The Canvas Gradebook efficiently supports two main organizations. Creating all assignments in a single category and indicating a “points possible” for each allows the total column to display a straight percentage earned for each student. In this example, 720 points are possible, so if a student earned 600 points at the end of the semester, 83.3% would be displayed as the Total.
The alternative is to calculate an overall grade as a weighted average of various assignment types (Class Participation = 10%, Homework = 15%, etc.). This can be done by creating Assignment Groups for each grading category. Then either create new assignments in each group, or move assignments you have already created into the appropriate group by dragging and dropping. Weights can then be assigned to each category, as shown in this example.
You can review the Instructure Guide “How do I weight the final grade based on Assignment Groups?” and watch Organizing Your Canvas Gradebook, the eLearning screencast, to learn more about weighting grades by Assignment Groups in Canvas. You may also find our Canvas Tips about grading schemes and ungraded assignments useful when organizing your Canvas Assignments and Gradebook. We encourage you to visit the Canvas One Stop page for more general information, for help with Canvas at Michigan Tech, and to sign up for eLearning workshops as you begin building your Spring Semester 2013 courses, which are now available in Canvas.