New Gradebook Overview

Existing Functionality
New Functionality

Existing Functionality

The New Gradebook in Canvas has the same functionality as before, but you may need to access it in a different place.

Entering Grades

Teaching teams may enter grades several ways:

Grades entered in any of these places will appear automatically in the gradebook.

Enter Comments (now via Grade Detail Tray)

Enter text comments into the New Gradebook through the Grade Detail Tray, which slides open on the right side of the Gradebook. The Grade Detail Tray also allows you to see view any comments made by the student or previously entered in SpeedGrader. Graders can also delete or edit comments in the Grade Detail Tray.

The Grade Detail Tray in New Gradebook opens from the right side of the Gradebook, and it shows assignment, grade, status, comments, and provides access to SpeedGrader. Comments can be entered, edited, or deleted. — The new Grade Detail Tray shows assignment, grade, status, comments, and provides access to SpeedGrader. Comments may be created, viewed, edited, or deleted.

Navigating to SpeedGrader from the Gradebook

The pathway from the Gradebook to SpeedGrader has changed. To get to SpeedGrader from the New Gradebook:

Open the Grade Detail Tray by selecting a Gradebook cell, then select the Grade Detail Tray icon (the arrow).
Click on the SpeedGrader link.

Exporting and Importing the Gradebook

You can enter or change grades by importing a CSV file. You will need to ensure that the file is set up correctly, or you can download the CSV file from Canvas, update it, then import the updated gradebook.

Access the Import and Export features from the Gradebook Actions menu.

In the Canvas New Gradebook, the CSV Import and Export options are located in the Actions menu. — The CSV Import and Export options are located in the Actions menu.

“Message students who . . .”

New Gradebook allows you to send messages to all students who meet a specific criterion for an assignment:

Haven’t submitted yet
Haven’t been graded
Scored less than [X]
Scored more than [X]

Each student receives an individual message. Access Message students who… from the Assignment Options Menu (three dots) at the top of the Gradebook column.

The Message Students Who... feature shows a sample of a message for three students who haven't yet submitted an assignment. — Message Students Who… lets you send a message to all students who meet a specific requirement. The subject and message fields can be edited as appropriate.

New Functionality

The New Gradebook in Canvas also offers new and expanded functionality as before.

Grade Posting Policies

Grade Posting Policies control visibility and release of grades to students, and they may be set for the entire course or for a specific assignment. The feature replaces the legacy Mute/Unmute feature in the previous gradebook.

Automatic Grade Posting releases grades and feedback to students as soon as they are entered.
Manual Grade Posting hides grades and feedback by default. When an assignment has a manual grade posting policy, the word “MANUAL” appears at the topic of the assignment column in the gradebook.

To set a course-level Grade Posting Policy, go to Grades, click on the Settings (gear) icon, and select the Grade Posting Policy tab:

A course-level Grade Posting Policy can be set through the New Gradebook Settings menu.

To set an assignment-level Grade Posting Policy, open the Assignment Options Menu (three dots) at the top of the Gradebook column and select Grade Posting Policy.

Posting Grades

Assignments with a “Manual” grade posting policy need to be released. A gray visibility icon appears when there are grades hidden from students.

Release grades or feedback to students by selecting Post Grades from the Assignment Options menu, which will open the Post Grades Tray. An orange dot appears next to hidden grades in the gradebook column.

Everyone releases all grades and feedback for all students. NOTE: Students only see their own grades.
Graded releases grades that have been entered, but keeps any newly entered grades hidden.
Specific Sections will release grades for one or more sections.

If necessary, you can hide already-released grades for an assignment. (Note: “Hide Grades” is not the same as the previous gradebook’s “Mute Assignment” setting.)

Use the Post Grades to select which grades to releases and for which sections (if applicable). The tray shows how many grades are hidden. — Hidden grades and feedback can be released by selecting Post grades, which opens the Post Grades Tray. The tray shows how many grades are hidden, and it allows you to select which grades to release and for which sections (if applicable).

Late Policies

New Late Policies specifics automatic policies for handling late and missing work for all assignments in a course. To set course-wide late policies, go to Grades, click on the Settings (gear) icon, and select the Late Policies tab.

Missing Submissions: Automatically apply a grade (0) for missing work that should be submitted to Canvas.
Late Work: Deduct a specific percentage for each day or hour late, and optionally specify the lowest-possible grade percent.

The Late Policies options allows users to specify a 0% grade for missing assignments, as well as percentage per day or hour deductions for late work. — Late Policies are applied to all course assignments and can include policies for missing work, late work, and lowest-possible grades.

Sorting and Filtering

The New Gradebook allows you to arrange, sort, and filter assignment columns and student names in new ways. Access arrange by and filter options through the View menu.

Arrange columns by module or assignment name, or manually sort them through drag-and-drop.
Filter assignments so you see only selected assignment groups or modules.
Filter students so you see only students from certain sections or student groups.
Sort student names by first or last name, and display secondary information like students’ sections, groups, or PennKey username.
Sort an assignment column by grade or assignment status.

The gradebook is filtered by a specific assignment group (Ongoing Involvement), module (Week 2), and section (All Sections). — New filtering and sorting options allow teaching teams to view only the assignment columns and students they want to see. Here, the gradebook is filtered by a specific assignment group (Ongoing Involvement), module (Week 2), and section (All Sections).

Grade Detail Tray

The new Grade Detail Tray provides an overview of a student’s submission and feedback:

Enter or edit grades, submission status, and comments
Click-through assignments and students
Access a new pathway to SpeedGrader
Shows assignment and grade posting status

The new Grade Detail Tray slides open from the right side of the screen and shows assignment grade, status, comments, and provides access to SpeedGrader. Arrows allow you to navigate to the next student or assignment.

Viewing Unpublished Assignments

The New Gradebook allows you to view all unpublished assignments in the Gradebook. The default setting shows unpublished assignments, but this can be disabled through the View menu.

Last Updated: 25 Sep 2020

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