Nontraditional Grading Displays in Canvas

Custom Grading Schemes

Canvas offers a number of default grade display options. These are: Percentage, Complete/Incomplete, Points, Letter Grade, GPA Scale, and Not Graded.

Some instructors may wish to create and apply a different scale. For example, an instructor may want to evaluate student work as Satisfactory, Needs Improvement, or Unsatisfactory. To utilize such a scale, you will need to create what Canvas calls a grading scheme.

Creating a New Grading Scheme

Please refer to the guide, How do I add a grading scheme in a course? from Instructure for a full tutorial on creating a custom grading scheme. You may repeat this process to build multiple schemes.

While the customization process starts with a set of typical letter grades and associated ranges, you as the instructor are free to input any values in the “Letter Grade” fields. Words (such as the prior examples of Satisfactory, Needs Improvement, or Unsatisfactory) or other characters are acceptable. You can use the trash icons to delete unneeded rows and you can customize the ranges as you’d like. 

As an example, if you would like the Needs Improvement label to be associated with scores between 50% and 75%, you would set that label to be paired with the range <76% to 50%. 
 

Applying a Grading Scheme to an Assignment

To apply the grading scheme you have created to an Assignment, visit the settings for that Assignment. Under “Display grade as” first select Letter Grade as this is how your scheme is stored in Canvas. Then select the scheme. In the example below, the grading scheme called “Skye’s custom scheme” has been applied to the assignment. 

You can also manage and view your grading schemes by selecting “Manage All Grading Schemes.”

Grading Assignments Using a New Grading Scheme

When scoring an Assignment with a custom grading scheme in the SpeedGrader, you can either:

• input a numerical score which Canvas automatically displays alongside the appropriate scale label, or 
• type in the label from the scheme and have a numerical score applied. 

Typing in the label from your grading scheme will automatically assign the highest possible score within the matching range. For example, if your custom grading scheme is set so that a Satisfactory is equal to the range of <90% to 70%, entering the word “Satisfactory” will automatically produce the numerical score of 89% alongside the Satisfactory label. 

The character label (in the prior example, Satisfactory) that you input must be identical to how it was entered in the custom grade scheme for Canvas to recognize it and assign the value at the top of that range. Otherwise, Canvas will display an “Invalid grade value” error.
 

Restricting the Viewing of Quantitative Data

Some instructors may wish to present students with qualitative evaluations of their work, such as by marking assignments as Complete/Incomplete or using a custom grading scheme, without displaying any points. In these cases, it is possible to hide all quantitative scoring from students.

Please refer to the guide How do I restrict the viewing of quantitative data in a course? from Instructure for a full tutorial on restricting quantitative data in your course. Key takeaways to highlight:

• First, you must set a course grading scheme. As noted by Instructure, “if the course does not have a custom grading scheme, the Default Canvas Grading Scheme is used.”
• Students will be able to view grade displays that are Letter Grades, Complete/Incomplete, or any custom grading scheme.
• Assignments that are set to display as points or percentages will instead display for students as whatever the course grading scheme is set to.
• Instructors will still see point values and percentages where applicable, but these will be hidden for students.