Introduction

Assessment is a complex topic, and one that is vital for all educators to consider carefully as they design and deliver instruction, so before you learn how to create and manage the various forms of assessment available in Canvas, it’s important to have a plan that aligns with the available options.

IMPORTANT:

Even if you don't plan to have online assessments, you will still need to know how to create assignments to provide grade information via the Canvas Gradebook.

Know your assessment plan

Any good assessment plan should help you align your course objectives with your assessments, and it should help you logically align the point values for each assignment with your overall grading approach in the course. As you apply your assessment plan to create assignments, quizzes, etc. in Canvas, you will need a few specific pieces of information on hand:

Answers to Know Before You Begin:

What is your course grading scheme (i.e. "grading scale")?
What are the types/categories of assessments you plan to use in your course (e.g. weekly journal entries, exams, unit quizzes, essays, etc.)?
If you plan to weight the grades in your course, how should each assignment type/category be weighted?
What is the total point value of your course, and how many points should each graded activity be worth?

Learn about options for Canvas assignments, quizzes, and discussions

In Canvas, there are multiple ways to assess student learning, including the assignments feature. However, the term "Assignment" is used in more than one way in Canvas, and this can be confusing, especially when you are building your course for the first time. See below for more information to help you break down the options and terminology:

Ways to Assess Student Learning in Canvas:

There are several options for assessing your students' learning in Canvas, and the following three assignment types are the most common:

Assignment: Use assignments to collect student work online or in person (on paper) and to provide them with grades and feedback in return. You can also create assignments in order to add columns in the gradebook for participation and other completion-based grades.
Quiz: Use quizzes to create a variety of question types to test your students' learning in an exam format. There are also options to create formative and self-assessments by creating practice quizzes and surveys.
Discussion: Use discussions to evaluate students' engagement with specific course topics through their text, audio, or video-based responses to questions and prompts posed by you and/or their peers.

Graded vs. Not Graded/Ungraded:

Whenever you create an assignment, quiz, or discussion, you will have the option to classify the item as graded or not graded/ungraded. While most forms of assessment are graded, the ungraded option allows you to create low-stakes learning and practice opportunities for your students throughout the semester. Ungraded assessments are sometimes referred to as "activities" in Canvas, and most can still be assigned a due date, but they will not appear in the gradebook.

The Assignments Area:

In your Canvas course, you will notice a link called "Assignments" in your course menu. It points to an area of your course that will automatically display several forms of assessment in one location. The items automatically displayed in the Assignments area include:

Any graded & ungraded assignments you create (i.e. Assignment type=assignment)
Any graded quizzes or graded discussions you create, even if you create those items in other parts of your course (e.g. from the calendar, quizzes tab, or discussions tab).

Canvas supports five assignment types: Assignments, Discussions, Quizzes, External Tools, and Not Graded. Learn more about each option in the Canvas Guide: What assignment types can I create in Canvas?

You can create an online assignment that embeds a document directly from your Microsoft Office 365 (OneDrive) folder. Accepted assignment types are Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. How do I create a cloud assignment with a Microsoft Office 365 file?

Choose the best type of assignment for your needs

You can use the Decision tree below from the University of Minnesota to choose which type of assignment to create based on your purpose. Please note: The Classic Quizzes ungraded survey option will no longer be available when the Classic Quiz feature is sunsetted. See: Canvas New Quiz Implementation

Click on the image to see a full scale version

Help your students stay on top of due dates

Use Built-in Due Dates in Canvas

Whenever you create an assessment or event in your course, it is important to include a due date using the built-in due date option for that item! All due dates will appear automatically in several areas of your course, including the course syllabus page and the calendar; students will also receive alerts about due dates through their Canvas notifications. If you need to change a due date during the semester, it will be automatically updated in each of those locations.

Using the built in due date option helps ensure the dates are accurate wherever they appear in the course, and this makes it easier for students to stay on track no matter how they access the information.

Watch this short video to see how due dates are automatically connected to the grade book, the syllabus tool, and the calendar:

Course Expecations (3 min)

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