Using assignments in Canvas provides a streamlined process for assigning work to students. Assignments can be easily created under a module as we saw earlier. Here we will review the most common options for Canvas Assignments.

1. Create your assignment under Modules. Click on the Assignment title to begin editing.

2. You can update the Assignment Name and add directions in the Canvas editor.

3. Assign the number of points available for the assignment.

4. Choose an “Assignment Group”. Assignment groups are, in essence, a category of assignment. You can create new categories here as well.

5. Select a Submission Type.

No Submission: an activity where nothing will be collected from students (e.g. a participation grade).
Online: assignments uploaded to Canvas (PDF documents work best, but picture files such and .png or .jpg also work)
On Paper: assignments/quizzes/activities that were written on paper and collected by the instructor
External Tool: assignments submitted through a 3rd party tool that is integrated with Canvas

6. Submission Attempts: You may allow unlimited submission attempts for Online assignments, or restrict attempts to one or more. When a student submits to an assignment they have already submitted to, the previous submission is retained as well, and the instructor may view both.

7. Group Assignments and Peer Reviews: Assignments can be created as either a group assignment or peer review assignment.

8. Assign options- You can assign an assignment to your entire class, a specific student, and/or a section of your class. You can also set the due date and the availability dates (when your students can submit their assignment). Each section can have different due dates and availability dates.

Screenshot of assignment parameters in Canvas with red arrows pointing as "Assign to:", "Date:" and available fields.

9. If you are finished creating the assignment, click on “Save & Publish“. If you are not finished creating the assignment, click on “Save” and you may come back and work on it more later without students having access to it.

Canvas assignment button with "Save" highlighted in blue.