Grading Classic Quizzes in Canvas

Updated on Nov 24, 2022

This article is for Faculty who are working with their Classic Quizzes in Canvas. Classic Quizzes will automatically grade: multiple choice, true/false, multiple answer, and fill in the blank type quiz questions. When a Classic Quiz with the above mentioned question types also contains short answer , essay, or multiple fill in the blank questions faculty must review and grade each student's responses manually to calculate final quiz grades.

Article Overview

Accessing SpeedGrader
Grading Short-answer/Essay Questions
Regrading a Multiple Fill in the Blank Quiz Question
Regrading a Multiple Choice Quiz Question
Regrading a True/False Quiz Question
Regrading a Multiple Answer Quiz Question

1. Accessing Speedgrader

1.1. Select a Quiz in the Gradebook

Select Grades from the Course Navigation Menu on the left.

Search for a quiz. (1) Scroll through your course content in the grade book or search by (2) typing the name of the quiz into the Search Assignments box and selecting it.

1.2. Select Speedgrader

Hover your cursor over the right side of the column title of the quiz.

(1) Select the three-dot kebab menu and (2) choose Speedgrader.

(1) Select the three-dot kebab menu, (2) choose Speedgrader.

You can also access SpeedGrader by selecting a student's submission. Select the page icon denoting a submission that needs grading.

Select the arrow in a box.

Note that the 5, in the 5/8 score is displaying the points for the multiple choice, and true/false questions in the quiz that were automatically graded by Canvas. Short answer and essay questions require manual grading by faculty.

Select the Speedgrader link that appears from the pop out menu on the right.

2. Grading Short-answer/Essay Questions

Note that Canvas does not distinguish between short-answer or essay questions when listing questions for review. Canvas displays all open-ended response style questions faculty need to review in the box at the top of a student's submission.

2.1. Select a Question That Needs Review

Inside SpeedGrader, select a question that needs review from the shaded warning box, shown in the image below.

short answer and essay questions need faculty review and manual grading

(1) Review each short answer/essay question response, (2) provide additional comments, (3) enter points, then (4) select Update Scores at the bottom of the page to continue.

review, provide comments, enter points, update scores per short answer and essay question

2.2. Student View of a Classic Quiz Submission Requiring Manual Grading.

Students will see the "Your quiz has been muted" message after submitting a classic quiz that contains short answer and/or essay questions.

quiz grades not viewable for students until faculty manually grade short answer questions

If a quiz is set to automatically be released, the grade will show as a rocket ship rather than a score in the grades area, but students can click on the rocket ship and see the points they earned on the portion of the quiz that was graded automatically.

3. Regrading a Multiple Fill in the Blank Quiz Question

Note: for a Classic Quiz that contains multiple fill in the blank and other automatically graded type questions, there will be no warning box inside a student's quiz submission alerting you of responses that require further review. This is significant given that a student may not enter any of the listed possible answers faculty supply, but still may have submitted a valid response. For this reason faculty may need to manually review, and in some instances , regrade a multiple fill in the blank submission

3.1. Review a Multiple Fill in the Blank Type Question

Select Grades in Course Navigation.

Search for and select a quiz to grade that has multiple fill in the blank type questions.

Note: the [Classic Questions Types Demo] in the column on the right only has closed ended question types that are automatically graded by Canvas. This quiz has a multiple fill in the blank question where students can enter words into the blanks that could be valid alternative answers faculty did not add when creating the question. Additionally, for a quiz containing only automatically graded question types like multiple fill in the blank, faculty will see a numerical score in the grade book, rather than a page icon denoting a submission which requires further review, as does the Chapter 1 Quiz, which contains short answer questions.

for a quiz containing only automatically graded question types like Multiple fill in the blank, faculty will see a numerical score in the Grade book

Select the three dot kebab to the right of the quiz title in the grade book, then choose SpeedGrader.

3.2. Select a Multiple Fill in the Blank Quiz Question to Review and Regrade.

The example below shows a multiple fill in the blank type question that requires students to respond with the correct words in the right order. The article (a) was included in the Answer 3 blank and was marked wrong because faculty entered [more perfect] as the only correct answer for that blank.

the Answer 3 blank was marked wrong because faculty only entered [more perfect] as the only correct answer for that blank.

Offer additional comments.

Edit the point value box.

Select Update Scores at the bottom right.

The updated score is reflected in the Grade out of box.

4. Regrading a Multiple Choice Quiz Question

4.1. Reviewing a multiple choice quiz question

Because multiple choice, true/false, and multiple answer questions can be graded automatically, access to regrading these questions in classic quizzes for all students should be done via selecting Quizzes in Course navigation, then selecting Edit, then the Questions tab in your quiz: steps 4.2-4.5. Note that adding or deleting answers from a multiple choice question with submissions disables the option to regrade that question.

4.2. Navigate to the quiz via Quizzes in Course Navigation.

4.3. Select the three dot kebab on the quiz, then choose the Edit option.

4.4. Select the Questions tab.

4.5. Navigate to the multiple choice question and select the pencil icon.

4.6. Select the Arrow icon for the answer that was supposed to be marked as correct.

Access this Canvas Community article about what options you have to regrade a quiz to read further about how each of the four choices will affect your quiz.

Your choice is displayed in the (1) newly chosen correct answer space. Select (2) Update Question to save settings.

Select Save in the bottom right hand corner to update your settings for the quiz.

If you have your Grading Notifications set to "Notify Immediately", i.e. with the Bell Icon selected, Canvas will send you an email when the regrade has completed. Select (1) Account, choose (2) Notifications, select (3) the Bell icon for Grading to notify you immediately of regrading.

5. Regrading a True/False Quiz Question

Follow steps 4.1 - 4.4 to access a quiz question and regrade for the entire class. (1) Select the pencil icon for the True/False question to regrade, then (2) choose the arrow icon for the new correct answer. Select a (3) regrade option, then (4) choose Update.

Optionally, faculty can enter comments for the now incorrect answer that will display for students who chose this. Enter (1) Comments, select (2) Done, (3) Update Question, then (4) Save.