Documentation

Examples

Weighting

Posting Policy

Default grades, Message students who, Gradebook history

Comments

There are many reasons NOT to use the Grades tool. Maybe you don't want to quibble with a student about the A- that they think should be an A. Maybe you have a spreadsheet that works perfectly for you, including optional dropped scores and a curving algorithm. Maybe you feel like Canvas doesn't matter since final grades have to be posted in Axess, not Canvas. On the other hand, maybe there's some transparency that you could gain by connecting everything you require students to submit with a score that integrates clearly into the final grade.

Lots of the features of the Grades tool don't really apply to our 10-15 person classes, but the basic setup is easy enough for just about anyone to understand and implement. It starts with setting up Assignment groups and then weighting them. Once you are there, you can just use Speedgrader to input all the scores as you complete them. I leave unsubmitted assignment scores blank, which means that they don't count toward the final grade, but then at the end of the quarter, I set the default grade to zero.