Overall the gradebook in Canvas is less complex than in eClass which will vastly simplify grading for most users. Instructors using advanced gradebook features and/or calculating grades with custom formula will need to move these calculations to an external spreadsheet. This article covers the major differences between the Canvas and eClass gradebooks and the most important information for instructors making this switch.

For a comprehensive overview of all the Canvas gradebook features, please see How Do I Use the Gradebook in the Canvas KB.

Grade Column Setup

As in eClass, any assignments, quizzes, or graded discussions that are created in a course will automatically appear in the Canvas gradebook and any scores entered into those activities are automatically passed in. The process to create a grade column not associated with an assignment -- what is called a 'manual grade item' in eClass -- is simplified in Canvas by creating an assignment and setting the submission type to No Submission.

Note that an assignment must be published to the course to be used in grade calculations, so if you'd like to create a manual grade column that doesn't show in other areas of the course, the Assignments section in the course navigation settings should be hidden and any links to student-facing assignment activities must be added to Modules. It is standard practice to hide the Assignments and Quizzes course navifgation items and adding the assignments you'd like to remain visible to the Modules section. 

Grade Visibility Settings

A commonly used feature in the eClass gradebook is hiding grades from student view until an instructor chooses to release them. By default, grade columns in the canvas gradebook can't be hidden until there is at least one grade entered, which will also trigger an email notification to that student that they've been graded on the assignment.

To change this behavior for a course, click the cog at the top right of the gradebook, then under the Gradebook Settings, select Grade Posting Policy and change the setting in the right-side menu to Manually Post Grades:

Grades for all assignments will then remain hidden until you select Post grades from the ellipsis menu (⋮) next to the grade item name in the gradebook colunn header. You can also change the grade posting policy for the a specific column in the gradebook under the elipsis.

Basic Course Total Calculations

The standard Canvas gradebook mechanism for calculating course totals is equivalent to using "simple weighted mean" aggregation method from eClass. The course total is the sum of raw point scores out of the overall points of all scored assignments used in the course. This means that an item's weight will be its proportion of the sum of all grades in the course. So for example, if there are 3 items in the gradebook:

       Item 1 = 20 points
       Item 2 = 30 points
       Item 3 = 75 points
       (Total = 125 points)

A student's course score would be calculated as ([Item 1 score] + [Item 2 score] + [Item 3 score])/125, and display a percentage in the course total column. The weight of Item 1 would be 20/125.

Weighted Grade Calculations

Items can be weighted within a course using assignment groups- By default, a course has a single assignment group called "Assignments," but new ones can be created and any gradeable item (a quiz or assignment) can be added to a group from the assignments page. Assignment groups are functionally similar to gradebook categories in Moodle.

From the assignments page in your course, you just need to click the ellipsis icon (⋮) and select "Assignment group weights" to enable and define the weights:

For those needing more advanced calculations, the only option is to make these calculations outside of the Canvas gradebook and either manually enter total scores for students or import an entire assignment or term's scores from a spreadsheet.

To enter the course total score manually or from a spreadsheet instead of having it automatically calculate, enter the gradebook settings via the cog wheel icon in the top right of the gradebook, then select the 'Advanced' tab, and check select Allow final grade override. This will add an 'Override' column to the right of the total column where you can enter a new grade.

Assigning and Displaying Letter Grades

If you would like to show letter grades with the course totals, you will need to enable a course grading scheme, found in your course settings, on the "Course Details" tab. Once enabled, you can use an existing grading scheme from the drop-down menu or define a new grading scheme by clicking "+ New Grading Scheme". This process is similar to editing your grade letters in eClass, and will be necessary in order to export a .csv file with a column of letter grades to upload to Beartracks.

When selecting from the existing grading schemes, the recommended option is the 'Default U of A Grading Scheme':

Note that this scheme/scale is the "best fit" based on the official U of A grading guidelines so individual instructors, departments, or programs should ensure they review the boundaries prior to using it. The letter grade range boundaries are:

Once these letter grades are used in a course, instructors have the option of exporting the grades for import in to Bear Tracks.

Grade Imports

The Import button on the gradebook page will allow you to import grades from a .csv file, similar to eClass.

The .csv file must include the following columns at the beginning:

• Student
• ID
• SIS User ID (U of A student ID number)
• Section

The other columns can be left blank.

(It is recommended that you first export the gradebook as a .CSV to use as a template. Be sure to leave the top three rows intact and remove any existing columns that already have grade data.

Additionally, if you have already set up the Gradebook or have used assignment groupings, it is important to find the column(s) which contain the Canvas assignment ID in parentheses or else the import will fail.

Example:

You will be prompted with what to do with a newly importing grade item:

• map to an existing, or
• create a new

For more information about importing grades: How do I import grades in the Gradebook?