Step #1 – Define Assignment Groups
Extra Credit – The easiest way to give extra credit is to create an assignment group called Extra Credit, and have the assignment group total be greater than 100 percent.
Attendance – There are two ways to calculate attendance. The first is to use the built in Roll Call feature. The second is to create an assignment group called “Attendance” and create assignments within that group.
Roll Call will keep track of student attendance but is very limited in how it grades attendance.
Creating your own attendance assignments gives complete flexibility in grading, but requires that you keep track of attendance outside of Canvas (paper or spreadsheet).
Step #2 – Create Assignments
Most faculty will find that creating assignments in the Assignments screen to be the most intuitive. Create assignments from the Calendar view or the Modules view as well.
We strongly recommend making assignments out of 100 points (except for quizzes and rubric graded assignments).
If you do NOT want to use the grade book, then leave the points blank.
Step #3 – Determine Which Assignments to Collect Online
Open and edit an assignment to see its detailed view and change the Submission Type to Online.
Consider enabling Turnitin. It is fully integrated with Canvas and only requires a simple checkbox in the assignment settings.
We do not recommend Allow Text Entry for longer written assignments.
Step #4 – Mute Assignments (optional)
Muting assignments will suppress releasing grades and comments to students. Unmute the assignments after grading them so that students are notified and can see their grades.
Skip this step if you are not using the gradebook.
Step #5 – Add Assignment Descriptions (optional)
Assignment descriptions/instructions can be as brief or detailed as necessary. If assignment instructions are already written in Word or PDF documents, it is easy to attach them to the assignment description as well.
For Canvas discussions, make sure the student’s expectations are clearly defined. These expectations should include length of writing as well as feedback you expect them to provide for other students in the class.