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Create weighted assignment groups in canvas for grading.

• cb christine brown
• ej edwin jeng
• mv maggie vecchione
• MK Melissa Kane
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• Last updated: Jul 3, 2023 by Claire Streckenbach

When you have different assignment types (e.g., assignments, discussions, quizzes, etc.), and a weighted grading system, you may use Canvas’ Assignment Groups to calculate weighted grades and organize the assignments. Based on the information you’ve articulated in your syllabus, you can quickly set up Assignment Groups. 

Create Assignment Groups

• Log in to Canvas at canvas.brown.edu and select your course from the Global Navigation menu on the left.

Create an Assignment Group

• Enter the name of the assignment group in the Group Name  box.
• Enter the percentage of the total grade in the % of total grade  box. You can leave the box empty and/or change the number later.
• Click Save .

Create Weighted Assignment Groups for Grading

• Enter the percentage of the total grade for each assignment group in their respective % boxes.
• Make sure the Total is 100%.
• Click Save.

Manage Assignment Groups

• Edit the Group Name  and % of total grade  in their respective boxes.
• Enter the number of scores to drop from each student's final grade in the Lowest Scores  and Highest Scores  boxes.

• To reorder an assignment group in the Assignments  page,  click and drag the assignment group.
• To delete a group,  click the Edit  (gear) icon to the right of the group name, then click Delete . You can delete the assignments within the assignment group or move them to another assignment group.

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Use Weighted Assignment Groups in Your Canvas Course

by Thomas Keith | Aug 26, 2022 | Canvas , Canvas Features/Functions , How-tos , Pedagogy

Introduction

• Create an Assignment Group

Weight Assignment Groups

Use weighted assignment groups to calculate the total grade, drop a low score from an assignment group, further resources and getting help.

It is good pedagogical practice to maintain a Canvas Gradebook that gives an accurate reflection of your students’ performance. Students frequently consult their grades in Canvas to get a sense of how they are doing in your course and of areas in which they need to improve. You can use weighted Assignment Groups in your Canvas course to help ensure that the grade calculated by Canvas is indicative of students’ actual performance.

Create An Assignment Group

An Assignment Group in Canvas is a means of sorting assignments according to the categories to which they belong in your syllabus. By default, new assignments created in your Canvas course will be added to a catch-all group called Assignments . (Note that “assignments” in this context refers to anything that is graded; this can be an Assignment proper, a Quiz, or a graded Discussion.)

You can create a new Assignment Group by going to the Assignments tab in your course and clicking the gray +Group button at the upper right.

It is a good idea to give your group a name that reflects the assessment categories on your syllabus. For example, if the group contains quizzes that are given each week of the quarter, you might call it Weekly Quizzes .

Once a group has been created, there are two ways to add assignments to it:

Assignment Groups are most useful when used to weight grades. With weighted Assignment Groups, you can make the organization of your assignments in Canvas match the organization used on your syllabus. You also have greater flexibility than is offered by weighting each individual assignment: if an assignment needs to be dropped or added, you can simply remove it from/add it to the appropriate assignment group, and Canvas will automatically recalculate the final grade accordingly.

For the remainder of this post, we will use as an example a course in which the grading is as follows:

• Five short quizzes: 20% of the final grade
• One midterm exam: 30% of the final grade
• One final exam: 40% of the final grade
• Attendance and participation: 10% of the final grade

To begin, the instructor creates four assignment groups, named Short Quizzes , Midterm , Final Exam , and Attendance and Participation .

She then clicks the column of three dots at the upper right and chooses Assignment Groups Weight .

She then checks the box next to Weight final grade based on assignment groups . This allows her to set the percentage weight for each assignment group.

Note that Canvas shows the instructor that the assignment groups add up to 100%. It is important to check this, as Canvas will not stop you if your groups add up to less than or greater than 100%.

Once the instructor has weighted her groups to her satisfaction, she clicks the maroon Save button. Canvas then indicates across from each assignment group’s name the percentage value of the total grade that it carries.

The instructor can now create her assignments and add them to the appropriate assignment groups by one of the two methods enumerated above.

An important caveat: If an assignment group contains more than one assignment, it is important that all assignments have the same point value for Canvas’ math to work out correctly. This avoids the risk of “double weighting,” which will occur if assignments within a group have different point values. For example: if a quiz worth 5 points and a quiz worth 50 points are placed in the same assignment group, the latter quiz will be worth ten times as much in Canvas’ calculations, which will greatly skew the result. In our example course, the instructor has avoided this risk by creating five quizzes within the Short Quizzes group, each of which is worth three points.

The Midterm and Final Exam groups each contain only one assignment. This can be an assignment of type Online Assignment if the instructor wishes her students to submit it through Canvas, or it can be an assignment of type On Paper if students will hand in a physical exam paper.

For the Attendance and Participation group, the instructor creates an assignment of type No Submission .

Remember that in Canvas, there is a one-to-one correspondence between assignments and columns in the Gradebook. Thus, if you wish to create a column for (e.g.) students’ attendance/participation grade, it is necessary to create a corresponding assignment. By making it of type No Submission , the instructor has ensured that students do not need to hand in any work, while still creating a Gradebook column where the grade is recorded.

Note also that if students need to submit work that will not be graded, such as an outline for an upcoming paper, you can create an assignment of submission type Online Assignment and check the box Do not count this assignment toward the final grade in the assignment options area.

Using weighted assignment groups allows Canvas to do your math for you. A column will appear in the Gradebook for each assignment group. The Total column will be calculated by multiplying the value of each column by its percentage weight and adding the results. In the case of the student below, the grade is calculated as follows:

Short Quizzes: 12 out of 15 possible points = 80 * 0.2 = 16

Midterm Exam: 90 out of 100 possible points = 90*0.3 = 27

Final Exam: 80 out of 100 possible points = 80*0.4 = 32

Attendance and Participation: 100 out of 100 possible points = 100*0.1 = 10

Total: 16+27+32+10 = 85

If you wish, you can set an assignment group to drop one or more low scores (or high scores) automatically. To do this, go to the group within the Assignments tab and click on the column of three dots across from its name to open a dialog box. Then enter the number of low or high scores you wish to drop and click Save .

You can also specify that an assignment should never be dropped by clicking the blue +Add an assignment link next to Never drop: and choosing its name from the drop-down that appears.

For more information, please see:

• How do I weight the final course grade based on assignment groups?
• How do I create rules for an assignment group?

If you have additional questions, Academic Technology Solutions is here to help. You can attend our workshops to learn more about Canvas and other tools for teaching with technology. You can also drop into our Office Hours (virtual and in-person) to ask any questions you may have; no appointment is required.

(Cover Photo by Piret Ilver on Unsplash )

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Weighted Grades & Assignment Groups

Applying weights to groups of assignments.

Faculty often want to weight their grades

• Assignments - 30%
• Quizzes - 30%
• Class Participation - 20%
• Final Exam - 20%

Canvas will do the math for you using  Assignment Groups Weight.  To access this feature, go to Assignments on the Course Navigation Menu [1] . Here you'll add Assignment Groups by selecting the +Group button  [2] ( by default, you will have an Assignment group already available).

Give the new assignment group a name [3] . You can add as many assignment groups as you want to weight.

When all the groups are created, select  More Options [⋮]   [4] and Assignment Groups Weight [5]  from the drop-down menu.

Check the box for  Weight final grade based on assignment groups [6] . This will open up the list of  Assignment Groups  where you can enter their weights. 

Canvas keeps a running total [7] so you can ensure that your weighted scores add up to 100%.

The Assignment Group weights will be visible now in the Assignments section .

When you create any graded item in Canvas (assignment, quiz, discussion) for which you want the grade weighted, be sure to add it to the appropriate Assignment Group by selecting the group from the Assignment Group [8]  drop-down menu.

The  Assignment Groups  and their weights will appear in the second to last column in the  Gradebook .

Applying Rules to Groups of Assignments

Once you have added assignments to an assignment group, you can create rules for that assignment group. Assignment group rules determine how Canvas handles any exceptions you want to create for grade calculations such as dropping the lowest or highest scores.

Note: We suggest setting up these rules during the latter part of the term to prevent Canvas dropping the first assignment students submit (as it will be the lowest score since it is the only scored item for a student).

On the Assignments page, select the  More Options [⋮]   [1]  and  Edit [2].

Indicate the number of lowest or highest scores you want to ignore in the assignment group [3] . You can also indicate any assignments you never want to be dropped for students [4] .

You will now have an indication on the Assignment Group that you have applied rules. Hovering on the rule text displays which rules you have set-up.

For further assistance, UO Online & Canvas Support are available.

• In-Person: Room 68 PLC
• By phone: (541) 346-1942
• By email:  [email protected]
• Submit a  Service Portal Ticket  ( opens in a new tab) . This form can also be accessed in Canvas from the  Help  button at the bottom of the  Global Navigation Menu . 

• Assignment Groups

How Do I Use Assignment Groups in Canvas?

In Canvas, assignment groups allow you to organize your assignments into discrete groups. For example, you may want to group all the essay assignments in your course within one assignment group titled ‘Essays’.

Assignment groups allow you to leverage a weighted grade scheme in your Canvas course. A weighted grade scheme allows you to distribute percentages of a student’s final grade across these assignment groups. Following our previous example, you may want the Essays group to account for 30% of the final grade. 

By default, Grade weighting is turned off for all Canvas courses. To turn on Grade weighting, please follow Canvas’ tutorial for weighting final grades based on Assignment Groups.

How do grade weights get distributed across an Assignment Group?

In Canvas, the weight of an assignment group is distributed proportionally across the assignments inside it. Because of this, assignments worth different points will be weighted differently if they are in the same assignment group.

Here’s an example of an assignment group in Canvas. This group is worth 30% of the total grade and contains three assignments with different point values. The table further below outlines how the assignment group weight of 30% is distributed across the three Assignments.

Here, since Essay Two is out of 200 points, it will count two times more than Essays One and Three.

***assignment group weight distribution for assignments with differing point totals.

If you want all assignments within a given assignment group to be worth the same weight, you have two options:

1. Make all assignments inside an assignment group worth the same number of points, as shown below.

***In this scenario, we have changed Essay Two’s point value from 200 to 100 points. Since all point values in this assignment Group are the same, each Assignment will be worth the same, 10% in this case.

2. Create new assignment groups for any outlier assignments if you cannot or do not want to change their point value.

***In this scenario, we have not changed Essay Two’s point values, so we will need to put it in its own assignment group worth 10% and change the first assignment group to be worth 20% so that all Essays are now worth 10% of the total grade.

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Grading Group Work: Tips and Strategies

• Assessing and Grading Learning /
• Community /
• Discussion /
• Engaging Students /

One of the most difficult challenges faculty face in a collaborative classroom is how to grade students. The fundamental issue is that individual and group accountability seem to be at odds with each other. Tradition holds that a student’s individual course grade should reflect an accurate evaluation of that student’s work and should not be influenced by the performance of other students. Individual grades on group work have the advantage of providing a straightforward method for ensuring individual accountability. Unfortunately, they also have the disadvantage of diminishing the significance of group effort.

Teachers who adopt a collaborative learning pedagogy recognize that one of its primary benefits is the deeper learning individuals can achieve through interaction with their peers. Collaborative learning has its home in social constructivism, which assumes that knowledge is produced and understood through interchanges between individuals as they together experience and make meaning. With its emphasis on the group, collaborative learning implies that the group should be held accountable for working together and supporting each other’s learning. Group grades may encourage this type of positive interdependence (Johnson et al., 1991; Slavin, 1990), but they may also create opportunities for “easy riding” or “slacking.”

The solution to the dilemma appears to be a combination of individual and group grades. When adopting this approach, there are four main components you may wish to consider: process, product, exam, or success/progress.

Using a combination of individual and group grades is a good approach to grading collaborative learning activities.

How do I grade the collaborative process?

Scores for group process may be based on a combination of instructor observation, self, peer, and group evaluations.   

Instructor Evaluation While facilitating group work, the instructor constantly observes the working groups and can assign grades based on the information gleaned from these evaluations. To prevent faculty evaluations from appearing subjective, use a form that specifies acceptable student behavior, such as the one shown below.

Scale: 5=Always | 4=Frequently | 3=Sometimes | 2=Rarely | 1=Never

Student Name

Stays on Task

Listens to others

Participates in discussion

Encourages team members

Consider observing each group briefly during each work session in order to document observations. Focus on a different group in each session. Consider using this information to inform a participation grade by adding the scores to determine a percentage based on this information.

Student Evaluation Having witnessed the group process firsthand, students can provide valuable insight. The most common forms of student evaluation of learning are self-evaluation, peer evaluation, and group evaluation.

Self-Evaluation Self-evaluation has many benefits, including encouraging students to assess their own efforts by comparing their work to their own goals and to the work of other students and by reflecting on their subject matter knowledge and skills. In these ways, self-evaluation can aid in fostering profound learning (Millis & Cottel, 1998). However, self-evaluation may present some difficulties, as students may be reluctant to give themselves positive ratings if they believe it may be viewed critically, or negative ratings, especially if they believe they will be punished for doing so. Establishing trust in the classroom, explaining the benefits of the evaluation, and making it clear how the evaluation will be used (whether for formative/improvement or summative/grading purposes) are necessary to minimize the challenges associated with self-evaluation.

Numerous faculty members design and employ structured forms for self-evaluation.

Group Number or ID:

Project Title:

Rate yourself on your performance on the project using the following scale: Excellent=5 Good=4 Fair=3 Poor=2 No contribution=1

I was prepared to contribute to the group (e.g., material read)

I contributed my ideas

I encouraged others to participate in the group

I stayed on task

I helped others stay on task

I did my fair share of the work

Overall I fell my performance in the group should be rated:

Peer Evaluation Students may also evaluate one another, and peer evaluation has numerous benefits. In learning to evaluate one another’s work, students first learn to evaluate themselves. Because they collaborate closely, group members have access to a wealth of information upon which to base their evaluation. The instructor is no longer the sole determinant of whether or not a student succeeds or fails when peers offer their perspectives. However, peer evaluation presents several inherent challenges. The faculty must devote time to instructing students on what and how to effectively evaluate the product or presentation because it is not a skill with which students are typically familiar. In addition to lacking skills, students may also lack confidence when evaluating their peers and be unprepared to offer constructive criticism.

Consider involving students in determining the evaluation criteria so that they take responsibility for the process, become acquainted with and invested in the criteria for evaluating competence, and then assume a sense of ownership over applying them in assessment. Once you have identified these elements, create an evaluation set of open-ended questions or a rubric based on these criteria.

Group Member's Name:

Not Observed

Needs Improvement

Critical Thinking

Decision Making

Problem-Solving

Communication

Outstanding

Citizenship

Contributes

Respects Others

Group Evaluation Evaluations of the group process by group members are typically anonymous and used for improvement purposes; as such, they should take place early rather than late. This process also enables students to recognize the benefits and drawbacks of group work, which may enable them to capitalize on the advantages and mitigate the disadvantages. However, group evaluations can allow students to undermine the collaborative learning process. For instance, they may attempt to involve the instructor in conflict resolution rather than negotiating the conflicts themselves. Or they may use the activity to criticize the group work process. Alternately, they may choose to answer dishonestly to earn a higher grade. Providing structure to the evaluation can assist in discouraging unproductively negative responses to the process.

Forms may be useful for evaluating groups; Angelo and Cross (1993) suggest the following form:

1. Overall, how effectively did your group work together on this assignment?

Extremely Well

2. Out of the five group members, how many participated actively most of the time?

3. Out of the five group members, how many were fully prepared for the activity?

4. Give one specific example of something you learned from the group that you probably wouldn't have learned working alone.

5. Give one specific example of something the other group members learned from you that they probably wouldn't have learned otherwise.

6. Suggest one change the group could make to improve its performance.

How do I grade collaborative products?

When grading a group project, simply assign the group’s average grade to each group member. This method of grading has the benefit of being simple. It also teaches students that grading is not always based on who did what, thus simulating real-world situations. However, grading a group project does not recognize individual contributions; consequently, individual accountability cannot be guaranteed. Moreover, if the task is not sufficiently difficult or complex, this grading procedure can encourage easy riding or slacking.

How do I grade collaborative exams?

Administering a group exam encourages students to study collaboratively and reduces test anxiety. Additionally, it achieves the objective of positive interdependence. To assign individuals a grade for a group exam, simply give each group member the score the group received. However, group exam grades do not reflect individual performance. A variation is to combine group and individual examinations. For example, have students first take and submit the exam as individuals, then take and submit the exam as a group. The scores from each may be added together directly, or one type may be weighted (e.g., 2/3 individual, 1/3 group).

How do I grade collaborative success/progress?

While some instructors don’t agree with the idea of awarding bonus points, others find it useful to assign bonus points to each group member if all group members achieve or exceed a predetermined level of competency. This grading system promotes positive interdependence because group members are incentivized to achieve and assist one another in order to be rewarded. However, instructors should emphasize that the points are bonus points so that students do not feel penalized when one or more of their group members perform poorly. This method can also put pressure on underperforming students, which can be positive if it motivates them to work harder or negative if it causes them to feel isolated or inferior. A variation would be to award bonus points for both achievement and improvement; this may help groups with low average scores gain points for improvement. Unfortunately, groups with high scores from the start may feel penalized.

Grading group work can be challenging, but with careful thought and planning, an effective grading strategy can address the concerns of balancing individual accountability with group interdependence and promotive interaction. The approaches to grading described above can help you understand and address the various issues, but it is important for you to find a solution that is consistent with your beliefs regarding the purpose of education and the requirements of the particular course. There is no single answer to the question of how to grade collaborative learning because the values of faculty, institutions, and courses vary greatly. Rather, it can be helpful to recognize that there are a variety of grading strategies applicable to collaborative work and then select the optimal combination for your particular situation.

What are some examples of Cross Academy Techniques that might benefit from implementing group grading strategies?

Here are some example Cross Academy Techniques for which to consider group grading.

Case Studies

With Case Studies, student teams review a real-life problem scenario in depth. Team members apply course concepts to identify and evaluate alternative approaches to solving the problem.

For a Class Book, individual students work together to plan and ultimately submit a scholarly essay or research paper. Then all students’ papers are published together.

Test-Taking Teams

In Test-Taking Teams, students work in groups to prepare for a test. They then take the test, first individually and next as a group.

Key Reference and Resources

Angelo, T. A., & Cross, K. P. (1993). Classroom assessment techniques (2nd ed.). Jossey-Bass.

Barkley, E. F., Major, C. H. & Cross, K. P. (2014; 2005). Collaborative learning techniques: A resource for college faculty (2nd ed). Jossey-Bass.

Gueldenzoph, L. E., & May, G. L. (2002). Collaborative peer evaluation: Best practices for group member assessments. Business Communication Quarterly, 65(1), 9-20.

Johnson, D. W., Johnson, R. T., & Smith, K. A. (1991). Cooperative learning: Increasing college faculty instructional productivity (ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Reports, No. 4). George Washington University. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED343465.pdf

Johnston, L., & Miles, L. (2004). Assessing contributions to group assignments. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 29(6), 751-768.

Millis, B. J., & Cottell, P. G. (1998). Cooperative learning for higher education faculty. Oryx Press.

Oakley, B., Felder, F. M., Brent, R., & Elhajj, I, (2004). Turning student groups into effective teams. Journal of Student Centered Learning, 2(1) 9-34.

Slavin, R. E. (1990). Cooperative learning: Theory, research, and practice. Allyn & Bacon.

Suggested Citation

Barkley, E. F., & Major, C. H. (n.d.). Grading group work: Tips and strategies.  CrossCurrents . https://kpcrossacademy.org/grading-group-work-tips-and-strategies/

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A handbook for college faculty.

Available now, Engaged Teaching: A Handbook for College Faculty provides college faculty with a dynamic model of what it means to be an engaged teacher and offers practical strategies and techniques for putting the model into practice.

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For information about other teaching & learning tools see the Educational Technology User Guides .

• AI and Teaching
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• Canvas Grading Tips and Common Mistakes

Canvas Grading Tips

Assignments = Gradebook Columns.

You add columns to the gradebook by adding assignments. The assignment can be as simple as just a name, a due date and point score or it can include instructions, open and close dates and submission can be Online, on paper or no-submission. See how in this video.

All assignments must eventually have a grade.

Students who are missing an assignment should have a 0 until their late work is graded. Use the “Set Default Grade” option on the grade book columns after you have graded an assignment to set Un-submitted grades to 0. See how in this document.

All required assignments must specify total points possible.

In assignment settings, you must set a point total in order for Canvas to accurately determine the total points possible for the course and, therefore, calculate an accurate total percentage. Carefully check your total scores column to make sure grades are what you think they should be. See how in this video, Specify Total Points

Weighted grade calculations are managed in Assignments .

Create assignment groups with grading rules to drop lowest or highest scores. Check the “Weight the final score” box to set up weighting by assignment groups. See how in this document .

For letter grades, set up a grading scheme.

If you want to enter your grades as a letter grade or Pass Fail - Go to Settings > Course Details Tab. Click Edit Course Details and check “Enable Course Grading Scheme” followed by “Set Course Grading Scheme.” See this document.

Mute Assignment while grading.

By default, students can see all grades and feedback on an assignment. If you want to prevent students from viewing the grade and feedback on an assignment, mute the assignment while grading. See this document.

Common mistakes when setting up assignments and grading

• Failing to change an assignment type from the default “No Submission” format Results in students not being able to submit their assignments online.
• Failing to specify a total points possible when setting up a required assignment. Results in assignment functioning as extra credit
• Failing to assign students who have not turned in an assignment a zero once the assignment due date has passed. Results in students seeing a better grade than they are actually receiving
• Putting assignments that don’t belong into an assignment group with a grading rule Results in the grading rule dropping assignments that should not be dropped
• Putting an assignment rule on an assignment group containing assignments having different numbers of points possible Results in assignments already worth less than the others being dropped
• When using weighting for extra credit, putting more than one extra credit assignment in an extra credit assignment group Results in students receiving more extra credit than they deserve or believing they are receiving a worse grade for turning in extra credit before grades are finalized
• Failing to download the gradebook as CSV file and compare scores/grades with those shown to students in the gradebook May result in uncaught discrepancies
• Prev: Understanding Canvas Gradebook Totals and Exported Totals
• Next: What are Canvas Group Sets and Course Groups?
• Spring 2024 Updates to My Media and Media Gallery
• Media storage and Student View button changes
• Course Navigation and Gradebook icon changes
• New Rich Content Editor
• Discussions and Announcements Redesign
• How do I install an external app in my course site?
• How do I add a Non-Tufts account to a Canvas course site?
• How do I associate courses with my Blueprint course?
• How do I create a Student Annotation assignment?
• How do I create an audio or video assignment?
• How do students submit an audio or video assignment?
• How do I send messages to students in my class?
• How do Announcements and Conversations work?
• How do I download a list of my student's email addresses?
• What are the recommended notification preferences for students?
• What are the recommended notification preferences for instructors?
• How do I copy content from one Canvas course site to another Canvas course site?
• How do I organize my Canvas Dashboard?
• How do I nickname my Canvas Dashboard cards?
• How do I record a video and embed it in a Discussion post?
• How do I post (and hide) student grades?
• How do I hide the "Total Grade" from students?
• How do I display a Letter Grade in the Total Grade Column?
• How do I display Total Points in the Total Grade Column?
• How do I hide student names when grading (Anonymous Grading)?
• How do I create gradebook columns from a spreadsheet import?
• How do I include student SIS IDs when I export grades?
• Student - How do I view instructor feedback on an assignment?
• Understanding Canvas Gradebook Totals and Exported Totals
• What are Canvas Group Sets and Course Groups?
• How do I create Group Sets and Course Groups?
• How do I assign a graded Assignment to a Group?
• How do I assign a graded Discussion to a Group?
• How do I create a Front Page and use it as the Home page for my Canvas site?
• What is Kaltura Capture?
• How do I install Kaltura Capture on a Mac?
• How do I install Kaltura Capture on a PC?
• How do I record with Kaltura Capture?
• How do I edit my video start and end points?
• How do I add (link) Files, Assignments, Discussions or Quizzes to a Canvas Module?
• How do I add a Canvas Page as a module item?
• How do I embed a video from My Media in a Canvas "Page" and then create a link to the Page in a Module?
• How do I add my course site "Zoom" tool as a module item?
• What are My Media and Media Gallery?
• How do I upload a video to My Media in Canvas?
• How do I record a video directly into My Media with Kaltura Capture?
• How do I edit a video uploaded or recorded with My Media?
• How do I publish a video from My Media to a course site's Media Gallery?
• How do I embed video from My Media in a Canvas text-editing window? (New)
• How do I add a My Media or Media Gallery video to a Canvas Module?
• How do I create a Playlist of Videos in the Media Gallery tool?
• How do I embed a Media Gallery Playlist in a Canvas text-editing window?
• How do users add Comments to a Media Gallery video?
• How do I remove commenting permissions from a Media Gallery video?
• How do I upload iPhone or Android phone videos (and images) to Media Gallery?
• How do I download a My Media video?
• How do I allow downloading of video from the Media Gallery?
• How do I change the ownership of a My Media video?
• How do I allow other users to edit and publish a video in My Media?
• Instructors: How do I create an Assignment allowing students to submit a video from their My Media storage? (New)
• Students: How do I submit a video to an Assignment or a Discussion? (New)
• How do I copy Media Gallery Videos from one Canvas Course site to another Canvas Course site?
• Enabling third-party cookies
• How can I get captions on My Media videos?
• How can I see general and individual viewer statistics for videos in Media Gallery?
• How can I see aggregate video viewing statistics for the Media Gallery in my course?
• How do I remove a video from the Media Gallery?
• How do I edit a pre-existing playlist?
• How do I upload a Youtube video to My Media?
• How can I edit captions on my media videos? (New)
• How to Record Webcam Video with Express Capture
• Updated Kaltura My Media and Media Gallery Player
• How do I Add a Kaltura Video Quiz to Canvas Assignments?
• How to Create a Kaltura Video Quiz
• How do I add a custom link to my course navigation?
• How do I show hidden items in my course site navigation menu?
• Differences between Canvas Classic Quizzes and New Quizzes
• New Quizzes Introductory Videos
• How do I create a quiz using New Quizzes?
• How do I add a question to a quiz in New Quizzes?
• How do I add specific question types to a quiz in New Quizzes?
• How do I manage quiz settings in Canvas New Quizzes?
• How do I view and grade student submissions in New Quizzes?
• How do I Moderate a Quiz in New Quizzes?
• How do I create Item Banks in New Quizzes?
• How do I add questions to an existing Item Bank?
• How do I add a question from an Item Bank to a New Quizzes quiz?
• How do I add multiple questions from an Item Bank to New Quizzes quiz?
• How do I migrate a Classic Canvas quiz to New Quizzes?
• How do I set my Canvas Notification Preferences?
• How do I create a Peer Reviewed Assignment?
• How do I manage a Manual Assigned Peer Review assignment?
• How do I manage an Automatically Assigned Peer Review assignment?
• How do I manage a Group peer review assignment?
• How do I create a Peer Reviewed Graded Discussion?
• How do I manage a Manually Assigned Peer Review Discussion?
• How do I manage an Automatically Assigned Peer Review discussions?
• How do I manage a Group peer review discussions?
• Student: - How do I complete a peer review Assignment?
• Student: - How do I complete a peer review Discussion?
• How do I add pronouns to my Canvas profile?
• How do I publish (or unpublish) my Canvas course site?
• Student - How do I see if one of my Canvas course sites is Published?
• How do I create an Appointment Group (sign-up)?
• Student: - How do I sign-up for an appointment group?
• Instructor: - How do I check student sign-ups?
• How do I embed a course image in a Canvas text box?
• How do I link to a file in a Canvas text box?
• How do auto-open a preview of a linked file on a Canvas text box?
• How do I embed a webcam video in a Canvas text box?
• What are Canvas Rubrics?
• How do I create a Ratings Block Canvas Rubric?
• How Do I create a Free-form Comment Rubric?
• As a Student, How do I create a Study Group?
• Student: How do I use Google Docs to create a collaborative document in a Student Study Group?
• How do I create Canvas course site sections?
• How do I populate Canvas sections with student (and TA) accounts?
• How do I create an announcement for a section?
• How do I email a section?
• How do I post an Assignment for a section?
• How do I post a Discussion for a section?
• How do I post a Quiz or Survey for a section?
• How do I view the SpeedGrader and Gradebook by section?
• How do I limit participation in section to a start and end date?
• How do I make my course site Syllabus open to the public?
• How do I post a course syllabus?
• Instructor - How do I set a Canvas course site time zone?
• Student - How do I set my local time zone in my user account?
• How do I Restore items I have deleted from my Canvas site?
• How do I add MindTap to my course site?
• How do I get support for MindTap?
• How do I Combine (Cross-list) Canvas course sites?
• What is the Competency Checklist?
• Students - How do I navigate the Competency Checklist?
• Students - How do I complete a self-assessment?
• Students - How do I request an assessment from faculty?
• Instructors - How do I assess a student?
• Accessing Competency Check-List on Phone
• What is Tufts University policy on copyright and fair use of posted materials on Canvas?
• What is Tufts University policy on the use of social media?
• Department Administrator - Delegated Access
• How do I access Canvas course sites within my delegated access sub-account?
• How do I add users to a Canvas site within my delegated access subaccount?
• How do I post a sub-account announcement?
• How do I access Canvas course sites using my accreditor access?
• How do I use account calendars?
• What is Echo360?
• How do I add Echo360 to my course site?
• How do I embed an Echo360 video using the Canvas text editor?
• End of the Semester options for Instructors
• Setting course site access for individual students
• How do I create a self-selected timed final exam (Essay Questions)?
• How do I create a self-selected timed final exam (File Upload Questions)?
• How do I review and grade a self-selected timed final exam (Essay Questions)?
• How do I review and grade a self-selected timed final exam (File Upload Questions)?
• Student: How do I take a self-selected timed (Essay Question or File Upload) final exam?
• How do I link (or embed) a Google Document in a Canvas text box?
• Instructor: How do I use Google Docs to create a collaborative document?
• Student: How do I submit a Google Document to an assignment?
• How do I add the Google Maps App to my Canvas course site?
• How do I embed a Google Map in a Canvas text box?
• How do I create an Office 365 Collaboration document (Word / Excel / Powerpoint)?
• How do I link to an Office 365 document in a Canvas Module?
• How do I link to an Office 365 document in a Canvas Rich Text Editor (Announcements / Assignments / Syllabus / Discussions / Quizzes / Pages)?
• Student: How do I submit an Office 365 document to an assignment?
• How do I add the Office 365 tool to my Canvas course site tool list?
• Instructor - How do I create an Office 365 Cloud assignment?
• Student - How do I edit and submit an Office 365 Could Assignment?
• What is the Piazza tool?
• How do I set up a Piazza discussion board for my site?
• How do I set up a Piazza discussion board for my site? (LTI 1.3)
• How to Link to an Existing Piazza Course with the new LTI 1.3
• How do I manage Piazza discussion board enrollments?
• As an instructor, how do I post a question in Piazza?
• How do students respond to a question posted by the instructor?
• As a student how do I post a question in Piazza?
• How do Instructors respond to student questions in Piazza?
• How do instructors and students post a poll?
• How do I edit the student anonymity settings for my Piazza site?
• How do I edit my Piazza email notifications?
• How do I embed an image in a Piazza post?
• How do I deactivate a Piazza site?
• How do I un-enroll (drop) from a Piazza discussion site?
• What is the Progress Report tool?
• How do I access the progress report tool to submit a report?
• How do I submit a progress report for a student?
• What are Canvas Reading Lists?
• How do I create a Reading List?
• How do I structure the list by weeks or topics?
• How do I add items to the reading list?
• How do I add links to electronic articles?
• How do I share the list with students?
• How do I re-use a previous semester's list?
• How can I save favorite resources to use on my lists?
• Can my teaching assistant work on my list?
• Where can I get help and training for using the Reading List tool?
• Students - Reading Lists Help
• What happens to my Canvas content when I leave Tufts?
• How do I record my screen with Kaltura Capture?
• How do I make a screen recording using QuickTime on a Mac?
• How do I edit or trim a QuickTime video on a Mac?
• What is TidyUP?
• How do I activate TidyUP?
• How do I mange my Canvas site content using TidyUP?
• Overview of Tufts Box Integration with Canvas
• Instructor: How do I link to a Tufts.Box.Com document in a Canvas text box?
• Instructor: How do I link to a Tufts.Box.Com document in a Canvas Module?
• Instructor: How do I add a link to Tufts.Box.Com to the course site navigation panel?
• Student: How do I submit a document from my Tufts.Box.Com to a Canvas Assignment?
• Student: How do I link to a document from my Tufts.Box.Com in a Canvas text box?
• Turnitin Plagiarism Detection Service
• How do I use the Turnitin plagiarism service to check the originality of student submitted papers?
• Student: How do I submit a paper to a Canvas Assignment that uses Turnitin?
• How do I view a TurnItIn Originality Report?
• How to add VoiceThread to your Canvas course
• Using VoiceThread in Your Course on Canvas
• Instructor - How do I create a webcam video in a Canvas text box?
• How do I add a webcam comment to a student's grade in the Canvas SpeedGrader?
• Student - How do I create a webcam video in a Canvas Discussion text box?
• How do I embed a YouTube video in a Canvas Page and link it in a Module?

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Frequently asked questions and common mistakes in canvas.

This FAQ addresses the most common questions asked by USU instructors when they use Canvas for the first time.

How do I get my course into Canvas?

When a new course is added to Banner, the course shell is automatically created in Canvas ready for you to add your content. Once you add/import your content (such as reading materials, lecture videos, and assignments), you must publish the course before students can access it. Once published, students cannot access the course until the first day of classes, unless you give them early access .

Spring Semester courses are added to Canvas in late-to-mid October. Fall and Summer courses are usually added in late February. If you need your course shell created sooner, contact CIDI to get a build shell created.

How do I login to Canvas?

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

On the USU Login page, type your A-Number and Password

Click Login

If required, authenticate using Duo

Alternatively, go to https://my.usu.edu and login with your A-number and password Then, click on the General Tools folder in the Tools side navigation and click Canvas

How do I find my course in Canvas?

The Courses menu at the left of any Canvas page lists your favorite courses.

If a course that you teach is not in the list, but is in Banner, click on the All Courses link at the bottom of the list, find the desired course and click on the star next to the name of the course. Courses with orange stars are "favorited" and will show on the Courses list and on your Dashboard.

How do I add students to Canvas?

Due to FERPA law, only students who are registered for your course in Banner are allowed access to the Canvas course. The sync between Banner and Canvas should be relatively quick so that your students have access as soon as they register. You are allowed to add teaching assistants (TAs),  observers, or designers to your class, but those individuals must have an A-number to be able to access the class. 

Common Mistakes when Setting Up Assignments and Grading

• Failing to specify a total points possible when setting up a required assignment. Results in assignment functioning as extra credit
• Failing to assign students who have not turned in an assignment a zero once the assignment due date has passed. Results in students seeing a better grade than they are actually receiving
• Failing to set and/or edit a custom grading scheme Results in no letter-grade calculation or an inaccurate letter-grade calculation
• Putting assignments that don’t belong into an assignment group with a grading rule Results in the grading rule dropping assignments that should not be dropped
• Putting an assignment rule on an assignment group containing assignments having different numbers of points possible Drops by lowest percentage rather than points, but unpredictably affects the total score.
• When using weighting for extra credit, putting more than one extra credit assignment in an extra credit assignment group Results in students receiving more extra credit than they deserve or believing they are receiving a worse grade for turning in extra credit before grades are finalized
• If publishing grades to Banner, failing to download the gradebook as CSV file and compare final scores with those shown to students in the gradebook May result in uncaught discrepancies

Guidance for Grading Group Work

Premium Resource

• Grade individuals, not the project. The grade should convey what individuals have learned. Make sure your rubric relates to knowledge and skills in the standard, not compliance with directions. You can give students a checklist to make sure they include all the required pieces of their project.
• To assess individual achievement, use any strategy that you would typically use to assess individuals. Which strategies you use will depend on the project's learning objective. For example, if the project requires recalling facts (e.g., a poster project), give students a test after they complete the project. For higher-level projects, ask students to do something with what they learned, perhaps through the question, What is the most important thing you learned and why? Their explanations can reveal what they are thinking about the concept. If the project involves learning a skill, have students demonstrate the skill.
• Make sure the individual assessment is a good match for what the project is designed to teach and assess. Many group projects end in an oral presentation, which is a skill but often not the one the project is focused on developing. Usually, the oral presentation is merely the mechanism for conveying the project.
• Be clear with students up front about what will be graded and how you will assess the group work. "It's not just 'do whatever you want' because the essay at the end is what really counts," warns Brookhart. Students must be required to pull from the group project and show how it shaped their learning. "If you do a crummy group project, you're not going to have anything to write about," adds Brookhart.

Laura Varlas is a former ASCD writer and editor.

ASCD is a community dedicated to educators' professional growth and well-being.

Let us help you put your vision into action., related articles.

The Fundamentals of Formative Assessment

Checking for Understanding

The Value of Descriptive, Multi-Level Rubrics

Giving Retakes Their Best Chance to Improve Learning

The Way We Talk About Assessment Matters

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Carmen Assignments

The Assignments tool in CarmenCanvas allows instructors to track all of the assignments in a course and shows students all of the activities that will be expected of them and the points for each activity.

Assignments could include quizzes, papers, projects, discussions, and participation .

Assignments can be used to:

• Set up online submissions that can be quickly graded in SpeedGrader.
• Grade Discussions either by the whole class or student groups.
• Grade online and on paper student submissions.

Keys things about Assignments

Assignments = Gradebook Columns

Assignments control the Gradebook columns and calculations.

Any graded item created and published in Assignments will automatically show up in the Grades , Syllabus and Calendar tools. Any graded assignments created in the Calendar tool will automatically show up in Assignments, Grades, and Syllabus.

All gradable items, such as assignments, discussions, and quizzes can be created directly in Assignments. You can then complete set up for discussions and quizzes in their respective tools.

Each item created in Assignments needs to be placed within an  Assignment Group . Once you have added assignments to your assignment group, you can create rules for the entire assignment group. You can opt to have each group account for a  certain weight of the final grade  or you can use a points earned divided by points available calculation.

Assignment group rules determine how Canvas handles any exceptions you want to create for grade calculations.

For each Assignment Group, you can create one of three grading rules:

• Drop the lowest x scores for each student.
• Drop the highest x scores for each student.
• Never drop a specific assignment.

See  How do I create rules for an assignment group?  for more information.

After you create your assignment groups, you can begin to create your assignments.

To create an assignment:

Open your course.

Click Assignments from the global navigation.

Click the Add Assignment button. 

Fill out the assignment details (see below). 

Click Save . 

Remember to publish the assignment so students can view it. 

You can also add assignments (and other content) directly into a Module.  

Assignments can be duplicated. See the Canvas documentation for complete details on duplicating assignments .

In Carmen, setting up assignments goes beyond due dates and points.

You may wish to provide a detailed description, link to additional resources, or create a rubric . Carmen also lets you set different due dates for different sections or individuals .

For a complete explanation of assignment details, see How do I add or edit details in an assignment?

• Type the assignment title in the Assignment Name  field.
• Provide a description of the assignment
• Link to or upload course resources, including files and images
• Add text and links
• Add equations

• Enter the points for your assignment in the Points  field.
• Select the Assignment Group for the assignment in the Assignment Group drop-down menu

• No Submission is when you do not want students to submit an assignment in Canvas. This assignment type can be used to create extra columns in the Gradebook for participation or in-class activities, or when you want to create an assignment that involves multiple scores. Submission Type does not apply to Not Graded assignments.
• Online is when you want students to submit their assignments using Canvas. Online entry options include: text entry, website URL, media recordings, and file uploads.
• On Paper is when you want students to submit an assignment to you but not through Canvas. This assignment type applies to traditional face-to-face courses or hybrid courses when you want the assignment turned in during class, but you still want to create a column in the Canvas Gradebook for grading purposes.

• Select This is a Group Assignment to create a group assignment. Learn more about group assignments . 
• If you want to require students review each other's work, select Require Peer Reviews . Learn more about peer review assignments . 

No Submission and On Paper assignments will appear to students on their Assignments page . To avoid confusion, it is best to make a note in the description about the assignment so students will know whether or not a submission is required and if so, how they are supposed to submit it.

Availability and Due Dates

Availability dates specify the date and times when an assignment will be available to students. The due date is the date and time when the assignment is due.

Availability dates should be set fairly broadly, to give students a window in which to complete the assignment and submit their work.  If the due date is the same as the assignment end date, students will not be able to submit the assignment after the due date passes.  If you wish to allow late submissions, the assignment end date can extend past the due date.  Assignments that are submitted late will be flagged in the gradebook.

For more information, see What is the difference between assignment due dates and availability dates?

By default, Canvas will set your assignment dates for everyone in your course. However, you can assign the assignment to an individual student or course section .

This feature helps instructors when they have sections of a course that meet on different days of the week or in different formats. It also allows instructors to accommodate individual student schedules if they wish. If you don't see the expected sections or students in the drop-down list, start typing a name. Canvas will suggest the closest matches.

 See all the Canvas Instructor Guide for all guides on Assignments. 

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How do I create rules for an assignment group?

• May 11, 2022 15:58

Once you have added assignments to your assignment group, you can create rules for the entire assignment group. Assignment group rules determine how Perceivant handles any exceptions you want to create for grade calculations. Assignment groups can be weighted or unweighted.

When using the lowest or highest score rule, an assignment group must include at least one score, plus the number of dropped scores and the number of assignments that should not be dropped. For instance, if you have a rule for dropping three scores and one Never Drop assignment, you would need five student scores in the assignment group to have all three lowest or highest scores dropped.

Perceivant considers how the rule most negatively or positively affects the student's overall score. A rule to drop the lowest score will remove the assignment score(s) from a student's group percentage calculation that will result in the best possible score for that group. A rule to drop the highest score will remove the assignment score(s) from a student's group percentage calculation that will result in the lowest possible score for that group.

In some cases, the point value may be considered more important than percentage score when determining which assignment to drop. For example, an instructor may set a rule to drop the lowest score in an assignment group, where a student earns a 100% on a 50-point assignment, 65% on a 100-point assignment, and 50% on a 24-point assignment. The 50% score is the lowest percentage, but the 65% score will be dropped as this action provides the student with a better total score for the assignment group than dropping the 50% score.

Multiple Grading Periods

If your course includes Multiple Grading Periods, you cannot change assignment group rules once an assignment group has assignments in a closed grading period.

Additionally, if an assignment group contains assignments that fall into multiple grading periods, grades may have unintended consequences when calculating assignment group rules.

Open Assignments

In Course Navigation, click the  Assignments  link.

Edit Assignment Group

Click the Assignment Group  Settings  drop-down menu [1]. Click the  Edit  link [2].

Create Rules

For each Assignment Group, you can create one of three grading rules:

• Drop (ignore) the lowest x scores for each student
• Drop (ignore) the highest x scores for each student
• Never drop a specific assignment

Drop Lowest Score

To drop a certain number of lowest scores, enter the number in the  Lowest Scores  field. You can use the arrows to adjust the number.

Drop Highest Score

To drop a certain number of highest scores, enter the number in the  Highest Scores  field. You can use the arrows to adjust the number.

Never Drop Assignment

To tell Perceivant to never drop a certain assignment, click the Add an assignment  link.

Select Assignment

In the Assignment drop-down menu [1], select the name of the assignment in the Assignment Group that should never be dropped.

To select another assignment, click the  Add another assignment  link [2].

When you are finished adding rules, click the  Save  button.

View Assignment Group Rules

In the Assignment Group toolbar, Perceivant will show the number of rules assigned to the group [1]. Hover over the link to view the rules [2].

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Assignment groups, grading periods.

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