right of Total
- Select "Display as Points"
More information about the Gradebook may be found in the Canvas Guide to Grades.