Setting Up the Gradebook

This page will help you set up your Canvas Gradebook from scratch. If you want to grade student work, see Using SpeedGrader.

The Grades feature in Canvas can save you time when calculating students’ in-progress and final grades, provide an overview of course requirements, and enable students to monitor their academic progress. For best results, complete your gradebook setup at the start of the semester using our Start-of-Term Canvas Checklist.

Getting Started

Select gradebook settings

1. In your Canvas site, click Grades from the left side navigation menu. Click the settings wheel in the top right corner.
2. Review each tab and make changes if needed. When finished, click Apply Settings to save. The function of each tab is described below:

Enable a grading scheme

It is possible to align the grading scale on your syllabus with a grading scheme in Canvas to calculate students’ letter grades. Follow these directions to enable a grading scheme.

Hide grade totals from students

By default, Canvas displays a running total of students’ current overall grades, which updates each time a new grade is entered and can help students monitor their progress. If you prefer, you can choose to hide totals in students’ grade summaries.

Adding Graded Items

Add an item in Canvas for each graded task in the course. Create these using the Assignments, Quizzes, or Discussions features, or import from a previous Canvas site.

Creating assignments for ungraded tasks is ok ifthey require a Canvas submission (e.g., a feedback survey). Do notcreate assignments for tasks that are not graded and require no Canvas submission (e.g., course readings). These should be Canvas Pages, Files, or other item types that do not generate unnecessary gradebook columns.

Check before you continue:

• All graded items appear on the Assignments page (some might also appear under Quizzes or Discussions). Your Syllabus page will display all these items if Course Summary is enabled.
• Point values are correct for each item, which is especially important if you use points-based grading (rather than percentages).
• If attendance will be graded, be sure to add an attendance assignment worth the point value stated on your syllabus. This can be done using the Roll Call Attendance tool or as a Canvas Assignment requiring no submission.

Remember to create and link your group sets if your course includes any group assignments. Group assignments must be associated with the correct group sets before they open to students.

Creating Assignment Groups

Canvas allows instructors to designate categories of assignments, which it calls Assignment Groups. Note that these are not necessarily group, or collaborative, assignments. Assignment Groups can be worth a specific weight toward students’ overall grades. An example of an Assignment Group could be a group of journal assignments.

Each Assignment Group creates a gradebook column after individual assignments but before the Total column. This can be a helpful at-a-glance view of student progress across different course elements. You do not need to enter grades in these columns.

You can set up your gradebook using either percentage- or points-based Assignment Groups. Regardless of which option you choose, you can still enter scores for individual assignments as percentages, points, letter grades, or complete/incomplete.

Percentage-based weighted groups

If your syllabus designates assignments or types of assessments as being worth a certain percentage of students’ final grades (e.g., Homework 10%, Participation 20%, Final Exam 30%, etc.), you can use percentage-based assignment weights to set up weighted Assignment Groups. This allows you to designate groups that contain one or more items (such as all the homework assignments) whose cumulative score is calculated to be worth a specific percentage of the overall grade.

Group weights must total 100% unless you designate a group as extra credit. See How to Give Extra Credit in a Course or contact your Local Support Provider for more information.

Canvas will calculate and weight the scores within each Assignment Group according to the values you set so that students’ total grades are calculated automatically and converted to the corresponding letter grade. Within each group, assignments are factored equally if they are each worth the same number of points. Otherwise, assignments with higher point values carry more weight within the group.

Points-based assignment groups

If the weight of each assessment type toward students’ final grade is measured in points, you can set up Assignment Groups without weights applied. Canvas will calculate students’ overall grades as a raw average and convert them to the corresponding letter grades determined by your course grading scheme. You may also elect to forgo Assignment Groups entirely.

Using the Gradebook

Your Canvas gradebook is now ready to use. Individuals with Teacher or TA roles in the Canvas site will see the instructor gradebook view containing all students, but users with Student roles can only view their own grades. After students submit assignments, you can enter scores into the gradebook.

For information about grading student work in Canvas, refer to Using SpeedGrader. You can also send Inbox messages to specific students based on gradebook criteria. If you have multiple TAs who grade student work in your course, you can check the Gradebook History to see who graded each assignment and sort by grader, student, or date.

Gradebook icons

The Gradebook introduces several icons and colors that appear within assignment columns, gradebook cells, or the Grade Detail Tray. Some of the most common icons include:

Reviewing total grade calculations

• Are points set for all assignments? Check to see if you have set the point value for each assignment. If the default setting of 0 points is still set for an assignment, the gradebook may not calculate grades correctly. Edit the assignment to set the maximum point value.
• Are assignment groups weighted? Check to see if you have enabled weighted assignment groups as intended.
• Are there assignment group rules for dropping grades? Check if you have enabled assignment group rules to perform actions such as ignoring certain scores or designating assignments that should not be dropped. Canvas can drop a specified number of the lowest or highest scores in a specific group.
• Are grades entered for all assignments? For rules, weighted assignments, and other gradebook calculations to work correctly, grades must be entered for all assignments.
• Are grades posted for all assignments? If you have grades hidden in Canvas and export the gradebook as a CSV file, look at the “Unposted Current Score” and “Unposted Final Score” columns.

Additional Resources

• Grades Guide
• End-of-Term Grading Checklist
• Sort and Display Student Gradebook Data

Getting Help

Please contact your Local Support Provider or submit a request to canvas@pobox.upenn.edu.