Canvas Gradebook

A Canvas grading scheme is a set of criteria that measures varying levels of achievement in a course. Without a grading scheme, scores are not measured against any specific standard. Each grading scheme is based on percentage ranges and each percentage range is assigned a name-value (or letter grade). Letter grades are the most traditional type of grading scheme. Below is a depiction of a grading scheme in action.

total column displaying both percentage and letter grade

Features

  • Courses created using Global Course Administration automatically use the ISU Default Canvas Grading Scheme.
  • Instructors can create custom schemes or manipulate existing ones.
  • Letter grades are automatically assigned based on the students’ percentages.

Important notes about grade schemes

  • You may only use one grade scheme at a time.
  • Grading schemes only support two decimal places.
  • A grading scheme does not factor in any rounding of a partial percentage. Consider the following letter grade scheme:
    A100%to 93.0%
    A-< 93.0%to 90.0%

    The letter grade scheme above must be interpreted as all students who score in the range between 90.0% exactly and up to 92.99% percent will be given a letter grade of A- and all students who score in the range between 93.0% exactly and up to 100% will be given a letter grade of A. 

  • The only scores allowed in the Gradebook are those defined in the grading scheme. If the range for an A- is not defined in the grading scheme, then no student will receive an A-.

Getting Started

Instructor Resources

Using a grading scheme in your Canvas course

For grade submission purposes, final scores appearing in the Total Column should be paired with letter grades. Letter grades are derived from the course’s grading scheme and are based on student final scores.

To enable a grading scheme in your Canvas course:

  1. Navigate to your Canvas course.
  2. Follow the steps to enable a grading scheme for a course.
Courses created through the ISU Global Course Administration tools will have the Canvas Default Grading Scheme enabled unless an instructor creates or imports an alternate scheme.

Creating a new grading scheme

To create a new grading scheme with customized percentage-letter grade pairings:

  1. Navigate to your Canvas course.
  2. Follow the steps to add a grading scheme in a course.

Using a previously-created grading scheme

To use a grading scheme that was previously created in this course or imported as part of the course import process:

  1. Navigate to your Canvas course.
  2. Follow the steps to enable a grading scheme for a course, paying particular attention to the section titled, “Select Grading Scheme“.

Syllabus Statement

No syllabus statement is necessary.

Student Resources

Grading schemes in your Canvas course

Students can view the results of the grading scheme on their Grades page but are unable to see the grading scheme itself.

Online Documentation

Instructors:

Students:

Support

Canvas is supported by Instructure. Use one of the following channels to connect with their 24/7 support:

  • live chat — open the ?Help menu in Canvas and click ‘Chat with Canvas Support’
  • ticket support — open the ?Help menu in Canvas and click ‘Report a Problem‘
  • phone support — call 515-294-4000, then follow the prompts for Canvas support

For problems with ISU AdminTools inside Canvas, contact the ISU Solution Center: solution@iastate.edu / 515-294-4000.

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