Grading in Canvas

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Updated on 8/14/23

TOC
Using the gradebook or SpeedGrader

Deleting or adding columns

Considering automated grading

Exporting your gradebook

Resources about grading in Canvas

— Using the gradebook or SpeedGrader

SpeedGrader is another way of grading certain Canvas assignments and allows instructors to move seamlessly from one student’s work to the next. You can find out more about SpeedGrader in the Teaching and Learning Resource Center. Also see the SpeedGrader frequently asked questions from Instructure, the company that makes Canvas.

You can also grade from the regular gradebook, but it may require more clicks than SpeedGrader.

— Deleting or adding columns

Deleting columns or making changes to the gradebook is different from some other LMS. You don’t edit columns in the gradebook directly. Rather as you add or delete assignments, they appear as columns in the gradebook. If you want to delete an assignment that some students have already taken, be sure to export the gradebook if you need those records before deleting the assignment.

You can back up assignments, like quizzes, by going into assignment settings. To export quiz responses in Canvas, go into your quiz and then go to ‘Statistics > Student Analysis’. After you click, a .csv of student responses downloads. See this View and Export Quiz Results article from UCLA for more information.

— Considering automated grading

Depending on what type of course you have you might want to consider using more automated grading. If you use quiz assignments only using multiple choice questions they can be auto-graded. Then the teachers don’t have to make an effort to grade anything. That’s a good fit for self-paced asynchronous courses where there’s little synchronous interaction from educators.

If you have an instructor-led synchronous course, you could use assignments that are manual graded like the ‘submit from external app’ type assignment in Canvas.

— Exporting your gradebook

You can export your gradebook to back it up but be sure to store the file in an access-controlled place. If you store the file on a server where unauthorized people might see it, that could be a FERPA issue. To export your Canvas gradebook, go to your course and select Grades from the course navigation menu, then click the Export button (or Actions > Export) and choose to export the entire gradebook to download a .csv file. Then you could open the .csv file with a program like Microsoft Excel. See this article from Instructure about exporting the gradebook for more information.

— Resources about grading in Canvas

Here are some good resources about grading in Canvas: