Use a Rubric for Assignment Grading

Use a Rubric for Assignment Grading

When you attach a rubric to an assignment in your course, it is important to ensure that the Use this rubric for assignment grading option is selected. By checking this option, you will be able to use the rubric in the Canvas SpeedGrader to grade student submissions. By default, this option is not selected when adding an existing rubric to an assignment, so it is important to ensure this option is selected for graded assignments.

Add a New Rubric to a Canvas Assignment

If you are adding a new rubric in your course to a Canvas assignment:

  1. In Course Navigation, click the Assignments link.
  2. Click on the name of your assignment where you want to attach a rubric.
  3. Rather than clicking on the ✏️ Edit button to edit the assignment details, click on the ➕ Rubric button. A new, blank rubric will appear.
Rather than clicking on the "Edit" button to edit the assignment details, click on the "+ Rubric" button. A new, blank rubric will appear.
  1. Build out your rubric to add Ratings and additional rubric rows (via the ➕ Criterion link).
  2. At the bottom of the rubric, select the option Use this rubric for assignment grading.
    • The checkbox for Hide score total for assessment results will disappear when Use this rubric for assignment grading is selected.
At the bottom of the rubric, select the option "Use this rubric for assignment grading". The checkbox for "Hide score total for assessment results" will disappear when "Use this rubric for assignment grading" is selected.
  1. Click the Create Rubric button.

Add an Existing Rubric to a Canvas Assignment

If you are adding an existing rubric in your course to a Canvas assignment:

  1. In Course Navigation, click the Rubrics link.
  2. Verify that your rubric is displayed on the screen.
  3. In Course Navigation, click the Assignments link.
  4. Click on the name of your assignment where you want to attach a rubric.
  5. Rather than clicking on the ✏️ Edit button to edit the assignment details, click on the ➕ Rubric button. A new, blank rubric will appear.
Rather than clicking on the "Edit" button to edit the assignment details, click on the "+ Rubric" button. A new, blank rubric will appear.
  1. Click the 🔍 Find a Rubric link at the top right-hand corner of the rubric interface. The Find Existing Rubric window appears on the screen.
Click the "Find a Rubric" link at the top right-hand corner of the rubric interface.
  1. In the left-most column, select your course name. (Example: Chris’ Sandbox)
  2. In the middle column, select the name of your rubric you wish to attach to the assignment. Once you select the name, the rubric will display in the right-most column. (Example: Learning Outcome Rubric)
  3. In the right-most column, you can attach the rubric in two ways:
    • Click on the name of the rubric at the top of the screen.
    • Click the Use This Rubric button at the bottom of the screen. (Note: You may need to use the scroll bars to see this button.)
Use the "Find a Rubric" screen to find the rubric you want to attach to your assignment. In this example, we are looking at the course named "Chris' Sandbox" and the rubric named "Learning Outcome Rubric".

Your rubric will display below your assignment details…replacing the new rubric that you saw in Step #5.

It is now time to ensure the rubric will be used for assignment grading.

  1. Click on the ✏️ pencil (Edit Rubric) icon.
    • If you get a prompt that you cannot edit the rubric, click the OK button.
Click on the pencil (Edit Rubric) icon.
  1. At the bottom of the rubric, select the option Use this rubric for assignment grading.
    • The additional checkbox for Hide score total for assessment results (not shown here) will disappear when you select Use this rubric for assignment grading.
  2. Click the Update Rubric button.
At the bottom of the rubric, select the option "Use this rubric for assignment grading". Click the "Update Rubric" button.

You may get an additional message alert on your screen.

  • Example: You had initially set your assignment to 30 points. However, the rubric you are attaching to the assignment has a total of 100 points.
Example: You had initially set your assignment to 30 points. However, the rubric you are attaching to the assignment has a total of 100 points. Click the "Change" button to update your assignment to be the same number of points as your rubric total.
  1. Click the Change button to update your assignment to be the same number of points as your rubric total.

Additional Resources

Add a rubric to an assignment

How do I add a rubric to an assignment?

00:06: How do I add a rubric to an assignment?

00:09: Open the assignment.

00:11: Click the Add Rubric button below the assignment details. You can either create a new rubric or attach an existing one.

00:19: To create a rubric, give it a title. Then edit the included default criterion by clicking the Edit icon.

00:27: Edit the criterion; then click “Update Criterion”.

00:31: To edit a rating, click the Edit icon.

00:35: Edit the rating; then click “Update Rating”.

00:39: To add a new rating for the criterion, click the Add icon.

00:43: To add a criterion, click Add Criterion. Then select whether to create a new criterion or to duplicate an existing one.

00:51: Fill the fields to create a new criterion.

00:54: To use the rubric for grading in SpeedGrader, select the “Use this rubric for assignment grading” checkbox, select other desired options options, then click “Create Rubric”.

01:05: Instead of creating a new rubric, you can use an existing rubric from this or another course where you are an instructor. To do this, click the Find a Rubric link.

01:15: Select a course or account in the first column. In the second column, select the name of a rubric.

01:22: Scroll to the bottom of the rubric and click the “Use This Rubric” button.

01:27: To edit an unused rubric or to select rubric settings, click the Edit icon.

01:32: To use the rubric for grading in SpeedGrader, select the “Use this rubric for assignment grading” checkbox. Select any other desired options and click the “Update Rubric” button.

01:44: This guide covered how to add a rubric to an assignment.

Use a rubric to grade submissions in SpeedGrader