Creating and setting up assignments

Assignments allows academics to design and track graded and ungraded assignments.

In your Sandbox site, you can try the steps below to create an assignment.

Creating the Assignment

Step 1: From the course navigation, click "Assignments."
Step 2: In the top-right corner, click "+Assignment".

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Step 3: In the top box, write your assignment's Name.
Step 4: In the Rich Content Editor, write a Description or specific instructions about the assignment.
Step 5: If you want to attach a file, you can do so by selecting it from the Documents icon.

Watch the "Rich Content Editor" video for further information on how to use the Rich Content Editor.

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Assignment Settings

You can select assignment options underneath the Rich Content Editor to meet your assignment's individual demands and configuration.

Step 6: Set the number of Points that the assignment will be worth. Enter "0" if the item is ungraded.

Step 7: If any Assignment groups have been created, select one of them.

Read the article "How do I add an assignment group in a course? Links to an external site." to create an assignment group".

Step 8: Select the type of grade that appears in the gradebook and on the students' view by selecting "Display grade as"

  • Percentage
  • Complete/Incomplete
  • Letter Grade
  • Not Graded - Choose this option if the assignment has no submission AND is ungraded.

bulb.png If the assignment has a submission but should not be included toward the course's final grade, select the "Do not count this assignment towards the final grade" option below the "Display grade as" drop down.

Step 9: Select the Submission type. There are different types of submissions available here. The following is a quick rundown.

  • No submission: Student submissions are not required for this assignment (either online or in-class). This is useful for grades based on attendance or participation.
  • Online: Students will submit their work online (for file uploads) or through a text/media entry box. Students can also submit a URL to a website, which is suitable for courses where students will be writing blog articles. Annotating a document has been added to Canvas as a new way for students to annotate the uploaded documents.
  • On paper: The assignment will be handed to the educator or handed in in class. In order for the marks to be tabulated in the final student grade, this assignment needs to be created here so a corresponding column is added to the grade book. 
  • External tool: Choose this If you want to use one of the external tools listed in the Canvas Assignments drop-down menu.

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Step 10: In Canvas assignments, the number of submission attempts can be limited. Instructors can use 'Submission Attempts" to limit students' number of attempts. Assignments can be submitted an unlimited number of times by the default settings.

Step 11: Select "Group assignment" to make the assignment a group activity.

Step 12: Select "Peer reviews" whether or not students should check their peers' work in order to provide feedback.

Step 13: Select "Anonymous grading" if you do not want to see the student names when grading their submissions. This may be helpful if you want to practice impartiality during grading. Note that anonymous grading cannot be enabled for group assignments.

Step 14: Select "Anonymous instructor annotations" if you want to anonymize all annotations made by instructors on submissions for this assignment in DocViewer.

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Step 15: Assign - Select who and when will see the assignment, as well as set the due date. Due dates can be assigned to specific sections and/or students.

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Note:

If you have multiple sections, and the assignment is the same for all sections. Choose "Everyone". 

However, if the different sections have different due dates, then use the Assign to field and choose the specific section. Click the +Add button. Each addition will allow you to create different subgroups with different due dates and access restrictions. Remember to specify students under "Assign to" otherwise the due date entered will be applied to Everyone by default.

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This can also be useful if you would like to accommodate students you may need more time to work on the assignment.

Step 16: Click "Save" or "Save & Publish" when finished.

 

Let's learn how to set the advanced assignment features such as "Group assignment" and "Peer reviews".  Click "Next".