Wiki Page, Sandbox Kevin: [MODULE 2] Building Assignments

Wiki Page
2023-08-31T11:12:26-06:00

When building assignments, you need to determine TWO (2) things:

1. What type of activity is it?

2. Will it be graded or ungraded?

1. Deciding on the TYPE of Activity

In Canvas, there are three types of assignment activities -- discussions, quizzes and assignments.

Photo: Assignments vs. Activities

DISCUSSIONS are similar to discussion forums or message boards in other systems. Conversations can be threaded or unthreaded. As teachers, you have the ability to pin (feature) or close discussion topics.

Under the discussions tab, you will see:

All graded discussions

All ungraded discussions

Want to know how to add Extra Credit?
Extra Credit points can show up in course
assignments in several different ways.
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QUIZZES is used as the 'catch-all' phrase to mean assessments, evaluations, surveys, quizzes, tests, exams, etc. Canvas labels these assessments as 'quizzes'

Under the QUIZZES tab, you will see:

All unpublished quizzes

All ungraded quizzes (which Canvas refers to as 'practice' quizzes)

All graded quizzes

All surveys

ASSIGNMENTS are any free-form assignments that do not function as a discussion or quiz. Also, any GRADED discussion or quiz is also considered an assignment. When you create an assignment in Canvas you choose whether it will just be a place holder for work students do in class, turn in on paper, or whether students will electronically turn in work to the Canvas assignment.

Under the ASSIGNMENTS tab, you will see:

All graded free-style assignments

All ungraded free-style assignments

Any graded discussions

Any graded quizzes

2. To Grade or Not To Grade...

Any graded assignment, discussion or quiz will automatically have a gradebook column. Any un-graded assignment, discussion or quiz will NOT have a gradebook column. Simple as that.

When you create a GRADED activity (i.e. an assignment, discussion or quiz), you will have the following assignment details to determine and options to choose from:

Point value

Deadlines*: due date, availability from and until

Grading Type: points, letter grade, complete/incomplete, percentage, etc.

Submission Type: No submission, Online, On Paper, etc.

Group Assignment options

Peer Review options

*NOTE: You can set deadlines by section if you have cross-listed other sections in your course.

The following tutorials provide additional details about Assignments:

What are Assignments for instructors?

How do I use the Assignments Index Page?

How do I use Draft State in Assignments?

What assignment types are available in Canvas courses?

What is the difference between assignment due dates and availability dates?

How do I create an assignment?

How do I create an assignment shell in an assignment group?

How do I add an assignment group in a course?

How do I weight the final course grade based on assignment groups?

How do I create rules for an assignment group?

How do I add details to an assignment?

How do I add or edit points for an assignment?

How do I exclude an assignment from the course's final grades?

How do I delete an assignment?

What do assignments with different due dates look like in Canvas?

How do I assign an assignment to an individual student or course section?

How do I assign an assignment to a course group?

How do I add a grading scheme to an assignment?

How do I set up a moderated assignment to be graded by multiple reviewers?

How do I add students to an assignment moderation set?

Can a student resubmit any assignment?

How do I create a peer review assignment?

How do I manually assign peer reviews for an assignment?

How do I automatically assign peer reviews for an assignment?

How do I manage Turnitin assignments?

How do I create a Turnitin assignment?

How do I change Turnitin settings for an assignment?