Preparing for Final Exams and Grading

As you prepare for the end of the term, please review the following information:

Tips for Final Exams

There are two primary tools you may want to use to conduct final exams or collect final projects.

  • Canvas Quizzes: The Canvas Quizzes tool will allow you to create an exam and individual questions. Questions and answer choices are created one at a time and take some time to create.
    • Question Types and Scoring: There are a variety of question formats.  Multiple-choice type questions can be auto-scored and essay/writing type questions must be manually scored using SpeedGrader.
    • Question Groups: Question groups allow you to place multiple questions within a group for students to answer and indicate the number of questions that should be selected randomly from the group. This allows you to create multiple versions of similar questions to add some variety to the quiz.
    • Time Limits: Quiz time limits can be set on the Quiz details page.
    • Exceptions: Once published, the Moderate This Quiz link appears and allows you to provide extra time and attempts for individual students.
  • AssignmentsThe Canvas Assignment Tool allows you to provide assignment details and creates related gradebook column. It is great for collecting student work and alternative forms of assessment.
    • Online AssignmentsYou can create online assignments for students to submit their assignments through Canvas. Students can submit text entry, website URL, a media recording, or a file upload.
    • Scoring:  Student submissions can be viewed and scored using SpeedGrader.

Tips for Calculating Final Grades

Please review the following options to ensure your grading criteria in Canvas aligns with your course syllabus.

  • Grade values: Canvas will ignore an activity if no score is entered. Please enter scores of zero where necessary. You could also manually excuse a score using the grade details tray.
  • Weighted Assignment Groups: If you use weight categories, please see the Canvas Assignments page to view assigned group weights. Please be sure the weights are correct and reflect any changes that may have occurred. If you need to make any revisions, click the three vertical dot settings menu at the top of the page, choose “Assignment Group Weight”, make revisions, and click the Save button.
  • Roll Call Attendance: If you’ve used the Attendance tool in Canvas a “Roll Call Attendance” assignment was automatically added and is worth 100 points. If Attendance points do not count as part of the final score you will want to exclude the assignment from the file grade so that these points don’t count. To edit the assignment details go to Assignments, click “Roll Call Attendance”, click the Edit Assignment Settings button, check the box that states, “Do not count this assignment towards the final grade” then click the Save button at the bottom of the page.

If you have any questions, please email ctl@morainevalley.edu for support. Please be as detailed as possible in your email so that we can promptly assist you.