Types of Assignments in Canvas

1. In the Canvas course site, click Assignments in the left-side Course Navigation Menu

2.  Click +Assignments in the top right corner

3. Enter in your Assignment Name and description. You may wish to use the rich text editor to add images or links.

4. Adjust the assignment settings to match your syllabus, in particular the Points, Submission Type, and Due Date. See the tab for Assignment Settings to learn more about the various Assignment settings that can be enabled. 

5. Click Save & Publish or Save. 

• Students will only be able to see and submit the assignment if the assignment is published. 

• Published Assignments will automatically show up in the Gradebook, Calendar, and Syllabus. They can also be added to Modules to help organize student learning. 

More information about Assignments can be found here: Canvas Instructor Guide: Assignments

Grade Settings: Set settings related to how the assignment will be graded including: 

• Points - The maximum number of points a student can earn
• Assignment Group - If you are using Assignment Groups, and they have been set up prior to creating the assignment, you can designate which group the assignment will be placed into using the drop-down. Assignments can also be moved into a group from the Assignments  page afterwards.
• Display Grade as - Select how you want to grade and display grades for the assignment. Options include percentage, complete/incomplete, points, letter grade, GPA scale, or not graded.

Submission Type:  Select how students will submit this assignment. Options include: 

• No Submission - Select this option to record grades for offline activities that do not require submission (such as to record participation grades).
• Online - Select this option to allow students to submit assignments via Canvas. Then specify how students will submit the assignment including: text entry, website URLs, media recording, student annotations, or file uploads. More information about each of these options can be found here: How do I create an online assignment?
• On Paper - Select this option to record grades for assignments that students will turn in during class.
• External Tool - Select this option if students will submit from an external tool such as Google Assignments, Gradescope, Eli Review or iClicker Cloud. More information about each of these options can be found here: More information on these tools can be found here: External Integrations.

Submission Attempts:  For Online Submissions, Allowed Attempts allows you to set how many times a student can submit the assignment. Options include Unlimited or Limited. If Limited, you can also set the Number of Attempts. 

Group Assignment: If students will submit their assignment as a group, select This is a Group Assignment. Once selected, you can choose the Group Set and if grades will be assigned per group or per student. More information about Group Assignments can be found here: How do I assign an assignment to a course group?

Peer Review: If students will peer review one another's work, select Require Peer Reviews. Once selected, you can choose how many peer reviews each student will receive and if peer reviews are manually or automatically assigned. More information about Peer Review can be found here: How do I create a peer review assignment?

Assign Access: Set the timing of the assignment, including:

• Assign To - By default, assignments are assigned to all students in the class. Assignments can also be assigned to specific students or specific groups. 
• Due Date - Date and time the assignment is due. Work submitted after this date will be marked late. 
• Available from - Date and time the assignment is available to students.
• Until - After this date and time, submissions will no longer be allowed (cut-off time). 
• + Assign To - Click to set timings for different students or different groups. 

SpeedGrader: View student submissions, provide feedback, and enter a final grade directly in the Canvas interface. Click on the assignment you want to grade. Then, click SpeedGrader

Student submissions will display on the right and student scores can be entered on the right. Annotation tools are available at the top of the screen to mark up the student submission. Graders can provide comments to the student through text, audio, or video.

Graders can sort by section within SpeedGrader. Click the dropdown arrow to the right of the student name. Then, hover over Showing: and select a section to filter. 

More information about how to use SpeedGrader can be found here: How do I use SpeedGrader?

Offline Grading: Assignment submissions may be downloaded to your computer for offline grading and re-uploaded through these steps: 

• How do I download all student submissions for an assignment?
• How do I upload all student submissions for an assignment?

Entering Grades Directly in Gradebook: Grades can be entered directly into the gradebook from the Grades tab. To enter a grade, click on a cell, enter the grade and press Return/Enter on your keyboard. Grades should be entered according to the assignment's Display Grade as setting. 

1. In the Canvas course site, click Discussions in the left-side Course Navigation Menu

2.  Click +Discussions in the top right corner

3. Enter in your Discussion Name and description. You may wish to use the rich text editor to add images or links.

4. Under Options, select Graded. Then enter in the Points, Submission Type, and Due Date. See the tab for Discussion Settings to learn more about the various Discussion options that can be enabled. 

5. Click Save & Publish or Save. 

• Students will only be able to see and submit posts to the discussion if it is published. 

• Published Discussions will automatically show up in the Gradebook, Calendar, and Syllabus. They can also be added to Modules to help organize student learning. 

More information about Discussions can be found here: Canvas Instructor Guide: Discussions

Attachment: Click the Attach button to upload a file for students to download. 

Options: Set various options related to the Discussion including:  

• Anonymous Discussion - By default, student names are displayed when they post. You have the option to allow students to post anonymously if they choose ("Partial") or always hide student names ("Full").
• Disallow threaded replies - Select this option to only allow replies to the main discussion topic (and not participants to reply to one another).
• Participants must post before seeing replies - Select this option to require the student to post an initial response before seeing their peers' responses. 
• Enable podcast feed - Select this option to create a podcast feed for the discussion. Only audio uploaded (not text) will be included in the feed.
• Graded - Select this option to allow grading on the discussion. 
• Allow liking - Select this option to allow users to "like" each others' posts. Once selected, you can also set additional options including: allowing only graders to "like" and sorting posts by number of "likes". Note: "Likes do not impact student grades"
• Add to student to-do - By default, graded discussions are added to students' to-do list. For ungraded discussions, select this option to add the discussion to the students' to-do list. 

• This is a Group Discussion: If you want students to only interact with members in their group, select this option. Once selected, you can choose the Group Set. More information about Group Discussions can be found here: How do I create a group discussion in a course?

  If you would like to set up a Discussion based on section groups select the "Section Groups" Group Set which is pre-populated based on course section data. More information on how sections and groups work in Canvas can be found here.

Grade Settings: Set settings related to how the assignment will be graded including: 

• Points Possible - The maximum number of points a student can earn.
• Display Grade as - Select how you want to grade and display grades for the discussion. Options include percentage, complete/incomplete, points, letter grade, or GPA scale.
• Assignment Group - If you are using Assignment Groups, and they have been set up prior to creating the discussion, you can designate which group the discussion will be placed into using the drop-down. Discussions can also be moved into a group from the Assignments page afterwards.

Peer Review: If students will peer review one another's posts, select either Assign manually or Automatically assigned. More information about Peer Review can be found here: How do I create a peer review discussion?

Assign Access: Set the timing of the discussion, including:

• Assign To - By default, discussion are assigned to all students in the class. Discussions can also be assigned to specific students or specific groups. 
• Due Date - Date and time the discussion is due. Posts submitted after this date will be marked late (This setting is only available for Graded Discussions). 
• Available from - Date and time the discussion is available to students.
• Until - After this date and time, posts will no longer be allowed (cut-off time). 
• + Assign To - Click to set timings for different students or different groups. 

SpeedGrader: View student discussions, provide feedback, and enter a final grade directly in the Canvas grading interface. Click on the discussion you want to grade. Then, click the triple dots > SpeedGrader

Student posts and replies will display on the right and student scores can be entered on the right. Graders can provide comments to the student through text, audio, or video.

More information about how to use SpeedGrader can be found here: How do I grade a graded discussion in SpeedGrader?

Entering Grades Directly in Gradebook: Grades can be entered directly into the gradebook from the Grades tab. To enter a grade, click on a cell, enter the grade and press Return/Enter on your keyboard. Grades should be entered according to the discussions's Display Grade as setting. 

1. In the Canvas course site, click Quizzes in the left-side Course Navigation Menu

2.  Click +Quiz in the top right corner

3. Select Classic Quizzes. Then, click Submit. 

• New Quizzes is a new feature that is currently under development. If you are interested in using New Quizzes, please refer to the following for instructions on how to build the quiz and New Quizzes Settings: Instructor Guide: New Quizzes

4. Enter in your Quiz Name and instructions. You may wish to use the rich text editor to add images or links.

5. Adjust the quiz settings to match your assessment details. See the tab for Quiz Settings to learn more about the various settings that can be enabled. 

6. Scroll to the top of the page. Click the Questions tab. 

7. Add Quiz Questions by clicking:

• + New Question - Select this option to add a quiz question. There are multiple types of quiz questions available including: Multiple Choice, True/False, Matching, Numerical Answer, Essay, and File Upload. More information can be found here: How do I create a quiz with individual questions?
• + New Question Group - Select this option to add a set number of random questions from a larger question pool (for example, students will answer 3 random questions out of a pool of 5 questions). More information can be found here: How do I create a quiz with a question group to randomize quiz questions?
• Find Questions - Select this option to add questions that already exist in your question bank. More information can be found here: How do I create a quiz by finding questions in the question bank?

8. If your quiz is your final product and you are ready for students to see it, click Save & Publish. If you will need to make changes to the quiz or add additional quiz question in the future, click Save and click the Publish button only after the quiz is finalized. .

• Students will only be able to see and take the quiz if it is published.

• Published Quizzes will automatically show up in the Gradebook, Calendar, and Syllabus. They can also be added to Modules to help organize student learning. 

More information about Classic Quizzes can be found here: Canvas Instructor Guide: Classic Quizzes.

Quiz Type: Select information about how the quiz will be graded including: 

• Quiz Type - Canvas Classic Quizzes has four different quiz types; Select the most appropriate quiz type:
  • Graded Quiz (most common) - Scores are calculated based on accuracy of answering questions and is automatically added to the course gradebook.
  • Practice Quiz - Students can see their results after completion of the quiz but the quiz is not added to the course gradebook. This option works best as a learning tool for students to assess their own understanding.  
  • Graded Survey - Students receive points for successfully completing the survey but there is not an option for grading for wrong or right answers. This quiz type allows for anonymous submissions. 
  • Ungraded Survey - Students do not receive a grade for completion. This option works best for collecting information from students (rather than assessment). It also allows for anonymous submissions. 
• Assignment Group - If you are using Assignment Groups, and they have been set up prior to creating the assignment, you can designate which group the assignment will be placed into using the drop-down. Assignments can also be moved into a group from the Assignments  page afterwards.

Options:  Select how students will submit this assignment. Options include: 

• Shuffle Answers - Select this option to shuffle the answer choices for each quiz question.
• Time Limit - Select this option and enter the number of minutes you wish for students to have to complete the quiz.
• Allow Multiple Attempts -  Select this option to allow students more than one attempt on the quiz. If selected, you will see additional settings to determine how grades should be calculated (highest score, average score, etc) and the number of attempts students can attempt. 

Student Visibility: There are multiple options available that determine what information students can see after they complete their quiz. 

• Let Students See Their Quiz Responses (Incorrect Questions Will Be Marked in Student Feedback)- Select this option to allow students to see which answers they selected, whether it was right or wrong, and any feedback. 
• Only Once After Each Attempt- Select this option to only allow students to view their responses, results, and feedback immediately after they submit their quiz. 
• Let Students See The Correct Answers- Select this option to display the correct answer to the questions 
• Show/Hide Correct Answers At - Enter in a date and time for when students should be able to see correct answers. You can also enter a date and time when correct answers are hidden and students will no longer be able to see them. 

Show one question at a time: Select this option to display one quiz question per page. If unselected, all questions will appear on a single page. If selected you will see an optional setting to Lock questions after answering which, if selected, will stop students from being able to return to prevous quiz questions. 

Quiz Restrictions: These settings allow you to restrict the situations where students can take the quiz.

• Require an access code - Select this option to set a password that students must enter before entering the quiz. 
• Time Limit - Select this option to require students to take a quiz from specific IP Addresses. This option works well if students are to complete the quiz from a specific location (for example, an on-campus computer lab). 

Assign: Set the timing of the assignment, including:

• Assign To - By default, quizzes are assigned to all students in the class. Quizzes can also be assigned to specific students or specific groups. 
• Due Date - Date and time the assignment is due. Work submitted after this date will be marked late. 
• Available from - Date and time the assignment is available to students.
• Until - After this date and time, submissions will no longer be allowed (cut-off time). 
• + Assign To - Click to set timings for different students or different groups. 

Use SpeedGrader to Grade by Student: Quizzes can be graded in SpeedGrader. Click on the Quiz you want to grade. Then, click SpeedGrader in the sidebar

Scroll to view the question you want to grade. Questions that require manual grading (Essay and File Upload Question Types) will appear at the top in red and can be clicked on:

Enter the number of points earned. Also, enter any feedback in the Additional Comments: field. 

Click Update Scores: 

More information about how to use SpeedGrader can be found here: How do I grade quiz questions in SpeedGrader?

Use SpeedGrader to Grade by Question: Quizzes can also be graded in SpeedGrader by question (For example, grade question 1 for all students, then question 2 for all students, etc). Click on the Quiz you want to grade. Then, click SpeedGrader in the sidebar

In the top right corner, click the gear icon > Options

Select the Grade by question (beta) option. Then, click Save Settings

Select the question you want to grade: 

Enter the number of points earned. Also, enter any feedback in the Additional Comments: field. Then, click Update Scores. 

Click the arrow in the student menu to move to the next student: 

More information about how to use SpeedGrader can be found here: How do I grade one quiz question at a time in SpeedGrader?