How to Set Up Weighted Grading, Exceptions, and Extra Credit
Introduction
Canvas can automatically calculate students' grades based on predetermined weights, automatically drop assignments based on scores, and more!
Tutorial
Weighted Grading & Exceptions
When you are building an Assignment, you will see in the Settings that it asks you which Assignment Group you would like to place the Assignment in. Assignment Groups create the ability for you to weight your course grades and automatically drop assignments based on score.
You manage the Assignment Groups from the Assignments tab. The Assignments video below gives details about how to create and manage Assignment Groups.
302 - Assignments Overview (Instructors) from the Instructure Canvas Community
Extra Credit
Extra credit is currently not a default option in Canvas. However, you can give students extra credit using a variety of options.
Create a new assignment worth zero points
Create a new assignment worth zero points and select any submission type. Include the total amount of points the student can score in this Extra Credit assignment in either the assignment title or description. After students complete the assignment, you can manually add points to the assignment in your course Gradebook.
Note: For a zero-point assignment to factor into a student's grade, you must add a positive point value to at least one additional assignment in any assignment group.
Add Extra Points to an Existing Assignment
Manually enter extra points to an assignment in your course Gradebook. For example, you can add 5 points to an assignment worth 30 points.
Add Fudge Points to a Quiz
You can use Fudge points within SpeedGrader to add points to a quiz. Fudge points allow you to manually adjust an overall quiz score.
Create Extra Credit within a Rubric
Add an additional Criterion to a Rubric for extra credit. Make sure you make the rubric worth more than the assignment and you can give students extra points or not without affecting the actual assignment points.
Create Extra Credit with Assignment Groups
Assignments must be housed within an assignment group. Assignment groups can be unweighted or weighted, depending on how you wish to grade students within your course.
Not Weighted
When assignment groups are NOT weighted, you can create extra credit assignments in their own assignment group if you wish. When the student completes the work required for the extra credit assignments, you can manually add points to the Gradebook.
Weighted
When assignment groups are weighted, Canvas will not calculate grades for an entire group that has no points possible. Therefore, for extra credit assignments to calculate correctly in weighted groups, they must be housed within an existing assignment group that has at least one assignment worth more than zero points.
More Info
Need more information? Check out these Canvas Guides!