Grading Hacks in Canvas

Use Keyboard Shortcuts in the SpeedGrader

You can navigate the SpeedGrader with your keyboard, rather than your mouse using Keyboard Shortcuts. These are weird to use at first, but once you get used to them, they can make grading and navigating the SpeedGrader much faster.

Using Rubrics & Comments   

Rubrics can be a huge time saver when it comes to grading, although they do take a little extra work at the start to create. Rubrics allow you to grade quickly based on the elements of an assignment that you set out for students at the start. If you're new to rubrics, or would like to learn more, here are a few helpful resources:

• How do I add a rubric in a course? Canvas Guide

• How do I add a rubric to an assignment? Canvas Guide

• How do I use a rubric to grade submissions in the SpeedGrader? Canvas Guide

• We hear from some faculty that rubrics don't work for them because they like to leave students written comments for feedback. Written comments are a great form of feedback, and luckily, you can use both rubrics and comments to give students feedback.

• Add Comments to Rubric Criteria - When you use a rubric to grade an assignment, you also have the option to leave students comments on certain criteria (shown in the photo to the right). So if you have a comment that your rubric ratings don't cover, you can leave that in a comment box within your rubric.

• Use Free-Form Comments Instead of Ratings - If numerical ratings don't work for you, you can create a rubric that just uses comments

• This can be really helpful for detailed comments because you can leave your comments on the criteria they apply to. You can spend less time organizing your comments with that organization already set up for you.

• Use a Rubric & the Comment Box Together - When you use a rubric in Canvas, you still have access to the Comment box on the right in the SpeedGrader. You can fill out rubrics for students, as well as leave them personalized comments.