Setting Up Weighted Grades in Canvas

Summary

This article describes how to weight your Canvas course's final grades based on assignment groups.

Setting Up Weighted Grades in Canvas

Canvas uses what are called “Assignment Groups” to organize assessments, and view grades, in different groups.
Create Assignment Groups for different types of activities (i.e. all Discussions, all Quizzes, etc.), different units or modules of your course (i.e. a Unit 1 group with a Unit 1 Discussion, Unit 1 Quiz, etc.), or any other way that may be appropriate for your course setup and grading scheme.
The groups can then be weighted with different percentages to determine students’ final grades.

How Weighted Grading Works in Canvas

When you weight grades in Canvas, you weight them for each assignment group. The raw percentage of points that a student earned is multiplied by the weight, and that is the final value for the group.

For example, consider three assignment groups (A, B and C) weighted at 20%, 30%, and 50%. The total score would be (percentage A x weight A) + (percentage B x weight B) + (percentage C x weight C). If a student scored 87% in group A, 95% in group B, and 84% in group C, their final score would be (.87 * .20) + (.95 * .30) + (.84 * .50) = .879, or 87.9%.

Instructions

Step 1: Create Assignment Groups and Organize Assignments

Click here to expand Instructions:

Select + Group button to create a new Assignment Group.

From the Assignments Page, the PlusGroup Button is highlighted.

Once the Assignment Group exists, organize existing assignments and/or add new assignments:
- Add existing Assignments to the Groups by dragging and dropping them on the Assignments page
- Add new Assignments to the Groups by either:
  - Selecting the Plus / + button in the group header
  - Selecting the + Assignment button and selecting the group in the ”Assignment Group” dropdown on that Assignment’s edit page

Note: Each Assignment Group will be represented with its own column in the Canvas Gradebook (found by clicking “Grades” in the left-hand menu of Course Navigation Menu).

Step 2: Assign Weights to Assignment Groups

Click here to expand the instructions:

Navigate to the Assignments page.
Click the Options icon (three dots) to the right of the + Assignment button.

image of the upper righthand corner of the Assignments screen. highlight of the 3-dots. a dropdown menu. Assignment Groups Weight is highlighted.

Check the Weight final grade based on assignment groups checkbox.
You will now have the option to add Weights to all the Assignment Groups. Enter the appropriate weights for each group.
Select Save. These percentages will be reflected in the group headers on the Assignments page, as well as the group columns in the Gradebook

menu with the weighted grade checkbox checked. highlighting areas where weighted percentages can go. Save is also highlighted on bottom of menu.

To edit these percentages, as well as other options like ignoring a certain number of high or low scores from an Assignment Group, click the 3 dots in the right-hand corner of an Assignment Group header, and select Edit

Summary