Best Practices in Creating Canvas Assignments

  1. Make sure you deploy your assignments on the Modules page.
    • By default, the 'Assignments' page is disabled from student view in the main JSU course template. This is done to encourage faculty to deploy the assignments on the 'Modules' page.
  2. Only one assignment submission type can be submitted by students at one time.
    • For example, if you select 'Online' submission and then 'Text Entry' and 'File Upload' and require students to enter a text entry and a file upload at the same time, students will NOT be able to do so. The students would only be able to submit either text entry or a file upload, not both.
  3. Ensure all assignments include a title, detailed instructions, grading guidelines/rubrics, and examples (if available).
  4. Ensure all assignments have the correct due date settings, point allocation, and submission type.
  5. Include rubrics for every assignment.
    • Include rubrics for every assignment submission and discussion assignment. Use Canvas rubrics. All grading should be transparent to students.
  6. There is a direct connection between the Assignments page and the Gradebook (Grades).
    • The 'Assignments' page is where the instructor creates Assignment Groups for the purpose of weighting grades in the grade book.
  7. Publish all assignments to connect them to the Gradebook.
  8. If you use Turnitin to check for plagiarism, enable Turnitin with the assignment when you edit the assignment settings.
  9. Peer Review – You set peer review settings in the assignment settings when you create the assignment.
  10. Group Assignments – You attach the group to the assignment in the assignment settings when you create an assignment.
    • Groups – You create group sets and groups on the People page.
    • You must create a group set first, then create the groups, then place students within the groups.
  11. When you create an assignment, you can select “Do not count this assignment towards the final grade” if you do not want the assignment included in the grades.
  12. If you do not want students to be able to submit assignments late, make sure you have an “Until” date included in the assignment settings.