Getting the Most out of the Gradebook and SpeedGrader in Canvas

What’s Different about the Canvas Gradebook? 

The Gradebook in Canvas and the Grade Center in Blackboard are similar in many respects. The Grades link is how you and your students access the course gradebook – just like the Grade Center in Blackboard.  The gradebook is where you will view and grade student submissions and assign weights to assignment groups for Total grade calculation.  Unlike Blackboard, you can’t weight a column without putting it an assignment group. Also, you can’t manually create a column in the gradebook like you could in Blackboard, so you must create an assignment for a column to be created in the gradebook, even if that is activity is not submitted through Canvas.   

Enhancements to Gradebook include the options to automatically assign a zero score to missing assignments or deduct points for late submissions.   

Activities can be graded by simply entering a grade, using a rubric, or using SpeedGrader in Canvas, which is similar to Blackboard’s in-line grading function.   

With SpeedGrader you can:

• View student submissions (text entries, website URLs, media recordings, and/or file uploads); preview supported file types in Canvas 
• Make annotations on supported files 
• Assign a grade based on your preferred assessment method (points or percentage) 
• View Rubric to assist with grading (if one is added to the assignment) 
• View comments created by you or the student about the assignment 
• Create text, video, and/or audio commentary for the student