Grades

How do I use the Gradebook?

View of the Canvas Gradebook layout
The Gradebook includes global sorting options and settings instructors and TAs can use to organize their Gradebook [1], student data [2] and assignment data [3]. The Gradebook supports keyboard shortcuts. To view the Keyboard Shortcuts menu, click the Keyboard icon [4] or press the Shift+Question Mark keys simultaneously.

See the Canvas Gradebook Instructor guide for a complete list of features and options.

  • Change the Status of a Grade: Change the status of an individual student assignment submission in the Grade Detail Tray. Status labels include: None, Late, Missing, Excused. 
  • Grade Detail Tray: This new feature makes it fast and easy to view and enter grades, submission status, and comments, both by individual assignment or student. In addition, the Grade Detail Tray provides a place to access Speedgrader for an assignment, or view an individual student’s grade page. 
  • Late Policies: We recommend setting Late Policies before publishing graded activities in the course, as these settings are not retroactive and will only apply to graded activities that do not yet have submissions. Use these features to automatically apply a grade or deduct points for missing or late submissions. For example, in the event that a student did not submit a quiz or an assignment, use the Missing Submission Policy feature to automatically deduct points or apply a grade to any late or missing submissions; or use the Default Grade option to do this for an individual quiz or assignment submissions. 
  • Post Grades: Grades can be posted to everyone or only to students with graded submissions. When grades are only posted to students with graded submissions, students with ungraded submissions will view an icon on their grades page that indicates grades are still being worked on. Grades can be posted for specific sections.

How do I hide grades from students?

By default, Canvas courses use an automatic course posting policy, which means all grades are visible to students as soon as they are entered in the Gradebook. Grades for anonymous and moderated assignments do not post automatically.

If the instructor or TA selects a manual course posting policy, all grades remain hidden from student view by default until the instructor or TA manually selects to post grades. Additionally, when grades are hidden, students cannot see their assignment grade, instructor or TA comment, or grade change notifications.

View the interactive Student Grade Visibility Flowchart for more details.

  • Post Grades: Grades can be posted to everyone or only to students with graded submissions. When grades are only posted to students with graded submissions, students with ungraded submissions will view an icon on their grades page that indicates grades are still being worked on. Grades can be posted for specific sections.

How do I assign letter grades?

When enabling a grading scheme for a course, the grading scheme is applied to the students’ final grades in addition to the overall percentage. Letter Grades is the most traditional type of grading scheme and is the default format for new grading schemes.

We recommend instructors read the following guides to learn about letter grade schemes in Canvas: 

NEW: Instructors can now choose to enable the course setting ‘Restrict View of Quantitative Data,’ which will only display letter grades to students, and prevent students from seeing points and percentages that were traditional displayed next to letter grades.

When the course setting ‘Restrict View of Quantitative Data’ is enabled:

  1. The course Grade Scheme will automatically be applied
  2. Students will only see letter grades on their course grade page

We highly recommend instructors first set a course Grade Scheme (see instructions above) before enabling the ‘Restrict View of Quantitative Data’ feature. Setting a course Grade Scheme enables instructors to view letter grades in their course Gradebook, and provides an opportunity to customize the letter grade ranges as well.

If instructors do not set a Grade Scheme prior to enabling the ‘Restrict View of Quantitative Data’ feature in their course then (1) students will see letter grades on the course grade page, but the instructors will not see letter grades in the course Gradebook; and (2) the default Grade Scheme will be applied to the course, which may not match the instructor’s letter grade expectations.

Can I control when students are notified about their grades in Canvas?

Yes. Using grade posting policies (e.g. hide grades) in the Gradebook will prevent grade notifications from being sent to students. When grades are hidden, students cannot see their assignment grade, instructor or TA comments, or grade change notifications.

View the interactive Student Grade Visibility Flowchart for more information.

How do I upload an Excel (CSV) file into the Gradebook?

Instructors and TAs can use a CSV file to upload grade changes, create new assignments, and update other data for existing graded activities. Instructors and TAs can download the Gradebook CSV from Canvas, which can be used as a template including the correct formatting.

Note: New course assignments created as part of the CSV upload will automatically be published.

How do I create grading rubrics in my course?

Instructors and TAs in Canvas can create grading rubrics and add them to any gradable item in Canvas. Once a rubric is created it’s automatically saved in the course for future use, and can be used in other Canvas courses the instructor is teaching.

Note: Rubrics can now have point ranges instead of just an individual point values. 

How do I use Analytics in a Canvas course?

Course and student analytics are available to all Instructors, TAs, and other course roles with Gradebook access in a Canvas course. Data is refreshed for published courses in the New Analytics dashboard every 4 hours.

Overview of New Analytics in a Canvas course:

View the average course grade:

View average weekly online participation and attendance analytics:

View course grade and participation analytics for an individual student:

Compare the score distributions of graded assignments:

Send a messages to students based on specific criteria:

View and download reports on missing assignments, late assignments, excused assignments, the class roster, and course activity:

Is Canvas integrated with GU Experience (previously MyAccess)?

Currently, there is no automated upload/feed of course grades from Canvas to GU Experience (previously MyAccess). Instructors must manually input final course grades into GU Experience.

See the section below for information on how to enter final student grades.

Where do I enter final course grades for students?

Final grades are submitted in GU Experience (previously MyAccess) and not in Canvas.

If instructors cannot login to GU Experience, or do not see their course enrollment in GU Experience, they will need to contact their academic department (or program) course scheduler.

For help with GU Experience please contact:

How do I see student GUIDs in the Gradebook?

In Canvas, the “Integration ID” displays a user’s GUID. By default, GUIDs always appear in downloaded (exported) Gradebooks. 

The online Gradebook cannot show student NetIDs and GUIDs at the same time. It can only show one or the other. To see a student NetIDs and GUIDs at the same time download (export) the Canvas Gradebook.

Instructors and TAs can customize the Gradebook to display student GUIDs. Viewing student GUIDs may be helpful for those who work with Scantron or need to reference GUIDs during the semester.

  1. From the course menu, click on Grades to open the Gradebook.
  2. Mouse over the Student Name column in the Gradebook.
  3. Mouse over the Secondary info and click Integration ID.
  4. Click on the three-dot menu that appears in the Student Name column.

GUIDs will now appear below each student’s name in the online Gradebook. 

Note: Student GUIDs will remain displayed in the online Gradebook until another “Secondary info” option is selected (e.g. NetID, SIS ID, or None).

Don’t see what you are looking for?

Check out the Get Help and Training & Support pages for more resources.

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