Creating and Editing Rubrics

How do I add a rubric to an assignment?

You can add a rubric to an assignment to help students understand expectations for the assignment and how you intend to score their submissions. Occasionally, rubrics are added to assignments when you have an outcome inside of the rubric that you would like to use for alignment purposes. In addition to assignments, rubrics can also be added to graded discussions Links to an external site. and quizzes Links to an external site..

Open Assignments

In Course Navigation, click the Assignments link.

Open Assignment

Click the name of the assignment.

Add Rubric

Click the Add Rubric button.

Find a Rubric

To find an existing rubric, click the Find a Rubric link.

You can find rubrics that were created in previous assignments as well as rubrics created in other courses where you have an instructor role.

Select Rubric

In the first column, select a course or account [1]. In the second column, locate and click the name of a rubric [2]. You can view the criteria and points in each rubric. To select a rubric for the assignment, scroll to the bottom of the rubric and click the Use This Rubric button [3].

Edit Rubric

To reopen the rubric and select rubric settings, click the Edit icon.

Create New Rubric

If you can't find an existing rubric to use for the assignment, you can create a new rubric Links to an external site. for your assignment. New rubrics are saved in your course for future use.

Select Rubric Settings

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

If you want to write free-form comments Links to an external site. to students in SpeedGrader, select the I'll write free-form comments... checkbox [1].

If you want to use the rubric for grading Links to an external site. in SpeedGrader, select the Use this rubric for assignment grading checkbox [2].

If you don't want students to see the score total for the rubric, select the Hide score total for assessment results checkbox [3]. 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 and only applies to students when they view rubrics from the Grades page.

Save Rubric

Click the Update Rubric button.

Note: If you created a new rubric, the assignment will show the Create Rubric button.

Adjust Scoring Points

If you select the option to use the rubric for grading, Canvas will compare the rubric score and Assignment points.

If the number of points in the rubric is different than the number of points in the Assignment, Canvas will generate a warning message notifying that the point values are not equal.

To update the number of points in the assignment, click the Change button [1]. Otherwise, click the Leave different [2] button.

View Rubric

View the rubric for the assignment.

To edit the rubric, click the Edit icon [1]. To replace the rubric with an existing rubric, click the Search icon [2]. To delete the rubric from the assignment, click the Delete icon [3].

How do I create a rubric in a course?

If you cannot find a rubric you want to use in your course, you can create a new rubric. Once you create a rubric, the rubric is saved in your course for future use. You can add the rubric to an assignment Links to an external site. and use the rubric for grading and adding comments. You can manage created rubrics in the Manage Rubrics page Links to an external site..

Open Outcomes

In Course Navigation, click the Outcomes link.

Manage Rubrics

Click the Rubrics menu [1] and then click the Manage Rubrics link [2].

Add Rubric

Click the Add Rubric button.

Create Title

In the Title field, create a title for the rubric. This title helps you identify the rubric so you can associate it with an assignment, graded discussion, or quiz.

Edit Criterion Description

The rubric includes one default criterion entry. To add a short criterion description, hover over the criterion and click the Edit icon [1].

To add a longer description to the criterion, click the view longer description link [2]. The longer description helps students understand more information about the criterion. The long description does not display directly in the rubric but can be accessed by all users.

Note: Currently criterion cannot be reordered after they are added to a rubric. If you want to display criterion in a specific order, make sure you create them in the order that you prefer.

Add Longer Description

To add a long description, enter a description for the criterion [1], then click the Update Description button [2].

Split Ratings

Rubric ratings default to 5 points, awarding 5 points for full rubric marks and 0 points for no rubric marks. To split a rubric rating, hover over a rating and click the double-ended arrow [1]. Split cells on the row as often as necessary to create the desired number of ratings [2].

Add Ratings

You can also add ratings in incremental point values by hovering over a rating and clicking the Add Rating icon [1]. The rubric will create a new rating to the right showing a whole-number point value between the existing ratings [2].

Edit Rating

For each rating, you can edit the rating description and the number of points assigned to the rating. To edit a rating, hover over the rating and click the Edit icon [1]. To edit the name of the rating, enter a new name in the text field [2].

To enter a new point value for the rating, enter the point value in the points field [3]. Points can be whole (1, 5, 10) or decimal (0.3, 0.5, 2.75) numbers. Editing a specific rating value affects the full point value for the criterion. If you adjust the point value of a rating, the value of all ratings will adjust and create the updated point value for the criterion.

Click the OK button [4].

Edit Criterion Point Value

If you want to adjust the total point value of the criterion, enter the number of points in the Points field [1]. The first rating (full marks) assuming the overall point value and any incremental ratings adjust appropriately [2]. However, you can always go back and edit specific ratings if you don't want to accept the automatic adjustments.

Delete Criterion

To delete the entire criterion, click the remove icon.

Add Criterion

To create a new criterion for the rubric, click the Add Criterion link [1].

To find an existing course- or account-level outcome to align with the rubric Links to an external site., click the Find Outcome link [2].

Note: Outcomes cannot be edited directly in a rubric.

Create Rubric

Click the Create Rubric button.

View Rubric

View the new rubric.

To edit the rubric, click the Edit icon [1]. To delete the rubric, click the Delete icon [2].