Understanding final grades in the Canvas gradebook.
With contributions from Carmen Harder, Training Specialist, Client Experience, Client and Technology Success
The dashes that you see on the Canvas gradebook indicate missing assignments. When calculating final grades Canvas does not treat these missing assignments as zero. In this example the final grade for the student is 60%.
To make sure that missing assignments are given a zero grade there are two things you must do (preferably before your course starts):
- Apply a late submission policy -so that all late/missing assignments are graded the way you want
2. Set an assignment due date -so that Canvas knows when to apply the late or missing penalty
Once assignment due dates have been set, and the late submission policy has been applied, Canvas will calculate the final course grade based on the assignments that have been handed in.
Note how these two changes have resulted in a different final grade of 30%.
**Including zeros in the final grade calculations can have a huge impact on students’ final grades and will not be an accurate reflection of what they know or can do.**
