Canvas: Assignments

What do they do?

Screenshot of Canvas assignment types

The Assignment tool Links to an external site. is Canvas's option for conducting a variety of assessments of student learning.

From online submissions of papers and paragraphs to offline activities like performances or paper exams, the Assignment tool makes it easy to collect and share scores and feedback with students.

Each Assignment has a submission type, which designates whether it is an online assignment using Canvas, an online assignment using an external tool, or an offline assignment.

For Canvas online assignments, you can decide the online entry options for students: text entry, website URL, media recording, and/or file upload.
For file upload, you can limit the file type that can be uploaded. This option is especially useful if your students use Pages to write papers - Pages can export to MS Word format, but MS Word cannot read files created in the native Pages format.

Finally, you can create group assignments and/or require peer reviews of assignments. These options can be especially useful in a fully online class, as students are less likely to make connections with each other when they do not regularly meet in person.

How do I ...?

Refer to this Canvas Guide to learn how to create assignments.

Student View

Screenshot of example assignments

Best Practices

Make the first assignment students submit a low stakes one, e.g. for completion credit only.
Remember that the publish and date settings for a Module override the settings for linked Assignments they contain.
Consider setting the due date for assignments to a consistent time (e.g. 11:59 pm) to help students keep track of their responsibilities.
Add rubrics Links to an external site. to assignments to help guide students towards exemplary work.
Consider using group assignments Links to an external site. to encourage student-to-student interaction.
Use SpeedGrader Links to an external site. to review, annotate, provide feedback, and grade student assignment submissions.

Example Use Case

An instructor wants to assess students' mastery of the unit-level objectives for their course and decides that a synthesis writing assignment would be the best approach.

Here's how to do it:

Go to Assignments and click "+ Add Assignment."
Enter an assignment name and detailed instructions as covered in the Canvas guide Links to an external site..
Choose the Online submission type and check the File Upload box to allow students to submit Word docs, PDFs, etc.
Enter due date and availability date details.
Create and/or attach a rubric Links to an external site. to clearly articulate quality criteria.