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Assignments in Canvas allow instructors to create, collect, and evaluate engaging formative and summative assessments using engaging, versatile media types: Teachers can collect writing samples, videos, audio recordings, web pages, digital image, or any other kind file that can be uploaded online. It will also save you a ton of time, paper, sanity, and trips to the office copy machine.

 

Creating Assignments

To create a new assignment, go to the "Assignments" landing page by clicking the "Assignments" link in the Course Navigation menu (left menu).

 

Picture showing the Assignments button highlighted in the Canvas sidebar menu

(On the Modules page, you can also click the "Plus Button" and choose "Add Assignment" and select "[New Assignment]")

Once you're on the "Assignments" page click the "+ Assignment" button to make a new assignment.

 

Picture showing the Add Assignment button in Canvas

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A new window will open up with a Rich Content Editor like so:

 

Picture of a blank Canvas assignment window, with fields for teacher to fill out

 

Fill out the fields as you wish, including the assignment's points, what type of submission you want, and whether you want the assignment to sync to MyStudent. 

 

Picture showing file types selection field in Canvas

 

Here's a tip: If you're accepting student-created files for your assignment, make sure to specify which filetypes you want students to be able to submit. You can do this by clicking the checkbox under "File Uploads" for "Restrict Upload File Types," then typing the extensions you're willing to accept (e.g. .docx, .ppt, .pdf, ect.) Otherwise, be prepared to see a lot of odd files. (I've had students submit WordPerfect files, OpenOffice, Works files, and I'm pretty sure someone tried to fax me a paper, once.) 

 

Picture of the Assign To field in Canvas

 

In the "Assign to" section, you can assign the task to "Everyone" (all students in the course), a student Section, Group, or even individual students. Here you can also fill out the due date and time (it's recommended to fill out the time portion, as the default is 11:59 PM, and you probably don't want to know how many students will submit assignments at that time ... or later ...)

Image showing the Cancel, Save, and Publish options for an assignment in Canvas

 

Once you're done, make sure to click "Save" to save your work. If your assignment is good to go, you can click "Save & Publish," which will assign the assignment to whomever you've specified and make it visible to students. Remember, until an assignment is published, students won't be able to see it nor submit work for it. 

 

Some helpful guides from Instructure:

Want to know how to give extra credit, assign peer reviews, grade anonymously, and more? Check out the handy guides listed below!

 

Published in Instructure Canvas LMS