How do I leave feedback comments for student submissions in SpeedGrader?

[#1]

You can leave feedback for your students using text, an attached file, video, or audio.

Assignment comments also display as a new thread in Conversations.

If your students submitted a writing assignment and you want to leave comments in the document, learn how to use Canvas DocViewer in SpeedGrader. A student can view your DocViewer comments from the assignment Submission Details page.

Notes:

• If you enter an assignment score, the score will automatically submit to the Gradebook when navigating to a new submission in SpeedGrader. However, assignment comments must be submitted manually before they can be viewed by students.
• To ensure that students can’t access assignment grades and comments until you are finished grading, select a manual posting policy for the assignment.

Open SpeedGrader

Open SpeedGrader from any assignment, graded discussion, or quiz.

Open Student Submission

Use the student list to locate a student submission.

Select Submission

If a student has submitted multiple attempts for the assignment, you can select which submission to view and add feedback. To select a submission, click the Submission to view drop-down menu and select a submission. Submissions are ordered by date submitted.

View Comments

In the Assignment Comments section, you can post comments to the student [1]. Any comments that have been made by the student also appear in this section.

Note: If the assignment is supported by Assignment Enhancements, the Assignment Comments section may display as Comments for this Attempt.

View Group Assignment Comments

Comments on group submissions that are not graded individually are sent to the whole group [1].

Individually graded group assignments include commenting options. To send your comment to one student in a group, select Send comment to this student only [2]. To send your comment to the whole group, select Send comment to the whole group [3].

Note: A student may be unable to view group assignment comments if they are not assigned to a group and if the assignment is not set to grade students individually. However, students can view those comments on the Grades page.

Add Text Comment

To add a comment to the assignment, enter text in the Add a Comment field [1].

To use a comment from the Comment Library, click the Comment Library icon [2].

To expand the size of the comment field, click and drag the corner of the text box [3].

Add File Comment

To attach a file to the comment, click the Attach icon.

Add Media Comment

To record a video or audio comment, click the Media icon.

Use Chrome Speech Recognition

If you are using Chrome, you can use the speech recognition tool to leave comments.

Add Emoji

If enabled by your institution, you can add emojis to submission comments.

To select an emoji, click the emoji menu [1].

To use a recently used emoji, click the emoji from the recently used menu [2].

View Unposted Comment Warning

When you create a text, media, or audio comment and try to advance to the next student or a previous student for the assignment, you are notified that the comment has been created but not posted.

To save the comment as a draft for the submission, click the Proceed button [1].

You can choose to not be notified for comments that have not been posted by clicking the Do not show again for this assignment checkbox [2].

Notes:

• The option to not show the warning applies on a per-assignment basis. Viewing another assignment and navigating between students before posting a comment also displays the warning.
• The option is also stored on a per-browser basis, so viewing an assignment in a different browser also displays the warning.

View Draft Comment

If you navigate away from the SpeedGrader page or view another student submission before submitting your comment, Canvas notifies you that your comment has been saved as a draft. You can return to the submission at any time and submit [1] or delete [2] the draft comment. Comments cannot be viewed by students until they are submitted.

Submit Comment

Click the Submit button.

View Comment

Comments are organized chronologically with the older comments appearing near the top [1] and the newer comments appearing at the bottom [2].

Note: Depending on the size of your browser window, comments within the SpeedGrader Discussion box may appear to be limited. You can use the scrollbar within the Discussion box to view additional or longer comments.