Accurate Grades

Making sure your Canvas Grades are accurate and clear to students is key. There are few key Grades settings to be aware of to ensure your Canvas point totals are perfect.

Treat Ungraded as 0
Set Default Grade
Show Total as Points or Percent
Set Grading Scheme

Treat Ungraded as 0

Treat Ungraded as 0 setting helps instructors have a better reading of the Grades Total column when not all student activities have been submitted.

By selecting "Treat Ungraded as 0" from the Grades settings, instructors will see the point tally for ALL published activities in the Gradebook instead of just the activities students have turned in.

Note that this setting only works in the Instructor view and intended as a kind of preview mode. The better way to ensure the Grades total is accurate where unsubmitted work is concerned is the "Set Default Grade" option.

Set Default Grade

With "Set Default Grade," instructors can quickly assign students the same baseline grade for coursework.

If you're issuing a set amount of points for credit/no credit work or class participation, you can simply assign the same grade to all students in one fell swoop. "Set Default Grade" is also handy to know about in the event multiple students did not submit their work; the grader can assign the class 0's to cover the non-submits, and then go back and give points to students who did submit work accordingly.

Show Total as Points or Percent

Instructors have the option to post their Grades Total column as either points or percentage.

Simply click the dropdown arrow in the Total column to switch between points and percent.

Screenshot: Canvas Grades Total dropdown button

Set Grading Scheme

Students often want to know their actual letter grade for a course.

Enabling the grading scheme in Canvas allows faculty to apply their department-specific grading scale towards points totals.

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