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Course activities and examinations in Canvas

Here you will find information on how different course activities and examinations are carried out in Canvas. You will get an overview of common functions used in courses, along with linked guides that show how you, as a student, can use them.

Assignments and quizzes in Canvas

In Canvas, there are different ways to carry out activities where you, as a student, demonstrate your knowledge and participate actively in the course. Assignments are used in Canvas for various types of submissions. Assignments may consist of, for example, files that are uploaded or texts that are written directly in Canvas, and they can be individual or group-based. In Canvas, you can see instructions, deadlines, and how to submit the assignment, as well as any feedback from the teacher.

Quizzes are often used for knowledge tests, self-assessments, or examinations. They can contain different types of questions, such as multiple-choice, short answer, or matching. In Canvas, you can see when a quiz is available, how much time you have, and which instructions apply. After completing a quiz, you may in some cases be able to see results and feedback directly in Canvas.

At KTH, New Quizzes is primarily used, which is the newer quiz feature in Canvas. Therefore, the guides below refer to New Quizzes.

Peer review in Canvas

Peer review is a feature that your teacher can enable for an assignment in Canvas, which means that you and your fellow students provide feedback on each other’s submissions. If your teacher has informed you that you are expected to give peer feedback, it will appear in your "To Do" list when there is an assignment for you to review. You can also access it by going directly to the assignment itself. Below the submission details, you can find your assigned peer review tasks. The date when peer reviews are assigned is determined by your teacher, but it is at the earliest on the submission deadline.

Note! Follow your teacher’s requirements for the peer review. Canvas may have different requirements for marking a peer review as “complete” than those set by your teacher. For example, Canvas requires at least one text comment, an attached file, or a completed rubric, but does not count annotations or media comments.

Groups in Canvas

In Canvas, groups can be used for group work, projects, or other collaborative activities, as they make it easy for you as a student to communicate and share materials with other group members. Teachers can divide students into groups in Canvas, or give you and your fellow students the opportunity to create your own student groups. All groups in Canvas have access to their own section of the course, where you and your group members can share files, start discussions, and collaborate in other ways.

Group assignments in Canvas

Group assignments are assignments where you and your group members work on the same task with a shared submission. This means that one person in the group submits the assignment on behalf of the entire group. Your teacher can choose to assess the submission as a group and give everyone the same grade, or assess individually and give each student an individual grade. The latter may be the case, for example, if the submission is linked to a presentation or other formats that allow the teacher to distinguish each student’s contribution. If the teacher has chosen the assignment to be graded as a group assignment, it is sufficient for one group member to submit the assignment. Any comments and assessments will be sent to all members of the group.

Grades in Canvas

As a student, you often receive feedback and results in Canvas through the Grades feature. It is recommended that teachers use Canvas to communicate and compile results continuously throughout the course. Feedback can be provided in several places within an assignment, for example through annotations and rubrics. However, it is important to remember that results shown in Canvas are not final. Official grades are always communicated via Ladok. Read more about Ladok for students .

Finding results and feedback in Canvas

To find your grades in Canvas, click on “Grades” in the course’s left-hand menu. You will then see a list of the assignments in the course. Canvas automatically calculates a total and an average to produce a preliminary grade, but you can disregard this, as grades are very rarely calculated in that way.

If you click on an assignment, you can see what you have submitted and any feedback you have received. Feedback may be available in several places:

  • In the comment field – To the right of the submission, there is a column with comments. There you can communicate with the teacher about the assignment.
  • In the assignment – Click “Show feedback” to see feedback within the submission. Your submitted assignment will be shown together with the teacher’s feedback in the form of annotations. You can reply to the teacher’s comments and add your own annotations, which the teacher will be able to see.
  • In the quiz – In a quiz, you can see the result for each question and any comments from the teacher. However, teachers may sometimes limit what students are allowed to see in quizzes for various reasons.
  • In a rubric – If a rubric is attached to the assignment, you can view it by clicking “Show rubric” in the upper right corner. The teacher’s assessments are shown as markings in the rubric as well as comments.

The Canvas Calendar

The Canvas calendar can be used by teachers to create bookable meeting times within a course, for example for presentations or laboratory sessions. As a student, you can reserve one or more meeting times in your own calendar, depending on the settings chosen by the teacher. Canvas allows you to cancel and reschedule reservations at any time, but make sure to follow your teacher’s instructions regarding how close to the meeting time rescheduling is accepted.