Grades

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

How do I sort and display students in the Gradebook?

Instructors, TAs and other course roles with Gradebook access can sort and display students in the Gradebook. Choose to sort students alphabetically, by first or last name, or choose to display or hide student GUIDs and NetIDs.

How do I filter, arrange, and hide grade columns in the Gradebook?

Instructors, TAs and other course roles with Gradebook access can filter and arrange grade columns in the Gradebook according to their preference. For example, use Gradebook filters to display graded activities by module, assignment group, status, submission, start/end dates or any combination of these options. Multiple filters can be applied at the same time. Additionally, instructors and TAs can manually arrange Gradebook columns and increase or decrease any column width.

Gradebook preferences are unique to each user. Filters and columns arranged a certain way will not change or impact other users with Gradebook access.

How do I enter and edit grades in the Gradebook?

Most likely instructors will access SpeedGrader to enter grades. The grades will automatically appear in the Gradebook when done. However, instructors can manually enter and edit grades in the Gradebook. Assignments in the Gradebook are always shown with the assignment’s point value. However, you can change the assignment to display grades for a specific grading type. You can also use a CSV file to import grades.

How do I hide grades from students?

By default all grades, grade changes, comments and annotations are visible to students as soon as they are entered in the Speedgrader and Gradebook. This default Gradebook settings is referred to as “Automatic Course Posting Policy” that simply means grades are posted and visible to students as soon as they are entered into the system. Where as a “Manual Posting Policy” means grades, comments, annotations and any notifications around grades are not immediately visible to students and will remain hidden until an instructor takes action to post them.

Note: Grades for anonymous and moderated assignments do not post automatically.

How do I post grades for students?

By default all grades, grade changes, comments and annotations are visible to students as soon as they are entered in the Speedgrader and Gradebook. This default Gradebook settings is referred to as “Automatic Course Posting Policy” that simply means grades are posted and visible to students as soon as they are entered into the system.

If you have hidden grades from students and selected a “Manual Posting Policy” then you will need to post grades before your students can see them.

How do I use late policies in the Gradebook?

Use Late Policies to automatically apply a grade or deduct points for missing or late submissions. For example, in the event 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. 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.

How do I change the status of a grade in the Gradebook?

Change the status of an individual student assignment submission in the Grade Detail Tray. Status labels include: None, Late, Missing, Excused.

How do I assign letter grades?

Before an instructor can use letter grades in a course they have to first enable a grading scheme on the course settings page. A grading scheme can be use to display a final course letter grade and or for a specific assignment.

Note: By default, the percentage points are displayed next to the letter grade for instructors and students to see. If you wish to hide the percentage points and only show the letter grade you will need to enable the course setting “Restrict View of Quantitative Data.” See below for details.

Restrict View of Quantitative Data

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.

How do I add columns in the Gradebook?

Columns in the Gradebook are only created by adding a graded activity in Canvas. If you need to create a column in the Gradebook to use for manual grading, you can create a No Submission or On Paper assignment submission type.

How do I weight the final course grade?

You weight final grades based on assignment groups in a Canvas course. Using assignment groups you assign a weight to each group, not the assignments themselves. Within each assignment group, a percentage is calculated by dividing the total points a student has earned by the total points possible for all assignments in that group.

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.

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

Instructors and TAs can use a CSV file to upload bulk grade changes, create new assignments, and update other data for existing graded activities. We recommend instructors and TAs first download the Gradebook CSV from Canvas, which can be used as a template with 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.

Note: Data is refreshed for published courses in the New Analytics dashboard every 24 hours.

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:

Is Canvas integrated with GU Experience?

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

Where do I enter final course grades for students?

Final course grades are submitted in GU Experience 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, and 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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