Canvas @ Yale

Using the Grade Posting Policy

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The Gradebook has a Grade Posting Policy function that allows you to predetermine when you want grades to be posted to students. By controlling when grades are posted and hidden, instructors can determine when students are notified of their grades being available.

By default, the Gradebook is set to the "Manual" grade posting policy.

When copying content from one course to another, if you select the "Copy All Content" or include "Course Settings" in the "Selected Content" option, then the grade posting policy from the original course will override the grade posting policy in the new course. Additionally, imported assignments will retain their assignment posting policy from the original course.

Grade Posting Policy Types

There are two types of grade posting policies that you can select:

  • Automatically Post Grades - Make the grades available to individual students immediately. As soon as a submission is graded, the grade is released and the student may see the grade.
  • Manually Post Grades - Hide the grades until the instructor is ready to release them. Instructors must manually post the grades for each assignment. They can also choose to release grades to certain students or sections. Grades that have already been posted prior to changing to this posting policy will remain visible unless manually hidden again.

Automatic Grade Posting Policy

Grades are immediately published for a student to see. As soon as a submission is graded, the grade is released and the student may see the grade. Prior to grading, both instructor and student will see a Dash if they have not submitted or a Paper icon if they have submitted.

  1. Unsubmitted assignment
  2. Submitted, ungraded assignment
  3. Graded assignment
Item 1 has a dashed line meaning there is no submission. Item 2 has a paper icon meaning there is a submission but is not graded. Item 3 has been graded and is visible to students.

Manual Grade Posting Policy

Grades for assignments are hidden until the instructor chooses to Post the grades. At that time, the instructor can choose to release the grades to all students, only students with grades, or certain sections.

  1. An Eye Visibility icon will denote that at least one grade for the marked assignment is hidden.
  2. Underneath the assignment name in the header row, the word "MANUAL" will appear to indicate that a manual posting policy has been applied.
  3. Attempting to post will display an orange dot next to those whose grades are hidden.

Note: Any assignments where grades were already made available to students prior to changing the grade posting policy will continue to be visible to students. You can override this by hiding the grades at the assignment level.

Grade Posting Policy Levels

You can select to assign Grade Posting Policies at two different levels:

  • Gradebook Level - Setting the Grade Posting Policy at the Gradebook level will apply the posting policy to all ungraded assignments and all future assignments.
  • Individual Assignment Level - The Assignment Level posting is set for that specific assignment / item. This will override the Gradebook Level setting as the default Grade Posting Policy will be whatever is set at the Gradebook level.

Setting a Gradebook Level Grade Posting Policy

  1. Set the Grade Posting Policy by clicking on the Gear icon in the top-right corner of the Gradebook.
  1. In the box that pops up, select the "Grade Posting Policy" tab across the top.
  2. "Automatic" will be selected by default. You can change to the manual grade posting policy by clicking "Manually Post Grades."
  3. Click "Update."
    1. The Gradebook will now display the visibility icons.

Any assignments that were already posted will continue to be visible to students. Please see below on how to post and hide grades to hide visible grades.

  1. You can change the grade policy back to automatic by following the steps again and selecting "Automatically Post Grades."

For the vendor guide on how to set the grade posting policy at the course level, see their article on "How do I select a grade posting policy for a course in the Gradebook?"

Setting an Assignment Level Grade Posting Policy

  1. Set the Assignment Grade Posting Policy by clicking on the three dot icon in the header of the assignment column, and select "Grade Posting Policy."
  1. "Automatic" will be selected if no Gradebook Level Policy has been set. Otherwise, it will default to whatever you have set.
    1. Change to the Manual Grade Posting Policy by clicking "Manually Post Grades."
  2. Click "Save."
    1. The assignment will now display the visibility icons. Please see below on how to post and hide grades.

For the vendor guide on how to set the grade posting policy at the assignment level, see their article on "How do I select a grade posting policy for an assignment in the Gradebook?"

Posting and Hiding Grades

Grades can be manually hidden and posted even if the automatic policy is set. This is also how to release or hide grades for an individual assignment when a manual policy is set.

Posting Grades

  1. Click the three dot icon in the assignment header row and select "Post Grades."
  1. Select who you are posting to:
    1. "Everyone" posts grades to all students even if no grade or submission exists for an individual.
    2. "Graded" will make grades only visible to students who have grades.
  2. You can also post the grades by section by toggling the "Specific Sections" switch and choosing specific sections.
    1. If you would like to show the grades to the students regardless of section, leave "Specific Sections" off.
  3. Click "Post" to confirm that you are posting the grades.

Hiding Grades

  1. Click the three dot icon in the assignment header row and select "Hide Grades."
  1. You can also hide the grades by section by toggling the "Specific Sections" switch and choosing specific sections.
    1. If you would like to hide the grades regardless of section, leave "Specific Sections" off.
  2. Click "Hide" to confirm that you are hiding the grades.

For more help, please contact [email protected].

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