Assignment weighting

[s5004675]

My question is about weighted marks within an assignment group.

It seems that Canvas will only allow the total group assignment to be weighted if the 2 assignments are given marks which add up to 100 ( e.g. Assignment A = 70 and Assignment B= 30 marks). 

I have an assignment group worth 20% of the total grade. Within the assignment group there are 2 assignments (A & B) both marked out of 100. Assignment A is worth 70% of the total assignment group (20%) and assignment B is worth 30% of the total assignment group (20%). 

Can Canvas calculate a weighted  assignment group when the sub assignments are both marked out of 100?

[Chris_Hofer · Accepted solution]

@s5004675 ...

I don't have a lot of experience with grading (I was a former Canvas administrator and did not teach courses), but when you are editing the details of your assignments, you can set the number of points and then select from a few different options in the "Display Grade as" drop-down box.   One of those options is "Percentage", but I'm not sure if that would completely solve the question you are asking about.  In this Guide, How do I add or edit details in an assignment? - Instructure Community (canvaslms.com), there is the following paragraph under the heading "Select Grading Type":

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Note: The grading type is how the assignment score will display in the Gradebook. For example, an assignment worth 10 points is set to display as a percentage. A student who receives 8/10 points on the assignment will show as 80 in the Gradebook. If using a letter grade, learn how to create a grading scheme and apply a grading scheme to your assignment.

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But again, @SusanNiemeyer's response is correct: "In Canvas, you can have Assignment Groups, but not Assignment Subgroups."

I hope this might help a bit.

[Chris_Hofer]

Hi @s5004675 ...

In reading through your question a couple times, it sounds like you are wanting to assign percentages to assignments within an assignment group that you have created.  I searched the Community to try and find similar questions to yours, and I found the following:

Solved: how to assign different percentages to individual ... - Instructure Community (canvaslms.com...

In particular, the response from @SusanNiemeyer seems helpful:

In Canvas, you can have Assignment Groups, but not Assignment Subgroups. In order for your final grade to be weighted properly, I would suggest the following Assignment Groups:

Assignments - 65%  (or however you have broken this down)

Final Exam Section 1 - 5%

Final Exam Section 2 - 15%

Final Exam Section 3 - 15%

In the future, if you want just one Assignment Group for your Final Exam, then you'll need to work on your point system. For example:

Final Exam Section 1 - 10 points

Final Exam Section 2 - 30 points

Final Exam Section 3 - 30 points

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Does this example help you with the setup that you would like in your own course?  Essentially, she suggests that you set up multiple assignment groups instead of just one assignment group.

Please keep us posted here in the Community...thanks!

[s5004675]

Kind of helps.

I understand that by breaking down the assignments within the assignment group into marks to have points add up to that add up to 100 works 

e.g: Assignment Group 20% (of total grade)

• Assignment 1: 30
• Assignment 2: 70

But what I was asking was 

 Assignment group (20%) of total grade

• Assignment 1: marked out of 100 and worth 30% of the Assignment group 20%
• Assignment 2: marked out of 100 and worth 70% of assignment group 20%.

It is confusing but this is what some staff are doing.

[Chris_Hofer · Accepted solution]

@s5004675 ...

I don't have a lot of experience with grading (I was a former Canvas administrator and did not teach courses), but when you are editing the details of your assignments, you can set the number of points and then select from a few different options in the "Display Grade as" drop-down box.   One of those options is "Percentage", but I'm not sure if that would completely solve the question you are asking about.  In this Guide, How do I add or edit details in an assignment? - Instructure Community (canvaslms.com), there is the following paragraph under the heading "Select Grading Type":

---

Note: The grading type is how the assignment score will display in the Gradebook. For example, an assignment worth 10 points is set to display as a percentage. A student who receives 8/10 points on the assignment will show as 80 in the Gradebook. If using a letter grade, learn how to create a grading scheme and apply a grading scheme to your assignment.

---

But again, @SusanNiemeyer's response is correct: "In Canvas, you can have Assignment Groups, but not Assignment Subgroups."

I hope this might help a bit.

[SusanNiemeyer · Accepted solution]

No, Canvas will NOT let you do this.

Assignment group (20%) of total grade

• Assignment 1: marked out of 100 and worth 30% of the Assignment group 20%
• Assignment 2: marked out of 100 and worth 70% of assignment group 20%.

In this case, Assignment 1 should have 30 points, and Assignment 2 should have 70 points. There is no "sub-tier" of assignment weighting. Just use points and keep it simple.

[SusanNiemeyer]

Just to add - The number of points contained within each Assignment Group doesn't matter. For example, you could make:

Assignment 1 - 60 points

Assignment 2 - 140 points

The total number of points within that Assignment Group is 200 points. The calculations would be the same.