Creating Assignments
'Assignments' include online submissions (eg files, images, text, URLs, etc.), as well as Quizzes and graded Discussions. Such activities can be used to assess students' understanding and provide them with feedback on their learning. Assignments can be assigned to everyone in the course or differentiated by section or user.
Detailed Canvas documentation can be found in Creating Assessments. Links to an external site.
When you create an assignment, you can choose whether it will be a placeholder for work students do in class, work they hand in on paper, or whether you want the assignment to be completed and graded in Canvas itself. You can then add the marks and feedback using the SpeedGrader tool. Speedgrader offers a variety of ways in which to provide feedback to students, as seen in the screenshot below. You can comment, attach documents (the paper clip), record video feedback (centre button), or audio feedback (last button).
The overall category of 'Assignments' in Canvas includes graded Discussions and Quizzes.
Any assignment you create and publish on the Assignments page will automatically show up in the:
- Gradebook
- Calendar
Assignments can be created via the Calendar or the direct Assignments tool. You can also organise assignments in Modules as part of the student learning pathway.
Note: University policy specifies that assignments in Canvas may be used only for formative assessment, not summative assessment. See the page about Online Coursework Submissions, which explains how to use the separate system Inspera for anonymous, summative submissions.
Assignment settings and options
When you create an assignment, you will have the following options to choose from:
- Points
- Assignment group
- Due date and availability
- Display Grade as: points, letter grade, complete/incomplete, percentage, not graded, etc.
- Submission Type: No submission, Online, On paper, URL, File Upload
- Group Assignment options
- Moderated Grading
Important points to note
1. In order to invoke the Turnitin option, you need to select Submission Type: File Uploads. Then the Plagiarism Review option will appear and you can select Turnitin:
2. For a formative assignment that will not be graded, select the grade option: Complete/incomplete. Do not select 'Not graded'. Students cannot submit anything to a 'Not graded' assignment – its purpose is only to put a deadline in their Coming up list, without adding a column in the Canvas Gradebook:
3. If the submission type is File Upload, it is possible for students to select the Use Webcam option. This allows a student to take an image of their assignment with their webcam, preview it and then submit the image as an assignment from the browser; this is similar behaviour to what is possible when using the student mobile app. First time use prompts a message that asks the student to allow access to their webcam.
Note that the resulting submission will be an image, which will be opaque to Turnitin; therefore students should be advised not to use the Webcam submission option if submissions are to be screened by Turnitin.