5.11 | Canvas Rubrics

Developing Canvas Rubrics

As an instructor, you can create, edit, and delete rubrics in your course. Rubrics can be used to set up custom or Outcome-based assessment criteria for scoring. Rubrics can be set up with points, or can be set up as non-scoring rubrics, which allows for assessment-based and outcome-based grading without points. 

Rubrics in Canvas can be created at the account-level or at the course-level. Rubrics that are created at the account-level or sub-account level (i.e. the School of Social Sciences, the English Department, etc.) can be used to create departmental question repositories and can be used by any course within that account or sub-account. This can be useful when Schools or Departments share, for example, a common assignment where all instructors are required to use the same rubric. Instructors can then access the rubric to offer the same evaluation standards to students in different courses. 

Course-level rubrics are created at the course level. Once a rubric has been used to assess a student, the rubric cannot be edited, however existing rubrics can be recopied and used on other assignments and within other individual courses. 

Rubrics can be used alongside Canvas Assignments, Discussions, and Quizzes providing important assessment criteria right within the actual activity. Developing your Rubrics using the Canvas Rubric tool also delivers the rubric in the most accessible format, therefore making it inclusive for students navigating the course using screen reading software. 

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Canvas Rubric Settings

Once you have added a rubric, you have several settings options for the rubric. 

I'll write free-form comments when assessing students

You can choose to write free-form comments to students in the SpeedGrader. If this option is selected, no ratings are used to assess the student, and criterion values are assigned manually. 

Remove points from rubric

You may choose to remove points from the rubric. If this option is selected, no points are associated with the rubric, but students can still be rated using the rubric criterion.

Use this rubric for assignment grading

This option will allow you to use the rubric for grading in the Canvas SpeedGrader.

Hide score total for assessment results

If you do not want students to see the score total for the rubric you may select this option. Students can still see the point values for each criterion, but the total score will not be shown at the bottom of the rubric. This option is only available if the rubric is not used for grading. 

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Video Resource

Please watch the following video (4:27) for an overview of Canvas Rubrics. There are also links to several written Canvas guides located below the video. 

Prefer to reach than watch? Check out the video transcript. 

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Canvas Guides

• Canvas Guides: Rubrics Table of Contents
  • What are Rubrics?
  • How do I manage rubrics in a course?
  • How do I add a rubric to an assignment?
  • How do I add a rubric to a graded discussion?
  • How do I add a rubric to a quiz? 

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