Weighted Grades in Canvas
Summary
This article describes how to weight your Canvas course's final grades based on assignment groups.
Canvas uses what are called “Assignment Groups” to organize assessments, and view grades, in different groups.
Create Assignment Groups for different types of activities (i.e. all Discussions, all Quizzes, etc.), different units or modules of your course (i.e. a Unit 1 group with a Unit 1 Discussion, Unit 1 Quiz, etc.), or any other way that may be appropriate for your course setup and grading scheme.
The groups can then be weighted with different percentages to determine students’ final grades.
How Weighted Grading Works in Canvas
Rather than using Raw Scores an instructor might choose to use Weighted Grading. An example of this is:
Tests | 50% of total grade |
Presentation | 30% of total grade |
Daily Assignments | 5% of total grade |
Participation | 10% of total grade |
Reading Discussions | 5% of total grade |
Total Score | 100% |
Instructions
Canvas can support Weighted Grades to set this up in your course, follow the instructions below.
Step 1: Create Assignment Groups and Organize Assignments
Select + Group button to create a new Assignment Group.
Once the Assignment Group exists, organize existing assignments and/or add new assignments:
Add existing Assignments to the Groups by dragging and dropping them on the Assignments page
Add new Assignments to the Groups by either:
Selecting the Plus / + button in the group header
Selecting the + Assignment button and selecting the group in the ”Assignment Group” dropdown on that Assignment’s edit page
Note: Each Assignment Group will be represented with its own column in the Canvas Gradebook (found by clicking “Grades” in the left-hand menu of Course Navigation Menu).
Step 2: Assign Weights to Assignment Groups
Navigate to the Assignments page.
Click the Options icon (three dots) to the right of the + Assignment button.
Check the Weight final grade based on assignment groups checkbox.
You will now have the option to add Weights to all the Assignment Groups. Enter the appropriate weights for each group.
Select Save. These percentages will be reflected in the group headers on the Assignments page, as well as the group columns in the Gradebook
Edit Weighted Grades
To edit these percentages, as well as other options like ignoring a certain number of high or low scores from an Assignment Group, click the 3 dots in the right-hand corner of an Assignment Group header, and select Edit
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