on Dec 6, 2018To help with the transition from the current Canvas gradebook to the New Gradebook I created the following functionality comparison. This is a working document, so feel free to comment on if you think wording needs tweaked or if you think something needs added to this chart.
In addition, here are PDF and Word document versions of this comparison that people are welcome to download and use for their own school.
Functionality | Current Gradebook | New Gradebook | Guide for new Gradebook |
New Features in Gradebook | |||
Grade Detail Tray | N/A | Allows you to easily click through all assignments for a student and view or change grade, status, and comments. OR, for a single assignment you can click through and look at every student one by one and view or change their information. | |
Late Policies (missing work) | N/A | Automatically apply grade (zero) for missing submissions. | How do I apply a Missing Submission policy in the New Gradebook?
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Late Policy (late work) | N/A | Deduct specified percentage for each X day late. | How do I apply a Late Submission policy in the New Gradebook?
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Change the Status of a Grade | N/A | Change the status (None, Late, Missing, Excused) of an individual assignment grade for a student. | How do I change the status of a submission in the New Gradebook? |
Change default status colors in Gradebook | N/A | Change the color associated with a gradebook status: late, missing, resubmitted, dropped, or excused. | How do I change the color for a grading status in the New Gradebook? |
Enter Grades as | N/A | Enter grades in the gradebook for an assignment as points or percentage. | How do I enter grades for an individual assignment as a specific grading type in the New Gradebook? |
Extra functionality added to current Gradebook Features | |||
Sorting and Displaying Student name | Sort alphabetically by last name. | Sort alphabetically, display by first name or last name first, and choose which secondary information to also show. | How do I sort and display student names in the Student Name column in the New Gradebook? |
Arrange columns by… | Arrange by assignment group (Assignment page order), due date (newest to oldest), or points (lowest to highest). | Arrange by Default (Assignment Group), Assignment name (alphabetic), Due date (oldest to newest, or newest to oldest), Points (lowest to highest or highest to lowest), Module (first to last or last to first). | |
Filters columns by… | Filters columns by Section. | Filters columns by Assignment Group, Modules, and/or Section. | |
Sort assignment grades by… | Sort by grade (high to low, low to high). | Sort by grade (high to low, low to high), Missing, Late. | How do I sort an individual assignment column in the New Gradebook? |
Icons and Colors | Icons and colors used to provide information about assignments and submissions. | Various new or updated icons and verbiage added to help Instructors better understand their gradebook. | |
Functionality is the same, just moved location or changed icon | |||
Enter Grades | Enter grades for students directly in the Gradebook. | Overall this is the same, but the interface and access to certain features is slightly different. | |
Provide or view Comments | Provide or view comments on an assignment for a student from the Gradebook. | Click to enter a grade for an assignment and then select the Grade Detail Tray icon (on the right). This will pop up the Grade detail window where you can select Speedgrader. | |
Access Speedgrader from Gradebook | Access Speedgrader from the Gradebook. | Click to enter a grade for an assignment and then select the Grade Detail Tray icon (on the right). This will pop up the Grade detail window where you can select Speedgrader. | |
Notes Column | Add private notes for individual students. There is no way for students to view these notes. | Location has moved to under the “View” link. | |
Message Students Who | For an assignment message all students who: Haven’t submitted yet, haven’t been graded, scored less than, scored more than. | Mouse over the name of an assignment and click on the three vertical dots that come up and select “Message Students Who.” | |
View individual student’s Grades page | View all grades for one student. This is a similar view to how students view their grades. | Click on the name of a student from the Gradebook. Or, on the “Grade Detail Tray” click on the Student’s name. | How do I view a student's Grades page in a course from the New Gradebook? |
Move & Sort Total Column | Move Total course grade column to the front of Gradebook. Sort from lowest to highest or highest to lowest. | Mouse over “Total” and click on the three vertical dots that come up and make desired change. | How do I use assignment groups and the Total column in the New Gradebook? |
Gradebook History | Gear icon and select “View Gradebook History.” | Location of option has moved to under the “Gradebook” link. | How do I view the history of all grading changes in the New Gradebook? |
View concluded (dropped) and inactive student information | View the grades of students who are concluded (dropped) or inactive in your course. | Location of option has moved. Hover over “Student Name,” click on the three vertical dots that come up and then select “Concluded enrollments.” | How do I view grades for inactive or concluded student enrollments in the New Gradebook? |
Mute Assignment | Temporarily hide grades and feedback on an individual assignment. | Mouse over the name of an assignment and click on the three vertical dots that come up and select “Mute Assignment.” | |
Set Default Grade | Set scores for students who do not have scores or to overwrite already entered scores. | Mouse over the name of an assignment and click on the three vertical dots that come up and select “Set Default Grade.” | How do I set a default grade for an assignment in the New Gradebook? |
Curve Grades | To curve grades, Canvas asks for an average curve score and then adjusts the scores as a bell curve 66% around the average score. | Mouse over the name of an assignment and click on the three vertical dots that come up and select “Curve Grades.” | |
Download Submissions | Download all submissions to an Assignment. | Mouse over the name of an assignment and click on the three vertical dots that come up and select “Download Assignment.” | How do I download all student submissions for an assignment in the New Gradebook? |
Import/Export Course Grades | Import grades into the Canvas Gradebook or Export the Gradebook in CSV format (Excel). | Location of option has moved to under the “Actions” link. | How do I import grades in the New Gradebook?
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Individual View | Apply global settings, view student grades one at a time & review assignment information one assignment at a time. | Location of option has moved to under the “Gradebook” heading. | |
Missing Features/Functionality
As far as I'm aware these are the only features in the current gradebook that are completely missing in the new gradebook:
- Ability to sort the Notes column - Sort Gradebook by Notes Section
- Assignment Details - this feature will be replaced by New Analytics functionality, which provides improved analytics capabilities (seeCanvas Studio Priority: Analytics 2).
- Hide Student Names - this feature has been resolved in the New Gradebook by the Anonymous Grading and Moderated Grading features already implemented in Canvas. (Hiding student names is still available in SpeedGrader, which is a separate feature and not affected by this project.)
- Treat Ungraded as 0 - this feature changes the view of how grades are displayed to instructors in the Gradebook and does not directly affect student grades. This feature is currently still available in the Individual View Gradebook but not in the Grid View Gradebook, which will be resolved in a future release. If you still want to view grades as zeroes in the New Gradebook, apply grades as zeros using the global Missing Policy option or use the Default Grade option for individual assignments. (Please note these options are not retroactive and will only apply to new submissions.)
How to Enable the New Gradebook
If you need to turn on the "New Gradebook" for your course see the following guide - How do I manage new features for a course? If you don't see this feature option for your course then please contact Canvas Support at your school for additional assistance. Also note, that per this guide - New Gradebook: FAQ - "...you cannot switch back to the current Gradebook if you enable late policies or even manually adjust the labels in the Grade Detail Tray. Once you have done one of these two things, the feature option in the course will not allow you to return to the old Gradebook."
Kona, thanks for putting this together. I would include in the missing feature slot that the Notes column is no longer sort-able. I know this is a minor thing, but it is one that many of my faculty have come to rely on pretty heavily. There is a feature request for this here - Sort Gradebook by Notes Section
I listed my reasons for this in the comments but will place it here as well:
Every one of my faculty, in training on the new grade book, have asked about this and when it will work like the current one. Unfortunately I can't give them an answer.