How to create an assignment or graded item that students cannot see?

[slavrenz]

I am trying to figure out if Canvas has a way to create "invisible" assignments, where I can assign points to a student without them seeing the points or the assignment itself.

My specific use case is that I always put an extra credit "easter egg" in my syllabus at the beginning of the semester (to see who actually reads the syllabus), and I'd like a way to track who correctly does the requested task, without advertising the task itself to the students. Up until now, I've been tracking this in a spreadsheet outside of Canvas, but surely there's got to be a better way?

[Ron_Bowman · Accepted solution]

@slavrenz -

As far as I know there is not a way to do what you want.  For the assignment not to be visible to the students, it has to be unpublished.  However, if it is unpublished, you cannot enter in grades for that assignment.  maybe someone else has an idea.  Unfortunately, you will probably have to keep doing what you are doing currently.  

I find it interesting that the students who find the easter egg would keep it to themselves and not tell their classmates.

[slavrenz]

That's too bad, but about what I figured.
At the point where most students start finding the easter egg I'll probably mix it up. But it's only been about 10% of the class, reliably for the past 4-5 years

[sfreng]

Its not a perfect solution, but you could rename the assignment something that would not be obvious to students (e.g., Bonus points) without an explanation of what it is until some deadline has passed and you have entered the extra credit.

I have a similar situation where I want to give students extra credit for reading the syllabus, but because my class is 180 students, I don't want to receive even 20 emails notifying me that they found the extra credit. I'm wondering if there is a way to create an assignment in canvas where the students would enter the extra credit if they find it? That would eliminate the need for me to be involved.