Creating assignments in Canvas Staff Guide

The Assignments tool provides an easy way for students to submit courseowork in Canvas. A number of different assignment types can be created including submission of a file, audio/video content and submission from a URL.

The tool allows:

• Electronic submission of documents, links to external websites, and rich media with multiple artefacts accepted for each submission
• Grading of non-electronic submissions such as presentations or written exams
• Anonymous marking and grading
• Feedback via in-line commenting, general comments, or attached documents
• Group Submission
• Grade weightings
• Plagiarism detection when Turnitin is enabled within the assignment

If you want to generate originality reports to aid detection of plagiarism please see separate guide on using Turnitin.

Creating an Assignment

Assignments should always be created in your new course and not copied over from previous courses. If you find that assignments have accidentally been copied over, delete these assignments and follow these instructions to create a new assignment:

Within your course go to the Assignments area and click on the blue ‘+ Assignment’ buttonThe Create New Assignment screen gives a range of options for setting up the assignment, but for a basic grade-bearing assignment complete these sections:

1. Assignment Title - Your assignment name should be descriptive and avoid naming conventions such as Coursework 1/Assignment 1, but can include this.
   
   
2. Assignment Brief - Provide some instructions for the assignment. Try to keep anything to do with the assignments here, so insert links to any further assignment documents from Files.
   
   
3. Points - Maximum grade for work. Weightings can be applied at a later stage. The simplest approach is to mark out of 100 and then weight the score later, or you can apply a maximum mark e.g. 40.
   
   
4. Display Grade As - Choose how to display the grade to students. For simplicity choose Percentage.
   
   
5. Submission Type
   
   There are many options to choose from, but for simplicity: choose Online and specify File Uploads, and Restrict upload file types to “pdf, doc, docx” (include the commas). If you want to record grades for non-electronic submissions (delivered presentations etc.) you can choose ‘No submission’ or ‘On paper’. You can select multiple submission types here, but students can only submit one of these types.
• Panopto submissions can now be submitted via the type 'Text'. This allows students to use the panopto plugin to submit and record work.
• Student Annotation allows you to add a file that students are can annotate; such as a piece of art to critique, a diagram that requires labeling, or a piece of text. Student Guide: How do I annotate a file as a student submission in Canvas.
• For further information about the different types of assignment, please see the following Canvas guide:How do I create an online assignment?
  
  
6. Submission Attempts - You can specify the number of allowed attempts for each assignment. Select either 'limited' or 'unlimited' and specify the number of attempts.
   
   
7. Plagiarism Review -In the ‘Plagiarism Review’ section select ‘Turnitin’ and Select your desired settings from the Turnitin menu.
   
   

8. Group Assignment

   Use the 'Group Assignment' option if students are submitting a group submission. One student will then submit on behalf of the group. By selecting this option you will be prompted to create groups manually or use an automated process for randomly assignining students to groups. Feedback can either be provided individually to each student, or to the group as a whole. Groups can also be created from your course menu.

9. Anonymous Grading

   If submitted work is to be marked anonymously, select this option. This option hides all student names until marking is complete. If you are marking anonymously it is important to 'specify File Uploads' in 'submission type' and specify .docx, .doc and pdf to ensure files can be easily opened. There are many different types of word processing applications and there is currently no way to contact students whilst an assignment is anonymous should there be an issue with the file.

   You can disable anonymity by removing this option when editing the assignment, however once anonymity has been disabled it cannot be reactivated in Turnitin for marking.
10. Assign To - By default this option will be set to 'Everyone', but can be used to give different deadlines to different groups of students or individuals
    
    

11. Due - The deadline - Assignments are automatically set to 1pm to ensure students are fully supported with their submission. Although staff are free to change the assessment time, creating consistency around the expected times to submit can help students develop habits and routines. Students who might be working up to the deadline might find this time more conducive to better learning habits and time management. 

12. Available From and Until - This option hides the assessment link from students. For ease, leave these blank.

13. Save your Assignment - After providing the above information click on the Save & Publish button.

Embedding Assignments within the Module Structure

If your course introduces Assignments gradually as the course progresses you may like to embed links to assignments within the module structure. This can give a handy reminder or prompt to students at the end of a teaching block that a form of assessment is now due.

• Go to the 'Modules' area of your course menu
• Locate the Module in which you would like to place a link to an assignment, and click the corresponding ‘+’ button for the Module
• In the ‘Add item to …’ box, from the Add drop-down menu choose Assignment
• Choose the assignment you would like to place a link to
• Click 'Add item'