{"id":451,"date":"2025-10-03T10:59:04","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T15:59:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/canvas\/?page_id=451"},"modified":"2026-04-28T21:37:51","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T02:37:51","slug":"understanding-grades-in-canvas","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/canvas\/understanding-grades-in-canvas\/","title":{"rendered":"Understanding Grades in Canvas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The Grades tool in Canvas works differently from the one in D2L, in terms of how it functions. While there are differences in how they work, there are a lot of great new features in this tool that were not available in D2L.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What is the same?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list is-style-compact-list\">\n<li>You can enter grades directly into the grade item in both.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>They can both be organized into weighted categories (or groups). In D2L, it is a category. In Canvas, they are Assignment Groups.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>You can store your questions in a central location to reuse and manage them. In D2L, it is the <strong>Question Library,<\/strong> and in Canvas, it is the <strong>Item Bank<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>They both allow you to set missing submissions as 0.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What is different?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list is-style-compact-list\">\n<li>You cannot enter grade items directly into the Grades area in Canvas. All columns in the Grades will be added when a graded assessment is created. So, you essentially build your gradebook in the Assignments, Quizzes, Discussions, and Attendance tools.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Canvas has more options for viewing the gradebook in terms of filters to allow you to view individuals, modules, assignment groups, status, submissions, start and end dates, and more.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In D2L, the grade items were organized under the category they were associated with. In Canvas, you will see the individual grade items listed separately from the assignment group they are associated with.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In Canvas,\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>You can set up Late Policies that can automatically apply a percentage deduction for late submissions.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>You can set the student&#8217;s grade to 0 after the missed deadline, instead of it being the default from the beginning of the course.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How the Grade Columns are Created<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In D2L, you could create grade items and categories directly in the Grades area, or by creating an assessment and creating a grade item there to link it to. In Canvas, there is no way to create a grade item within the Grades tool. This is done automatically when you create a graded item in an assessment area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Types of Grade Columns in Canvas<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Graded Items:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list is-style-compact-list\">\n<li>All graded items in the Grades area are created when you create a graded item in the Assignments, Quizzes, Discussions, or Attendance tools.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Assessments that are not graded will not be added as a graded item in the Grades area.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Weighted Assignment Groups:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list is-style-compact-list\">\n<li>The weighted groups (similar to categories in D2L) are created in the Assignments area by creating <a href=\"https:\/\/community.canvaslms.com\/t5\/Instructor-Guide\/How-do-I-add-an-assignment-group-in-a-course\/ta-p\/970\">Assignment Groups<\/a>. These groups allow you to set the weight (%) of the group. Assignments would be linked to the appropriate group and weighted accordingly.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Through these groups, you can also choose to drop a specified number of lowest and\/or highest scores for students. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Grades tool in Canvas works differently from the one in D2L, in terms of how it functions. While there are differences in how they work, there are a lot of great new features in this tool that were not available in D2L. What is the same? What is different? How the Grade Columns are [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":313,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-451","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/canvas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/canvas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/canvas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/canvas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/313"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/canvas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=451"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/canvas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/451\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1254,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/canvas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/451\/revisions\/1254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/canvas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}